I’m not even on the the road yet, but already the weather has me grounded.

Tasmania had a typical equinoctial storm early in the month. It was wild enough to wake me, inside my solid sandstone walled bedroom.

In the morning I looked out from the back deck and something about Plush’s roofline bothered me. When I inspected the penthouse later I found that the hatch’s top had been cracked wide open.

It had to happen while I waiting for a replacement I had ordered anyway. The original was jammed shut and the insect screen had been holed too many times to repair.

Rain was forecast so I set up a bucket system to hopefully collect any wayward drops of water.

I checked the hatch order [part of a bigger order — including new legs for the awning, the originals simply did not exist, and new seals for the Thetford toilet] but the suppliers were still waiting for the parts to arrive.

Things seemed secure enough until a week later. Another storm came through and in the morning the roof profile looked different again. This time the whole top of the vent had been thrashed. A bigger collecting bucket system was put in place.

It worked, sort of. But the following night another storm front came through and the violent wind sprayed the rain around the upper level like an internal shower on high pressure.

There’s now a brand new hatch in place, and thankfully it passed with flying colours when the heavens opened just hours after I got the bus home.