Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31st.

Friday, August 9, 2019

Severe, damaging winds

We knew the winds were coming. We had seen the forecast, and they were calling for severe, gale force winds starting Thursday night. But the winds actually picked up earlier than that.

We had been trying to get to a state forest campsite, but the route we took became a private road. So we settled for second best and simply parked in a hydro corridor beside the forest road. Not ideal, but with the winds the way they were we didn't want to drive any longer, and we didn't want to be parked under any trees!

And it turned out to be fine. Except that in the morning, the winds had become even stronger.

We didn't have far to drive... it was only about 40 kms (25 miles) to the campground we had our sights set on near Kangaroo Valley. Plus, we could break up the drive by stopping in Nowra to do some laundry and pick up some supplies.

We made it to Nowra, only 9 kms (5.5 miles) away. But only just! The winds were terrible, and Bundy and Joyce sit fairly tall and it's not fun driving any kind of RV in a wind like that.

We went into town and found a laundromat. We were parked in an "all day free" parking area, which mentioned nothing about staying overnight. So I was tempted to stay right there!

We got the laundry done and picked up some groceries, and went for a walk around town.

After lunch, I thought the wind had started to settle down, so I made the decision to try to get to Kangaroo Valley. From Nowra, it was only 30 kms (18 miles).

But we only made it about 5 kms and we turned around. It was simply not safe.

Check out this news report from today...

Wind Gusts Hit 96 km/h in Nowra

We thought about going to the Nowra Showgrounds and paying to spend the night. But at $22 for an un-powered site, and with only a bathroom with no showers, we could not justify the expenditure. If they had hot showers, we probably would have done it!

Instead, we found a gravel parking lot beside the tennis club.

Again, not ideal... but free.


Parked for the night.

The wind is still howling as I write this on Friday at 6:00pm. Not as bad as it was, but bad enough.

Tomorrow is supposed to be better, but still windy.

The plan is to get up at 6:30am and drive the 30 kms (18 miles) to the campground before the winds are scheduled to pick up again at 7:30am.

Sunday is forecast to be diminished winds, with things back to normal by Monday.

We have rescheduled our Sydney Airbnb with a Tuesday arrival in order to be better prepared to hand over Bundy and Joyce to the new owner on Wednesday. So we will now have six nights in Sydney instead of five.

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And in Canada...






8 comments:

  1. Ugh! Wind during an RV travel. That's one element I could do without. Sorry you are experiencing this.

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    1. Yep, it is the one thing we hate too! It is not fun having to drive an RV in high winds and we avoid it at all costs. Thankfully we have the time to sit it out. :-)

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  2. Yikes that's freaking windy. Glad you and Bundy are safe and sound.

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    1. Yep, too windy for us to feel safe. Good thing we don't mind parking up somewhere and just sitting it out. :-)

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  3. Yep driving in those winds is definitely usafe, like having a sail on your vehicle! good idea to stop and wait, just shows how long you have been doing this. someone novice may have attempted to drive it.

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    1. Yep, that is exactly what Kevin always says! I am glad that we have extra time that we are able to wait it out and then drive when it is safe too.

      I think a novice would find out pretty darn quick that too much wind is not a good thing.

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  4. I was so concerned reading through this blog that I didn’t realize I was holding my breath the entire time! Whew! Glad you’re all safe and sound.

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    1. No worries, when it comes to the wind we don't take any unnecessary risks. We had the time so we just stayed put for the night and then left the next morning to get to our destination. :-)

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