"Our Easter 94 trip to Mallacoota came to a premature end when cyclone winds and rain ravaged East Gippsland and a substantial part of Victoria. The wind firstly rose shortly before sunset, followed by torrential rains, drawing our family of five (three children aged 11 - 15) into the new Tourer for comfort and company. The weather precluded any outside cooking so Fish and Chips were on the menu - only the power had also gone off with lines down - so all 'coota' residents were queued at the store for their meals too.
Before bedtime, the winds had demolished the two dome tents in which the children were camped - one with a broken pole through the fly. The children moved into the Tourer, while Mum and Dad decamped into the four wheel drive, since the tent was also the store for all supplies etc.
From the vantagepoint of the car, we were able to see that the spring loaded centre pole was working overtime to maintain the stability of the tent in winds that we had not experienced before. All through the night campers packed and moved off to the relative comfort of local motels - some even left for home during the night.
By morning the camp was devastated. Tents and clotheslines littered the area, having been torn down during the night. Boats moored at jetties along the waterfront were overturned, others were half full of water taken on board during the storm. To our (pleasant) surprise the Freedom tent had survived unscathed, and there was only one other tent in the 400 plus site park left standing - another Freedom Tourer.
In our view there is no better testimony for the robustness of this particular tent than to have watched it survive the rigours of this devastating storm, while so many other tents of various shapes and sizes were torn to shreds, or were brought to the ground."
