It’s been a long time between posts due to family commitments, but I finally managed to dust off my camera on a family road trip through Gippsland in February 2021. It was good to escape the confines of Melbourne after numerous lockdowns. I’ve now finally found some time to process and post some photos. Hopefully it won’t be this long until my next post.
We stayed at the lovely Jetty Road Retreat at Nungurner. This was a great place for a family get away as they had plenty of birdlife to look at, kayaks to use and you could fish off the local jetty all just a stone’s throw away from the accommodation. The photo below is Nungurner boat shed near Lakes Entrance in the early morning light. Apparently this one has been around since about 1900.
Crimson Rosella at Jetty Road Retreat, taken on my phone camera. The accommodation provided birdseed which ensured a wide variety of birds visiting our front porch every day.
We also did a day trip to Buchan and dined at the famous Buchan hotel, which was crowdfunded after being destroyed in bushfires a few years back. Photo below is of the Royal Cave at the Buchan Caves reserve – this really is a situation where the photo doesn’t do it justice. The rock formations, and sparkle of the minerals in the lights were really something else.
You can’t go to Gippsland without a visit to the iconic Wilson’s Promontory. It is pictured here in the distance from our accommodation in Yanakie. Having a 4 year old and 3 month old precluded us from doing any of the longer walks but we still enjoyed going to Tidal River and Squeaky Beach.
No trip to East Gippsland would be complete without a visit to the famous ‘Long Paddock’ cafe in Lindenow, which i had been reading about for a while. Apparently the chefs and owners had worked in Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe for a while before returning home to Lindenow and opening up this produce-driven restaurant. The restaurant certainly lived up to the hype, being located in bucolic surrounds, with simple, tasty food that focussed on the produce more so than the technique.
Above is the view from out the front of the restaurant. Lightfoot & Sons winery also has a cellar door with similar views not too far from here which is definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.
Entree was hot-smoked salmon soba salad with burnt chillis.
Main was a lovely 3 cheese gnocchi with mushrooms.
The dessert display.
We couldn’t resist the creme caramel with raspberries and stone-fruits from the chef’s garden.
Can’t go past the pear and frangipani tart when it’s pear season.
Overall we found the food and service was lovely, and the value for money was excellent. We will definitely be returning here in the future.