It just will not stop raining!!

After 8 days at Stuarts Point getting blown apart by the relentless easterly winds and then the rain that accompanied them, we decided that enough was enough and we needed to find somewhere at least out of the wind. So, yesterday morning we packed up in the pouring rain (but thankfully not much wind) at Stuarts Point and drove to Coffs Harbour. We knew of a caravan park that would be sheltered from the wind at least and set up camp there. We were lucky to get our soggy canvas house set up before the stupid rain started again.... and it has not stopped since.

It is now 7pm and it has been raining all day, light at times but like a fire hose more often than not. Our poor camper trailer is soaked and it is doing a brave job of keeping the water out, but it is slowly failing. We have a continuous puddle forming in one corner on the floor, one corner near the bed has leaked water onto the edge of the matress (not too bad, but the sheets need changing) and we run around with a chamois and towel every couple of hours to mop up the leaks. All part of the experience...

We went into town today to do a few mundane things that we had been putting off, and we got a bit sidetracked as we drove past the caravan sales yard. We gave in and had a look around, and we were happy to find some of the second hand caravans leaking water in through the roof, through TV antenna winders and skylights. It made us feel a bit better about our leaky camper trailer.

The good thing is that we are both in good spirits still, not getting cranky or depressed because of the rain, or because of the fact that we haven't been able to do what we wanted when we got to the coast. It's only water and it will dry up, it can't rain forever... although it feels like it just might!!

The Bureau of Meteorology website tells me that we have had a mere 28mm of rain in Coffs today... but when we came out a shop this arvo and could hardly see the car 30 metres away, and the fact that we have a 40 litre tub full of water from the rain running off the roof of the camper tent in a few hours, suggests to me that the figures may be a bit out....

It is tempting to make a run inland and try to get out of the rain, but it is raining everywhere at the moment. Our plan at this stage is to sit here for a couple of days and keep wringing out the chamois and towel, and see what happens. As long as the creek running through the edge of the caravan park stays where it should, we should be right. If it decides to flow into the park for a visit we may need to leave, but we'll keep a close eye on the rain and the creek. At least we are sheltered from that wind, and the water will dry out.

We'll keep you posted.

Paul and Kathy.

PS - The photo for this blog entry was not taken today. It is of one of the dolphins at the Pet Porpoise Pool, here in Coffs Harbour. I took this photo on our last visit here over 2 years ago... when there was sun... unlike this visit.