So… we left the cold winter air of the Bombala for the slightly less cold winter air of Orbost. Once again we crossed into Victoria as we headed towards the bottom end of the mainland.
We didn’t leave NSW completely behind because on our first morning in Orbost Rob woke up with a head cold that laid him flat for pretty much the whole of the first day. Not a great start and we took the early decision to extend Orbost by another two days just in case it turned worse. Thankfully it was nothing more than a cold and only resulted in minor symptoms.
The van park in Orbost was very comfortable with lush green grass and reasonably spacious sites and spotless amenities. The managers were friendly and helpful and we had nice neighbours although the park was relatively empty during our stay.
The van park sits beside the Snowy River in it’s fanal stages before it meets the sea in nearby Marlo and is only a short walk into town from the caravan park. Orbost itself was a little quiet and, like Bombala, seemed to be surviving more than thriving with a number of empty shops.
Our first few days were low key with Jo doing a bit of van re-packing and organising and Rob trying to throw off the head cold; and whilst the temperature was a bit warmer than Bombala we tended to get a bit of rain at night, which meant that spending time outside wasn’t all that appealing…
That said… an issue was brewing that we’ll come to later in the post…
With some improved weather and Rob’s head cold settling down we took the opportunity to take a drive out to Youngs Creek Falls. Not what you’d call a picture postcard waterfall but a nice bushwalk along an easy, well made track to the falls themselves. You can view the falls from above and below, which cascade through a fissure in a massive rock wall surrounded by atypical Victorian bushy scrub.
The falls start at the top as a number of rock pools and finish, also, in a series of rock pools continuing into a tree lined gully. You get to the walking track by following what looks like a series of forestry roads that are well-marked and were in good condition.
At the start of the walking track there is an abandoned steam engine that provides another point of interest as it quietly rusts into the bush-scape. As you walk along the track you are treated to some beautiful natural bush art in the form of mossy rocks, mossy fallen trees and hollowed out tree trunks providing a natural bowl for fungi, plants and yet more moss.
Youngs Creek Falls was a very pleaseant side trip and not too taxing if you’re recovering from a head cold…
So our trip was going well… the weather wasn’t being kind with cold temperatures and on/off rain following us from Bombala to Orbost.
Issue 1 – With the cooler temperatures at night we tried to crank up the diesel heater, which decided that it wasn’t going to crank up… Some furious googling suggested that I should have been starting it up once a month and that the diesel in the fuel line has probably gone a bit off… My fault for not reading the manual and we’ll get this sorted at a later date.
However, this gave us a chance to try the heating side of the van’s reverse cycle air-conditioner. It worked beautifully and we were comfortably warm inside our mobile box. Given that we’ll be on powered sites all the way through to Adelaide this is not a problem….UNTIL…
We checked the energy management panel and the batteries were reading 10.8 Volts. Seriously NOT good. They should be reading around 12.5 V and higher when connected to mains and charging.
Issue 2 – On our last night in Orbost we noticed a bright red warning notification on the van’s fridge and that it had automatically swapped from mains electricity to gas operation. Hmmmmm…
First thoughts… dud batteries! We quickly turned off all electrics in the hopes that it was a simple as having too much running at once. Thankfully it was a milder night and the heater wasn’t required.
Batteries continued to drop… I checked that the mains was connected and that power was coming into the van, no fuses had blown (in the van or at the mains connection point). Nothing apparent… Rob spent a very sleepless night trying to figure out the problem whilst Jo was beginning to show signs of her own head cold.
After getting up the next day and stressing a bit more over the batteries we hitched up for the drive to Sale, our next stop. We had a hasty phone call with Supreme, who couldn’t tell us what was wrong but gave us some comfort that the batteries would, at the least, get some charge into them as we drove and from the solar panels as well.
<To be continued in Sale…>