I ventured outside late last night to see thin, whispy clouds shooting past a ¾ moon at great speed. The obfuscated moonlight reflected brightly enough off the white sand to illuminate the surrounding landscape and the raging waves crashing down on the beach. It was actually quite mesmerising to watch, despite the icy chill that was contained within the squally wind. A wind that was blowing by now with such force that it was rocking the van back and forth to the extent that I feared becoming seasick from the constant movement, as well as belting the satellite dish about enough that the picture was dropping out. Not that it mattered, as it was getting late and was time to switch the tele off for the evening anyway.

I’m not sure how long we’d been asleep, or what time it was that we all woke with a start. Rain and possibly hailstones were falling heavily, creating a calamitous din, like bullets pinging off the tin. I seriously thought that it wouldn’t be long before the aqua projectiles would pierce the skin of the van and begin to saturate us. Bethany too was startled by the noise of the rain zinging off the van, and quickly made it known by jumping onto the bed between Bec and I and snuggling in comfortably. I left here there until the downpour had ceased, before returning her to the comfort of her own bed, allowing Bec and I to enjoy the comfort of our own bed. It didn’t last long though, as the hammering of the wind was loud enough to see her fretting and jumping back onto the bed between us again. I could hardly blame her, as the clatter and constant swaying motion of the van was enough to keep us awake for most of the night too.

Needless to say, after a sleepless night, we arose this morning feeling almost hung over, with the wind still relentlessly trying to beat the van into submission. I was thankful at least as I began to pack up, that the rain had ceased, although the weather and tide put paid to our idea of taking the dogs for an early morning walk along the beach. Not only was the sand being flung painfully through the air, the beach had almost ceased to be, with the high tide seeing to it that the waves were breaking barely metres from the rear end of the van.

So rather than take a walk, we loaded the dogs into ‘The Beast’ and off we headed. Without the consumption of time that would have been eaten up had we gone for the walk, we hit the road 20 minutes early this morning even though we have less than 200Km to travel to get to Port Lincoln today.

Despite the relatively short distance we had to cover, it was a tough drive. Not only did we not have a favourable tail wind, but for the most part we had strong gusts slamming side on into us all morning. It needed a careful touch on the steering wheel to ensure that all 8 wheels stayed safely on the bitumen as the van was blown about like a wayward spinnaker.

To break the drive a little, we took a short detour off of the main road to the small town of Coffin Bay. What a waste of time, effort and fuel that was. To be fair, I am sure that Coffin Bay is a beautiful little town that may have been improved with a little more in-depth exploration, but the blustery conditions today just made it seem miserable. We drove through town, stopped to take some photos at the boat ramp, without even getting out of ‘The Beast’, before driving the 10Km back to the highway for the final stretch into Port Lincoln.

Coffin Bay Boat Ramp.

We had booked our caravan site over the phone several days ago, so we made our way directly to the park. It’s about 10Km out of Port Lincoln, but was the sole caravan park in the region that accepts dogs. Situated right on a beach, our hope was that we would be able to walk the dogs each day, but if this interminable wind keeps up, we might have to make other plans for their exercise. Thankfully, our initial impression was that it is nice enough, despite the deep puddles of rainwater lying on the ground. Before I had even parked the van, I got talking to our neighbor. He’s been camped here for two weeks already and not a day has passed that it hasn’t rained. That was an ominous statistic to be sure, but with only a few days here ourselves, we will have to battle on regardless.

The grassed sites are enormous though, which gave us an excellent chance of situating the van to make the most of whatever firm ground we could find. It also made for a very easy reverse into the space, before we quickly set up the basics. We didn’t want to waste too much time with setting up, before going for a look around town. We had bypassed the town centre on the way in, so are yet to see any of it.

In town, we stopped for refreshments first, before following our usual course of action. We took a drive about town to familiarise ourselves with the area. Port Lincoln is quite, boasting more shops and businesses than we have seen in one place since we were in Western Australia. We didn’t take too much notice of the foreshore or jetty today though, as the conditions continued to make any outdoor activity unpleasurable. Save for a photo in front of the life sized statue of the famous race horse, Makybe-Diva, we tried to stay indoors as much as possible. So, instead of walking along the main street, which stretches for several blocks, we drove from store to store, running from ‘The Beast’ to whatever shop it was that piqued our interest and back again. Not much else was achieved.

Makybe-Diva and I.

A couple of…

…the old buildings.

Back at the van, we introduced Alvin and Bethany to a few kids who were playing in the playground. The kids were as enamored with Bethany as she was of them, although Alvin was his usual shy self, maintaining a safe distance from the prying hands of the youths.

Just a reminder, that the photo updates of Flickr will continue as I get the time to upload them, and the Google map showing our travels is again up to date.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.