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Published: June 30th 2013
Soaked Inside
With the carpet stripped out, at least we could dry everything outMonday 24/06/2013
Chambers Gorge (South Australia)
Waking up to a gorgeous morning at our bush camp at Mount Chambers Gorge, the sun was coming through and we had both slept really well and over stayed in bed for that matter.
Caroline was complaining of a lumpy throat which is usually a prelude to a cold in her case and was badgering me to get my lazy arse out of bed and get the kettle on, but because I was so lovely and snug I kept putting her off.
She had peeled back the curtain from her side of the bed so she could look out on the day, a few minutes later, I had realised she had nodded back off to sleep as there was a very low frequency noise.
Now, Kangaroojack has always had some simple rules about our blog, which we have religiously stuck to:
● Never say anything unpleasant about someone, (Except each other)
● Never make things look bigger than they really are
● Never invent things to look like we are having are having a brilliant time
These simple rules have been our
mantra on our amazing adventures, however sometimes our readers must have thought ”No way that could not have happened” like when the Wendy House on wheels was broken in to by Possums in Tasmania or when Caroline was skiing behind the Woodstock Landcruiser to try to stop it rolling in to the Dam when we were on the farm one day.
I was just letting the day drift by, comfy and warm in my bed, when Caroline must have woken with a start and said there’s an Emu walking through our camp, I thought she may have just dreamed this and rolled over to see a very large Emu causally strolling through our camp about 15 feet away, without a care in the world and seemed not to be bothered by us at all.
We both cuddled together on the bed, watching this amazing scene until this big bird had wandered out of site then we both giggled as we just could not believe these unusual things just seem to randomly happen.
As an extra special treat, due to the fact that she was not feeling well, I did a Cadbury’s Hot Chocolate to start the day,
this encouraged Caroline to get out of bed and we were soon sitting out in the sunshine enjoying this brand new day.
We both commented how nice it was not to be in the rain, and started to busy ourselves with the chores of the day. We had hoped for a quiet day really, but with the mini tsunami in Gypsy the other night (our fault and nothing to do with the design or manufacture of our Vista RV), the carpet was still damp and our bedding had encountered quite a lot of condensation, I said to Caroline if this weather carries on like this for rest of today the best thing we can do is get everything out of Gypsy and dry it in the sunshine.
Caroline agreed so I got a couple of large tarps and laid then out on the ground in the sunshine and bit by bit we stripped Gypsy out, curtains, quilts, blankets, teddy rug, pillows, mattress etc. Then we unbolted the table from the floor and removed the carpet.
Everything was laid out for drying that could possibly be taken out and laid out. All of the windows, shutters etc were
Drying our bedding
At least the sun was shining and 21 degree's open to let the air circulate throughout and help dry the floor out. Caroline swept out every corner of Gypsy, amazingly we accumulate so much dust.
Periodically we turned things over, to ensure they were dry all the way through, the temperature was really hot for a winters day, it was probably 21 degree’s which was just right.
Once all the important chores were done it was my turn, I really fancied a hot shower, and though we are outback Australia, there cannot be a reason for being dirty and smelly and I thought I was both of them.
Now we have this really cool gadget call an Aqua Cube, it’s basically a gas powered water heater that will warm any water to 33 degree's its ambient temperature, but I could not be bothered to set it up, so I decided to boil a kettle and give myself a strip wash.
Equally with this shower you can get carried away with using it and in the blink of an eye you have gone through 30 litres of water, which in this case would have been our drinking water.
Now as we are so remote, neighbours
would be the last thing we would consider seeing, so with my lovely bucket of hot water, (4 litres) I stripped down to my thongs (Flip Flops) and washed all my important little places, it was awesome, there is something I find so uninhibited about nudity, and those who know me well, know I am not the bashful kind. The whole washing project came to a conclusion when Caroline climbed up a small step stool and tipped the remaining water over me, oh it was wonderful, I felt a million bucks.
Caroline was busy with chores inside Gypsy and I was busy with chores on the truck, making sure, things that had been used were packed away etc. I also gave the cooker a thorough clean.
Now something has just popped in to my mind as I am typing this blog, if you receive some gps coordinates by text, they are not from your favourite kitchen salesman in Bangladesh.
They are from us, and all you need to do is put them in to Google as they are and Google will tell you exactly where we are, hopefully, within the 10 metres.
The coordinates would look something like this.
Latitude; S 30° 35' 17'' Longitude E 138° 24' 29" Altitude 249m Now you have to be pretty specific and put the coordinates in exactly as you have been sent them, or else it will give you a false position.
Now by the time we had got up and got Gypsy sorted for drying out, it was too late for breakfast so we had brunch instead.
A while later, we noticed clouds forming and thought we should check out if everything was dry enough to put back in Gypsy as we did not want our hard work wasted by everything getting soaked in the shower.
Bit by bit everything was put back in place, including the carpet and finally the table, before the bed could be made.
The rain started to fall out of the sky, just in time we had everything back where it should be, for the first time in 3 weeks everything felt bone dry and back to normal. It felt good to have everything freshened up. Fortunately the rain did not last.
Before the afternoon disappeared on us, we went off for
a drive following some vague tracks further up to Mount Chambers, the views were stunning (as they always are!), we could see for miles and miles. I also heard some motorbikes in the distance, we got the binoculars out but could not see anything, and we were also listening to the UHF and heard someone call up a station (Willow Springs) and also heard a lady from the station respond. Later Caroline checked on the map to see where the station was and it seemed to be back on the edge of Flinders National Park, which is quite some distance away.
Driving slowly back to camp we saw the motorbikes that we heard earlier, they are parked up on the opposite bank. We drove back across the river bed (dry) and up toward the Aboriginal Dreaming Site. You can only drive so far, because they want to protect the land and the cultural heritage, so we parked up and walked the rest of the way, still having some wow moments as we are walking along the river bank, we eventually see a pole which I assumed marked the spot, it looked as if it had been painted, but it
Drying Off
Virtually everything had to be dried was very weathered and you could not really see much.
We have called this blog title "Snake Eyes", as I am always saying to Caroline, what ever the temperature, watch out for snakes, and we always wonder, just how many pairs of snake eyes have been watching us.
We dropped down to the river and walked back up through the dry river bed, Caroline was keeping a keen eye out for anything that sparkled in the river bed, to no avail.
Eventually we got back in the truck, having a drive around we waved to the group of motorcyclists and then headed back to camp. I got the camp fire going and by now it was edging toward dinner time so Caroline got a Spaghetti Bolognese on the go.
Caroline had lit he fire and it was going so well, I boiled the billy for our hot water bottles and two cups of tea, dinner was almost ready and then we felt a few drops, so I moved our spare wood to ensure it stayed dry, Caroline moved the chairs then dished up our dinner so that we could eat under the awning.
It seemed
to rain for a while, the fire was slowly going out and then we decamped inside as it seemed that the rain was to stay for a while.
By 8pm the rain stopped but we were comfy inside. We enjoyed our productive day today, we got a lot done, perhaps we should stay here for another night and kick back a little bit tomorrow, despite the small group of motorcyclists camping across the way, it is so peaceful here, truly outback Australia at it’s best.
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ThePass
Australia 2008
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Thank you Caroline, for not letting Andy put up the 'other' photo. Have tried your coordinates in Googlemaps, but they put you in Leigh Creek, so I will keep trying until you are in the proper place!! ENJOY