Port Augusta

 9 - 13 November 2021

While we were having lunch in Quorn we booked an ensuite site in Port Augusta. The Australian Arid Lands Botanic Gardens is a 5 minute drive from the caravan park, so it would give us plenty of time to visit. Unfortunately the weather forecast was for some rain, but we hoped we would get some clear skies.

Once we arrived and settled in, we saw that the forecast had been updated to rain throughout most of South Australia until the weekend. With that in mind, and seeing we were in an ensuite site, we extended for another two nights. For our first night the wind whipped up and blew hard for most of the night, with some rain as well. We were warm and dry inside the trailer but the noise meant little sleep.

In the morning there was mostly cloud, but a little bit of blue sky so we headed over to the Arid Lands and enjoyed an hour in the gardens. We also treated ourselves to a delicious morning tea in the on-site cafe as well as a look around the gift shop. From there we headed into town to do some shopping. Back at home and having lunch we noticed that a severe weather warning had been issued that included Port Augusta. Reading the details we decided it might not be sensible to stay in the camper (thunderstorm with gale force winds, hail, flooding). The staff at the caravan park were fantastic converting our booking to a budget cabin - the only cabin left for three nights.

We packed up the trailer in the rain and moved to the other side of the caravan park. The budget cabin was quite adequate although it had seen better days. It was clean, everything worked, including TV and air conditioner. We unpacked and made ourselves comfortable as the storm drew closer. We were certainly glad to have a roof over our heads as lightning struck very close, several times. The rain and wind continued throughout the night, and intermittently through the next day.

The storm continued through the night although not as ferocious as it had been in the afternoon. We ended up staying in for the whole day as it rained constantly, sometimes quite heavily.

On the Friday morning there were glimpses of blue sky so we set off for the Arid Lands Botanic Gardens again. We didn't last too long this time due to the cold and windy conditions. At least we weren't getting rained on this time. We retreated to the cafe - this time for a very nice piece of quandong slice with our coffee. From there we went into town to get bread from the bakery we had discovered earlier in the week, fuel up and get a replacement headlight bulb for the Prado.

When we arrived home it looked like the rain might hold off long enough to get some washing done. It turned out that the caravan park was providing washing machines for free due to some maintenance issues. This worked out very well as I had two loads to do, and we were able to put most of it through the dryer for free too! We spent the rest of our time sorting our gear and checking the weather forecast to determine our next stop. In the end we decided to put Gluepot on hold and head for the Yorke Peninsula.

The sky was grey when we left Port Augusta, but we started to see some blue as we drove along. We were hoping for better weather ahead.