Snowed in
4th June, Cradle Mountain, Tasmania, Australia
There was something different about the van this morning. My head was touching the roof when I stood up. Strange, I thought. I pushed the roof (it's a pop-top) back up, and it came straight back down again. When I looked outside, it all became clear - what was pushing the roof down was the 6 inches of snow that had settled last night.
A snowy path in the camp site, untouched by footprints (human or wallaby).
It was a winter wonderland outside! Last night it had snowed a little, and today it was clear that we would not be taking Ethel for a spin - or if we did, we would almost certainly end up in a real spin, given the conditions.
A snow plough clears a path around the camp site; the main roads would have
to wait longer.
I went to make some enquiries at the nearby information centre but the people there were late in, so I stepped next door to the café to see if they had any idea how the roads were outside the camp site area. Only one person was there, and he was hoping that his employees might make an appearance so that they could serve some hot food that day. As if on cue the chef appeared in a little car, struggling up the road, slipping on the ice all the way. There was no chance we would be going anywhere today, so we stayed in the van with a heater on and drunk copious amounts of hot coffee. Maybe conditions would improve tomorrow?