Mt Evelyn to Gipsy Point

It has been years in the dreaming, six months in the planning and finally we are ready to set off on our trip around Australia.

Our first destination was Gipsy Point, in the far reaches of Victoria's East Gippsland region. Our friends own the Gipsy Point Lodge a wilderness retreat that resides on the Genoa river which flows into the estuary system of Mallacoota. 

A 6 to 7 hour trip to Gipsy Point seemed like a logical and achievable first test run for our vehicle, van, boat and associated toys that we had packed for the journey. 12 hours later we limped into the lodge late and a little worse for ware.

The boat on our roof emitted an extraordinary noise, amplified by the cone like shape of the hull, this vibrating, drumming noise was near deafening and became apparent only after the car drove above 70kms an hour.

We made several stops to adjust that straps, we removed ply floor of the boat, we added padding, changed the position, unloaded the vessel and reloaded and finally found a compromise that allowed us to complete the first leg of the trip.

As it turns out, the case of the vibrating boat continued for a good portion of the first week of driving until we finally discovered the best set up for our rig.

We were warmly greeted by the Mitchell's upon arrival and opted to stay in a cabin that night....