Wild weather

28 January 2011

We've had a bit of wild weather in the last week. First we got the tail end of Cyclone Zelia, which brought us some stormy weather. There was enough wind in that to make people realise guy ropes aren't really optional accessories on a tent. And the rain made a real mess of our bathrooms floors, when it was mixed with the sand and grass tracked in on people's feet.

Then we got the remnants of Cyclone Vania. This brought some very heavy rain - around 250mm in 16 hours. Just as the rain was easing and it looked like the flooding was going to recede, we had a king tide. The extra force of all that seawater (driven further inshore by the easterlies) meant we had water in the camp that was thigh-deep in places.

Lots of people packed up and left, and we relocated some to drier spots. Just as we thought things were starting to calm down - more gale force wind and quite a few tent casualties. That was the last straw for many who left with ripped and sodden tents.

We've had a few lovely days now, and the camp was drying out well - and filling up ahead of the long weekend. But now Cylcone Wilma is headed our way, and may well hit as a category 1 or 2 cylcone, rather than the subtropical lows the others had been downgraded to.

The forecast has been too much for many more campers, who have packed up a few days early.And a lot of the ones who have booked for the weekend probably won't show. It's been raining now for about 6 hours and is getting heavier all the time. There is no wind yet, but no doubt that will follow.

Of course we're nice and dry here in our bus - although there is still cleaning to be done. And I'm sure we'll end up helping people save their tents again.

You can see what we thought was the highest point of
the flood - before the king tide hit.

Eventually it was as wet inside as it was outside.

Even the caravan owners were starting to get nervous.

There were tents camped over the whole of this area.

And these guys decided a beer was the only answer.