"Metung the quiet town" Metung by bwk_michael

Metung is a small town in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, 314 km east of the state capital Melbourne. It is situated between the larger towns of Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance. It is on a small peninsula 31 km south-east of Bairnsdale, separating Lake King and Bancroft Bay on the Gippsland Lakes. At the 2006 census, Metung had a population of 1207.

Metung Post Office opened on 2 June 1879.

Metung is a popular holiday spot, near to larger towns, but off any main routes itself. Many of the permanent inhabitants commute to work at Bairnsdale or Lakes Entrance.

Golfers play at the course of the Kings Cove Metung Golf Club on Kings Cove Boulevard.

Nice View

Metung experiences the same climate of Lakes Entrance with nearly the same rainfall and temperatures as the nearby town. Around 730 mm of rain falls on an average year in Metung. On average there are 63 clear days in Metung and 156 cloudy days. The warmest month in Metung is February with an average maximum temperature of 23.8ºC and the coldest month is July with an average max of 14.6ºC.

Metung experiences some days of extreme winds which are capable of blowing outdoor furniture around. Metung can also experience extreme weather events, like in 2007 when around than half a years worth of rain fell in the space of a few days cutting the town off from Bairnsdale and causing Lake King to get to such a high level, that it began to flood beach side roads. Despite this tough, Metung can also escape some extreme weather events like the 2005 Melbourne Thunderstorm or the 2010 Victorian storms. Metung is cooler than Melbourne and Bairnsdale in Summer but milder than Melbourne in winter.

Locals

The original inhabitants of the area, people of the Aboriginal Gunai or Kurnai tribe, told a story about an unusual group of rocks now found alongside the boardwalk in the Metung Marina on Bancroft Bay. This legend or fable indicates how greed will be punished.

The legend goes that some fishermen made a good catch and ate the fish around their campfire. The fishermen, however, did not share their catch with their dogs, despite having more than enough to eat. As a punishment, the women, who were guardians of social law, turned the greedy men to stone.

Originally there were three rocks found at this location that related to the legend, but two of them were destroyed during road works. The remaining Legend Rock is now protected