FORTYFIFTH DAY – SUNDAY 22ND AUGUST
During the night it started to rain. At first it was only light sprinkles and then it stopped so we thought nothing of it and went back to sleep. Later on we woke to hear it raining more heavily and it didn’t seem like it was going to stop. We became a bit concerned as we were parked on a low spot near the creek and thought we should shift to higher ground. So at 3.45 am we kind of packed up the van and shifted it to a higher location. We then went back to sleep – sort of. The rain continued at a steady pace the rest of the night. When it became light we awoke to discover that it had actually been raining really heavily most of the night and we were a bit worried about how we were going to get out of there! We immediately went into action by moving the van onto the road – that was a bit slippery going. Then we collected the table and some other bits we left at our first spot and got mud and small stones stuck to our shoes. We just piled everything in the van and tried to get out of there before it got any worse. While we were stopped on the road a police 4WD vehicle passed us and did not even stop to ask us if we were alright!!! I was cross that they didn’t stop and I didn’t understand why they did not stop!!! We then gritted our teeth, said some prayers and slip slided our way up the road. The van managed to go about two kilometres before it started losing traction on the muddy road and came to a very slow snail pace crawl. Then it stopped with the wheels spinning in the muddy bull dust!! While we were inching forward another 4WD came snaking its way past us and Graeme flashed the headlights on. The 4WD stopped and backed up while Graeme got out and squelched through the mud to ask the guys if they could give us a tow. They were a bit hesitant at first cause they were also sliding around but said they’d give it a go. Graeme got out our tow rope and attached us to their vehicle then off we ‘raced’ at 20 kph through the slush, slipping and sliding sideways all the way out. The passenger in the 4WD was video taping the experience as we went. I think they may have quite enjoyed it. There were a couple of steep hills to climb and at one point the driver of the 4WD put his arm out with his thumb up – great going. We also drove through floodways – small depressions where the water goes across the road – they were exciting, as the water splashed quite high as we both drove through them. It took about a half an hour to get out on the main road. We offered the guys some money for their troubles but they kindly refused to accept it. We were very grateful and thanked the lord for very kind good people in this world and for providing us with our rescue team. We stopped and said our thankyous and goodbyes and they went north and we turned south and continued on our way. It continued to rain all day as we travelled along the ‘frog and toad.’ (Graeme’s input) We stopped at Glendambo to top up with fuel and we thought some nice warm food for lunch would be nice. I ordered the minestrone soup with toast which was all they had left of the soup so Graeme ordered eggs on toast – we didn’t have breakfast. So we waited and waited and waited for our meal as others were also waiting, waiting, waiting. They only had two people serving and didn’t seem very efficient. When we finally got our meal, I got my soup without toast and Graeme was handed raisin toast. We said he ordered eggs on toast and she apologized and took it away and made eggs on toast but Graeme had to pay more because the guy got it all wrong. By this stage I had forgotten I was supposed to have toast with my soup and Graeme finally got his meal. We shared the meals and got out of there. We were a bit annoyed because we should have just made some breaky for ourselves in the van – it would have been much nicer and less expensive but thought we would give ourselves a treat considering the morning we had. We continued on through the rain and strong head winds which slowed us down even further. We had decided to stop at Lake Hart Lookout rest area and when we finally made it there we stopped and stayed. There were a few other people stopped here too. The weather is the worse we have encountered on our whole trip and we still can’t believe those cops in the 4WD didn’t stop! We sorted out all the stuff in the van as we had just dumped it all in the back and cleaned up the floor from mud and stones. It was a bit of a clean up job. Then we sat and relaxed. I made some scones in the oven for afternoon tea which also helped to warm up the van. We had our Devonshire tea while looking out the windows at the wet windy weather outside and watching some of the other people trying to deal with this dreaded weather. Later on Graeme made tea of roasted vegies in the oven (to warm us up as well) and lamb loin chops. We then went to bed pretty early – 7.30 pm. What a day!! Thank you God for keeping us safe.