Day 22 - Lorne to Inverleigh

We made an early departure from our unofficial camp ground - we got up at 6am and were on our way by 6:40 without a hitch. We headed down to the beach for breakfast and got there just on sunrise. It might have been an unusually early start for us, but the sunrise made it worth it!

The magpies again joined us for breakfast, and were tame enough to eat from our hands! It was funny how they would fight over food, and then part way through one would suddenly stop, throw its head back and chortle out a song, and then get back on with fighting with its neighbour over who was getting the next rolled oat!

A beautiful old EK wagon in Torquay . RIP Holden :(

We had a pretty uneventful drive up through Anglesea and Bells Beach where a number of brave souls were taking in their morning surf. We stopped for about half an hour at Spring Creek Reserve in Torquay, for a leg stretch and family game of chasey on a playground! We drove past a beautiful old EK Holden Wagon, poignant since it was less than a week since GM announced Holden's closure :(

Family chasey!

Over the past week or two, Mim had been corresponding with Jono and Tracey Smith who are coming to the end of their 18 month road trip. They had just been to Ballarat and were in Geelong, so we worked out we were going to be able to meet up for a while!

Three Cheers for Click 'n' Collect!

On the way through, we dropped into a Woolworths to pick up a cable we'd ordered on eBay. Online shopping, and mail in general, is one of the challenges of travelling - to what address does one have any purchases sent? We have found the Click and Collect service through eBay to be really helpful! Provided you know what town you'll be passing through, and roughly when, you can select from any one of a number of Woolworths stores, or ParcelPoint locations too (whatever they are), and when you come to checkout you simply select that Woolworths store as the pickup location and the order will be sent there. You get a SMS when it's arrived, after which you have a week to get there and collect it. Very useful! Ironically, only a few months ago when shopping on eBay, I queried out loud to Mim why anyone would get something sent to a Woolworths store for collection rather than just to their home or work. I guess we've now found at least one really good reason!

The general view at Eastern Beach Reserve - plenty to do here!

After this we headed out to Eastern Beach Reserve in Geelong where we met up with the Smith's around 12:30, which was a lovely reunion! We first met them at Glenlock in about 2013, then bumped into them last year in Kununurra, and now in Geelong! The kids all did some swimming and jumping off pontoons into the water in a swimming area they've made in the bay while we chatted about all sorts of aspects of life on the road. Jude and Shem were so glad to see each other again as they really clicked back in Kununurra, while Bek and Sienna spent plenty of time together!

We spent a good few hours together, after which they headed for Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road while we made our way to Inverleigh, a small town about 25km west of Geelong where there's a free camp advertised.

This turned out to be a magnificent spot, and was our home base for the next five nights. We'll leave those experiences for the next post!

-- Greg