Drive to the North West

Temperature - Day (maximum):
Thunderstorm

Goomalling – 22.04.2001

After loading our car and trailer to the roof by 6 p.m., we finally set off. Heavy storm clouds have been moving across the country since the afternoon, heralding the long-awaited rain. According to the weather report, this region of Australia has had the driest summer on record. Farmers have been hoping for the all-important rain for weeks. The fields look yellow and burnt and the price of hay is climbing from week to week. It is expected that a bale of hay will soon cost 12 dollars, which is three times as much as normal. For some people who have to feed their animals with it, this is an economic disaster. We, on the other hand, seem to have just managed to make it to the tropically warm north before the onset of winter. We really have had enough of rain. There was more than enough of this in Germany this year. Happy to have done everything, we sit in our old Holden and drive towards Goomalling. We will spend the first night there with Jo and Tom. Heavy rain and hail pelt down on us, cooling the evening air considerably. Lightning flashes incessantly through the now night-black sky and powerful weather lightning bathes the distant horizon in glistening light for a few moments.
Jo and Tom give us a friendly welcome. We then swap old stories and adventures from the first leg of the Red Earth Expedition over a few glasses of home-brewed beer and go to bed late.