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It was getting darker and darker as the clouds loomed heavy above me. The wind was blowing a gale from behind, the first spots of rain had started and it was cold. I was in the middle of a bleak moon landscape – flat, covered in pebbles and no vegetation other than the odd blade of grass. I was 100km from Oodnadatta and 100km from Coober Pedy. Clement was way behind and Alex and Alaine were nowhere to be seen. I was alone and it was about to piss down and make the clay road impassable. I rode on. Stopping would not get me out of this now.

Moonscape campspot

I looked behind and in the distance I saw some headlights. I stopped as the car approached. It was Alex and Alaine.
‘When do you want to stop?’ Alex asked.
‘Right now, it’s about to start – the rain.’
They drove to the top of a slight rise and we set up camp. We were in the middle of absolutely nothing. The rain started just as the caravan and side tent were completed. Clement arrived drenched with the clay clogging his wheels.

It rained and rained and blew and blew all evening and night. We got out of bed several times during the night to rearrange the side panels of the verandah to prevent them from taking off in the wind. The rain has made this spot our home for the next few days.

We had left early in the morning. The road was firm once more and the tailwind was strong, but the dark clouds were gathering and even looking threatening when we left. We didn’t have long, and we wanted to cover as many kilometres as possible before the rain made us prisoner in this flat expanse of exposed nothingness. On went the music and the kilometres flew by as the weather closed in.

Road to Coober Pedy

Huddled in the campervan house we talked and listened to the wind and rain as we played games until late into the night.