This last week, we spent time at our favourite Gippsland haunts: the Gippsland Lakes for some quietness, friendliness, and recharge, then onto to Wilsons Promontory with our friend Trevor on board.
Gippsland Lakes magic
The Lakes always feel like home. As we have mentioned before, we used to moor our previous boats there while living in Melbourne. We enjoy the relaxed laid back feel and always have a few friends to catch up with. We spent a day or two in Paynesville, then opted to move ‘out of town’ for the weekend.
Steamer Landing, caught between the ocean and the land, offered a calm escape with an opportunity for beach walks as well as photography projects. Some days were bathed in sunshine, others moody, windy and rainy. It is late spring and the weather is very fickle.
The painterly photography experiments continue. Finding new ways to capture scenes around us, seeing and feeling them in a different manner is what it is all about. It might not be to everybody’s taste, but Chris is having fun with it, and that’s the main thing!
We so like the Lakes, they have a special pull. Nature, clean air, away from the madness of busy life. We could easily live here, but for the cold! The heater has been on every morning and evening, we are rugged up and really feel the change in temperature.
We returned to Paynesville for a chores day: food shopping, laundry, fuel and water top up. Trevor arrived in the early afternoon on Tuesday. We cast off, and made a bee line for Lakes Entrance, 21/2 hours away, wanting to catch the last opportunity to continue our voyage along the Victorian coast for a while, before a strong SW change.
To Wilsons Prom
We crossed the Lakes Entrance bar at 5pm on Tuesday, and turned SW! It was not an ideal time to exit: ebbing tide, quite some chop and confused seas from the previous days of strong wind, with the breeze still on our nose although light by then.
It was a rather rough affair for a couple of hours, but once the wind eased and switched to our stern as forecast it became easier. By sunset the chaos had dissipated but by then the breeze was too light to sail so we motored and settled into our two-hour watches. This was an introduction to the dreaded ‘overnighters’ for Trevor and one of our least pleasant passages, but he managed quite well. He survived the night without chucking up in a bucket… always a good thing… and even took his turn on watch. He is now officially a seasoned crew member!
The wind all but disappeared during the night so we motored most of the way, arriving at Sealers Cove, a beautiful bay on the eastern side of Wilsons Promontory at 7.00am the next morning. The approach to the Promontory is always spectacular, with towering hills straight down to the ocean. The peninsula forms the southernmost tip of mainland Australia and is a stunning wilderness area. If you wonder why we left the safety of the Lakes, only to get stuck here for a while, that is why!
Sealers Cove
The first thing you notice as you drop anchor is the smell of eucalypts… gorgeous.
We chose Sealers Cove as our anchorage for the next few days of strong W-SW weather: a stunning bay, plenty of space, nothing to hit if you drag, you just have to be aware of the shallows extending a fair way out. Over our years of cruising around these parts, we have favoured it over the popular Refuge Cove, just around the corner, which can get very swirly, as bullets spin around the bay. The holding there is poor, boats drag, and it is a refuge only by name. We have done more anchor watches in there than anywhere else. Very pretty, but not a safe place on very windy days.
If you wonder about the name of Sealers Cove and its history, explorer George Bass named it in 1798 after finding it a good base for sealing and whaling operations, a use that continued into the early 1800s. The cove’s freshwater supply was attractive to these early visitors. In 1850 a sawmill was established, supporting a community of 60 people who shipped timber to Melbourne and Geelong. A second sawmill was built in 1903 but was later destroyed by a bush fire. Today, the site is recognized as having historical and archaeological significance, with remaining features like jetty piles, tramway formations, and sawpits.
When we first arrived, we were beam to the beach and swell. We sent the drone up for a few shots while it was still calm.
Two hours later, with 30 to 50 knots blowing, Anui was bow to the beach, we battened down for the shrieking wind and pouring rain.
Eventually the rain stopped and we managed to go ashore for a leg stretch. Teal ocean and orange lichen on the granite boulders are typical of this part of the coast.
We are on the Eastern side of the Prom for a while, with a week of strong and volatile weather. But we will explore different anchorages and plan a few bush walks! See you next week for a feature on this beautiful part of Victoria.
Sv-Anui 
Wow man, each photo is very beautiful in its own way! ❤️ The Lakes exit looked very sketchy with its rough, confused water. I’m glad you guys got out of there without being shoved into the concrete. Enjoy your time in the calm waters and rain! 🇦🇺❤️
Yes, it was a bit dodgy coming out but we are all good! Glad you liked the photos, John.
