DISASTER

So I left my mate Michael's place in Brisbane early Friday afternoon and got on a train headed north, I had thought I would head to Nambour as it was a couple of hours north and also had markets on Saturday so I would be able to perform.

I arrived in Nambour around 4pm in the afternoon and even though the clouds looked menaceing there was only a light drizzel of rain.

Usually when I get to a town I haven't been to before I look for a place to set up my tent away from prying eyes and possible harrasment.

And so I pulled out my trusty Iphone turned on the map feature and switched it to satellite photos so I could try to find some bush to set up in.

On the phone I could see a river lined with bush not far from where I was and with the rain looking like it would get worse and not too much light left in the day, "close" was good.

The problem though when I got there was that the bush was on a steep slope. The only flat ground was right next to the water. My only other choice was to set up on the soccor oval ajacent to the river, which on a Friday night is asking for drunks to harrass me let alone kids playing sport when I would wake up in the morning.

So with my 27 kg backpack I started to walk (which was more like a slide ) down the steep slope.

I got to the bottom but couldn't find a peice of ground large enough to fit the tent and with darkness which was by now quickly approaching I decided to half set up my tent.

It was very sloppy work but after 15 minuets I had my pack and myself inside what was now a very small half tent.

If the tent had, had a side window I was so close to the edge of the river that I could have put my hand in the water, that's how close I was.

Then the skies opened up and the rain fell so hard that the tent began to leak. Because it wasn't set up properly a stream of water ran from my right to my left untill it pooled in the corner of the tent.

But I was stuck, it was pouring so heavily that to go outside was to guarentee that all my possesions would ve soaked through.

After more than an hour it was well and truly dark but the rain had not let up and I was starting to get concerned, if it rained like this all night the river might overflow and then I wouldn't just be wet but I'd be in serious danger.

Because if the river breached it's banks I could be swept downstream tangled inside a sinking zipped up tent, or worse the bank might give way under my weight and I could drown the same way.

So my commen sense said regardless of how wet I and all I owned would be , it was time to move to the soccor oval.

Within 60 seconds of leaving the tent I was soaked to the bone then I put on my 27 kg backpack and looked at the tent, I couldn't fold it up neatly as I usually would as there just wasn't the space and secondly looking at the river clearly now from the outside it had noticably risen and I didn't know how much time I had before the small bank I was on might collapse.

So I folded the poles and threw them in the middle of the tent and then folded the tent around the poles untill it was a big bundel then with the bundel in one hand and my other hand grasping at sapplings to steady myself I started to make my way in the darkness and rain along the river.

I could feel the mud of the riverbank squelching over my sandels and through my toes making walking very slippery and unsteady.

I had almost got to the point of being able to try to go up the steep embankment, thinking things couldn't get any worse when the ground gave way under my left foot and I lost my ballance and FELL into the river.

With my backpack still on my back and the bundeled tent in my hand i tried to grab on to something but to no avail.

Fortunately and really, things could have gone VERY badly then, the ground under the water at this part if the river was only knee deep I ended up standing with both legs in the river with the base of my pack coming within centermeters of the water.

But getting out of the river was not easy there were only small sapplings on the edge and if I was to rely on one to pull me out and it broke then I would fall backwards into the river.

So I threw the tent bundel with quite a bit of effort as it had been submurged in the river when I fell in, onto the riverbank and then on hands and knees, clutching at what looked the strongest I crawled through the mud back onto the bank.

With lots of slipping and sliding 20 minutes later I had made it to the soccor oval.

I was a mess from the knees down I was caked in mud my hands were scratched and dirty and my pack seemed to weigh double what it should as it was now waterlogged.

The rain continued to pound down.

I went to work setting up the tent this time in enough space to set it up fully but because it had been submurged in the river the fly stuck to the tent as if they were one so that by the time I got the pack inside the tent the only place that didn't seem to have a leak was the very centre of the tent.

For the rest of the night I ballanced the pack in the centre of the tent trying to keep it as dry as possible, after all my laptop was in it and even though all my electricals are always kept in plastic zip lock bags including the laptop I couldn't take any chances . But for the majority of the night I sat cross legged in 1cm deep pool of water that made the tent look like a kids swiming pool

When I started shivering from my wet clothes I manged to find a top that was still relatively dry in the pack and I changed and felt a little better for an hour or so untill the leaks made it so damp that I began to shiver again.

It was a LONG, Long night.

I was waiting for the rain to stop or at least become lighter as I had noticed when I changed my top that there were a few other dry clothes in the pack and so the plan was to leave the tent where it was and go back into town and find somewhere dry to change and wait out the weather.

At 3.30am the rain finnaly became lighter not as much as I had been waiting for but I was starting to shiver again and I knew if I waited any longer I'd end up getting very sick so I got my pack, zipped up the tent and dragged myself into town.

I found an empty entrance hall to a shopping centre that at 4 in the morning was deserted and got changed into a dry pair of jeans, shirt AND a jumper feeling a hundred times better I bagged up my wet gear in a garbage bag attached it to the outside of my pack.

Then I found a 24 hours McDonalds, only the drive thru was open but a hot cup of tea and a dry outdoor area was a welcome releif from the rain while I waited for morning.

By sunup around 5.30am the rain had started to become much lighter and by 7am it had finnaly stopped altogether so I went to the IGA supermarket. bought some heavy duty garbage bags and headed back to where the tent was.

I once again bundeled the wet soggy mess in to a lump and shoved it into the garbage bag. Then I went to the newsagent who had kindly let me store my backpack there and bought a bus ticket to Harvey Bay 4 hours north where I was headed next as my mate Steve lives there.

Then while I was waiting I had a look in a camping shop I found and bought a $200 tent that when taken out of the bag springs into shape. I can lterally throw it in the air and when it lands its fully setup without any assistance from me. MOST importantly it will mean I will NEVER have to go through another night like last night EVER AGAIN !!!