Wednesday 26th April
Bremer Bay W.A.
A bloody cyclone again last night. Just our luck! The rain started with a few showers early in the night, some time around 1.30. Not too much to worry about but at 4.30, there were several ominous flashes and then the thunder cracked and the skies opened. It bucketed down for three hours with the wind whipping through the
camp despite us being relatively sheltered. I got up at one stage to
check the inside of the tent and found a large
pool of water gathering on the floor near the door. With no annex the wind was driving the rain directly onto the front of the tent. The door zips are not flashed in any way like the other windows so water will seep through the zips if driven by a strong enough wind and seep down the flywire to the floor. A couple of towels soon soaked up the problem.
I emerged at 8.00 a.m. to find it still showering intermittently. The empty dish basin left on the
camp table had over 5 cm of water in it. The wine glass had the same giving some indication of just how much rain fell (not all of it straight down either!). The chairs, which I had folded and slipped under the trailer, were covered in sand and soaked. A very damp beginning to the day. We’d done alright though and the trailer again proved its mettle in a storm. No leaks other than the door zips.
Toby and Bea had faired
well as they exist in the microcosm of their vehicle. We had a long breakfast in the
camp kitchen during which I prepared jaffles for them both. Another Ozzie culinary masterpiece. Braised steak and onion with cheese and Spaghetti and cheese. The Kraft tinned spaghetti had them horrified until they tried it thinking that it was just normal pasta in a tin. We also pulled out the atlases and indicated some of our better spots found along the way. I gave them our little wire toaster to help get them across the Nullarbor without having to have untoasted bread for breakfast. We decided to beat a retreat as the weather has settled in and it’s no fun in the mud.
We bid farewell to Toby and Bea a little later and when finished packing, headed off ourselves. We spent a fruitless 15 minutes searching for the bag to the
camp table which we feared had been left out and blown away. Very unlike me to leave anything lying around, but it couldn’t be found.
Back in
Esperance by 12 o’clock and straight to the
post office to collect the mail. It was there this time. Perused it while at the IXL
bakery and then headed off through the rain towards
Albany. Thought we’d try for
Bremer Bay and the Fitzgerald National Park. A lot of rain on the trip that broke up closer to
Albany into intermittent showers. At least the clinging red desert mud from the Anne Beadell has been washed away.
The journey southwest took us through the wheat and Mallee country again. It’s amazing how a zone of country and flora can be so identical and yet on different sides of the country. I’d have thought that the average annual rainfall in this area would have been a bit higher than the Victorian Mallee though. The number of three dog road trains passing us was phenomenal. One every 5 or 10 minutes or so. It seems as if the big grain bunkers are being emptied and trucked to the loading facilities at
Esperance. Certainly there was an Iranian bulk carrier docked and loading and another carrier anchored off shore waiting.
We reached
Bremer Bay on dusk and wasted no time in locating the caravan park. I had intended getting a cabin for the night but alas, they were booked out, school holidays and all. Got an ensuite site and we set up the tent, had a welcome hot shower and then went down to the local pub for a meal. Late day due to the late start. Would’ve slept
well too but for the noise from the
camp next door. Had a word about 12:15 a.m. A little sprinkle overnight but not much to worry about.