If only the Kakadus swooping over our tent this morning could have warned us!

The last picture of the red bag … 🙁

They would have said: What is as big as a 6 month old baby, fire engine red and can disappear without a trace between one photo stop and the next 10 km apart? No clue? Check all of our previous photos of Rocinante and you will find a bright red Ortlieb bag on the left pannier. Until today, that held Nina’s down sleeping bag and one of our two fleece liners.

So, that’s gone now. The police, as always, was of no use to us. Maybe someone has picked it up as a road hazard, but it did not make its way back to us. We also doubled back, but no trace. This time, there is really no one to blame. The new tie down straps / handles for the panniers are still a bit smoother than our old ones. The same setup worked with no issue for 30,000 km so far, so we did not expect this to loosen and open up and allow the wind to “eject” the bag.

Posing for the cam. 10 secs later we notice the missing bag.

The biggest bummer is that the lost fleece is of a matching set that zip together. Hopefully we will be able to get the same one down here.

Which is all such a shame. Although it was a bit overcast, this day would have otherwise been spectacular. The Great Ocean Road is a legendary motorcycle ride, and it holds up to a lot of praise.

First stop after the failed search and rescue was Apollo Bay for lunch. The next real stop was a brief rain forest walk, where we met a lovely German couple. We left in great spirit. Sometimes talking about what we are doing at the moment helps to remind ourselves that we are on this amazing adventure. Day to day hardship bogs us down until we sometime loose sight of how cool it actually is.

Wind-swept Nina

Turned out Cape Otway Lighthouse is a tourist trap. Avoid. Much better was our last stop for the day, Johanna Beach. Smooth sand, big waves and big skies. A little bit bitter sweet, since we had to leave that spot and its free camp site to go find a horribly expensive room (lost sleeping bag makes for sad camping).