The beautiful location called us to camp here. Beautiful views over the Southern Ocean, camped near the southern most tip of the Eyre Peninsula. The closest land if you keep going south is Antarctica.
But we forgot to check the weather forecast, so we missed the warnings for gale force winds. As the winds started up, the campervan was actually rocking and swaying. It felt like it was going to tip over. Luckily or unluckily, the wind was coming in straight for the long side. If we blew over, we’d tip away from the ocean rather than into it.
We’ve twice before been in winds of 90 to 100 kilometers an hour, and those two times Jarrad wasn’t worried. This time even Jarrad was worried. “I want to move, but we can’t hitch up in this wind because I’d have to take up the stabilisers to hitch up … and then it’d almost certainly topple.”
So we were stuck, at least until there was a lull in the wind. “The Bureau of Meteorology have reported that wind gusts of up to 115 kilometers an hour have been reported around here in the last couple of hours. It’s expected to be at its worst at two this morning.”
“Susan, get off your bed. If it does tip, you’ll be thrown to the other side. Come and sit on the couch, so you won’t have as far to fall.”
The much wanted lull in the wind came around dinner time. We hurridly hitched up and started to drive with the concern of, “Well, where the hell do we go? Most of the state is, actually.” OK, we’d been in one of the worst possible places, perched over the ocean, but that didn’t make it any better now to think of somewhere to go.
Then we remembered that we’d gone to a large store a couple of days earlier. It had been closed, and the owner who’s been there told us it had closed two years ago. They had a loading dock. That would probably have to be one of the most sheltered places we could hope for.
(We set the alarm for 7 the next morning, because we didn’t really want to be seen camping there. The night turned out to be really calm compared to the afternoon … at least, it was in the loading dock.)
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About Amy and Jarrad
OMG, my heart would’ve been in my mouth, I don’t think my nerves would’ve stood it
Twitter: livinontheroad
says:
My nerves didn’t go so well, either!
Twitter: familyescape
says:
I LOVE IT! You see, this is the stuff we miss in our regular boring lives. This is a moment worth remembering!
Twitter: newlifeonroad
says:
Oh wow – lucky you were able to get out of the wind, and stay safe in the loading dock. I reckon that if you did any questions, all you had to tell them was it was for your kids safety…and that you had no other option
Those winds sure look strong!
Cheers
lisa
Twitter: livinontheroad
says:
We had all sorts of stories thought up … in the end we figured if anyone had said anything we’d go with the truth – just that it was really dangerous in those winds and we needed to be somewhere safe.
hi guys,i used this job and still do while doing the big one, http;//ando.discover-self-reliance.com it tops the bank up,also if u are in kakadu june/sept the auroa resort south alligator is always lookin for labour and has a c/van park