I woke up about 7am when the neighbours left, and I couldn’t go back to sleep so got up and started the day very quietly. 

The showers are about a three out of ten as the water comes from a bore 28 kms away so the pressure is almost non-existent, and the concrete floor is so old that it is breaking away and is rather tough on the feet. 

It was also raining and very chilly with a strong breeze. At 8:30 this morning the temperature was 8 degrees with a feels like temperature of -2.3 degrees. The rain is now expected to last until the middle of the afternoon, but far too late to do the washing and put it on the line. Tomorrow. 

I worked solidly until lunch time and then we went into town and grabbed some groceries. It is a much larger IGA than we have found in other smaller towns, and the locals were very friendly. 

However, we had a quick talk with some of the locals who are very bemused at the weather conditions themselves. There was much hand waving about as though to say ‘Who knew?’ 

The empty bays on either side of us filled up around the time that the Collingwood game commenced. The people next door on our right have Collingwood stickers on their van – you meet them everywhere. 

I listened to the Collingwood versus Carlton game on my phone with much trepidation. I only glanced to the screen occasionally in case I mozzed them when they were playing so well. 

It was a ripper of a game and could have gone either way, by the Pies won by 4 points. The history of the games between the clubs now stands at 129 games won by Collingwood to 128 games won by Carlton with 4 draws. Our old arch enemies! 

About 80, 667 people attended the game and it was wonderful to once again hear the US chant go up around the G. Good game, Mason. And our Ollie Henry is a gun, and the team gelled in a sometimes very brutal contest. 

I finished the diary after that and Russ will upload it to the Blog tomorrow. 

As the wind was now blowing a gale and buffeting the van like there was no tomorrow we hunkered down and had an early night. I wondered if the buffeting would let me get to sleep but I finally managed to nod off. 

The wind has been blowing steadily at 60 kph with the gusts over the 90 kph mark. It is almost Category 1 cyclone wind. 

Coober Pedy normally manages 60 mm of rain for the year. We have recorded 10.6 just today, and the locals tell us that it has been unseasonal for the past 18 months. No wonder there is such greenery around.