Bendethera campers trapped
Submitted: Thursday, Jan 07, 2016 at 08:37
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vk1dx
Allans thread on the plane incident at
Lake Eyre prompted me to add this thread about camping in the high country and like surrounds.
A similar incident happened, or nearly happened to us. We were down in the valley enjoying a perfect day. No clouds that could be seen and in the mid 20's. As it was a day trip we picked up the picnic stuff and headed out. Still no clouds. But as we reached
the summit of the first climb out on Merricubene Fire Trail the clouds slowly closed in and the road was covered by one of those picturesque mountain mists. A short while later the thunder made itself known and we nearly jumped out of tour skins. That was quickly followed by some wild winds and heaps of hail.
First thought was "That was lucky we got up the hill". Then the realisation that the Dry
Creek crossing may come up. Creeks have a habit of doing that with heavy rain and hail. But the problem was the way down to the crossing was mostly a quite steep clay covered track. It's not the best if wet let alone if it's saturated. We had brand new STT's on and decided to have a look as there was no other choice. Still hailing we got there. It felt okay with a walk and luckily was good under the car as
well. Dry Creek had risen but
well under our limits so
home we went.
It just shows you how a perfect day can be so misleading when down in those great valleys in the Great Dividing Range. Not just
Bendethera but other
places as
well.
Here is a newspaper report (one of many):
Campers stranded in Deua National Park
And a bit of hail:
Well looks like I will have to load it up again. This takes a while and so I will addit as soon as I can.
In the meantime, travel safe
Phil
Reply By: vk1dx - Friday, Jan 08, 2016 at 15:56
Friday, Jan 08, 2016 at 15:56
Not on the previous weeks forecasts. And we don't live on the internet so the latest warning didn't reach us. Besides there isn't any mobile etc down in the valley.
It does happen. And as regulars, we have seen it before. We did have plenty of rations on board so unlike the "campers" we would have been okay.
Bendethera is quite a deep valley with high hills on all sides except to the north. The steep hills and trees under which people tend to gather if it's hot, makes it harder to see any nearby clouds. And to top it off the larger sudden storms normally run in from the south and west where the hills are the highest. You just don't see them until there are almost overhead.
I do understand what you are saying.
Phil
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