Stormy Stuff

Last night was rather warm and we woke to find an overcast sky with stormy looking clouds visible in the distance. We debated if the rain would come to us and it wasn't too long until we could feel the fist rain drops.

In typical tropical fashion the temperature stayed over 20 DegC but the wind increased in strength as the storm clouds moved in. After a couple of showers the sun started to peek through but out to see we spotted a very black and nasty looking area which seemed to be heading our way.

I decided that we better roll up the awning as strong wind gusts have been known to rip awnings clean off caravans. As we were in the middle of packing it up, the storm hit with some ferocity. The strong wind made our job very difficult and unfortunately I bent one of the struts trying to rush things. Now the awning was, but no longer secure and the wind gust just kept coming. Alexander and Ilse were hanging onto one end each whilst I tried to secure it as best as I could. Meanwhile the rain was pelting down and moving horizontally. We were completely drenched in less than a minute but had to hang onto the awning.

I commenced assessing the problem, removing bits and bending them back into position while Alexander and Ilse hung onto the awning. By the time the storm passed and the rain stopped I had everything back in working order and we finally rolled up the awning.

One would think that being drenched by rain would be as good as a shower but unfortunately the rain was salt water, not as salty as sea water but very salty nevertheless. I'm not sure why, but I assume these tropical storms pick up water out at sea and then dump it on land.

The storm provided enough excitement for us this morning. After lunch we went for a drive to a number of nice snorkelling spots and checked out the other camp sites in the park. Turquoise Bay, the best known and most popular snorkelling spot is very pretty and well protected, even on a windy day like today but with the overcast conditions and the wind we decided to leave snorkelling for another day.

On the way back to our camp we spotted a rather large snake on the road and stopped the car so we could get a close look at the animal. I would estimate this snake was around 2.5mt long as it covered about half the road. I'm fairly sure this specimen was a black headed python and it seemed happy to have us around and posed nicely for the camera.

Back at the caravan Alexander and I went for an evening fish down to Yardie creek and admired the colours of the gorge as the sun went down. Looking to the west we were treated to a spectacular sunset with clouds over the Indian ocean and the streaks of cloud above us being bathed in deep red.

Having returned to the caravan without fish we had dinner and settled in for another warmish night with the tropical wind still blowing and keeping conditions quite pleasant, but a cloudless sky with a magnificent view of the milky way above us.