The Great Southern Expedition :: Day 11
Tuesday, 29 November
Time marches on. Fire was still smouldering from last night so spent extra half-hour sleeping. Rose at 7:30 am. Got straight into my bathers and went for a dip – lovely. Came back and had breakfast prepared by Marye. Collected hot water from bore and cold from Racecourse tap and did our washing including our hair. Helen still sleeping – think it was 10:15 am before she struggled out today – my how that girl can sleep! Especially when camping. Cleaned up dishes etc and went for another dip too cool off enough to get diary up to date.
Helen has gone off to town to have Alfred greased and to do our few bits of shopping. The sky is starting to look a bit threatening – hope we reach Longreach before there is any rain! A couple of hours delay and Marye and I really had our first “relax” while waiting for Helen – it was wonderful too! Poor Helen had to bide her time in the township until Alfred was fixed while we had a swim and a spine bash. Had a final dip before we left and it was 5pm before we dragged ourselves away.
About 20 minutes out – wham!! A flat tyre – a 3-inch nail – our third flat for the trip. This time we had it all down to a fine art and changed the wheel in no time at all. Set off once more and 25 miles out Helen remembered she had left her wireless at the shop where they were trying to fix it - halt! We turned off Alfred and considered. Eventual decision was to travel on to Longreach (as it was so late already) and to contact them from there. So off we set again.
The weather must really be getting drier now as we are all plagued with an almost insatiable thirst! Our next stop was for a drink and lo and behold we had lost one water-bag – that was our third catastrophe for the day. We now felt all would be well to Longreach! And it was!
The country is still fairly open and not particularly interesting and the road as we approached Longreach became fairly badly corrugated again. Camped at Thompson River – just outside Longreach, arriving there about 10:30 pm. Bu the time we had eaten and bedded ourselves down it was 1 am. The prospect of our swim in the Thompson, which must be the largest we have struck yet, was a pleasant thought for the early morning.
Tuesday, 29 November 1955
Time marches on. Fire was still smouldering from last night so spent extra l/2-hour sleeping. Rose at 7.30am. Got straight into my bathers and went for a dip - lovely - came back and had breakfast, prepared by Marye. Collected hot water from bore and cold from Race Course tap and did our washing - including our hair. Helen still sleeping, think it was 10.15am before she struggled out today - my how that girl can sleep, especially when camping. Cleaned up dishes etc., and went for another dip to cool off enough to get this up to date.
Helen has gone off to town to have Alfred greased and to do our few bits of shopping. The sky is starting to look a bit threatening - hope we reach Longreach before there is any rain. A couple of hours delay and Marye and I really had our first ‘relax’ while waiting for Helen - it was wonderful too. Poor Helen had to bide her time in the township until Alfred was fixed while we had a swim and spine bash. Had a final dip before we left and it was 5pm before we finally dragged ourselves away.
About 20 minutes out - wham! A flat tyre - a 3-inch nail - our third flat for the trip. This time we had it all down to a fine art and changed the wheel in no time at all. Set off once more and about 25 miles out Helen remembered she had left her wireless at the shop where they were trying to fix it - halt! Now what? We turned off Alfred and thought - eventual decision was to travel on to Longreach (as it was so late already) and to contact them from there - so off we set again. The weather must really be getting drier now as we are all plagued with an almost insatiable thirst!
Our next stop was for a drink and it was then we happened to notice one water bag missing - that was our third event for the day. We now felt all would be well to Longreach and it was. The country is still fairly open and not particularly interesting and the road as we approached Longreach became fairly badly corrugated again. Camped at Thompson River - just outside Longreach - arriving there at about 10.30pm. By the time we had eaten and bedded ourselves down it was 1am. The prospect of our swim in the Thompson, which must be the largest we have struck yet, was a pleasant thought for the early morning.