TUESDAY 16 MARCH   LAKES ENTRANCE TO HEALESVILLE   373kms

We unintentionally slept in till 9am. The morning was grey, cloudy and cool, which may explain the sleep in. Managed to leave the park at 10am though.

During the night, some fishing rods were stolen from a boat in the caravan park. It seems Lakes Entrance may have a problem, as we were told in Tathra, by other travellers, that there had been a problem with break-ins to cars in several of the caravan parks in the town.

It seemed a long drive to Melbourne. We reached the Trakmaster factory in Bayswater just before 3pm. Refuelled at Sale – 70cpl –  and had  a short lunch stop in the Latrobe Valley.

Owner C seemed really pleased to see us. The other owner R was there too. One of their vans returning from adventures! We sat and watched their new promotional video, and talked about the 1998 Trakmaster Trek that R had led, and his plans for the 1999 one. These annual expeditions are a great idea, to get new owners used to their vans, and see – in the security of an organized trip – the offroad capabilities of their vans. However, they are not for us – we do not much like travel in a group, and the Trek occurs at a time of each year when we are elsewhere.

J arrived – rather late. He couldn’t fix the problem! But he remains convinced that it is a control box. He arranged to bring a new one out to Healesville on Thursday and install it there. Whilst we were at the factory, one of the Trakmaster men worked on the support/brace to stop the fridge sliding forward in its cavity when we travel. It looks like they might have left something off when it was built! They also cut an extra vent for ventilation of the rear of the fridge, through the cupboard wall beside the cavity. There was already such a hole on the other side, plus the grated vent in the bench top above. We have not had any issues, but it just seems wise to ventilate the back as much as we can.

It was nearly 5.30pm when that work was all done, so we had to deal with peak hour traffic, through Bayswater and Kilsyth. It is a good thing we are familiar with the roads.

So it was heading for 7pm when we reached the Badger Creek Caravan Park – $16 a night, with the seventh night free. Back here again!

By the time we set up, it was very late, so we went and bought a pizza for tea.

Phoned K – no one home – so we left a message that we had arrived back in the area.

It seemed really cold to us, and we’d had a tiring couple of days, so went to bed at 10.30pm. Soon after, K rang. We arranged to go there to collect our mail, tomorrow, and for tea on Saturday. He offered to have a game of bowls with John – I think he misses the game, which he no longer plays due to having to work some weekends.