Day 313–
Tuesday
7 November – Finished “Origin” by Dan Brown. I really
enjoyed this next instalment of the Robert Langdon series. It runs through a
fairly similar plot and main character group as his other novels and uses
current scientific thinking and hypotheses to create a credible scenario.
Started “Uncommon Type” by Tom Hanks, yep the actor. This
should be interesting to read. It is a collection of short stories that, if the
jacket is to believed, will leave me impressed with his writing as much as his
acting. We will see.
Mallacoota – Lakes Entrance
The rain didn’t let up during the night, switching from
heavy downpours to drizzle patches. It was still going when we awoke at 6.30am.
On the plus side, it kept than damn bird quiet for some of the time.
As I finished my book last night, I had nothing to go on
with this morning, so when Paul started reading, I rolled over for some extra
shuteye. It only lasted til 7.30am, when Paul called time and we got out ready
to face the day.
Paul went for his shower, while I pottered inside, glad the
rain was more intermittent now and by the time I had had my breakfast and was
ready to head to the shower block, the rain had eased up.
On my return, we moved the van to a place where we could
load the car and with everything tied down, we were on our way at 8.45am. A
good start to our 210km drive.
We returned to the Princes Highway from Mallacoota and then
began tracking south. The rain followed us on and off for much of the journey
and it was exceptionally cool this morning, so though internal heater was
cranked.
The drive was not dissimilar to that we had taken two days
ago, plenty of forest bordering the twisty, turny road. Paul cursed the road
builders as to why they couldn’t make the road straight, especially when you could
see a section of it in the distance. Surely a straight line is cheaper and more
economical than a meandering one?
We passed through forests, national parks and farming
pastures as we continued our journey, all the while the rain came and went but
the cool temps remained. I am sure we are going the wrong way. Why are we not
heading north? Bring back the sun and the warm! Victoria in November, this is
crazy!
About 50km short of Lakes Entrance, we stopped for fuel in
the town of Orbost . After leaving the petrol station, we travelled through a
police RBT and Paul had to blow into the machine. After registering 0.0 we were
free to continue our journey.
At 11.15am, we were on the outskirts of town. I was a little
disorientated at first, as we came in via a different direction, but familiar
landmarks soon pointed me in the right direction and it all came flooding back.
We located the recreation ground and pulled in. We were last here from Easter
Monday April 17 – 20th, almost 7 months ago. Oh where we have been
in that time.
Actually today is rather significant, as we have now met up
with our most northern coastal Victorian Point that we attained before ducking
over the mountains into Bright. We have closed the gap in our map, which looks
more like a balloon drawing than a traditional “Lap”.
We booked in for two nights, being given the same spot we
had in April. Today the park was significantly quieter, though they said 30
vans had left this morning. We also noted some changes to the general upkeep,
including some permanent vans that had been removed. This worked to our
advantage, as we now had a lake view.
We didn’t have much to set up, as Paul decided to leave the
car on the trailer. I sorted inside and then we sat enjoying the peaceful
scenery. We put lunch together and ate before deciding it was time to get out
for a walk.
We both donned all the warm stuff, before leaving the van
and then we made for the lakeside walk. It was grey and gloomy, but thankfully
not wet. We walked the internal arm before coming back via the main shopping
side. We stopped in at Woollies for a few bits and then completed our walk back
to the van, happy to get in from the cold once again.
Paul returned to reading his book, while I watched an
episode of PLL. The Melbourne Cup was running at 3pm and for the first time in
a long time I was not involved in a sweep. I am sure the work Cup lunch was in
full swing but we just had no interest in it.
It did however invoke memories of 2003, when we completed
our whirlwind 6 week caravan trek East. We were in Ceduna for Cup day, leaving
that morning to head across the Nullarbor and back home. Paul entered the local
radio sweep and won. We never did collect the prize; 1 dozen oysters.
We lasted a couple of hours in the van before making the
decision to complete the lap again. This time there was far more sun and we
didn’t take the warm clothing. We soon found out it was still quite cool out,
but we battled on anyway.
We walked further along both arms of the lake, passing the
skate park being used by blokes too old to be there. We then walked the jetty
side, taking in the fishing and tourist boats moored up. We made our way to the
lights before turning back towards the van, though we were still a good km or
so from the rec ground. We passed the school and bowling club, before entering
the sports oval at the far end and walking its perimeter to our van.
Once back, I did some net surfing, checking on some future
plans and travels and making sure all was in order. We then organised our
dinner and ate, before settling in with a game of cards for something
different. We managed one round, before retiring to bed to read.
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