Our 100th blog post! And our eventful 24 hours in Port Augusta….its a story worth reading!

Before I get into this blog, which I think is tragically hilarious, I would like to share that this is our 100th posted blog! Eeeeek!

For us this is pretty epic, after all each blog has been a part of our trip, moments Alex and I have shared whilst travelling around Australia and New Zealand. Ones we have also shared with all of you in these retelling stories.

Although we are very behind in posting these stories, we still hope you enjoy sharing them with us. We definitely have so so so many to come from our trip of Australia and then more after that from these new adventures we find ourselves on

But until then, enjoy this story, let us know what you think below, we really love your comments!

And so the crazy story of our 24 hours in Port Augusta begins. A story we know quite a few people have been waiting to hear about. One of those ‘traumatic’ ish type nights that really wasn’t traumatic at all but really just a series of unfortunate events that lead to a very shitty night in a shitty place that lead to a very un-shitty story.

So lets begin with the story. We have just driven literally all day from Hahndorf to the spectacular town of Port Augusta. If you have ever been there you understand the intense sarcasm that I write with. If you have never been, nor heard of the place, lets just say it’s a town in the middle of no where, somewhere in South Australia. There is a LOT of red dirt, its damn hot, the caravan parks have security fences with barbed wire on top and actual security checks in the night. Its that kind of town. Super lovely.

So we arrive and as the drive went on, the temperature outside got pretty warm. And then it got warmer and warmer. When we actually arrived it was a wonderful 46 degrees!!!!! Yes that is bloody hot. Yes if you wanted to you could crack an egg on your car bonnet and it would probably fry, emphasis on the probably. No we didn’t try this, for some reason I have no idea why, because it was so disgustingly hot I am sure that it would have made it all worth it.

The first thing we did was head to the supermarket. After all, when we had crossed the border into South Australia we had had to throw away all our food. And yes we had stayed a night in Hahndorf, but we’d gone out from dinner and breakfast, so food was required to survive.

Into Woolworths we all went and well that was an experience all in itself, which will stay with us. But I will share that I had to use the bathroom. I went in search of it, found it, got some interesting looks on the way in and out and felt a little grossed out after going in there, wanting to never see/use a public country supermarket toilet EVER again!

With a new experience under our belts, and Wouter introduced to country Australia in a fun new way, we left Woolies with some food and went to the Big4 caravan park. The one with high fences and barbed wire on top.

Once we checked in and got our spot, which I have to add was just a plot of sand next to the back of the park and fence, under a big tree. But we thought ‘yes a tree to shade us’. Well it wasn’t that fantastic. So we set up our tents, with Wouter’s underneath the tree to try take advantage of most of the shade it would eventually provide. Alex and I’s tent was right in the afternoon sun, however as a rooftop tent it folds out. All three of us found shelter underneath the rooftop tent.

At this point we felt like we were melting. Seriously 46 degrees is disgusting to sit in, in desert type surroundings and no wind.

We sat there trying to entertain ourselves for atleats a couple of hours, suffering all the while, also wondering how the hell people live there, let alone why we were there.

When the sun finally decided to take a break form burning hell on earth, we thought maybe we should go to the campers kitchen and cook dinner. I mean it was something to do after all.

We unpacked everything from the car and walked over. The first thing we all noticed was the fact that the camper’s kitchen, a box of a building, was in fact fully air-conditioned. Yes, you are thinking exactly what we were thinking, why the hell had we taken so damn long to discover this amazingness, sitting in the heat for hours melting away when there was salvation in a tiny box of a room with many people!

Well that moment of sheer stupidity was short lived when the second thing we realised was just as we had walked up to use the kitchen, people inside were opening all the windows and doors because, the air-conditioning had just shorted and stopped working. So all those comfortable people had just realised they were sweltering in that tiny box together. We felt a little better.

So instead of joining the hot box, we chose the bench outside and cooked up a delicious meal. After dinner, which was in fact amazing given the day and the heat, instead of playing some games or enjoying a drink, the heat had exhausted us and we all retired to bed.

Which brings me to the next epic/awful part of our night in Port Augusta.

We have all gone to bed but I am sure because it was still before 9pm we each read books or played games on our phones. But after some time I know Alex dozed off and I just kept on reading my book, after all it was so damn hot I couldn’t sleep. So whilst lying there just reading my book and minding my own business, I felt a bite on my leg. At first I thought, ok it was a mosquito and continued reading. A few slaps to my self here and there got a little painful and I could not understand what the hell was biting me. That was when I got bitten again, and then after and again and again and again.

I was not being bitten by a blood crazy mosquito, nope I was being bitten by hundreds of ants. Hundreds of ants that were somehow, and at that point in the night I had no idea how, crawling into out tent on my side and biting me over and over. Meanwhile Alex was sleeping away as best he could in 38 degree heat.

Hours went by and as I tried to sleep I continued to be eaten alive by the most tiniest ants ever in existence. Seriously when I tried finding what was biting me I could hardly see them. And there was enough light from the spot lights just on the other side of the barrier fence.

And around 2am, after absolutely no sleep during the vampiric night of mine, I realised why the fence, the barbed wire and lights were in place. Just on the other side of our camp spot, on the other side of the fence there was a very festive event happening. Many men and women were drinking, smashing bottles, yelling, driving fast in their cars around in circles and even allowing their children to join in the party and contribute some load crying to the mix.

The ants, in combination with the heat, the fact that Alex and Wouter were asleep and I wasn’t, and then all of that, I can truthfully say it was a pretty awe night and I did not sleep. Really I actually got 0 sleep, a seriously unhealthy amount of ant bites and a bad ass headache!

When the men woke that morning, which wasn’t really hard because once the sun started to rise at like 3:30am, it was impossible to continue sleeping through more heat or light, I explained my night. During the night Alex had possibly been woken by me once or twice complaining about being bitten, but may have not been completely convinced that I was being bitten by hundreds of ants. That was until that morning I showed him the bodies of all the dead ants in our bed (seriously disgusting) and the trail of ants he could see crawling up the car and our rooftop tent cover.

That’s right we had facilitated the ants.

When we had parked our car, we had not noticed the ants nest underneath. When we had set up our tent, shaded ourselves with the cover hanging still, we had not realised we were setting up a ladder for the bloody ants. And throughout the night whilst I was being eaten alive, never did I think that moving that damn cover would stop the ants. To make matters even worse/funnier, which ever way you want to look at it, that morning not only did we see the trail of ants crawling up into our tent, but they were covering our car. That’s right, our car seemed to be exciting to ants and they were all over it. It was weird!

So after no sleep, and me being in a pretty bad mood, I laughed. I could have cried but really it was too hilarious not to just cry with laughter over the tragiceness that was that night.

Port Augusta guys, its amazing…..

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