The wind blew quite strongly during the night, and tore three rings out of the tarp which was over the top of the tent, protecting it somewhat from the wind. The tarp was flapping, the tent was flapping and shaking. Chloe was so unhappy she climbed into the sleeping bag with Katrina and myself. Charles slept well, but he was the only one. I think I got to sleep after 1:00, either the winds abated or I passed out, but it was only a few hours later that we were awoken again by the tent and tarp banging and shaking.
We were already worried that we didn't have enough food for the kids, but the though of the next few nights being the same as this, while being in the desert was enough for me to make the decision to back out. We have a long list of improvements to make before we try again.
We drove back out from Dalhousie Springs to Hamilton, rather than the longer way around we'd gone in via Eringa and Mount Dare.
Our first challenge wasn't far from Dalhousie, a little sandy creek that looked like it was quickly becoming a boghole. As we hadn't brought any recovery gear, and were on our own, I got out for a walk around and picked an easy looking track, and fortunately made it through easily.
After Hamilton we went to Oodnadatta then Coober Pedy. A difficult drive, though the road was good I was very tired.
We arrived around 16:00 and as it was still cold and windy, we didn't attempt camping but got a room. Some laundry, dinner in the bistro and it was time for bed. Funnily enough while going back and forwards to the laundry, we bumped into the guys we'd met at Dalhousie who had been on Oceantrek.
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