Red Sky in the Morning, Circus’s Warning

This week we have experienced enough unhelpful weather that I thought it is time to get a handle on exactly how much of our six months away has been spent dealing with windy, wet and cold or extra hot weather.

I was recently reading about another family who travelled around Australia for six months and they had zero days of rain in six months. Perfect weather for their entire trip. This seemed unlikely to me, but there is no reason to mistrust them.

When we left Brisbane, I expected that we would have some days and possibly weeks where it would rain, and we’d be trapped in the tent or nearby, and I wasn’t really too worried about it. We were reasonably seasoned campers before we started the trip, and have made it through some weeks of heavy rain, we’ve survived the tent being blown over in wild storms, being flooded etc etc. It seemed liked we were pretty well prepared for bad weather when it should interrupt the otherwise fine and sunny weather we are used to enjoying.

 The reality has been much more bad weather than I ever could have guessed, and I have been surprised at what a negative effect this has on my mood and general enthusiasm for what we are doing.

Here is a synopsis of where we have been and the weather we have encountered.

We left Brisbane in the pouring rain, and it rained solidly all the way to Crescent Head. Two nights in Crescent Head, windy and slightly wet and miserable on our day there before we moved on to Parkes.

Parkes was sunny and fine for our day there and remained so when we were leaving.

At Wodonga we arrived and set up un the rain and it rained solidly for our whole stay of two nights. We had access to a camp kitchen there, but packing up in the rain is always a pain, and it was cold as well as wet.

Melbourne we were staying in a house for two nights and it was fine and we had the opportunity to dry out all of our soaking camping gear before getting in the boat to Tas.

Devenport for four nights. From memory we had two days of cold and wet and a day of sunshine there before moving on to Low Head. It was very cold at night, but we had a camp kitchen.

Low Head we stayed for a week or so, with a fair bit of sunshine – maybe two days of rain – but there were about five days of extra windiness, and it was a bitterly cold wind and very very cold at night. We had a camp kitchen to occupy there which helped us quite a bit.

Bay of Fires we were free camping with minimal facilities (toilet only) and we stayed for about a week. I think we had three good weather days there, and one day of flogging rain with another couple of days of just rain. It was pretty cold at night as I recall and too windy to fish.

We moved on to Mayfield Beach with again only toilet facilities. We were very close to the highway there and had passing trucks keeping us awake in the night (four nights). We had good weather while there though, and of course it was our gateway to Freycinet – so good timing for the good weather.

On to Ross where we really enjoyed our stay, despite a lot of rain. So much rain that we were asked to move our home out of the path of the rising flood waters (we didn’t do that, but we prepared in the middle of the night and stayed awake to monitor the rising river).

From Ross on to Bruny Island, which was beautiful, but I think we had two partly sunny days there in our week on the Island. We had a camp kitchen with a fire place, but it was a tin shed and the fire was no match at all for the bitter cold and extra high winds. There were gum trees everywhere near our camp, so we lay awake at night listening to the gale and hoping that the trees wouldn’t  drop branches on our tent. It was the most miserable we have been and there was just no way to escape. The dog really limits our options for buying some warmth and comfort at times like this.

Fortunately, from Bruny we headed to Hobart where we were camped in our friends’ back yard. They provided us with a shed equipped with TV, table and couches, and of course we spent a lot of time in their toasty warm house. The weather was not great while we were in Hobart, plenty of rainy days, lots of cold days when not raining (snow on Mt Wellington a few times), but in general we were pretty comfortable due to the access to a solid roof or two. Probably 50% of our two weeks in Hobart was rainy. Couple of days were really rainy (driveway was covered with a foot of water when we arrived and dried out and then was covered again in our final week).

On from Hobart to Dover, where the weather was bleak and very cold. Again, we had a house to hide out in. We had one excellent day of weather when we hiked to South Point Beach. That was about it for good weather though, and we ended up there for about nine days due to our catching covid.

Dover on to Strahan and we had five nights there, with at least two days of rainy and extra cold weather.

Then on to Black River where we stayed for six nights and had two rainy days. As usual it was pretty cold while raining, not hugely warm the rest of the time

Mole Creek was mostly wet weather, but we had an OK day when we all went up to Cradle Mountain. Sarah went back for more and got some pretty wet and cold weather while she undertook the longer hike.

It was a mix of rain and sun on most days in the camp, and eventually we had to get some mains power due to the lack of sun on our solar panels – just too many cloudy days.

