DAY 71 – Geraldton

Good Morning Depression!
 
Low 11°c (52°F) – High 21°c (70°F)
25km
 
Well it had to happen.  Rain, Rain and more rain.  About 3.00am the heavens opened and down it came.  High winds had me up checking that all the hatches were down and secured, and the rain continued throughout the morning.  I’m sparing a thought this morning for the people across from us who had a large branch fall out of a tree overnight onto the front of their van.  Didn’t appear to be any damage but it would give you a heck of a fright.  I love the sound of the rain on the roof of the van (not so keen on thunderstorms though) but I hate rain with a dog in a caravan.  So hard to keep Kitty dry and not end up with a wet dog smell over everything.  Thankfully she slept late – well after 11.00am. 
 
Meanwhile poor Shane had made a 9.00am appointment to get his hair cut so he was up and out there in the midst of it all while I washed breakfast dishes, cleaned up the van a little and had another coffee waiting for madam to raise her head for the morning.  In fairness this is only the second day of rain we’ve had in 71 days so I’m not complaining too much, but sad to think we’re facing more of this as we move further south and across the Nullabor towards home.  But the wind was so bad there were moments when the van was rocking side to side from the enormous gusts going through the park.
 
I think the combination of the ankle, the delays and the weather finally got the better of me today.  I couldn’t put out of my mind a feeling that the holiday was over (despite there being still a number of weeks to go – logic plays no part with depression that’s for sure), and I was just left feeling lost, homesick, and about as flat and lifeless as the dull day that surrounded me.  The poor birds were all soaking wet, including my little dove friend who still came for lunch albeit late but no sign of his friend with the sore foot (and unfortunately no call back from wildlife rescue) which also had me feeling very sad.  I was also quite upset by the state of the dog, owned by our fundraising co-camper across the way, which spent the night and all day in the pouring rain with no real place to retreat.  I spent the majority of the day just watching random videos on Youtube, taking the odd photo out the door and doing a bit of reading, anything really just to get through the day today.
 
As the sun was setting Shane went for a walk down to the foreshore and snapped a few photos.  It was pretty wild looking so he got some lovely shots.  Finally as the sun was setting the clouds started to clear for hopefully a better day tomorrow all round.