Day 49 Saturday 2/8/2025 Uralla, Very Cold -1 @ 11:00am

Well, there’s no point in rushing today. It started raining last night and hasn’t stopped. I snuggle down to read in bed while Woody reads the paper on his tablet and eats breakfast. I’m reading an historical fiction novel about convict architect Francis Greenway who was responsible for creating so many of Sydney’s civic buildings. Greenway was convicted of forgery and transported to Sydney, his legacy is not only remembered in fine buildings but also his portrait is on the $10 note. That’s quite a feat for a forger.

The diesel heater is purring away, the rain is still falling and with nothing else to do I hop into the shower to find a slippery mess. It looks like the shampoo bottle has fallen over and the cap has unscrewed (even jars in the fridge unscrew when we’re driving). The shampoo has spewed across the base of the shower and no doubt has dripped along the Waterfall Way as well. Anchoring my heels in the plug hole I get the immediate chores done before cleaning up the slippery mess.

I’m drying myself off when Woody says” I can’t hear the rain.” My first thought is ‘not those bl**dy hearing aids again!’ We look out the window and snow is gently carpeting everything.

It snows all day. Woody remembers the awning and dashes out to get the snow off and pulls it in before it’s too late. While Woody worries, I leap about taking photos. Around 4:00pm the power goes out. It’s budget time now, do we have enough diesel? As that’s our only heating now and we are in a ‘tin box’. Do we have enough gas? That’s our only cooking source. We have 12 volt power, but there’s no sunshine to top up the solar panels. Our water tanks seem to be playing up again and the gauge makes no sense, but thankfully we’ve got water from the tap outside even though we can’t work out why it hasn’t frozen. There are two amenities blocks here but the 4 other vans are all staying inside and using their own bathrooms. Then the phone and internet drop out, meaning that we have no idea of the weather forecast or anything else for that matter. The manager has told us that the New England Highway is closed, and it appears that the whole town has hunkered down. On a positive note, the roof hatch shows us what the snow looks like from underneath.

The snow stops around 5:00pm and it’s about 6 inches deep now. We roast crumbed pork cutlets in the gas oven for extra warmth and go to bed at 7:00pm with 2 doonas, 1 blanket and a hottie.

I’d always wondered what it would be like to caravan in the snow.

Accom: $30.00