Gippsland Lakes Accommodation

With Australia's number one highway running through the centre of Gippsland, access to the country has never been easier. From a central location day trips can lead to an abundance of different events and activities that can be tried, or spend some time to bask in the glories of what the area has to offer.

Explore the Gippsland Lakes and soak up the sun on the beautiful Ninety Mile Beach. Visit the largest concentration of Open Cut Mining & Power Generation activity in Australia. Or Journey to Phillip Island and catch a glimpse of the unique penguin parade.

The following pages provide you with information on different locations within the Gippsland Region. There are so many exciting things to do and sights to see, that we have divided the region into different interesting localities and themes that you may wish to visit.

The Gippsland Lakes system is Australia’s biggest and most beautiful expanse of inland waterways with over 400 square kilometres of lakes, rivers, lagoons and islands to explore.

The lakes were originally shallow coastal lagoons that were part of a large bay but over thousands of years sand has built up in deposits along the coastline and the lakes are now separated from the ocean by a beautiful strip of coastal sand dunes known as the Ninety Mile Beach.

Beginning at Sale on the Thomson River, there are three main lakes: Lake King, Lake Victoria and Lake Wellington and they are all joined and fed by rivers that originate in the high country, including the Mitchell, Nicholson, Tambo and Avon rivers. The lakes include many small islands, which are reached easily by ferry or water taxi from Paynesville. The two most visited islands are Raymond Island, which is home to a large koala colony and a rich array of flora and fauna and Rotamah Island, famous for its bird life. There are also two national parks that abut the lakes, the Lakes National Park and the Gippsland Lakes Coastal Park, both of which offer great camping and walking tracks.

A unique feature of the Gippsland Lakes is the Mitchell River silt jetties, which snake eight kilometres out into Lake King from the mouth of the mighty Mitchell River. The jetties are a geographical rarity of world renown second in size only to the immense silt jetties of the Mississippi. The best place to view the jetties is from the lookout at Eagle Point near Bairnsdale.

Accommodation
To get the most out of your trip to the Gippsland Lakes why not hire a cruiser for a week and spend your whole holiday on the water. Or if you’d rather base yourself on land, you can enjoy wonderful lakeside accommodation at one of the waterfront villages. On the shores of Lake King is Paynesville, a boatie's haven surrounded by water on three sides with canals and inlets providing lots of sheltered moorings for yachts. Metung is a small, stylish village set on an arm of land extending into the lakes with water lapping on the shores on both sides. Alternatively at the point where the Gippsland Lakes drain into the sea lies Lakes Entrance. This is a holiday town with plenty of activities on offer.