Day 266 Edi Rest Area Thursday 28th February 2013

Hi All,

What a diabolical night, it was amazing we slept at all. The weather radar showed yellow with splotches of red, and while the rain front initially looked as if it might miss us it didn’t, it moved easterly across the mountains dumping heavy rain on us all night. By midnight we were planning for the worst, by 2am we were out shovelling a trench away from the swag, well Simon was shovelling I was being encouraging, not much else I could do with only one shovel. Funny how rain makes you need to do wee wees, twice we needed to brave the elements, crawling back into the swag damper than sponges.

The alarm went off at 6:40 as usual, by this time there was only a smattering of drops, we felt warm and toasty so we dozed on until about 8:00. Alighting from our sarcophagus we found things weren’t that bad after all the trenches had helped and the only major dampness was on the front corner.

Not bad except for the hitchhiker

By 10:00 I was planning some cooking, firstly to warm me up (chilly morning) and secondly to use up the food be bought previously. I thought scones would be a nice idea, unfortunately Simon was not keen on helping build a campfire, so fingers crossed they would work out when cooked in the camp oven on the gas stove. I had purchased a trivet when we were home last as cooking scones in the silicone dish or just in the oven itself has resulted in rather burnt scones, except for one time when the coals had been just the right temperature (it would have been a fluke). I had used a cream and lemonade recipe before and recalled it was good. Trouble was no lemonade only soda water and sour cream not regular cream. And the result.... Simon said “bloody excellent”!

Mmm with butter. lemon curd and honey

By 11:00 feeling warmer with a belly full of scones and tea the sun came out and really warmed things up. Solar panels put up, bedding stripped and airing, waterproofing of the swag corners again, cleaning and oiling the tent poles, tidying tool boxes and storage boxes used up the rest of the daylight hours.

We did more research for our great trek, goofed off on our computers, talked to the neighbours and I did a bit more of my cross stitch when the sun was at a favourable angle. Simon got a tad excited and did a little dance, remarking “16.7” and taking a photo to prove it, he likes it when the solar panels behave.

This will probably be our last camp dinner this trip, so I tried extra hard to please, bearing in mind we were using up every last morsel of perishable food. The omelet was perfect even if I do say so, and the salads tasty, I forgot to serve the broccoli though, which we snacked on while doing the dishes.

Tomorrow Mansfield for a holiday from our “holiday”.

A new world record 16.7 amps multiplied by the
charge voltage of 12.9 Volts gives 215 watts .
Total panel rating is 220W. Happy.

Our colourful tea

King River

Ciao

Susan