Welp, that was the wrong decision lolz in Adventures in paradise

Well what a wild ride that was lol.

I ended up desserting the tent and escaped to the car in the carpark during a brief break in the wild weather. The lightning was insane. I could hear other campers screaming every time there was a loud crack of thunder, and it lasted for hours. The rain eased enough for me to get out of there. My tent was leaking, it wasn’t secured properly. I ended up leaving the blow-up mattress in there (queen sized and heavy, as I couldn’t inflate it with the tools I had - doh), and I took the rest of the stuff back to the car. I sat in the car for probably the next two hours or so, until just before midnight, as I wanted to head in to see the fireworks. I had my ticket after all.
So I went back to the tent after a few hours, to see it in the side of the fence of the showgrounds. Despite there being little wind (so I thought), my tent had been thrown, with the heavy mattress inside, against the fence, which I had set up nearby anyway, so it hadn’t travelled far. But I was soooo thankful it hadn’t struck any of my neighbours either side of me. If they were in their tents at the time, they probably would have had a fright lol.

As the weather still still behaving by that point (except the wild lightning striking in the distance), I then secured the tent with the pegs. It was so wild earlier that I’d literally dove into the tent opening as soon as it started bucketing down. As I managed to write in that last entry (in real time), it was pretty scary. As I was using the mallet to put the pegs in (I didn’t really need it as the ground was so wet anyway), a guy nearby asked if I needed help. He had heard me yell, “FUCK!” as I hopped back into the tent, and hit my head on my lantern that I hung from the hook in the middle of the tent. I still couldn’t inflate the mattress, although I thought I may be able to for a while. Anyway, it was nearing midnight so I changed into my shoes and made my way to the showground, only to see the ticketing booth was closed, and I couldn’t claim my wristband anyway lolzzzzz. So that was a waste of $180, but oh well, I don’t feel too bad as I have supported Lismore through a horrid year for that town, as they went under in the floods, twice.
I tell you what, when it was a downpour like it was, and knowing Lismore’s recent history (as it lies in a valley), I too wondered if I was going to become a flood victim. Thankfully that didn’t happen, and I’m smart enough to know that was caused by the river, rather than a downpour in the actual town, just combined with that epic lightning, I was very overwhelmed. And now I couldn’t even get into the party.
So I just had to watch the fireworks from outside the gate. Which was okay. I know what the inside party is like. I’ve attended before. I was stupid to not remember to get my wristband earlier, as of course the ticketing people want to close up shop early and attend the party themselves. But with that downpour and me freaking out like I was, I didn’t even think to go out in the elements and get my wristband. I only had my camping wristband.

The only thing that did go right was thank GOD the food trucks were still operating after midnight outside the gate, because I thought I was gonna starve too. All I had was a tiny bit of coke zero left, and I thought I may have to drive back into town to a 24/7 servo or something to get food. I did notice they’d left the front gate to the carpark open (which they usually close). I think they did that in case people did want to say ‘fuck this’ and go home. I was very nearly one of those people lol.

So I got food and a bunch of people exited the party after the fireworks. I was initially the only person in line at a chicken truck which actually had quite an impressive menu. I’d ordered chicken, chips and salad, with a Solo, as I was starving. The power in the van went out after I’d ordered, and a bunch of young people walked up to the van. The lady who’d just served me told them they were closed, but it turns out she was just joking when one of the twinks was like, “What? But it’s your busiest time??” Haha. He obviously saw me sitting there, but he was pretty much my only interaction with people at this entire party, besides the lady at the front gate who checked me in, and the guy who asked if I needed help.
I got my food a while later and went back to the tent. Do you think I could get in the fucking thing? Nope! The sides of the fabric were stuck in the fucking zip and I literally could not get inside, no matter how much I tried. I ended up squeezing through a tiny gap that I’d created, Ace Venture: Pet Detetive style. You know, him with the Rhino? That’s literally what I thought of.
I had to throw the food in so it wouldn’t spill, leave enough room for me not to land in it, and thank God I fit. I knew I’d completely wrecked the tent though. It was only once I was inside and thinking how horrible of an experience this was that I remembered the tent has an opening on both sides LOL. Fucking hell. That’s how much I was hating this. Definitely not thinking clearly. Anyway, I shovelled my food down, and tried to make my uninflated mattress as comfortable as possible by trying to use as much of the dry part of it as possible (it has gotten pretty wet when the tent was thrown), laying my sheet on it and then climbing into the sleeping bag as much as I could, since the insects clearly now had an opening to attack me if they wanted to. I turned off the lantern (usb powered, woohoo), and prayed to God I wouldn’t wake up with an even more fucked-up back than I’ve had the previous few weeks. It had only just been behaving after heaps of exercise on it at the gym, and I was sure I was about to fuck it up again by basically sleeping on grass and a few bit of flimsy material lol.

Here is me in the tent thinking about how I got myself into this situation lol

My view before I busted the zip lol

I somehow got some sleep. And slowly raised myself up. My back was okay! A bit stiff, but actually better than I expected! Wow. It appeared not to have rained much further during the night, but I had only been asleep for around 4-5 hours I guess. I’d at least made use of my camping ticket and actually slept in the tent, even though I’d destroyed that zip on one side lol.
They have a camping donation area, so I took all my things back to the car and just left the tent there. I figured it’s probably still usable if anyone can actually get that fabric out of the zip, because I sure as heck couldn’t.

Before driving home, I drove to Ballina. I can’t remember having been there before, but upon driving past Shaws Bay, I couldn’t believe how spectacular it looked, so I did a U-Turn and parked in an area outside the pub. I figured it was a public holiday so parking should be fine, although of course I stressed about that too. So much for not stressing as much this year, as I wasn’t off to a good start. Anyway, the walkway seemed to go for miles, but I made it all the way to the end. One guy was out in the bay riding the huge wave on one of those hoverboard things where the fin is in the water, but he’s out of it. Looked so cool! He was riding some of the big waves.

I walked all the way back, as the clouds were looking dark, and the car was still there lol, but lordy lord, the weather was not done with me just yet.

The drive back toward home was treacherous. I mean, holy-fucking-shit downpour. My wipers were on full pretty much the entire way, I couldn’t see at times, I had to stop twice. I was on the major highway between the Gold Coast and Brisbane and at one point it was at a crawl. I soon found out why - it was because three lanes of the HIGHWAY were flooded. Unreal. So naturally, four lanes of traffic were trying to merge into the far right-hand side one, as that was the highest ground lol. I’d never seen anything like it. The rain seemed to follow me, and it was relentless. Even the few times I stopped in random shopping centres or whatever to get a bit of reprieve, the roof as the car was being pelted lol. I ended up just opening the Waze app and it directed me along the rest of the highway, as it was still the best course home. I was so happy to get home. I pretty much went inside and collapsed on my bed, intent on just having a nap, but of course I woke up about 8 hours later lol. I guess I really didn’t get as much sleep in the tent as I thought. At least the rain had let up (of course it wasn’t raining anywhere near as bad once I got home), and I brought all my muddy and wet belongings inside. I hadn’t even used most of it, including my camping chair. There was no point, as I would have been sitting outside in the downpour and lightning, asking to be struck lol.

Anyway, that’s my story. Because I’d cut my trip short, I still had the car the next day, so spent it going around to random shops to get bits and pieces that I’d been wanting, including a few man for my room. I quite like it. Of course it was raining again all day. It’s only really let up in time for me to go back to work this week.

I hope this isn’t an omen for the rest of the year haha.

Last updated January 04, 2024