Port of Sale Heritage Cruises

Port of Sale Heritage Cruises provide a unique experience in which you can drift back into a different time, when waterways were highways, and journey from the Port of Sale to the landmark Swing Bridge learning about the developed of Gippsland, the discovery of gold and the impacts on the Gunaikurnai nation the original inhabitants.

Port of Sale Heritage Cruises operates a one and half hour heritage cruise twice daily on the Rubeena (1912) from the Port of Sale to the historic Swing Bridge via the canal which links the Port to the Thompson River, Latrobe River and the Gippsland Lakes to the open sea.

As you pass downstream, the ancient river redgums form part of the Ramsar-listed wetlands abutting the river, home to an abundance of birdlife and native fauna including koalas. These ancient river red gum trees show scars left by the Brayakooloong clan of the Gunaikurnai as they created their canoes.

On your journey you will pass McArdells Gap, the site where the Enterprise was built – the first boat on the Gippsland Lakes. At the junction with the Latrobe River you will pass under the oldest operating Swing Bridge, which was completed in 1883. The bridge still swings each Saturday and Sunday to allow vessels to enter the Port of Sale. Our weekend afternoon trip is timed to see this opening