First Night Camping in Goondiwindi

Today was the day we finally embarked on our road trip to Melbourne. We picked up camping equipment, drove to the Goondiwindi Showgrounds (I wish I remembered the correct pronunciation…), and set everything up in the dark for the very first time. After quite some fiddling, the tent finally stood. We pumped up our queen-sized air mattress (I counted: 500 pumps and you’re golden) and went to bed at around 11 p.m.

But wait. There’s more.

Suddenly, the wind picked up. It was noisy, but fine — that’s camping. A quick look outside, however, offered a rather foreboding sense of doom. The sky was so heavy with clouds it looked ready to break loose above us.

We figured: the tent is supposed to be waterproof, and we’re tired. Let’s just go to sleep and deal with it.

This worked for a few minutes — until the wind got so strong that our dome tent bent so far it was basically lying on top of us. Then the top layer flew off, and we were exposed to the first drops of rain.

We gritted our teeth, put the tent back together around half past midnight, and retreated to the car. I wouldn’t actually call what followed “sleep.” All in all, it was a pretty uncomfortable night.

And the weather? The clouds passed about an hour later, and the rain never really picked up. So… yay?

Enjoy the marvellous view we had at the campsite… 😄Read more