Dramas, Dramas, Dramas, Dramas and more Dramas- Part 3

So here comes drama no.5. Hold on to your seats, otherwise you might get blown (sorry washed) away!

See:

Dramas,Dramas, Dramas, Dramas and more Dramas - Part 1

Dramas,Dramas, Dramas, Dramas and more Dramas - Part 2

 Everything was going fine, and we were all ready to go on Monday. We had met a lovely Israeli family, and had enjoyed playing hours and hours of card games. Tahlia also enjoyed having a little friend to play with. The little girl was still learning English, and the only thing she really said to Tahlia was "Come on Tahlia". It was very cute watching them walk around hand in hand.

Those kayaks broke away and I was complentating going for
a quick kayak.

Then, after one week of perfect weather, the sky got darker and darker. Just as we decided to visit one of the beaches with the other family, the rain struck. Oh great. We had also invited people over for lunch, and all 16 of us were crammed under the awning because it rained.

Why did it have to rain just then??

But we persevered and all had a delightful lunch. That was Friday.

On Saturday, the other family packed up and left, but they wouldn't have gotten very far. We had had only a few light showers of rain, but at Exmouth apparently it bucketed down most of the night. The rain started in earnest in the morning, and we all huddled in the caravan playing Monopoly. Dad went into town with another camper, to show his driver license to the Avis guy.

The campground host's caravan, lovely people 

The crossing in and out of town was flooded, and the crossing was 0.8m on the depth indicator. All the caravans were lined up, and most ended up having to stay at the caravan park just out of the National Park. Our new friends also had to stay there.

We were still at the camp site and were having a fun game of Monopoly. All of a sudden there was a knock on the door. It was Frank (Camp ground host) telling us there was now water rushing through our camp-site. We all piled out and began the process of shifting everything onto higher ground. That was done well, and we all went back to Monopoly, into our second game now.

This opening got wider and wider

I couldn't sit still though, as I love the rain and just waded around out there, watching the waters rise. I went back to the caravan, and just as well. All of a sudden the water rose, and I was left out there grabbing stuff left and right as it started to float away.

We called in reinforcements (other campers) and managed to move all our stuff to high ground, but not before having the two boys clothes being well and truly wet.

Just great- muddy, soaking wet clothes.

We all left the caravan, as the water was starting to rise. Luckily, the water broke through to the beach and the water started dropping quickly. Mum, Dad, Chloe, Tahlia all went back to the caravan, while the boys and I went to watch and have a chat with the other campers.

Quicker than anybody thought, darkness came. The day parking area was being eroded away, and we were all wondering how far it would go.......

This is stage 1, the first lot of water

After some dinner, and preparations to go to bed, we all settled in for a sleep, just as the rain really started pouring. We were all worried, as it is twice as bad to have to evacuate in the dark as in the light. Dad went over to the camp ground hosts to ask about weather reports, and the water kept on rising.

On the way back Dad only just, made it across the current, and we made the decision to get out of the caravan as we were starting to rock. We all went across to the sand hill, and decided to see if we could cross the current further up. Joel went ahead, and I followed up close behind holding Chloe. Josh was carrying Tahlia, who had a life jacket on. Mum and Dad followed up at the rear holding the second torch. We trudged up to the road, with the water getting up to our waists as the water flowed past us.

The water was rising.......

It was quite eerie when the lightning lit up the surrounding countryside, as the country was inundated with water, with only several bushes standing out. It gives you a strange feeling.

Joel decided that the current was too strong, and we headed back to the high ground where we had sheltered in the afternoon. We sat up there for at least an hour, with the rain pouring down and absolutely no shelter. We felt a bit like drowned rats.

I had my parka on, which is semi waterproof, and was starting to sweat. I couldn't be dry either way, with the rain soaking me as well as my own sweat. The girls nearly froze.

While watching the water rise, we were all hoping that the caravan didn't get too flooded, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. The water only just reached the level of the body, and we all then hoped it hadn't got into the bearings of the caravan wheels.

Stage 2, the water was really coming now. 

After waiting for the water to drop, we headed across the current, which was tugging pretty hard. We had decided to shelter at the camp ground hosts' caravan, who had managed to stay high and dry. The day parking area was almost completely gone, and there was one person just sitting in the doorway, watching it erode and hoping it didn't get too close to the caravan.

The girls got a nice dry shirt from Merle (camp ground host), and snuggled into the only bed in their caravan. Everyone else managed to piece together a few dry clothes, but I was left with nothing dry. I slept (well, actually dozed) the whole night in wet clothes.

Joel shared the bed with the little girls. Mum, Dad and Merle sat on the lounges. Josh, Frank and I slept in chairs in their annexe. It will go down in history as one of the worst night's sleep ever (well in my book).

Water, Water everywhere

But we were better off than some, with Tolki Beach and Lakeside camp grounds both being fully evacuated. One camper trailer was lost out to sea, and water swept through the camp ground hosts' caravan at Tolki beach camp. The rangers were up for most of the night, sorting everything out and evacuating people. We kept up to date by eaves dropping on the UHF that the camp ground host had. It kept on squawking, especially when you just nearly dozed off.

The ranger house out at Cape Range also got water through the house and we all had a laugh when that report came in. One of the rangers answered with “I told you that you shouldn't have washed the floors yesterday”.

We also had one of the campers with a sore back. The rangers couldn't get him out, so the only option was to dose him up on panadol and send him to bed, hoping the panadol would dull the pain a little.

Now, this post is quite a long one (1300 words), so come back for part 4 when we clean-up (the worst part).