Stunning sunshine and cruising to the Metung Hotel

 Wednesday 31 March

We have booked a cruise on the Gippsland lakes today, so it’s up and away at 10ish to a café called ‘Bloody Good Coffee.’ This is opposite the wharf from which we are to depart at 11.00 for a cruise up Lake King to Metung, where we will have lunch at the pub. The coffee was average but the weather was magical. Dead flat water, clear blue skies and interesting wildlife. Metung is a mix of million dollar houses and boats and old tinnies; bearded grotty yachties and fishermen (no, not ‘fishers’ .. fish -er-men). As our ticket price was inclusive of lunch, we were allocated tables inside the waterfront Metung Hotel and a separate, significantly smaller menu. I think we were in the seniors back room. Get this though, fish and chips on the main menu was $29.90. Where the bloody hell do they think they are? Doyles? Nonetheless, our flathead and calamari were delicious. So too was the rose and the beer. After a march up the hill and around the dale (Lady P has started to put thr pressure on the step count), we reboarded the MV Stormbird for a leisurely, sunny cruise back to Lakes Entrance. Someone fell asleep in the chair on the aft deck on the way home, such was the effect of the wind, sun and beer. We have booked Froggy’s Bistro tonight. A very French little restaurant just across the road. Some will remember that we were supposed to be in France now, minding a house for four months, so every little thing French we can find we grab. Froggy’s turned out to be more French than the French. Mum front of house; dad and son cooking and a largely Bergundian menu. We took the 2014 Nicholson River Cabernet Sauvignon with us. Escargot for Lady P and rabbit terrene for Flashy, followed by bœuf à la Bourguignonne and Boullabaisse. Typical stern madame corrected flashy’s pronounciation of ‘boeuf.’ Reminded us of the lady in the patisserire in Lalinde. We shared a Grand Marnier crepe and ice cream for dessert. Exceptional food and such an excellent execution of the Bergundian cuisine. The boullabaise, being a Marsaillse dish, was not quiet up to the standard. Now, here is where it got a bit strange. Recently Tas and I went for lunch and passed an old favourite in St Kilda in Ackland St, called Froggy’s. They were closed and looked like they had been for a while. As Flashy and chef were having a general old codgers winge about the state of the world, it turned out that the family used to run Froggy’s in St Kilda and ended up in Lakes Entrance on a sea change.