Holed Up at Drysdale

Saturday 7^th June 2008

It was still raining this morning – only lightly at 5:30, but by 6:30 we were all up and contemplating the thunder, lightning and heavier raindrops that were causing rain inside as they whacked the canvas and splattered condensation everywhere.

Paul and Holly went out in the Landcruiser to check out the road conditions and make sure we’d be able to move back to Drysdale Station (at least they had decent toilets, hot showers and a restaurant) without sliding into the mud (thinking of Kate and Curls and their experience with rain and mud, here).

The report was that we’d better get moving before it got worse! So, we packed up in super speedy time in the pouring rain with the girls sheltering in the car while Paul and I had water running into our sleeves and down our backs while we fought to keep as much water as possible outside the camper.

We rushed out of Miner’s Pool on very squidgy roads that were full of enormous puddles that were very reminiscent of the road out of our canoe trip in Kalbarri. The windscreen wipers were on full blast to keep a bit of a view through the brown water that constantly covered the car and the 6km drive seemed much more as Paul struggled against the slippery dirt.

Back at Drysdale we were relieved to be able to jag the last powered spot – a couple who had booked for 2 nights had decided enough was enough and wanted to get back to Kununurra before they got stuck (I thought it was already too late but wasn’t going to argue since we got their spot). We plugged in but didn’t want to set up until the sky cleared a little – no joy in getting soaked all over again!

After a while the rain abated long enough for us to get everything out – once again, the girls huddled in the car because sometimes it is better for them to stay out of sight rather than risk our wrath as Paul and I struggle to work nicely together under tricky conditions!

Then Lynsey, Hannah and Gemma emerged from their tent - Richard had gone to get supplies out of their trailer, which we’d known, but when we drove past their tent there was no sign of life so we’d thought they all must have gone. I think they were relieved to have somewhere they could sit and move about without worrying about the water getting in!

Richard returned around midday with as much as he could fit into the car and the welcome news that the trailer was still completely intact, just a bit sad! He’s spoken to some cyclists who were heading towards Mt Barnett – they must be mad!

We all sat around for the day doing not much except for checking the weather, the forecast and the road conditions, talking to those coming in and those going out. Apparently there’s been hardly any rain up at Mitchell Falls and Paul and I spoke to a lady who’d just come back from there in a Suzuki jeep thing – the small one – and she said it was easy and we’d have no trouble. This was good news for me and my quest to persuade Paul that it wasn’t a reckless mission to try and get there.

We sent the kids to play in the car while the adults watched a couple of episodes of Coupling, I did a bit of hand washing (Lynsey tried the machine and declared it useless as well as incredibly slow so I did the bare minimum), and we made the most of the hot showers.

We had dinner in the ‘restaurant’ which had a set menu that luckily included spag bol as a starter which was enough to feed the girls and got to listen in to parts of the spiel given by the young girl that runs the station and campsite.

Hannah came to us for a sleepover but sat up missing her mum in the middle of the night so I took her back to her tent across the damp field in the pitch black.