Take Meetoo Metung

A little weekend getaway to Metung

Where: Metung, Gipsland Lakes, Victoria

What: holiday/getaway destination

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How lucky were we to have such a gloriously warm weekend for our trip to Metung, with our days in mid-low 30s and our nights dipping down to 19C.

Metung is a tiny, yet beautiful, village located on a peninsula in the Gippsland Lakes… Separating the lake and the ocean is a small strip of land opposite, so local wildlife included pelicans and swans and we enjoyed subdued ocean breezes.   With its mild temperatures (year average between 25-14C) it has been dubbed Victoria’s Riviera.

We left Melbourne at midday on Friday and our drive took just over 3.5 hours. So plenty of time to settle into our accommodation when we arrived – dad took the kids to the pool and I sussed out the general store for basic supplies. (If you are staying for longer than a couple of days, or plan to do all your own catering, I highly recommend stocking up in Bairnsdale – 20min away – as the local store is limited and pricey.)

We had great accommodation at The Moorings with a two-bedroom apartment – I should point out that there are loads of great places to stay and I just found The Moorings via a little internet research. Anyway, we had awesome views across the water, a one-minute walk to everything (Metung is tiny!) and facilities like tennis court, indoor and outdoor pools, BBQs.. Oh and did I mention you can moor your boat (if you’re so lucky to have one!) out the front.

We were spoilt for views – being a small peninsula you could cross the road to view the beautiful sunsets over Lake King.

The local playground had a recycled water sprinkler fountain (which the kids loved) so between that and the two pools back at The Moorings the kids had plenty of entertainment.  Sadly the Gippsland Lakes region is still suffering blue-green algae (I am told two weeks of cold weather will kill it off) so it’s not recommended you swim there at the moment… However, for future reference, there is a sandy ‘beach’ at Lake King that looked like a great spot for paddling and we did stop there and make sandcastles while watching the sunset.

One of the major pastimes of the area is fishing, so we hired a little boat for a couple of hours and took out some rods and lines… No bites, but was fun to cruise about and watch the sailboats and wildlife.  A note of warning – the 3-year-old had a ball and was very eager to participate in any/every way, but the 6-year-old whinged quite a bit.. Afterward when asked what her favourite bit was she volunteered seeing a pelican up close, being on the flat water (when we went down a little inlet) oh, and getting back to the pier!!

There are only a few local places to eat and we tried out two – The Metung Galley and Bancroft Bites.  Both were great.  The Galley is probably more child friendly as it is larger, opens out onto a large lawn and has a fantastic kids menu.  We had dinner there and I would recommend it (see photos).  We had breakfast at Bancroft Bites – and if you are eating there early (they open at 8am) you won’t have a problem getting a table.. however, it is small and very popular, so any other time you need to book.  The food there was nice and they also have a take-away menu which looked quite delicious.

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Another pastime in Metung is walking – and we didn’t have much time to explore this much.. that said once we arrived we didn’t use our car again till we left.. the boardwalk apparently stretches 2km and there are walking tracks signposted.

Metung is a 20-minute drive from Lakes Entrance – and if you are serious about beaches then make sure you don’t miss out on seeing the 90-mile beach, accessible via a bridge.  There is surf patrol during weekends and holidays… It takes a good five minutes to walk across the bridge, over the dune and across the wide expanse of sand to get to the water – so make sure you arrive prepared!  There are changing rooms, showers and toilets (as well as a kiosk) located at the beach.

Metung is seriously gorgeous… part of its charm is its very quiet nature (where was everyone, other than at Bancroft Bites?!!) and I guess this is possible because it’s just a little bit further away from everything..