Destinations: Port Welshpool to Refuge Cove, Victoria

Moments later the southern right whale, swimming away from us through the entrance to the sheltered waters of Refuge Cove, surfaces again but much farther away, to catch another lungful of air before slipping back below the surface. Then, just like that, it’s gone.

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The whale was another highlight in what had already been a really good day. Earlier, we’d spotted thrashing white water and swirling seagulls about a mile outside the bay’s entrance, and the odd flash of grey as a pod of dolphins, working a bait ball, leapt from the water.

To our delight, the dolphins had eventually worked their way into the cove. Our two McLay boats, motoring out for the return trip to Port Welshpool, had slowed down to drink in the experience as the dozen-strong pod played in the water around us.

Seeing the whale, though, topped even that.

Our journey to one of the natural wonders of the Wilsons Promontory National Park in south-eastern Victoria had kicked off hours earlier, just as dawn broke, at the Port Welshpool boat ramp. Our plan for the day was simple; two boats, each with a belly full of fuel, would traverse the 24-odd nautical miles to Refuge Cove to visit one of the state’s most picturesque and unspoiled wilderness areas.

We’d almost called the trip off. Only a day before, the Bureau of Meteorology had rescinded a strong wind warning issued earlier in the week that would have made conditions ugly for our trip, with a gusting 20-25 knot northeasterly forecast. Instead, it said we’d face a 15-20 knot northeasterly with grey, rain-laden skies.

“We should be right,” Warragul Marine Group's David Garcia, our guide for the day, says over the phone as we discuss whether we’d pull the pin on the trip. “We’ll just hug the coastline and stay out of the worst of it.”

Putting in at Port Welshpool, it’s low tide so as we head east from the boat ramp we stick to the Lewis Channel, which bends its way around Little Snake Island to the south. To the north, Port Welshpool’s famous Long Jetty reaches out from the beach and jags right to run parallel with the channel.

The Long Jetty defines Port Welshpool. Built in the early 20th century to service the fishing industry, it helped cement the port as an important economic hub. However, time has marched on, and the once-busy port has become a sleepy village.

The original 850-metre jetty was built from locally cut stringybark timber. Recently renovated using more modern materials, the remnants of the pylons that once formed it are recycled into the nearby open-air visitor information centre.

Sadly, a largely soulless concrete laneway reaching across sandbanks replaces the original wooden structure. In a nod to its heritage, a winch once used to haul fishing boats out of the water, and a diving bell, form static displays.

Change is not all bad; the jetty is now a great place to cast a line. Lining it are shelters and rail-mounted stainless steel rod holders, as well as fish cleaning tables. If you can’t get on the water, at least you won’t waste the day.

As we head out we keep inside the channel markers; stray outside even a little bit and the depth alarm will start screaming.

The wind is building as we enter the Singapore Deep, the main channel that forms the entrance to the Port of Welshpool. We’re aiming to sneak in between the significantly larger Snake Island to the north and Entrance Point to the south, which also marks the start of the eastern shoreline of the Prom.

The waters around the Singapore Deep are shallow, and the winds are whipping them up into a rough, steep chop.

As David suggested, we hug the shoreline. Trees blanketing the low mountain range that forms the Prom reach down to the water interrupted only occasionally by raw, exposed granite bedrock. Huge boulders also litter the shoreline.

Overhead, brilliant blue skies are a stark contrast to the officially forecast grey. Luck is really on our side here.

It’s now an incoming tide and water levels are rising, so Garcia suggests we take a shortcut around the northern tip of the Prom. In the lee of the wind, the water is flat, allowing us to throttle up to cruising speed.

Rounding Hunter Point and its beacon, the sweeping, sand-strewn vista of Three Mile Beach opens up in front of us. We’re making good time. One of the boats sweeps in closer to the picturesque shoreline as Rene, our snapper for the day, works the camera.

We leave the beach behind us, and Rabbit Rock hoves into view, a low granite outcrop looking nothing like a rabbit. Smaller outcrops rise like sharp claws out of the water around it, so we take a wider line to the east to pass between it and the much larger Rabbit Island to the east.

Someone says the island’s name comes from the food source that 19th-century sealers had stocked it with. In front of us, the line of the almost ruler-straight Five Mile Beach stands out.

Soon we’re sweeping past the entrance of Sealers Cove. It’s a larger body of water than our destination several miles to the south, framed to the north by a low hill called The Cathedral, and nowhere near as well protected. That said George Bass, the bloke who lends his name to the stretch of water between the Australian mainland and Tasmania, was the first European to take advantage of its unspoiled beauty, taking shelter from a storm in 1798.

There’s also a darker history to Sealers Cove. Once it was a commercial seal and whale-harvesting hub, and a landing used to extract the Prom’s old-growth timber. Looking at it today you’d never guess.

Our two boats press on, carving a gentle arc past Horn Point and a narrow bay showing a distant, tiny expanse of beach in its western corner.

As we round yet another point, this time Hobba Head, Refuge Cove – marked by a beacon on its southern side – reveals itself.

Nosing into the cove, it’s surprising how serene conditions have become. Framed by steep mountains to the west rising to more than 700 metres, there’s barely a whisper of wind and only a hint of swell.

There are two beaches; David tells us the larger one to the south is favoured by yachties, while the smaller one to the north is the preferred domain of powerboats. It’s more a guideline than a rule.

Refuge Cove is a spectacular location. Huge half-submerged boulders line the shoreline. Dark-coloured tannin from ti-trees leaches into the freshwater creeks that flow into the bay, staining the normally azure blue water and in turn painting the exposed granite with concentric hues graduating from a light tan to a deep chocolate.

The cove also has a campground to service the bushwalkers who brave the five or so hours it takes to trek in from Tidal River, the main tourist spot on the western side of the Prom. It has a drop toilet, but there is no drinking water.

On this day, the more sheltered northern beach is calmer than the southern one, so one of the boats noses onto the sand.

Bare feet on the coarse sand at Refuge Cove is something to behold. The view from the beach is stunning, glistening water lit by the unexpected sunlight streaming in from overhead, and all set to the soundtrack of wind passing through the trees above.

Sitting there, with a welcome calm washing over you, you feel in awe.

Later, as we sit back on the boats eating lunch, a group of walkers arrives on the beach. One strips off and braves the cold water, her screams echoing off the rocks.

The boats have a bit of a play for the camera. However, we need to be careful; large, dark shadows in the water under the rockfaces hint at car-sized boulders lurking just below the surface. Clip one of those with the outboard motor and it will be game over.

It’s time to go home. Everyone has had a good day, but there are still more surprises to come. As we head out of Refuge Cove to turn north and start the journey home, the dolphins appear.

And then the whale.

Getting there
Port Welshpool, Victoria’s only deep harbour east of Melbourne, is 200km south-east of Melbourne, not far from the north-eastern tip of Wilsons Promontory. It has a pub. If you need to stock up on supplies, you’re better to stop at either Korumburra or Leongatha.

Port Welshpool has a three-lane boat ramp protected by a sea wall with plenty of trailer parking space and a fish-cleaning table. Toilets, though, are a 200-metre walk away on the main street, and the trailer boat-friendly floating jetty only has enough space for about four boats to tie up at a time.

Refuge Cove is an anchorage inside the Wilsons Promontory National Park, about 24 nautical miles from Port Welshpool. Allow about 1.5 hours at cruising speeds, including distractions, to get there.

With Shana Zlotin