12:43, 258950kms, 34.5⁰C. A first – have Miss Torque (the boat) attached and we are off to the top end of Lake Dunstan somewhere to meet up with Chris, Kirsty and Chris’s jetski later on today. Taking the boat mainly to see how she tows, and how Maggie copes. Very, very windy, so this is pretty much the ultimate test. Kirsty, Chris and Benny will sleep in a tent, next to us, so we need to find somewhere with room for all of us, sheltered from the wind, and somewhere to at least get the jetski in and out of the water – not sure about the boat, simply because it’s so windy. Went out checked out Bann
ockburn inlet first but there is nowhere nice to park, quite exposed and people everywhere. So off to the top end of the lake, but again, nowhere suitable – either nowhere nice to park, or so exposed you can’t stand up, or nice and sheltered but nowhere to launch jetski. So back down the Cromwell Gorge towards home, trying to find a spot down by the lake because it’s actually reasonably sheltered there. Saw a few potential spots, but couldn’t get off the highway because there were so many cars up our butt every time. Ended up driving from the Goldfields monument down to Jacksons’ Orchard 3 times, but no show of turning off road, into tight-ish driveway. So ended up going into the bay before Jackson’s Orchard (from the Cromwell end) and after much uhming and ahing decided to stay put – had thought to check out further up towards Cromwell by the tunnels but decided to leave it for another day, preferably without the boat. And, considering the hefty head wind, the boat and M
aggie coped well, and really only the wind caused the usual massive breaking affect on Maggie – didn’t really notice the boat at all, especially when the wind was behind us! So that’s great. After 102 kms going up and down, finally all set up at 15:24, sent Kirsty a text to
tell her where we are and now waiting for them to arrive. Still very warm, occasional big gusts of wind but quite pleasant really. And despite being right beside the highway, this spot has everything we need - flat, room for us and tent, place to launch jetski, shelter from the worst of the wind and room for dogs to run around. Mike had an afternoon nap, Marielle entertained Roxie and enjoyed a very warm afternoon. K & C arrived just on 19:00, had a few drinks, yarns and laughs (especially watching Kirsty help Chris put up the tent!) followed by bbq tea (we’d put the barbie in the boat!) of steak and coleslaw. Hit the pit at 23:30.24 January 2009
Up at 8:00 after really good night’s sleep. Beautiful day, hot already, still windy but not as bad as
yesterday. Ha
d bbq breakfast and then spent the day playing on jetski, enjoying hot wea
ther (42⁰C in the sun, 37 in shade, so spent most of day sitting in shade). Once everyone else was off the lake, Chris got his .22 out, and Kirsty had her first ever go at shooting – and hit the target several times. Not bad at all! Had another bbq tea (chicken marinated in speights – YUMMY!) and went to bed at 23:00. Great day!!!
25 January 2009
Up at 7am. The wind got up again, severely, during the night and kept Marielle and Kirsty awake for much of the morning. Thought we might end up with K&C in Maggie as we didn’t think the tent would stay up – but it did, and Chris never noticed a thing! 21⁰C at 7am, but cloudy and wind increasing, so after breakfast we decided to head home and tidy up. Left 11:10, home 11:30. 259067kms.
