On Friday night we left Melbourne and drove about 2.5 hours south-east to Port Albert, one of two tiny towns that are the gateways to the Nooramunga Marine and Coastal Park. The park is a series of low, sandy islands separated by tidal channels. Except for one, they are uninhabited and are a havan for black swans, terns, pacific gulls, stilts, oystercatchers and other birds that migrate between Australian and Antarctic waters, although farmers used to swim cattle across to graze the narrow strips of vegetation.
Saturday morning (see our route in the map) we set out from Port Albert, fully laden with 12L of fresh water and camping things. The weather was windy and morning clouds that held a few showers soon gave way to beautiful blue skies. These stayed with us though the day and we had a beautiful evening under the stars with a nice fire and plenty of food, out of the wind behind a tiny dune. We also walked around the end of the sandy spit to see the waves breaking on the ocean-side.
The next morning was fine and warm but the wind picks up quickly bringing bands of showers and cooler temperatures. The shallow waters on the sandbars increased the wave heights and it took some effort to paddle back to Port Albert (we decided to head in before lunch incase the weather got any worse – especially after our experience in the Gippsland lakes, last year!). The new rudder that I recently purchased for Eggy Bread performed perfectly and back on shore we shunned our packed, flat-breads and tuna for (a very good) steak and ships at the local “Customs House Cafe”.
Since we arrived back on the mainland earlier than expected, we took the scenic route back to Melbourne visiting some very pretty waterfalls in the temperate rain forests of the Tarra Bulga State Park.