Day 1 Sunday 13/2/22 Home to Kilcunda, hot north wind 33

It feels like a bonus to be travelling east and not have to drive through the city. This time we’re taking the slow route to East Gippsland for a caravan club muster. From Tooradin to Lang Lang we see some interesting vehicles, they’re all off to the Lang Lang ‘Show n Shine’.

We pull into Kilcunda Ocean View Caravan Park just behind Toothless and his Missus. It’s funny how many times you just arrive together having made no firm plans about time. The park is much better than we had imagined. We’ve driven past here many hundreds of times, but the caravan park is just below road level and driving by you only catch a glimpse of caravan roofs, which isn’t such a good look. Tucked below the Bass Highway and on the edge of the cliff the views are extraordinary, and the sites are nice and grassy. This means we won’t have to put our poxy old mat out. Woody recently washed one of our rubber mats with the Gernie and blew the thing to smithereens. The other will just have to stay dirty until we can get replacements. Where are the Aldi camping gear sales when you need them?

It seems that we can’t have the site that we booked as the tenants are still packing up, the next one will do. We pull in beside them and he’s grappling with the camper trailer while she hangs on to a nylon strap for dear life. For half an hour they heave and ho, then with nothing gained plop onto their chairs and stare at the ocean with a cuppa in hand. By this stage, we can barely contain our mirth and Woody stares out the window whilst giving me a running commentary as he eats his lunch. While I, book in hand, try to follow a territorial battle in 12^th century Wales and stop a pork wrap from unravelling, our neighbours manhandle the camper trailer 90˚ and try once more to fold the thing up. Meanwhile, she puts small things in small bags. He climbs up and walks on the roof which doesn’t help as bits of canvas are still hanging out like the lettuce in my wrap. To our surprise, they suddenly drop everything and shoot through. The lady manager who’s already asked them to leave once appears again with another caravan to park on the site. Someone (another audience member) suggests that they’re eating lunch in a cabin with friends. The new arrival gets put on another site and back they come again to finish the job. “They’re new,” says the manager. Perhaps they should have practised at home first as for an 11:00am checkout they got away at 2:00pm! I wonder if we’ll see the camper trailer on E bay next week?

Entertainment over we walk on the beach below us. There are dozens of young families and people snorkelling in the large rock pools. It’s easy to see why this is such a popular spot. I walk around the point and catch a glimpse of a horse through a natural keyhole in the rocks. This is the first chance I’ve ever had to explore the old and often photographed railway trestle bridge. Out to sea surfers are catching nice waves with wind farm turbines as a backdrop. It’s a short walk back along the rail trail to camp.

We have a very long happy hour in the shade of the Toothless van and when we happen to mention how helpful it was to visit The Otways with our mate ‘IT’ as he’s an expert in funghi, Toothless asks if he’d mind having a look at his problem toe!

We zap a chicken casserole in the microwave for dinner then, grabbing a chance for some cool air, chance upon a perfect sunset.

When the camp is asleep there’s barely a sound. The breeze is dropping, all the windows and hatches are open and there’s a saltiness on the cooling air.

Accom: $40.00

Towing Kms: 80Kms