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Bad feet
This is what your feet look like after 2 weeks in the outback (ps : this was taken just after a shower too !) I am having a pedicure in either Broome or Perth ! Today I'm calling the Buffer Day - as we should only have got into Derby today (we allowed an extra day along the Gibb River Road for travel delays / breakdowns which we didn't end up using, hence into Derby a day earlier than planned yesterday).
What a day though !!! The light rain from late yesterday afternoon has not stopped and has been torrential all day. Once we saw the weather we quickly rebooked early in the morning - staying on until tomorrow, waiting for our trip to the Horizontal Waterfalls (thinking optimistically). The campground here is fairly small - only 20 powered sites - and by midday or so loads of caravans & 4WDs towing trailers were arriving (pretty sure it's full now).
The rain all day has been pretty awful - the water pooling on top of our awning round the truck, which we regularly had to try and shake off, and also huge puddles & a little creek of water running through the campground which is now a real quagmire. It's been at least 15 hours solid of heavy rain (since I awoke around about 5am) with no sign of relenting yet. We're hoping that
In the rain
sight seeing for the day - en route to Woolies for wine & cake it will stop before tomorrow morning so we can do waterfall trip; if not and it's cancelled we have already decided that we will be immediately packed up & back on the road for Broome as there is absolutely nothing to do here in Derby. Even if it's dry the options seem fairly limited - prison tree, old gaol, jetty & tides and cemetery (?!)
Surprisingly enough, not many loony campers were up that early this morning !! We tried to dodge the rain all day - watching "the Lovely Bones" inside the truck and then going for a walk with our waterproofs on to Woolworths (10 mins away). Bought some jam sponge roll and a nice bottle of WA Shiraz (Brookland Valley, Margaret River) for comfort food !! Grant also managed to get his TV card working on the laptop so we also managed to pick up SBS & ABC and see the news.
Unfortunately the truck has sprung a small leak - there is a little tear in the canvas in one corner of the pop-up top and the water has been pooling and running down inside. Grant has covered the gap with a piece of
plastic sheeting we had the foresight to buy in Broome before leaving which has stopped most of the flow, with toilet paper collecting the drops left. Also just discovered a leak through the back door light. Don't think the 4WD is designed to cope with torrential rain conditions !
Whilst its very damp and a bit cold for here (only 23 - instead of the usual 30s we've been having the past 2 weeks), we consider ourselves fortunate that the bad day of rain has happened on our "buffer day" and also when we are at a powered campsite with decent facilities (& not at a bush camp like the ones we've been at most of the past week). It's also quite lucky that we've done the bulk of our trip & finished the Gibb River Road (4WD track) yesterday as I'm not sure what conditions on the road will be like after all this rain and on some of the water crossings.
It's supposed to be raining everywhere in the Kimberley today. A lot of people enroute made mention of the fact that the Wet Season this year had been fairly dry, so perhaps the weather is
Woolies, Derby
Been there twice in 2 days ! making up for lost time now. Tomorrow the forecast is for "showers" rather than heavy rain, so fingers crossed for that......... (if it's still torrential rain tomorrow, we will be definitely checking into a motel somewhere !)
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