Day 18 The Midnight Dash

The decision to move was a fairly easy one as it appeared a second front was coming through. I had to wait for a lull in the wind and jump out and retie the tent down enough that I could let go and move to pack everything away. There is a method to pulling the tent down where I can pack away all the inner first and leave the fly and groundsheet. Then it was a mad dash to pack those and the poles away before I got hit with another gust. I then had to decide what I was going to do. I had seen a shed down in a valley but I couldn't work out a safe path down with only the light of the head torch. 

So I decided to follow the trail and hope it dropped into a sheltered gully where I cold set up again. I could move off the ridge east but that would have meant just sitting on a hill for 7 hours out of the wind. 

I needed flat ground for the tent. So off I went following the fence lines and rocky paddocks that I love with just the light from my head torch and a wind trying to blow me over every 5 minutes. About an hour in I could see the lights of Port Augusta to my right and the lights of Wilmington in front and to the right. The concern was I kept getting closer to Wilmington and then the lights began to move over my left shoulder. Couldn't bring a map out so i just had to trust the line and eventually I must have swung left and the lights moved more in front of my left shoulder. Saw some glowing eyes and wondered what they may belong to then suddenly 100's of eyes on my left looked at me. It was a flock of sheep. They look really evil in the dark!!! 

I went across a hilltop and came across a a rock cairn which I can only think is a lookout over Wilmington. About midnight I started dropping off a steep hill and I saw a car drive along the road. So I know I had finally reached Horrocks Pass. I passed through a gully where the wind died off completely and over another hill that takes you to the pass only to see the wind was howling up the pass. So I returned over the hill and setup in the middle of a vehicle track and finally got some sleep.