Menindee is located 1270 km north-west of Sydney via the Great Western, Mitchell and Barrier Highways and 70 m above sea-level. If you are approaching from Broken Hill it is 111 km south-east along a sealed road and, if your departure point is Wilcannia, it is 143 km south-west on a mostly unsealed road.

Menindee is a tiny historic township inhabited by 980 people on the Darling River. The countryside is flat and arid and barely supports grazing, although Menindee itself is surrounded by citrus orchards and vegetable cultivation. Menindee is surrounded by some 20 lakes fed by the Darling River and the area surrounding the lake is characterised by sand, saltbush and striking red soils.

The lakes were previously an unreliable source of water, filling out during flood periods and disappearing when the river level dropped. As early as 1894 plans were put forward for conservation of the resource but a water storage scheme was not implemented until 1949 (completed in 1960). The current storage capacity is 1 794 000 megalitres, 3.5 times the volume of Sydney Harbour and covering eight times its area. Lake Menindee, the largest, is 16 x 14 km in surface area.

Beside the Lakes system, features of Menindee include Kinchega National Park, a 44 000-ha park, Copi Hollow, Lake Pamamaroo and Main Wier and the Sunset Strip.