Back to Lorne

Inside Hans and Connies campervan.
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We woke up at Cumberland River and packed up for the second day in a row. We’re becoming pros at packing and unpacking! It was another hot day, the temperature reached 37^oC by mid afternoon.

We drove back into Lorne, then walked up the main street and visited the post office, before heading to the visitor centre. We found out about Erskine Falls, a local waterfall, and chose a free campsite to camp at in the nearby Angahook-Lorne State Park. We decided to head up to Erskine Falls around midday.

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That plan didn’t last long. About 5kms up the road to the falls the Troopy started getting hot. We pulled over and the water in the radiator was boiling! We sat by the roadside for about 30 minutes and ate lunch while the Troopy cooled down. We decided to abandon the falls trip and look for a mechanic instead. The single Lorne mechanic couldn’t even look at the car till Wednesday the following week, so we decided to stay at the Lorne caravan park for the weekend and head back to Geelong at the beginning of the week to get the radiator looked at. The plan meant back tracking, but the last thing we wanted was to cause more mechanical problems with excessive heat under the bonnet.

Hans and Connie
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We met a nice couple, Hans and Connie in their ‘Double Dutch’ campervan at the Lorne Caravan Park. They had rented out their home and left their jobs in Holland for an extended 12 month holiday around Australia. Despite the drizzly rain we enjoyed their company outside under our tent awning sharing a few beers and the odd port late into the night. We spent a very lazy, and very relaxing, Saturday hanging around the caravan park as the weather was still wet and cold, about 15^oC. We slept in, had a long breakfast, read books and the paper, and even watched TV in the camp kitchen! In the afternoon the weather cleared, so we walked into town along the foreshore and watched the surfers at the beach. The waves were fairly tame, but there were a few good surfers in the water who put on an interesting show.

Relaxing at our campsite in Lorne.
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That night we again enjoyed Hans and Connie’s company, this time in the dry warmth of their campervan! Bren and Hans enjoyed sharing the music on their MP3 players until very late into the night, and we all shared some recommendations for top spots to visit from previous travels through Australia.

Saturday night was also the last of daylight savings in Victoria so we turned our clocks back an hour and commiserated about the loss of one hour of light in the evening.