Day two of our Across Australia famil with "Sydney Melbourne Touring" runs from the cabins of Tidal River in the heart of Wilsons Promontory to Paynesville. We start before sunrise with a walk up to Pillar Point, then head offshore with Wanderer Adventures along the Wilsons Prom's southern coast. The afternoon is a 265-kilometre drive north-east through Gippsland, with an inspection at Sale before dinner near Paynesville's marina at Pier 70.
A little after seven, before the sun has thrown its first rays, five of us leave the cabins at Tidal River. Tamara, Jessica, Kristy, Sabrina and me. The bush is cold and quiet, still caught between shadow and light, and a track is waiting.
The Pillar Point walk leaves the campground, crosses the footbridge over Tidal River and walks through a tunnel of tea-tree to a shoulder of granite above the bay. A beautiful 3.6 kilometres trail on uneven ground with a short rock scramble near the top and unprotected cliff edges.
With a few stops on the way, we take closer to two hours. The reward is the view ! From the boulders it opens over Norman Bay, the white quartz sand of Squeaky Beach, Mount Oberon behind us and the offshore islands of the Glennies. The park is still waking, and wallabies and a single unhurried wombat keep us company on the path. For clients who would rather not "climb", the morning also offers a gentler option, the flat Loo-Errn boardwalk along the river, an easy thirty to forty minutes there and back.
Back at camp, we check out and join Wanderer Adventures for its Wilderness Cruise. The boat is one of the operator’s custom-built yellow amphibious craft. It rolls down Norman Beach, noses into the surf and, without ceremony, becomes a boat.
The trip lasts about two and a half hours. Our skippers, Damo and Jackson, handle the craft while two crew members look after the thirty or so passengers on board, all equipped with red waterproof suits provided by the operator to protect us from any sea spray or rain.
We track the granite coast south to South Point, the southernmost tip of mainland Australia, then turn into Bass Strait and the waters of Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park. Skull Rock, a granite monolith, reveals its shape gradually as we draw closer.
The crew point out an Australian fur seal colony, which Damo and Jackson describe as one of the largest in the country, as well as the nesting cliffs of the white-bellied sea eagle. You tend to hear the seals before you see them: they leave the rocks by the dozen and swim up to the boat, playing in the water just a few metres from us.
Other exceptional encounters await us a little further on: groups of dolphin escort us for several hundred metres, and a humpback whale appears in the distance, its powerful blow betraying its presence, followed by spectacular dives.
We are back on the sand by early afternoon for a light lunch at the General Store of the Tidal River Campground.
The afternoon belongs to the road. It is 265 kilometres from Tidal River to Paynesville, a little over three hours, heading north through Foster and Yarram, then on to Longford and Sale. The country changes along the way. The wild coast gives way to dairy paddocks and the flat, quiet farmland of central Gippsland.
The first inspection of this leg is in the centre of Sale, a long-established Gippsland service town set on the Thomson River and known as a practical gateway to the Gippsland Lakes, the Ninety Mile Beach region and the wider high country beyond.
Mansi on Raymond is an aparthotel that opened in 2013, offering studios and one- to three-bedroom townhouses in two styles, Villa and Georgian. Each bedroom has its own ensuite, while the townhouses add a full kitchen, lounge and laundry.
The property leans on its signature beds, soundproofing and double glazing, fast Wi-Fi and smart TVs, and rounds out the offer with a gym, sauna, spa, bikes, and free parking. Arrival is self-service, through a twenty-four-hour check-in kiosk. Each room holds a small gallery of original works by local artist Pollyannar, and the windows open onto rose gardens and courtyards.
Some 30 kilometres on, we reach Paynesville, promoted locally as Victoria’s boating capital and set at the heart of the Gippsland Lakes. The night is at Mariners Cove Motel & Apartments, on the waterfront, a short walk from the Raymond Island ferry.
The property is a practical, well-positioned waterfront base, a few minutes walk from the Marina and the ferry to Raymond Island, known for its koalas, which we will walk to see the following morning. Renovated and restyled in 2024, it offers 15 motel rooms overlooking the Paynesville canal and 8 self-contained apartments facing McMillan Strait. All rooms have water views, private jetties are available for guests travelling by boat, and breakfast can be served in the room.
Dinner is only a few steps away, at Pier 70, 70 The Esplanade. The room has a coastal feel: high ceilings, whitewashed walls, timber furnishings and a fireplace for a winter night. Set right on the Paynesville waterfront, with boats moored outside and McMillan Strait beyond, the restaurant plays naturally into the rhythm of the Gippsland Lakes.
Chef Ian Pearson’s menu keeps seafood, quality meats and local produce at the centre, with European influences running through dishes such as Bass Strait scallops, Tasmanian salmon, duck with prunes, and Gippsland Scotch fillet. The wine list also leans into the region, including bottles from nearby Gippsland producers such as Narkoojee, whose vineyards sit inland at Glengarry. It is the kind of address where the setting does half the storytelling: a warm dining room, a working waterfront, and a plate that stays close to the landscape outside.
