Lakes Entrance and the Gippsland Lakes

A Fishing Town Where An Artificial Channel Joins Australia'S Largest Network Of Coastal Lagoons To The Southern Ocean, With Houseboats, The Ninety Mile Beach Sandbar Separating Fresh Water From Surf, And The Buchan Caves And Croajingolong Wilderness Within Reach Inland And East · Lakes Entrance, Victoria

Lakes Entrance is a fishing and holiday town in eastern Victoria where a cut artificial channel joins the Southern Ocean to the Gippsland Lakes, Australia's largest network of interconnected coastal lagoons. A long sand barrier called Ninety Mile Beach separates the calm, mostly fresh lake water from open ocean surf a short walk across the dunes, giving the town two entirely different waterfronts within a few minutes of each other. Houseboats and runabouts work the sheltered lakes past the pretty village of Metung and the swing bridge over to Raymond Island, where koalas sit low enough in the trees to spot from a cable punt ferry without a guide. The Esplanade boardwalk runs along the lake foreshore past the fishing fleet and a long-running fishermen's co-operative selling the day's catch. Inland and further east, the Buchan limestone caves and the wilderness coast of Croajingolong National Park sit within a comfortable drive of the town.

Eastern Victoria, about 3.5 hours from Melbourne along the Princes Highway, Lakes Entrance, Victoria, Australia

The town itself has no single opening hours, but most lake cruise operators, houseboat hire companies and the Raymond Island vehicle punt run on set daily timetables that shrink in the cooler months and expand over the Christmas and Easter holiday peaks, so confirm current departure times before planning around one. The fishermen's co-operative shopfront keeps standard retail hours and can sell out of the day's catch by early afternoon on a busy weekend. Patrolled ocean swimming on Ninety Mile Beach is seasonal, generally running only through the main summer school holiday period, and the beach is entirely unpatrolled outside that window.

Lakes Entrance and the Gippsland Lakes on Spottos · Explore more places on Spottos