Mole Creek back to Devenport for a couple of nights before our departure. We were staying in a cabin in Devenport this time, and we had one sunny day, although it was windy and pretty cold. We were then off back to the mainland the next day early, and it was a pretty calm trip across the Bass Straight.

Back to Melbourne where we had about three weeks of staying in our friends’ house. This was the best weather we have had so far, and it was pretty consistently sunny, although often cold and windy, while we were there. Sarah got out on the paddle board a couple of times, but it was mostly too windy.

Melbourne back to Wallagaraugh River at the eastern edge of Victoria. Here we had fine weather, but a couple of days of howling winds with lots of dust and it was pretty cold. This is where our fridge died, along with one of our batteries and also we discovered our trailer needed some fixing before we could go on.

On the day we left, which we spent most of in Mallacoota, it was about 35 degrees. We were trapped while the trailer was mended and were completely over the heat by the time we drove out. We then were hit by a wild hail storm as we travelled down the highway, and it continued to rain on us while we set up camp at Banksia Bluff.

Banksia Bluff it bucketed down on the second day and we put up the extra dome shelter –  I think maybe for the second time on this trip. Sarah was working in the rain, and the dome isn’t great in really heavy rain – it is mainly a shade structure. We had water running through everything, but the next day was better and then we had a few fine days in a row, although it continued to be quite windy on the beach and when we went to visit the various nearby towns.

From Banksia bluff to Shallow Inlet where it was reasonably fine for the whole time, hot on some days and cloudy on others. I don’t recall any rain there (we were there for five nights). It was a bit dusty and everything was filthy by the time we left.

On to Mongan’s Bridge in the Southern Alps where it was mostly cool and dry, but we had a few overcast and wet days in a row which forced me to buy some mains power again to keep everything going.

After six nights we headed to Lockington where it was stinking hot on the day we arrived and set up. After that it was relatively cool, but we had a couple of very windy days which forced one of us to stay at the camp to make sure our tent didn’t blow away while we were out. We were in the pool a couple of times there, although it was really too cold for swimming in my opinion.

On to Swan Hill where we had four nights and really hot weather. High thirties and fine. Kids were in the pool and water park all day every day, and they got pretty sunburnt on the first day despite our best efforts with the sunscreen, hats, and sun shirts.

Mildura for a week after Swan Hill and it was really hot while we were there (high thirties, low forties). The swimming pool at the camp ground was needed by all every day.

South then to Halls Gap where we had mostly good weather although it was a bit windy and dusty at times. It was a good hot day when we did our first walk, although it was hotter on the day we arrived. We had six nights there before moving to Mt Franklin.

Mt Franklin we had another six night stay and had about two rainy days and two more overcast days. We were struggling with power there due to too much cloud before heading on to Hammond Road.

Hammond Road was in the middle of a forest and we had some particularly windy nights there where we didn’t sleep well for fear of the forest falling on us. It also rained – probably two days of rain. Internet was too poor to work and we spent time in towns there to get things done. Power was becoming very low and chasing the sun around the forest was a full-time job when we were there and when it was actually shining.

We then headed for Colac where we had power and were able to resurrect what I thought was another failing battery. We had mostly windy, wet weather for most of the time in Colac, but we were OK with the mains power and our heater in the tent.

From Colac to Johanna Beach where we had good days of sunshine interspersed with rainy weather. The wind really got up on our last night and we were forced out of bed in the dark due to the tent being blown down. We just packed up and left site earlier than planned.

Onwards to Fitzroy River where we had a bit of everything other than warmth. Sunny days, very wet days, cold days, really windy days. Really windy nights. There were not many trees around so we were not so worried about falling branches but more about the tent being blown away. On Monday Sarah had to go to Portland to work because it was too windy. On Tuesday she went back because it rained all day. Wednesday was fine and we went out for a family outing in the morning. Tried to fish in the afternoon but it was far too windy – 50km/hr winds. It was pretty cold at night and we had millipedes all over the (inside of the) tent while there. I think they were trying to get out of the weather.

We are now in Southend in South Australia and we had a beautiful day yesterday – clear and sunny – but it was quite windy on most of the places we visited. We are staying in a campground with a really well appointed camp kitchen and communal living area which is out of the wind and rain. It is the first solid roof we’ve had over our heads (at least during meal times and in the evening) since we left Melbourne, and it is amazing how it has lifted all of our spirits to be able to get out of the wind and cold. We also have mains power, which allows for heating the tent, and we replaced our broken 12V electric blanket, so everything is warm at night, and I don’t have to steal Sarah’s bodily warmth.