The inaugural Mallacoota Wild Harvest Seafood Festival is only days away! So it’s time to head East and get your taste buds cranking.

Immerse yourself in a weekend of all things seafood. Opening this Friday, April 12, at 5pm and running through until Sunday, April 14, the Wild Harvest Seafood Festival caters for everyone.

From abalone to sea urchins, mussels to oysters, and everything in between, the festival promises to show off the very best of what Mallacoota and the surrounding areas have to offer.

The three-day festival is being conducted by the Mallacoota community and funded by the Australian Government’s Building Better Regions Fund, Victorian Fisheries Authority and East Gippsland Shire. It includes free and ticketed events.

The festival kicks off at the Mallacoota Golf Club at 5pm on Friday with the launch of the new book, Head Down, Bum Up, by locals, Freddy and Heidi Ledwell, chronicling the beginning of the abalone industry. The launch is free, but be sure to book your table for dinner.

The Wild Harvest Seafood Market on Saturday will see guest appearances and cooking demonstrations from renowned Melbourne chef, Alejandro Saravia, of Pastuso. It will be emceed by Melbourne food writer and author, Richard Cornish. The market will also feature a cooking demonstration on how to make abalone burgers by president of the Sea Urchin Association, Jason York.

The Saturday Sippers and Seafood will feature a brew from Sailor’s Grave craft brewery local urchins.

An outdoor cinema will see the presentation of Skippy and the Intruders on the big screen – originally filmed in 1968, it is the only Skippy movie and was filmed in and around Mallacoota.

On Sunday morning, bring the fishing rod and join in one of the fishing clinics hosted by the Victorian Fishing Authority, wander down to the AFCOL and tour the facility, or perhaps listen and join in on a cultural walk on indigenous foods with Noel Butler, a Budawang Elder from the NSW South Coast.

Bring or hire a SUP or surfboard and ride the waves with Surf Shack Surf School.

Enjoy a great coffee with a Japanese twist at Origami Coffee, explore the coastal rainforests and wild, rugged beaches of Croajingolong National Park or see the region by boat by jumping aboard the MV Loch Ard.

The Loch Ard was first built in Melbourne as a passenger ferry in the early 1900s from Tasmanian Huon pine and Kauri and now cruises Mallacoota Inlet, exploring the flora, fauna and scenery.

Not surprisingly, the centrepiece of the festival will be seafood.

“The Wild Harvest Seafood Festival will be a celebration of the rich and diverse seafood that is available in and around Mallacoota,” East Gippsland Marketing Inc marketing manager, Hayley Hardy, said.

“We are also looking forward to honouring the indigenous heritage of the area as well as the abalone diving.”

The Wild Harvest Seafood Festival is hosted by East Gippsland Marketing Inc, Destination Gippsland and the East Gippsland Food Cluster.