Kevtoberfest #20 Gippsland Lakes
There’s a lot of water at Lakes Entrance. The name of the town in Victoria’s East Gippsland region gives a clue to its watery surroundings – it’s located at the entrance to the Gippsland Lakes. A group of inland waterways covering an area of 600 square kilometres, the lakes are separated from the Southern Ocean by the scrub-covered dunes of Ninety Mile Beach. A man-made channel built in the 1880s connects them with the ocean.
To gain an understanding of the expanse of lakes and ocean, they are best seen first from above. Lookouts along the Princes Highway are perfect vantage points, with sweeping views of the town, waterways and shipping channel. On a clear day, offshore platforms in the oil and gas fields of Bass Strait are visible on the horizon.
Views of the lakes from ground level are just as impressive. At Lake King the calm water is crystal clear, and the opposite shore is a distant smudge between water and sky.
With all this water comes much aquatic activity, both of the human and natural kind. Sailing boats and motorboats make the most of the protected waters inside the dunes.
Fishing boats are moored in the marina after a night’s work at sea.
A model of the paddle steamer Charles Edward stands on the shore of Lake King, a reminder of a time when a day’s journey around the coast brought passengers from Melbourne to East Gippsland in search of gold.
Black swans and pelicans are common and, at the Metung Hotel, they compete for attention at feeding time.
Seagulls gather in the hope of snatching a treat from an unwary tourist’s fish and chips lunch, while rainbow lorikeets are content to feed from grevilleas growing near the water’s edge. Cormorants keep watch in the shallows.
The serenity of the lakes is in complete contrast to the ocean side of the dunes where the Southern Ocean pounds the beaches. At Eastern Beach on the northern end of Ninety Mile Beach the scenery is glorious but the water is deceptive. On windy days, rips and large waves can make swimming dangerous.
It’s best to enjoy the water views from the safety of dry land!
That’s another beautiful part of our amazing country.
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The superb weather helped made it look stunning.
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It might be a tad exciting during a winter storm, eh?
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It would be, but oh so chilly. 😨
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Stunning!
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It is such a beautiful area, Pauline.
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Beautiful area. Love the clear blue water and the bright blue sky. The black swan and black and white pelican fascinate me. Toss up if I prefer your rainbow lorikeet or your pink ice cream cone. Think ice cream may win today.
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The black swans are native to Australia. That ice cream was sherbet flavoured – delicious. We see rainbow lorikeets all the time, but I’ve never had a sherbet ice cream cone before!
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It is warm here today and I am thinking of going out for an ice cream cone.
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You should! Ice cream is one of the five food groups. 🙂
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Thank you. I did go for ice cream today and enjoyed every bit of it.
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How absolutely beautiful. Do you feel as though you would like to stay for months at every place you come across?
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I usually say to Mr ET I reckon we could stay at least a week at each of these places. This is just down the road from the venue for Kevtoberfest so we were there a few times.
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Beautiful place! We actually have sun today so I am not quite as jealous as usual.
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Anabel, this area is lovely and we feel a little envious that our friends live so close. Here in Queensland, we are having beautiful autumn weather and it’s hard to credit that winter is only three weeks away. Today it was 22 degrees C.
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Currently enjoying 18C! Very pleasant.
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Fabulous photos as usual, especially the clouds in that second last one. (Although, I’m also a fan of the icecream one.) I’ve lived in Victoria for 50 years and I’ve never been to Lakes Entrance which seems a bit shocking really. It’s a lovely part of the state.
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You need to go and visit, Mosy! It’s simply beautiful. That ice cream was sherbet flavoured and it was amazingly good.
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Gorgeous photos Carol. I’ve spent many a holiday in Lakes Entrance when I was growing up. Such a great place.
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It’s such a beautiful area.
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Sure is. 🙂
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What a wonderful area, Carol! Reminds me of Florida. 🙂 🙂
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I haven’t been to Florida but I imagine it to be all canals, judging by Sylvia’s photos.
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The Intercostal waterways are my favourite aspect. (I couldn’t remember the name for them last night when I made the comment. Too much sun- yippee! 🙂 🙂 )
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Nice to hear you are enjoying some sunshine.
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It looks so calm and peaceful there. A good spot for contemplation 🙂
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It is very calm and beautiful until you go onto the beaches, where it has been blowing a gale every time we’ve ever gone.
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Soooo beautiful! Though the ice cream looked a little strange – sort of sparkly? I can see this area being a wonderful place for a couple of weeks holiday.
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It was sparkly – sherbet flavoured ice cream dipped in pink sherbet crystals. It was delicious – all fizzy on the outside. 🙂
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I used to love sherbet, especially one called ‘cream soda’ a pink soft sherbet that tasted sublime. I think I’d like your ice-cream.
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You would for sure.
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I’ve never seen too much water, so I’d love this. The blue skies are wonderful, and ice cream is certainly a wonderful way to end an adventure. 🙂
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We don’t have this much water where we live either. It’s so beautiful and such a novelty for us. We loved it.
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So much water indeed! Fabulous blue sky and blue water. I especially love the second last photo of the beach. I feel as though I could walk right into that bliss.
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The beaches are so wide and beautiful. We were almost the only ones there too.
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It looks so beautiful there. It must have been perfect to sit and watch the world go by with a tasty ice cream cone for company. 🙂
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It is lovely and the beautiful weather really helped too.
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Beautiful weather can help almost every situation. 🙂
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Such a beautiful area! I love all these shades of blue, especially on a sunny day 🙂
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The sea and sky were glorious that day. We were blessed with wonderful weather for most of our road atrip. Thank you, Christie.
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How beautiful. Your photos are amazing and they make visitors to have a wanderlust to visit this place. I love sea and combined with land, it is wonderful experience. Thank You for this post.
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Perhaps you might come and visit one day, Matti. Glad you enjoyed seeing this area of Australia.
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I’m always amazed at the vastness of your country Carol. I reckon Belgium would fit into that expanse, with room at the edges for Luxembourg.
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And we are amazed by how tiny the countries in Europe are too. It’s all relative to what you’re used to, isn’t it. Conversely though, unlike many Australians who do the “15 countries in 10 days Tour of Europe”, we prefer to stay in one place for a week or so and see it thoroughly. After we spent two weeks just in Belgium and that was only Bruges and Brussels, I was talking to a lady at the gym who couldn’t believe we went all that way and only did two cities.
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Yes the differences between the continents is immense. And I know perfectly well from watching TV that whenever you are ill in Australia you have to call the doctor who comes out to see you in a plane! 🙂
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And we have kangaroos jumping down the main street too. 🙂
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And everyone has a pet koala 🐨
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And we all wear hats with corks on the brim to keep the flies away.
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Oh right. But if I visit I am going to keep my English bowler hat on
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I’d like to see that!
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