True confessions – this campervanning thing has not worked out very well so far.  We probably should have planned this portion of the trip differently, knowing what we now know.

It is incredibly hot and humid here and the temperature does not drop at night.  We are both jet-lagged and we just did not realize how much work this campervan would be, and how much junk there is.  It’s a poor compromise between a 4WD and a machine to sleep in, but it’s all that’s available – but man, is there a steep learning curve.

Plus it’s very small and we have two big suitcase (for our 9-week vacation) to fit in on top of everything else.

Biggest problem with it is that once you’ve put up the top (emptying everything out first, then putting it all back in once it’s up) you can’t drive it anywhere without repeating the whole process!

So after night one, we “packed it in” and escaped to the next town on our itinerary – Derby – and checked into an air-conditioned hotel.

It’s now the next morning and things are looking up.  Good night’s sleep. Peter cooked a lovely breakfast.  We have hotels booked for the next 3 nights, and hopefully after that we’ll have adjusted to the heat, the nighttime temperatures in the desert will start dropping as we proceed inland and we can try camping again.

Derby is a funny little place.  Yesterday was Easter Monday so it was mostly shut down but we didn’t see a single person or car.  It’s almost like a ghost town.  Will be interesting to see if there’s more activity today.