Advertisement
Published: October 24th 2015
Edit Blog Post
Gippsland Lakes Cruise
No Jansz so we settled for Ninth Island Peels are the people synonymous with cruising from Lakes Entrance. The family have been around for almost 100 years operating a large number of vessels. My grandmother used to take my sister and I for a cruise on the famous Lennabird when we visited her in Lakes Entrance. Again, such a long time ago.
Peels currently have three vessels (of varying sizes) that run on cruises around the lakes. Our trip was to be on the Seabird from Lakes Entrance to Metung where we would stop for lunch at the Metung Hotel. After lunch we would return to Lakes Entrance on a slightly different route.
We drove down the hill into Lakes Entrance from our Burnt Bridge Road campsite nice and early to ensure that we could get parking for the bus. We were so early we had time to walk the streets of Lakes Entrance and choose a place for morning tea before we departed on our cruise. We had lovely hand made chocolates (and coffee) at MMM Truffles, although it appears that the chocolates were not quite up to the highest quality that are available on the continent!
The cruise boat was remarkably empty and we
Gippsland Lakes Cruise
Getting ready to leave the dock at Lakes. thought that maybe we would be one of only half a dozen people on that day, but then a busload turned up and the boat was almost full! We left the dock with the captain providing a history of the lakes and of the Peels boats that had been operating out of Lakes Entrance for those who had travelled previously.
We cruised through Lakes Entrance and then out in to the clear waters of Reeve Channel and heard about the history of Rigby and Fraser Islands. Soon we were in sight of Metung and we cruised past the expensive houses (one recently sold for over seven million dollars) before heading for the Metung Hotel. Although we could only choose one of three dishes for lunch, the meal was excellent and we had dessert as well! We chose to drink champagne to celebrate our cruise on the Lakes. No Jansz available but there was Ninth Island and that is quite pleasant.
After lunch we re-boarded the Seabird and cruised back to Lakes Entrance, this time checking out the little creeks and going past the Barrier Landing (a jetty with easy access to the Ninety Mile Beach). We arrived back
Gippsland Lakes Cruise
Everyone loves to fish in Lakes Entrance, said thanks to our crew and headed back towards Sale.
We travelled on the Princes Highway, crossing the Tambo, Nicholson and Mitchell rivers, stopping in Bairnsdale for a late afternoon tea at the Yellow Belly Deli. Delicious carrot cake and coffee was consumed before we headed westwards once again.
We had been hoping to find a campsite somewhere close to the highway but there wasn't much choice and the places seemed either full or far too close for quiet sleeping. Undeterred, we pushed on until we came to Stratford (on the Avon River) and I remembered a fabulous place that I used to visit as a child first with my family, and then later on with my father when he was keen on target shooting and later again for equestrian events.
The Knob Reserve is just out of Stratford and comprises 140 acres of pristine bushland, an oval, shelters and walking paths. We managed to find a quiet spot to camp but the night was quite unpleasant as we were subjected to a number of hoons driving their cars round and round the oval at high speed. Eventually, we fell asleep.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.076s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 11; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0501s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb