12 April 2012 - Marley Point, Gippsland Lakes, Victoria

This morning we woke to an absolutely glorious day, albeit very cold initially and so we left Morwell and Traralgon under clear blue skies. I was sure it was because I was now well set up with blizzard jacket and $2 woollen gloves; Murphy’s Law.

We passed through Rosedale, the roadside roses soaking up the sun, and on down the wide Latrobe Valley. After leaving Traralagon there was no evidence of the vast brown coal fields underneath the lush green dairying pasture. Even though we knew the annual CMCA rally had been held over last weekend at Sale, we were amazed to see literally hundreds of motorhomes heading west, almost every third or fourth vehicle that came toward us.

Port Sale's marina

Arriving at Sale we found our way to Port Sale and parked beside the canal and marina, along with even more motorhomes. There we encountered a couple from Tasmania who had been on the road fulltime for just a few weeks and were heading north chasing the warmer temperatures just as we did last year. As caravanners, we were able to relay our own travel tips and it was some time before we parted company wishing them safe journeys and great fun.

We walked along the promenade, and delighted in our surrounds. Although I had expected something more sizeable and sophisticated, I was impressed. The Port of Sale is located at the end of the two and a half kilometre canal, man-made in 1888 which connects into a network of natural waterways and the Gippsland  Lakes, effectively connecting Sale to Lakes Entrance.  The Gippsland Lakes are a network of lakes, marshes and lagoons in East Gippsland covering an area of about 600 square kilometres. The largest of these are Lake Wellington, Lake King and Lake Victoria, and it is the first of these that the Thompson River on which Port Sale is located, and joined downstream by the Latrobe River, flows.

Sale grew as a service centre for the gold mines in Gippsland including Omeo which we visited when we did the Alpine circuit from Bright.  Today it has a population of about 13,400 people and is the administrative centre for the Wellington Shire which has a population of 41,700. The region’s industries are dairy farming, timber, defence, retail, education and horticulture, and oil and gas offshore in the nearby Bass Strait.

We walked up into the town and walked about this very pleasant shopping precinct, buying fresh bread and the day's newspaper, checking out house prices as is one of our pastimes. The town quite impressed us however one would wonder at the wisdom of settling in a place that was initially known as Flooding Creek.

Lovely Marley Point

After lunch we visited the Gippsland Art Gallery to view the star exhibition titled “A Shared Perspective” by Hendrik and Kerryn Foster. This was an eclectic mixture of sculpture and of bits and pieces collected with a view to perhaps incorporating into a work of art. One of these, for instance, was a wooden crate full of boat buoys. Most of Hendrik’s work is in steel, his wife’s more varied, but both incorporate metal products in most of their work. We were of two minds as to its appeal, and much of it raised the question; but is it art?

 
By this time, the day had warmed up considerably, so much in contrast to the weather over the past week. We drove on to Marley Point here on Lake Wellington, about twenty kilometres east north east of Sale, passing across marshy land densely populated with black swans. The free camp is adjacent to the yacht club, at the spot where the annual Marley Point Yacht Race starts, an overnight race through to Paynesville on Lake King, passing through the narrow and winding McLennan Straits between this lake and Lake Victoria.

When we arrived there were about a dozen other motorhomes and caravans here, the rally folk who have decided to hang about this wonderful area, together with several day tripping fisher folk. Later a couple of jet ski riders came and disturbed the otherwise peaceful scene. Chris and I walked some distance along the lake edge before the wind came up; thousands of gulls and dozens of pelicans live along the lake edge. It is truly a fabulous place.