Lakes Entrance 4.45am – albatross – seals – whales – pelicans – Gabo Island 5pm – cows – monument
We left our comfortable free berth in Lakes Entrance in the dark cold early morning, heading for – the bar. With some trepidation… the water was very smooth and glassy (Jan-Water) and we are aware that the sea tends to be calmer at this time of day. But still…bars are…scary! Just as we were heading towards the danger area, along came – an Angel Boat! A tough little fishing boat chugged past, obviously ready to set off across the bar – we followed very close behind. How fortuitous was that!
It was cold and dark; Pete and I took turns having a rest on the couch until the sun came up and things warmed up just a bit. I am very sad to relate that while I took my couch time, I finished the Stephen Fry Chronicles, in my left ear… I feel as if I have lost a friend - maybe I will start again at the beginning…
It was a very long day. We had a bit of pressure because we had to get to Gabo Island by daylight, and then we had to try to find a sheltered place to spend the night. Unknown territory! We had talked to the young blokes next to us at Lakes Entrance, and they said they had spent a night there. (They, incidentally, were on the most enormous shiny new catamaran, Liquid Desire, which they had built and were taking up to charter in the Pacific islands, so we might meet up with them. Somewhere. Very nice handsome young blokes; they and their beautiful boat will be very popular!)
It was all quite uneventful; the sea was calm, no wind, just a lot of distance to cover. I was delighted to find our two albatross following us for most of the day. “Oh look, Pete, it’s the same ones we saw coming into the Lakes Entrance bar the other day!” A look of joy crossed Pete’s face. “Oh! How romantic!’ he chortled! A few minutes later, he pointed at a small diving bird and said, “See that bird there? The white one, with black on its wing tips! I saw that exact same bird at Wilson’s Promontory! It has followed us!” He refused to believe these were our very own albatross couple. Pete’s cynicism aside, these birds brought me great joy all day. They were so graceful, skimming the surface of the water, flying all around the boat and then off into the distance.
The stretch of Victoria we cruised past today was amazing. Not a town or house or road in sight. And some very forbidding bits of coastline. Many shipwrecks showed up on our chart. We spent quite a happy time frightening each other with what ifs… what if both motors conked out and there was no wind to fill the sails… we would inexorably be swept onto that unforgiving coast… (Actually I didn’t come up with these scenarios; they were almost entirely Pete’s horrid fantasies…)
Daylight is short at this time of year so we were very glad when Gabo Island finally was within reach. It did not look promising – bleak and windswept. With lots of shipwrecks marked on the chart… We were heading for a little bay, and we were very much aware that it would be hard to drop and anchor because the bottom was rocky, not sandy. If the bay wasn’t suitable, we would have to press on for Eden…five more hours… So we crept towards this little bay with not much hope and much trepidation… Just as we were approaching, up came a big black shape – I was about to say, “Oh no! Rocks! AAGGHH!” or something equally unhelpful when…up came another slightly smaller big black shape, right next to the boat! A mother whale and her teenage calf! They went past us slowly and calmly and flipped their big tails out at us as they made their leisurely way along Bass Strait. Such a good omen!
We went around the corner and – oh joy indeed – there was a dear little jetty, as solid as could be. Pete said, “Quick! Read the sign on the hill! And get our the ropes! And the fenders!” I did all of these things simultaneously and found that the sign said, “Gabo Island Lighthouse Reserve. Visitors welcome. Please report to the caretaker on arrival.” Usually these signs say, basically, PISS OFF. There was another sign on the jetty, so once we were tied up I hopped off to look, a bit anxiously. Would it say PISS OFF?? No, it said, very helpfully, “Please do not tie up to this,” this being a bit of rusty black pipe. Well, no… A small herd of very fat, contented looking cattle were our welcoming committee. Just behind them, picturesquely arrayed on the rocks, was a small flock of pelicans, with some cormorants drying their wings alongside. And as the sun finally set – we were only just in time to tie up in daylight – a group of seals came and splashed around in the bay, popping their heads up to examine the boat.
It was too dark to walk across to the lighthouse but we went a kilometer or so up the track, with one of our cows accompanying us part of the way, then waiting for us to return. We found a monument - to a whole boatful of people, shipwrecked nearby in the early 1800s…
So we came back to 2XS, tied with many ropes and steadied with many fenders to the jetty, and cooked fish and potatoes on the barbecue. We had this with a very nice salad, left over from our meal with the Smiths at Paynesville. And I don’t think it wil be very long before we are in bed snoring soundly, very relieved to be so sheltered and safe, and to have had such an Attenborough Day!