With my last tent reaching end of life last summer, I've actually managed to complete a long held plan to acquire a caravan and a car capable of twoing it, now I'm no longer doing enough driving to be overly concerned about fuel economy. Part of the plan was to take the van straight from the yard who got it ready for me to a van storage on the Great Ocean Road at Bellbrae. Of course I took that chance to also load up the van with much of the bits and pieces taken camping in previous summers, only realising some time later that I could not rely on memory to know what was there and thus what else I needed to add next trip.

So was born a plan to call in at the storage yard and do a stock take (and attach the new registration sticker), a plan made practical by a V/Line (McHarrys) bus which does a middle of the day return to Lorne, giving almost two hours between down and back at a stop a few hundred metres from the van storage entry. Once I heard through PTUA that there was to be a "protest" about the neglect of the North Shore "welcome to Adelaide travelers" station/siding at 4:30 today, I didn't need to look for another date for Bellbrae.

As so often with such minor adventures, there was also a minor bonus, finding not just a walking track between at least the bus stop and the van storage within the road reservation, but far enough from traffic that you could forget it. And, as I should not have been surprised from spring time walks in other ages, that the track showcased enough wildflowers to be worth allowing enough time on the return leg for a few pics: