NOW: North East Victoria – Gippsland Lakes.
Our first stop in Victoria was Mallacoota where we happened to be in town for the Mallacoota Bream Fishing Competition. We’ve seen it on TV before and now watched as each entrant weighed in their bag of 5 bream. The winning angler had 5 bream weighing nearly 1kg each.
There were some interesting boats and the live fish were all released. For a pair of fishermen like us who have been struggling to catch just one edible fish it seemed a dreadful waste! But they were the rules so we retired to the shade of our campsite out of the wind.
From the headland near our campsite you can look out to Gabbo Island which is a well used landmark for the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
Gabo Island off Mallacoota
From Mallacoota we followed the Princes Highway to Cann River where a bakery stop was required before heading out to Thurra River in Croajingalong National Park. Our bush camp was just behind the dunes so we could hear that soothing sound of the waves. There were very few people here so we had the communal campfire all to ourselves.
The camp at Thurra River
We saw goannas, a brown snake, kookaburras and wrens in and around our camp. While dosing in the shade a kookaburra screeched to let us know a goanna was almost under David’s chair! Lots of blue wrens visited often.
Visiting wren
The Thurra River enters the ocean at the eastern end of the beach but it is a tea tree stained trickle at low tide. Meanwhile the Point Hicks Lighthouse sits on the headland to the west. Captain Cook first saw the Australian mainland here and gave it the name Point Hicks. This was the best place for a swim as well as the ocean was much calmer here at Honeymoon Bay but freezing cold.
Point Hicks Lighthouse
On our way down the coast to Lakes Entrance we stopped in at Cape Conran where you can launch your boat straight into Bass Strait. Next stop was Marlo where the mighty Snowy River meanders its way into the sea.
Where the Snowy meets the sea
Do as the locals do is becoming our motto – SO….. Beer and Prawns it is in Lakes Entrance, straight off the boat! Add crabs cooked in a squeeze of chilli and ginger we keep frozen in the car Engel and dinner was pretty good.
We’d planned a day fishing but it was so windy we ended up at the interesting Wyanga Park Winery. After tasting the wines we ended up having a long, late lunch with local Riesling. We did hire a boat, used live worms and did some fishing but finished that day at the fish and chip shop!
The entrance to Lakes Entrance was created in the 1880’s to create a permanent entrance to the Gippsland Lakes. It supports a large fishing fleet but needs constant dredging to remain navigable.
Lakes Entrance.
NEXT: Melbourne – can we negotiate city traffic AND trams?
On The Emu Track
Cheryl and David
