Dear Authors,

Following the recommendation of the second anonymous referee, I decide to accept your manuscript for publication subject to minor revisions. However, in the light of the report of the first anonymous referee, I propose to make the title of your manuscript even more specific, e.g.: "Model simulations of early westward flow across the Tasman Gateway during the early Eocene". Furthermore, I also you urge you to acknowledge the weaknesses of the UVic model in the "Model and Experimental Design" section, as brought up by the first anonymous referee. In this respect, please comment on whether it would be helpful to employ the geostrophic wind-feedback parameterization offered by the UVic model, given a suitable atmospheric base state (possibly by Goldner et al., 2014). Otherwise, please follow carefully the suggestions by the second anonymous referee.

Yours sincerely,

André Paul

Dear Authors,

Thank you for revising your manuscript. Before publishing, please check once more the caption of Fig. 7: Shouldn't it read "to the east of Australia", or am I mistaken?

Yours sincerely,

André Paul