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Lake George is filling up and the tourists are flooding in. Normally little more than a grassy paddock, water is pooling in the great basin and pulling in tourists driving along the Federal Highway. Those who have stopped at the Weereewa lookout in recent years might have thought Lake George a misnomer as not since the early 1990s has it been so deserving of its title. Bywong resident Graham Bamford, who lives 10 minutes up the road and stopped to take a photo of all the tourists, said he'd never seen so many people at the lookout as there was on Sunday. "Trying to turn right off the highway into the car park you had to give way. I wish I had a coffee cart," Mr Bamford said. "People had picnic lunches, they were taking selfies with the water. At the end of the day it's just a puddle with tickets on itself. It'll dry up again soon." Lerida Estate Winery general manager and owner Anne Caine said their visitor numbers for the October long weekend have doubled due to the water. "Last year on the Sunday we had around 120 people come in for lunch and for cellar door and yesterday we had 200 people. I didn't have enough staff so we were all running madly to keep up but it was quite extraordinary. There's no doubt it's because the lake is full," Ms Caine said "Everyone comes here because we're high up and you can get a panoramic view over the lake and the wind farm. It is gorgeous." When Ms Caine bought the property in 1997, the lake was full but became bone dry during the millenium drought. She said she was pleased to see the water – and the people – return to its ephemeral shores. "It's pretty as a picture," Ms Caine said.

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