Half-lap Day 8: Hahndorf

LiAM and I woke early on my birthday and went outside to a beautiful although cloudy morning. I just had enough time to practice some karate before the rain started. Sitting in the annex having a cup of tea the rain was starting to swirl in, so I put the outside wall on and then it was super cosy. I did need to keep going outside though to reposition pegs and so on as the wind gusted through occasionally.

I spent the morning reading my book and doing logic puzzles, a lovely relaxing birthday morning. It was cold though, and as more rain fell the poles of the annex started dripping - we just moved everything around so that the drops didn't make anything important wet. The kids brought out birthday presents at some point - a beautiful beaded necklace from Caitlin, (bought at the zoo the other day), a thermos water bottle from Millie, dark chocolate rocky road from LiAM, and some fudge and peppermint chocolate from Tony. I figured I could put tea in my new bottle and sit with my chocolate and puzzle book for the rest of the day and I wouldn't have to move - my clothes were wet and I wasn't cold as long as I stayed right where I was...

Necklace and water bottle - birthday presents from the girls

The kids hair needed a lice treatment (I thought we'd gotten rid of them before we left, but obviously I missed a few) so we did that and then they went and had showers. Tony and I hung around in the annex, going out to re-peg things as needed as the wind got stronger. I had hoped to go in to the shops in Hahndorf to have a browse, but didn't feel like venturing out into this weather. We also figured that we couldn't both leave the annex, one of us had to stay to keep it safe.

Tony took the car up to an auto electrician to get the dual battery fitted. They gave him a loan car while they worked on ours, but we didn't want to drive it anywhere in this strong wind. Tony had bought me some tiny screwdrivers so I opened the computer up - at first I couldn't figure out what to do, then I watched some YouTube videos and worked it out - I just had to disconnect and then reconnect the battery, and then it worked fine. Seems crazy, but it really did work! Exciting to have the computer functioning again.

The kids braved the rain and wind and went up to the games room. I went into the tent and realised the back poles had dropped down and water was running in along the poles. We bailed out quite a bit of water and managed to keep most of our stuff dry, then added some spare rubber between the poles and tent to try to stop the dripping. Meanwhile we were in and out of the annex sorting out tie downs and poles and it was becoming apparent that the annex was not going to be able to withstand the wind, which was working it's way up to 65km/hr, with gusts of up to 100km/hr. Meanwhile Liam had been hit in the face by a flying stick on his way back from the games room. He was in pain and scared and so went to bed. A tree had fallen down on to a caravan on the hill below us. A stronger gust of wind knocked several of the annex poles over - I fixed it once and then when it happened again we figured it was just not safe in the annex anymore. We quickly packed everything up and put it in the trailer or the tent, and then pulled the annex down. Tony, Caitlin and I were saturated and freezing, but it felt much safer without the annex. Our neighbour came over and helped us really peg the trailer down, then we gathered up all our electrical devices and cords (I figured everything else could survive getting wet) and went back up to the games room where it was warm and dry. It was great to get my boots and socks off - I'd been sitting with wet feet all day. Tony went to get our car back (he said it was crazy on the roads, and trees down everywhere) and bought pizza on his way back for an easy, warm dinner.

A lovely day for camping

The rain and wind were not abating and everyone was cold and worn out, so I went to see if we could transfer to a cabin. There was one available and at first they said it would be $179 (!!!!) but after applying our Big 4 discount and taking off the cost of the site we'd already paid for, we got it for $113. Everyone was very relieved. We settled the kids in then went back to the tent to get clothes and basic supplies, then had a warm evening in front of the tv, everyone got to have a shower and put dry clothes on, and drink a hot chocolate, and then we read for a while and went to bed.

Not how I'd planned to spend my birthday but a memorable day and it was fun amongst the craziness.