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| This is the main channel for the water. |
We're
in Geraldton now, and as we drove through the city centre (you should
have seen the heads turn and the jaws drop) Joel was lecturing the
girls on downsides of city life. Most of us are more country people.
So
here comes Part 4 of the drama series, and sadly the last one.
So we
all slept. I slept from about 11-12, and then kept on waking up on
the hour. I would look at my watch, see that an hour had passed and
drop off too sleep. I was just watching the hours tick by.........
 |
| What used to be the day use parking |
Finally
we were able to see, and Frank, Merle, Josh and I trudged out to
asses the damage. Poor Frank and Merle, ousted from their bed by two
adorable little girls and a boy named Joel. I'm sure they will always
remember that night.
The
day parking area was completly gone (as well as our tables from
happy hour). Most cars had to drive up to the toilets, or on the
dunes, to escape the water, but they survived the downpour. The worst
caravan hit was down the other end from us. The water had broken
through the dunes from the road, and all the water rushed straight at
the caravan, putting it at least a foot under water.
They
had come up earlier boasting about the driest spot in the
campground............
 |
| The hill where our stuff was, and where we sheltered in the night. |
Our
caravan was fine, with only a tiny bit of water just lapping in at
the door. We were lucky. The road in was extremely rutted, and there
were ditches on the side of the road that were at least waist deep.
Now
came the fun process of cleaning up. The boys clothes (all 9
drawers) were absolutely saturated, as well as all the towels under
the bed. The day went like this:
Plunging
the clothes up and down to wash them, then rinsing them and hanging
them on lines that we managed to string up everywhere. Then we had to
walk and collect more water from the bore and start the whole process again.
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| Ocean views?? |
Mum
said it was just a good excuse to re-sort the
caravan..................
One
of the rangers said that somebody left the taps on.................
I
reckoned Merle and Frank wanted better ocean
views.....................
A
happy camper reckoned it was all part of the camping
experience.............
Another
ranger reckoned that one of the rangers shouldn't have washed his
floors yesterday............
Then
we were in a predicament, with no drinking water. We had been drinking
water from the bore, but the bore now had fragments of rock and shell
in it and was considered to be unfit for drinking by us (the
rangers say it is unfit for drinking anyway).
 |
| I sadly don't have a previous. |
Luckily,
Frank and Merle (lovely people, couldn't have survived without them)
had filled up plenty of their water containers in the downpour and
they
lent us some.
So,
could the driver come and get us to get us to Carnarvon?
NOO
Oh
Greaaaaaaaaaat
The
road into Exmouth was closed, due to flood damage to roads. All in
all, Exmouth had received 250mm of rain in 24 hours, with the
National Park receiving 400mm in about 15 hours. The rain varied so
differently, that
Bullara Station (80km S of Exmouth) only received about 80mm of rain.
The
damage done was apparently worse than a cyclone, and nobody had ever
seen worse.
 |
| We sunk in a bit!! |
We
were told that we could be stuck out there until Thursday (4 more
days, it was now Sunday) so we got some more groceries delivered out
to us by rangers who had been collecting food for anybody else that
needed it.
Sunday
night was a really early night. On Monday we all just lazed around
not really bothering to do anything. Then we went to sleep nice and
early again.
 |
| Our poor picnic tables that used to be for happy hour. |
On
Tuesday, the wind was really roaring. We had received news yeasterday
that the Burkett road was open, so we could get out. The tow truck
driver would pick us up at the entrance of the National Park. The
rangers would get us out to the tow truck driver, as we had no car.
Tuesday
morning was absolutely horrible. The wind had picked up during the
night and it was blowing strongly. The sand whipping against your
legs was painful!! We packed up, but there was layers of dust all over
everything because of the wind.
 |
| Neds Camp saying goodbye. |
We
got out safe and sound and the tow truck driver picked up us fine. We
were driving behind, and it was funny to see it. The window on the
left (as you're looking at it) kept on blowing open. The caravan was
being towed behind, and it swung everywhere. We also lost one of the
vents on the top of the caravan, and had to rescue it.
So
now I have to say goodbye to my drama series. I am actually quite sad.
In case you haven't realized, I love drama!!
Anyway,
come back tomorrow for more about the looooooooooooovely Karajini
National Park.
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