It was cloudy and overcast and we actually had a couple of spits of rain. I could see it raining across the bay. We were not hot and uncomfortable yesterday at camp, certainly the overcast conditions kept the temperature down. We went for a late afternoon walk around 4.30pm and you could feel the heat still in the ground. We are picking up a gentle breeze and I think it was around the mid 30’s. Tomorrow will be the test as 42c is forecast.
Our camp and the beach across the road from our camp.
We provided water and diversion for the bees – there are quite a few, but are satisfied if you provide water for them away from our camp. They are not coming into the kitchen.
The bees don’t like deep water and prefer shallow or sucking on a damp cloth.
Our late afternoon walk was to Black Springs Well – it has dawned on us that it was a indigenous water hole and that is where the name comes from, obviously no-one has kicked up a fuss to have it changed. It is the hottest and driest part of the year. We put out a bucket of water for a kangaroo and Joey and they drank almost half a bucket – so thirsty – another one came in later and we could hear it drinking from inside, head down and almost emptied the bucket. The well has been boarded over and a hand pump installed. This was done by the Eyre Peninsula 4x4 club in 1998.
The shoreline changes, this was along the Black Springs Well walk, so there was no chance of walking back along the beach.
The walking track was not well marked and was overgrown – so maintenance is not kept up. The toilets here are the worst that I have seen, so our chemical toilet came into play straight away.
This was the first marker sign that we saw and we were well over half way on the walk, so if you could find it this far, then we start to help you. Obviously people – are vandalizing the markers. The emblem has been completely removed from the camp post.
A lot of the track was overgrown and could you push through, but this part was the best. Yes, the track is into those bushes. How long has it been since the track was checked?
The well had plenty of water in it. There was a nice little home made pump as well.
We tried our hand at fishing, but only the crabs were eating our bait, so we will have another go tomorrow.
Currently our trailer battery has discharged really quickly and Glen is working on the problem – it was fine before our trip in here, so we don’t know what the problem is. It’s a matter of elimination - we have a second battery in the car and the solar panel, so we have several options. It is just annoying not knowing why it isn’t working as it should. We thought we had resolved that issue way back in Broome.
You can always expect a problem when you are on the road. We certainly put the Nissan under huge pressure when we were bogged, so you can’t be ungrateful if something occurs.
Saturday 14th February 2014 – 44.5C – hot
This morning it was already 30C by 7.30am – it was hot, that’s for sure. Accidently, we have the perfect set up, as the annex is in the shade most of the day from the camper trailer, so it was a lot cooler out there with a gentle breeze from the ocean. Even though it was this hot, it wasn’t unbearable. I didn’t feel like I had to go and have a swim until later in the day.
We recorded 44.5c in the main part of the trailer at lunch time. It was hotter in there even with the tropical roof, than in the annex without a second roof. It is now 7.30pm and is 38C and this feels great, nice and cool – it’s all relative to the highest temperature. If you had 38C you would think it hot but after 42C now it’s cool. We didn’t use too much energy today – around 4.30pm we went down for a swim to cool off. I was giving the bees’ half a litre of water every hour or so. When they ran out they would fly around into our kitchen to look for water so I knew I had to go and refill their dish.
The phones and computers didn’t like the temps and wouldn’t function Remarkably our fridge sitting in the car at 39.5C has kept everything chilled to under 3C – we are pretty happy with that.
We had all the screens open in the camper and the awnings as veranda’s to create shade. The heat was coming from the sand and reflecting into the trailer. After lunch we put the car on the western side and it created more shade as the sun was starting to shine in one end of the annex. The breeze still came through under the car but was now cooler because of the shade on the sand.
We think we have the camper battery under control now. It is going to be much cooler tomorrow at 30C. We have extreme fire danger in this area, but the good thing is that all the camps are on the beach so you have a safety net if something starts up, no need to be stupid and try and drive out. The camp ground is clear enough that the car camper would do okay – the rangers patrol here by boat, so you know someone would be along to get you or there is always the water. After our camp here, we are going to head into Pt Lincoln to get the car serviced and checked, and then head down to Lincoln NP – if we did it the other way round, we would end up in Pt Lincoln during the weekend and not be able to get the service done. We want to make sure that the car is in good condition to tackle the Flinders Ranges and Red Centre as we will go direct there after our trip to Gold Coast. Plus we will have it on the road for a week or so and will know if anything else needs attention.
Tomorrow we are going touring further up the peninsula.
PS: the cool change came through overnight - totally amazing the change in the weather – it was very still and hot during the night, the first breeze arrived and it was like opening a oven door – a hot breeze, then the cool breezes arrived. Weather wise this location is certainly the dramatic and changeable that we have encountered.
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