I sure did, wishing you guys a peaceful upcoming weekend. 😊
Lovely!
Thanks Trish. Has Andrew left for the delivery?
Not yet. Hopefully Sunday…
Thank you so much for the marvellous photos and geography lesson! You always manage to post the clearest maps – now I have the points and places of Wilson’s Promontory clearer in my mind than ever before. Having lived in the Northern Rivers at Ocean Shores, and close to a number of rivers in the area, I know of the difficulties and dangers of crossing the bar – your photos look pretty scary! I remember of actual deaths occurring in not really wild weather !!! Sealers Cove looks idyllic but the web cam shot just a tad scary for this landlubber 🙂 !
Hi Eha, yes that was not one of our easiest bar crossings. Lots of chop but no swell, very little wind, and clear beyond so we took a chance! Glad we are here at the Prom… off to a walk now!
Teal ocean looks beauitful! So glad your friend Trevor didn’t have a vomiting episode. Yes, you have a seasoned crew member! Enjoy your sailing and photography projects.
Hello Esther,
Yes the sea sickness tablets and lying down did the trick and kept the stomach in check! Nice protected cove here, and able to get ashore for walks, so happy!
We’ve marked down Steamer Landing for our trip in March and taken note of your comment about the cold. We’ve just had 3 very hot days – got to 37 here ( 800m from the coast) on Tuesday, 35 on Wednesday with 2 severe thunderstorms, 32 yesterday by 11 am before a weak southerly and 28 today so far. We’ve just been out on our little boat and by 12 felt we had had enough sun and have retreated home and to our ( rarely used, and running off solar) air-conditioning.
That squall in Sealer’s Cove looked exciting. Did you take any additional precautions?
Hi Meredith, the weather has been volatile to say the least! Heat wave up your way, chilly down here!
Steamer is nice: a jetty you can berth at if you wish or moorings on either side, not all big enough for us, but all good for your little boat. You can continue on along the Bunga Arm where there are lots of protected anchorages against the dune with access to the ocean beach!
For good info, go to the Gippsland Port site, http://www.gippslandports.vic.com.au
View the waterways online tab and you can download various maps. It shows you where all the mooring buoys and the channels are.
The squall in Sealers was mean but all good… 10 to 1 chain down on sand, no one else around, we were not worried at all.
Spent many a times at Steamer Landing over the years, but we haven’t visited for a long time now. Looks so peaceful. Glad you got some quiet time at the Lakes. Gee that bar crossing does look rough, but you know it so well. I think most of us would have looked at that forecast and sat still. Hope the conditions at the Prom prove to be comfortable enough! Stay safe.
It was a very short window… one of these ‘go now or be stuck’. We had been monitoring on the web cam and knew there were no breaking waves and once past the chop it was fine… but yes, quite chaotic! The Eastern side of the Prom and Sealers in particular is all protected in these conditions and there is no swell so we can beach the dinghy easily for walks… and not a soul about 😊.
Welcome back.
Thanks, Leanne. It will be a little while before we are back on land… stuck on the eastern side of the Prom with the weather! But it’s moody so good opportunities for atmospheric photography.
Lots of opportunities for some interesting photos. Take care, I hope the weather gets better for you. I’m loving the rain, great for my garden.
More beautiful photos ❤️
That looked like a very lively departure over the bar! Enjoy Wilson’s Prom. Such a gorgeous place to spend time.
We’re still revolving around Sydney Harbour with very unsettled weather and the party boats are out and about!!
But the Christmas tree is up and decorated 🎄
Hi Helene, Roobi must be looking very festive with the tree up!
Like you we are floating around in very unsettled weather. Lots of westerlies and rain… trying to walk here and there. We won’t be able to get around the Prom for a while yet! Unlike you guys, no one around!
You guys have the experience for them bar crossings local knowledge also helps. Good to be back in your home cruising grounds & getting use to the fickle weather.
Cheers
Mick & Lyn
Hi guys, Fickle weather indeed, it has been really hard to make progress!
I am loving your new photo styles, so beautiful as art over the subject 🙂
I echo your thoughts on Refuge Cove, It has always been a romantic favorite of mine, however the dodgy holding and strange swell knocks the edge off the dream. I hope to be able to say Hi when you get to Melbourne, I will bring the bubble water 🙂
Hi Colin, thanks for the feedback on the photo experiments. It is nice to let impressions and abstraction take over rather than realism at times. See you in Melbourne!