It rained a lot during the night, over 25 mm (1 inch).
When we got up, all the other people who had been camping nearby the night before in tents had *gone*. I guess they had been rained out.
When we came to drive out, we discovered that the reason they left might well have been to escape before the road became impassable.
It wasn't so much the depth of the mud, though that was a problem in places, but its slipperiness which was the major problem. Its very different getting a 5 tonne truck to stay on the crown of the road from doing it in a Barina.
Jean was white knuckled most of the time fearing that we would be stranded out of telephone range and with no likelihood of other traffic.
I eventually worked out that accelerating to 60 kph (35mph) on every reasonably good stretch was the best way to go. We had a few moments but we got back on the bitumen with out getting muddy boots.
We decided to sit out the worst of the weather in the Council caravan park in Narrabri.
The town was having its Spring Festival this weekend and we felt sorry for the participants in the parade as we whiled away the afternoon snug in our motorhome while the rain poured down.
On Monday, we were pleasantly surprised to see some friends from the safari to Townsville pull into the park on the same mission. We had afternoon tea and a good chat. Its comforting to know that wherever we go we might have company.