Big milestone this week: we made it into the Gippsland Lakes with a stop at wild Gabo Island on the way. Since then we have been rushing around to catch up with local friends, pick up our guest Trevor, and get the boat ready to go again!

Here is our track:

Bittangabee Bay to Gabo Island

Typically when going ‘around the corner’, yachts go from Eden to the Gippsland Lakes in one long 125nm overnight sail. As is our preference, we generally look for opportunities to break the passage and day sail to stop at seldom visited spots.

With light northeasterlies then southeasterlies for two days, we had perfect conditions to break the journey. We left Bittangabee at dawn in very overcast conditions, passed nearby Green Cape, then Cape Howe marking the border between NSW and Victoria. We were aiming for Gabo Island, only 26nm away, with the intention of spending the day there.

We saw several albatrosses, lots of shearwaters and a few seals lulling about, the unmistakable sign we are now in Southern waters.

Located at the very southeastern corner of Australia where two massive bodies of water – the Tasman Sea and Bass Strait – meet, Gabo Island is an iconic place to visit. It is a windswept outpost commonly referred to in Victorian weather forecasts issued by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. 

The island is separated from the mainland by a 500-metre-wide (¹⁄₄-nautical-mile) but very shallow channel – only for the brave or foolish! We went right around Gabo and anchored on the western side of the island at Santa Barbara Bay.

It is well protected from the NE wind and there is minimal swell, particularly on a calm day. Although there is a jetty, only small vessels weighing less than 4.5 tons can tie up there. We anchored not far from it in 10m of water.

We used the kayak to get ashore. It is an easy 5km return walk from the jetty to the Lighthouse on a well-maintained track.

The lighthouse was constructed from 1858 to 1862 using the distinctive pink granite found on the island and is the only operating island lighthouse in Victoria. You see the granite slabs everywhere and there are two quarries.

The aerial shots below show how unforgiving the coast is. The first image is looking east towards Cape Howe. The second looks west. Many ships have been wrecked along this coastline.

The island is home to one of the world’s largest colony of little penguins, another sign we are in Southern waters. We could hear them coming ashore at night, and during our walk we saw numerous tags in the grassy slopes marking their nesting sites.  

Gabo Island to the Gippsland Lakes

It was another dawn departure on Sunday to ensure we would reach our destination, 98nm away, with an incoming tide to cross the bar and in daylight. Anui did a great impersonation of a motorboat for a while, with the wind on our nose and very overcast conditions to start with. So while the engines were going, we made water underway. Eventually, after 6 hours of tedious motoring, the wind switched to the SE as forecast, we raised the sails and had a gorgeous run for the next 7 hours, accompanied by yellow nose Albatrosses. The photographer admits to feeling very rusty on the old panning technique to capture these majestic creatures in flight! Dozens of blurry images taken, a few clear enough to include here. The good thing: plenty more practice to come!

As well as the albatrosses, the passage was punctuated by various capes: Little Rame Head, Rame Head, Point Hicks, Cape Conran… This is Point Hicks, under threatening skies.

Of course, being in southern waters also means you have to ‘dress up’. Shorts and t-shirt have given way to jeans, jumper and fluffy jacket. It’s chilly down here, but still no sea boots, so not that bad!

And then after a 13-hour passage, we were in! That entrance made us feel a bit tense, even though we have crossed it many times.

The tide continues to ebb for two to three hours after the official low water. We arrived earlier than planned and entered at mid tide rising, but the water was still flowing out strongly. However with light wind and no swell we powered our way in. Rather than going into to Lakes Entrance proper, we followed the Reeves Channel, picked up a public mooring a few miles down and it was time for a shower, a meal and a rest!

Inside the Gippsland Lakes

After feeling chilly at sea, the next day was a 40^oC day – who needs QLD? We moved to Paynesville, a 3 hour hop further west along the Lakes.

It used to be our home port, so we had a busy few days catching up with friends, making up for nearly three years of absence as best we could. Our guest Trevor joined us, we did our chores and prepped the boat for the next passage.

As you can imagine, we were yet again checking the weather obsessively. We wanted to minimise the risk of sea sickness for Trevor’s first ever sail across Bass Strait! We think it will be about our 25^th crossing (we don’t count the skirting along the Victorian coast). So we decided to wait an extra day for the ocean to settle after the strong southwest.

We could have stayed at the jetty in town, but instead thought it would be nicer to escape for an afternoon and a night to the Bunga Arm, picking up a public mooring next to Steamer Landing. The Bunga Arm is a 250-metre wide sand barrier separating the tranquil waters of the Gippsland Lakes from the rough ocean swells of Bass Strait. Beach walk, peaceful floating about, nobody else around… It was a good move and it is always nice to discover familiar places from the air. By the way, the colours of the ocean are naturally vibrant – unedited.

We returned to Paynesville on Thursday morning for the final re-provisioning, caught up with James, our old shipwright, then it was time to head back towards the Entrance.

And as we hoped, we exited the Gippsland Lakes at dawn this Friday morning and are on our way to Deal Island, where we will spend Christmas. Our Tasmanian adventure has started!

Merry Christmas to all. We hope that like us you are spending the festive season doing something you love with people you love.