TUESDAY 19 MAY     LORNE STATION

Yep, we should have followed the herd and left yesterday. There were very few campers left here now.

The camp ground was very muddy and wet. The rain was blowing in under the awning, so I got John to put up a shade cloth barrier, but it didn’t seem to make much difference. Going to the amenities was a matter of carefully picking a route via little bits of ground still above water.

The floor mat in the annexe began to ooze thin red mud up through its mesh like structure, whenever it was stepped on. That meant we were effectively confined to the van itself.

I did patchwork for some of the day, read and wrote postcards. John played computer games.

The rain persisted for much of the day, with the occasional short dry period.

In the afternoon we drove into town, really sliding around on the unsealed road, until we reached the sealed town roads by the airport turn off. The worst section was actually the few hundred metres between the camp ground and the Lorne gate at the road into town! That was really treacherous.

John wanted to visit a shop that sold opal cutting gear. He was astounded at how expensive the gear was. I took the opportunity in town to stock up a bit on food. I thought it was possible that any more rain would close the road.

There was more rain – even heavier – through the night.