Stretching from San Remo to the NSW border, the Gippsland Trail is a mandatory diary entry for those who love their seafood. Even the sharks have their attractions.
Sharks have a fearsome reputation in some parts of Australia, but in Gippsland they are hunted – not as dangerous predators, but as a highly prized source of seafood, along with the abalone, lobsters, prawns and scallops that turn up daily in fishermen’s nets and divers’ sacks.
Spectacular and expansive, Gippsland’s coastline extends 700km from San Remo, east of Melbourne, to the New South Wales border. It is a lengthy stretch of rock and sand that embraces the natural beauty of the Gippsland Lakes, Ninety Mile Beach and the Snowy River estuary at Marlo. A year-round playground for water sports and angling, much of the coast is easily reached by car. Scattered along the way are restaurants and provedores offering numerous opportunities to sample fresh regional produce, wines and seafood.
Reached from Melbourne on the South Gippsland and Bass Highways, San Remo is at the entrance to Western Port Bay. Serving as a gateway to Phillip Island, San Remo boasts not only surf and sun, but much-sought-after crayfish. Interlopers might call them lobsters, but they are known locally as “crays”, and the sweet-fleshed crustaceans are a big seller at the local Fisherman’s Co-op. Watch the boats unload before visiting the wharf-side fish shop to select from the day’s catch. Almost as popular at the co-op is the daily feeding of a large flock of pelicans.
After San Remo, the Bass Highway leads via Kilcunda and Wonthaggi to the start of the Bunurong Coastal Drive. Popular with photographers and artists, the cliff-top road wends its way to the seaside resort of Inverloch. From there it’s an easy 20-minute drive to Koonwarra. Australia’s first “waste-wise village”, Koonwarra prides itself on environmental sustainability and its use of regional organic produce. The Lyre Bird Hill Winery and Guest House, the Koonwarra Store and the Farmhouse Kitchen are great spots to linger over a good coffee or some old-style handmade produce.
From Koonwarra there are several routes that allow for a relaxed drive through verdant and undulating dairy country to the township of Foster. It might seem more of a farming community than a fishing village, but it’s gummy shark central. In the main street is the fish shop belonging to John Doran, skipper of the shark boat Karalinga. The shop is a showcase of up to 25 species of fish, including the shark meat often called flake. Other species of shark are also sold as flake, but the premium variety is gummy shark – Doran’s specialty. The sweet, white-fleshed fish, usually sold skinned and boneless, is found in most fish shops and restaurants across Gippsland, popular grilled or lightly battered.
About 50km east of Foster is Gippsland’s oldest seaport, Port Albert. Famous for catches of delicately flavoured King George whiting, the port has a traditional-style fish and chippery – Port Albert Wharf Fish & Chips – on the wharf overlooking the inlet. Visitors can share their paper-wrapped fried fish and chips with a resident flock of seagulls. The wharf is also home to Gippsland’s newest waterfront restaurant, Wildfish, run by the same family of fifth-generation fisherfolk who operate the fish and chip shop. The restaurant is modern and casual, the seafood prepared with panache – from simple, pan-fried whole flounder to snapper and mussel pie.
Sale is a port city about an hour away via the township of Yarram. Adjacent to the port is Bis Cucina, a cosmopolitan restaurant where the signature dish is seafood linguine with mussels, pipis and king prawns. If you choose to stay overnight in Sale, Minnies Bed & Breakfast, at the edge of town, offers tranquil privacy and creative dinners.
About 15 minutes from Sale is landlocked Stratford, where eel fisherman Lynton Fisher processes his catch of short- and long-finned eels. They spawn in the Coral Sea off Queensland and then drift thousands of kilometres south to Gippsland. Largely nocturnal, they inhabit Gippsland’s waterways for years before returning north to complete their lifecycle. Eels up to 2m long are trapped, mostly for export to Asia, but can be bought locally; smoked eel and eel fillets are the popular options, often as cold meats, pates and pies.
Forty minutes east of Stratford, on the banks of the Mitchell River, is the busy rural service town of Bairnsdale, home to fishmonger and raconteur Jack (Jerome) Scott, owner of South East Seafood. The former chef sells fresh seafood – marlin, swordfish, yellow-fin tuna, local baler shells and giant ocean crabs. If his display whets your appetite, around the corner is the chic River Grill restaurant, where a blackboard menu features seafood treats such as Lakes Entrance prawn and basil ravioli, thai-style fish curry and whole baked snapper.
From Bairnsdale, follow the Mitchell River to the lakeside settlement of Paynesville. Robert Morecroft is one of the last lake fishermen working from this port and each morning he casts his nets on the lakes, shadowed by sea eagles.
