Nicolas Baudin tells Matthew Flinders of his explorations in Tasmania and Bass Strait prior to their meeting. Flinders boarded Baudin's ship Le G ©ographe on 8 April, accompanied by his botanist Robert Brown, who spoke French. He requested from Baudin the passport he had been issued by the British government which provided Le G ©ographe and its companion Le Naturaliste safe passage as ships of science and discovery. Flinders also offered his passport from the French government but Baudin ignored it. He told Flinders of his expedition's work in Tasmania and his explorations along the southern coast from Western Port to the current place of meeting.

He also mentioned that one of his ship's boats with its crew had been lost, and he had also become separated from his companion ship Le Naturaliste, during a storm. Baudin was somewhat critical of George Bass's map of Bass Strait until Flinders explained that his friend Bass had charted the coast from an open boat, which was noted on the chart. Flinders promised to return the next day with more charts for Baudin.

Winter was spent at Port Jackson, and then Baudin returned to the southern coast for a more thorough survey. Le Naturaliste was sent back to France with its scientific collections, and was replaced with Le Casuarina. In January 1803 Baudin circumnavigated Ile Borda [named Ile Decres by Peron; present day Kangaroo Island], the first European to do so. While Le Geographe anchored at Nepean Bay, Freycinet and the geographer Boullanger explored the two gulfs in Le Casuarina. Near the end of February Le Geographe and Le Casuarina rendezvoused at King George Sound, and then explored the west and north-west coasts of 'New Holland', before heading home.