Flinders Ranges
When planning this trip, we envisaged blue skies, red desert sand, maybe some wildflowers coming out from the recent rain, cool nights and bright sunny days. The arctic winds, lack of sunlight and persistent rain showers were not part of the deal.
I was awakened in the night by what sounded like someone trying to gain entry to our boot (which is just under the head of our bed). At first, I thought it was animals or something as we are so far away from any neighbouring campers. But the sounds went on and as is always the way in the dead of night, I was convinced there was someone out there. I was peering out the door curtain, ready to yell for Neill if need be, when I saw the awning flap at the same time as the sound was made. Relief swept through me and I went back to bed, safe in the knowledge it was just the wind.
At 5:30am, we were both awakened by the caravan rocking as a bigger gust of wind really flapped the awning. I got dressed to go out and bring it in. It's not the same as our last caravan so it took me a while, as I got more and more frustrated at the weather.
A few more hours in bed and then we started the day proper. But it was really quite cold, and the wind was still blowing. Mid morning we headed into the main part of the caravan park, for a load of washing and to check internet at the one spot where there is some feeble signal - the camp kitchen. Back to the van for lunch and some talk of walks. Jude and I activated our sat phones but then I discovered a problem with ours so while they went for a walk, I headed back to the camp kitchen to try and get online to fix the sat phone. I was also on dinner duty so I promised Neill and Jude a campfire and afternoon tea by the time they got back. Greg and I pottered, reading, a bit of housekeeping and generally relaxing.
Optimistically, I lit the fire at 4pm and had a very warm, cheery fire going by the time the walkers returned.
So we had afternoon tea and Neill strung up a tarp to protect our campfire from the still cold wind, as I planned to cook dinner on the fire. As the sun went down, Neill found some leftover wood, the wind eased and the stars came out. This was what camping was all about! We had a beautiful dinner in front of a roaring, hot fire, washed down with a good bottle of red. We were convinced the bad weather had left us, so we planned a big walk for tomorrow and went to bed full of hope for our original vision to be realised.
posted by Tracey @ 3:11 pm
3 Comments:
The weather has been a bit up & down over this side of the country as well. Today was much more like what we like to see :)
Hi T&G (& N&J),
Just tuning in to the Blog after your first week on the road. Im already jealous and it sounds as though you are getting into the swing of life on the road with your new toys... Its going to get pretty boring if every evening ends with the comments "sitting in front of a roaring fire after a lovely meal washed down with a nice bottle of red"! Half your bloody luck!
All good here in the west.
Safe travels,
Dave & M & C,A & R
Send your weather this way, Alice and Len!
Ha, ha Dave! Check tonight's update - you got a mention! Thanks for following our adventures :-)
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