The best of his day’s catch – often bream, luderick and flathead – is sold at the family-owned shop on the Paynesville Esplanade. Locals boast that the Morecrofts’ fried fish and chips are better than those of the famous Harry Ramsden’s fish and chip restaurant chain in England.
Across the road is the Fisherman’s Wharf Cafe. Once the unloading wharf for the local fishing fleet, it is now a popular boardwalk cafe where King George whiting flake, chips and salad are a crowd favourite. Whether wining and dining or simply enjoying a quiet coffee, this is a comfortable vantage point from which to watch the comings and goings of the nautical in-crowd.
Less than an hour from Paynesville is Lakes Entrance, the maritime heart and soul of the Gippsland Lakes district. A major tourist destination, the town is also home port to about 100 ocean-going fishing vessels. Chancing the often treacherous narrow entrance to Bass Strait, the Lakes Entrance fleet harvests more than 80 species of fish and is noted for its prawns, flathead and scallops. Much of the catch is sold at the Fishermen’s Co-operative, Leftrade Omega3. Those who prefer to barter with the seafarers can take a stroll on the portside boardwalk where, in season, you can buy fresh prawns and scallops direct from the boats.
Also floating dockside is the Ferryman’s Seafood Cafe, both seafood restaurant and fishmongery. Supplied daily by the trawler Nina, the catch of the day is just that. Snapper, gemfish and rockling are regularly on the menu, but temptingly different are the generous seasonal plates of Bass Strait shovelnose lobster served with roasted garlic aioli. Shovelnoses are similar to Moreton Bay bugs and eating them can be a bit fiddly, but as the eye-catching centrepiece of a tasty alfresco lunch on the Ferryman’s sundeck, they are hard to beat.
Just across the road, overlooking the port, is the Bellevue Inn. Centrally located and stylish, the Bellevue exudes a nautical flair and its seafood restaurant The Boathouse is recommended for its platters of oysters, prawns, calamari, scallops and fish.
A couple of hours further on, Mallacoota is coast meets country. Surrounded by Croajingolong National Park with views across Bass Strait, it is the base for one of Australia’s most productive abalone fisheries. Revered in parts of Asia as an aphrodisiac, and a symbol of wealth and good fortune, abalone are snail-like marine molluscs housed in a single shell lined with mother-of-pearl. Collected by teams of divers off the rocky shoreline of far East Gippsland and destined primarily for export, the delicate and sweetly flavoured abalone is Gippsland’s most expensive seafood. It requires a deft hand in the kitchen and a hefty wallet, but if you’re game to try one of life’s premier seafood indulgences, abalone can be bought from the Abalone Fishermen’s Co-op in town.
Mallacoota is not quite journey’s end. On the edge of the Croajingolong UNESCO Biosphere Reserve is Gipsy Point Lodge, modern guesthouse-style accommodation in a lakeside bush setting. Join the resident parrots on the sundeck, raise a glass to the sea eagles soaring above and contemplate life at the end of the seafood trail.
Stay
Bellevue on the Lakes
201 Esplanade, Lakes Entrance.
Gipsy Point Lodge
Minnies Bed & Breakfast
202 Gibsons Road, Sale.
Eat & Drink
Bis Cucina
100 Foster Street, Sale.
+61 3 5144 3388.
Ferryman’s Seafood Cafe
Middle Boat Harbour, The Esplanade, Lakes Entrance.
+61 3 5155 3000.
Website
Lyre Bird Hill Winery & Guest House
370 Inverloch Road, Koonwarra.
+61 3 5664 3204.
Website
Port Albert Wharf Fish & Chips/Wildfish
40 Wharf Street, Port Albert.
+61 3 5183 2007.
The River Grill
2 Wood Street, Bairnsdale.
+61 3 5153 1421.
Seafood
Abalone Fishermen’s Co-operative
1 Commercial Road, Mallacoota.
+61 3 5158 0388.
Website
East Coast Eels
29 Princes Highway, Stratford.
+61 3 5145 6863.
Foster Seafood
35 Main Street, Foster.
+61 3 5682 2815.
Leftrade Omega3
Shop 5, Safeway Arcade, Lakes Entrance.
+61 3 5155 4344.
Website
Paynesville Seafoods
67a The Esplanade, Paynesville.
+61 3 5156 6080.
San Remo Fisherman’s Co-operative
190 Marine Parade, San Remo.
+61 3 5678 5206.
Website
South East Seafood Co
Shop 3/33 Nicholson Street, Bairnsdale.
+61 3 5153 1100.
Source: Qantas The Australian Way October 2008