A bit of an earlier start than we’d hope as daylight savings kicks in.
A pretty smooth packup and we’re out right on 10am
The road doesn’t seem quite a bad heading out back to the main highway.
As this is the end of the Victorian school holidays, we thought a lot more people would be leaving with us. Once on the highway the traffic does pick up and towns like Cann River are pretty busy.
The day is pretty warm, and we see it eventually nudge 34°, not long after we see a haze starting to form in the distance. In the space of the next 4-5ks it drops from 34 down to about 22…..
A short while later, we pull off at the town of Orbost for lunch.
…..A lifetime ago, Justine was on a camping trip from Melbourne and traveling through southern NSW with some friends, it was late February and it was one of those 40° plus days, and this was before every car had air conditioning. For whatever reason there where not too many places available to stay on the way home. As the day wore on, Justine and her friends ended up at one of the Orbost hotels. So, a night in one of those really crappy pub rooms with shared facilities, stinking hot with no fans, let alone AC, and apparently the dinner was no better. So, Orbost is not high on Justine favorite places in the world.
I guess at least today is not 40+, well not now anyway.
We find a nice Bakery Café and have lunch (Steak and Pepper, not too bad 
(3.5 / 5)) and grab some takeaway treats for later. As we leave town we cross the Snowy River.
While it has cooled down incredibly, the wind has really picked up. I can’t remember driving in wind like this. Maybe the trip south of Sydney to pick up the van, or the day we came back into Melbourne from the Great Ocean road, but today seems even worse than those. The car and van are all over the shop.
To make matters worse twice we end up behind a car doing 70 or 80ks in a 100 zone. I can tell you it’s not very easy to overtake towing a van, and the few overtaking lanes we come across are all on hill and 80k/h is about all I can do up steep hills which makes it double frustrating.
We turn off just before Bairnsdale and make out way to Paynesville.
There are fires in the area, some big ones maybe 50-60ks north west from us and a smaller grass fire on the other side of the lake at Loch Sport. Neither should directly impact us, but a bit concerning all the same.
We pull into the small caravan park and they offer us a lake side site (it’s under less trees!)
The site is great and the view is fantastic although the lake is pretty choppy, and I’m pretty sure we won’t bother with the awning tonight.
After we setup and have a bit of a rest, leaving the kids behind Justine and I take a quick drive into town. We thought the lake where we are was choppy, you could surf the lake on the other side.
Driving back we get a good look at the smoke from the Briagolong Fires and boy does it look ominous. We’ve heard the only road into Walhalla is cut off too.
The sun though the smoke is that deep red. Not good for those people affected.
In the end the breeze drops down again awhile cool it’s not as bad as I thought it might end up.
The fires are heartbreaking, also sad to hear about the fires at Loch Sport, very fond memories of that little town. Hope the wind has gone by the time you head to Melbourne.