Paynesville for Easter

We gave Phill and Leanne a bit of warning that we had taken their recommendation to visit Lakes Entrance and the Gippsland Lakes seriously and communications stepped up to make the rendezvous. As luck would have it, Phill's work roster had him off for Easter. It might ordinarily have been a chance for great progress with the upgrade work on Mad Hatter but our visit put a kink in those plans when we relocated, with Easy Tiger, across to Paynesville from Duck Arm and hooked up to public moorings alongside Raymond Island.

 Gippsland Lakes Yacht Club.

To stretch our water supply we decided to dinghy across to the yacht club for showers and arranged to meet up at the bakery for coffee. Phill had briefed the cook about the Bloke/s sausage roll quest and were waiting for us with Steve and Leanne from Easy Tiger when we arrived. Recent mugshots of the crew from Easy Tiger on the blog facilitated the meeting of strangers. From then on, boat inspections, BBQ's, lunches, 5ers and trips were arranged, culminating in a birthday lunch for the Bloke at the Metung Pub on Easter Monday.

The Bloke samples his first Sausage Roll since getting back from Tasmania.

 

Leanne and Phill

All being well, their adventure commences March, 2016.

The Bloke had a minor meltdown on Good Friday believing that the solar panels might not be working. Initial investigations, although inconclusive seeing as the idea occurred to him at dusk, suggested that the wiring might need changing. Too many joins and too small a gauge of wire creating resistance. He was definitely onto something because he burnt his fingers on the connectors the next day: a sure sign of current resistance. Hopes were high that the nearby chandlers would be open on Saturday morning. They were. A good length of heavy gauge tinned wire was purchased by way of a suitable replacement, giving the Bloke ample occupation for the rest of the day and me some free time to be taken on a bicycle tour of Raymond Island, home to a famous koala colony.

A bridge to Raymond Island has been the topic of conversation locally for decades and so far is only a little more than a garden ornament in a kiddies playground. To reach Raymond Island by car or on foot, one takes the ferry across. It takes longer to load than to cross the channel!

 

It's best to take the one on the left.

 

Cockatoos, Rosellas and some Parrots.

We did spot a koala and an echidna too.

From our moorings we had a great vantage point to observe boat traffic from Paynesville traverse through to Lake King and Lake Victoria. Easter is a favourite time for special yachting regattas and the weekend events included a Round-Raymond Island handicap event on Easter Sunday that provided a colourful spectacle of spinnaker runs through the channel in front of the town.