Woke early to see a lovely sunrise, and got up about 7 am to look at the camping site and river – so did Kath, Helen slept on. A good spot to camp amidst rocks and trees, and a fair amount of water just below us, though elsewhere it was dry. We did our washing and spread it out to dry, and lazed around. Finally packed up and left for Cloncurry about 11:15 am.

Had a look at the town in daylight (goats in the main street eating the trees) filled up Alfred and ourselves and thermos flasks, and were on our way by 1:20 pm. The road we took, the North-West Highway, looks rather like a cart track through a paddock as it leaves Cloncurry, and continues in much the same way. A few pretty bits of country and one or two creek crossings to begin with, but mostly the country is flat open dry dusty planes - and treeless.

We got to McKinley at 6 pm, and after half expecting it to be just a station we were pleasantly surprised to find a little township with a tree-lined street and a store and hotel. They were shut as this was Sunday but we went round to the back of the Hotel, gasping with thirst, and asked for a drink. A very talkative woman spent about 10 minutes telling us what a pity it was that she couldn’t sell us anything as the policeman wouldn’t let her and if she did the other townsfolk (about 30 in all) would tell but she would sell us a bottle of lemonade if we turned the label outwards so that everyone could read it and the present policeman was only a relief and that was the best she could do. So that was that, we took the lemonade, and on her recommendation set off for McKinley bore just out of town - everyone camps there, she said.

We took the track off to the left, leading up to te bore, and half way along it we ran over a snake – about 3 ft long and very decorative to look at – pink underneath and read and black on top. We found afterwards that this was a Downs Tiger Snake. We turned, and ran over it again and then got out the spade to bash it and make sure. We all took photographs of it and then drove up to the bore to make camp.

Passed a dead sheep on the way and an old decomposing sheep skin hanging on the wire surrounding the bore. Started looking for wood which was scarce as there were only a few stunted bushes and trees for miles around – and the next minute Helen and Kath say another snake disappear into the bushes. Only a small one this time, and not worth the trouble of hunting out – so they said!

So we built our fire in a very clear open space and got out the food to cook, sausages, green peas and chip potatoes, a good meal we thought to counteract the gloom descending on us. We were all feeling a little apprehensive about the coming night by this time, but ‘everyone camps there’ the woman at the pub had said, so why not us?

We put the waterbags under the bore tap to soak and started to cook supper. The sun was setting by this time, and it was a really beautiful sunset, the only good thing that happened at McKinley.

As we sat down to eat our meal weird shapes loomed up in the moonlight – cattle coming to the bore to drink. We recovered from that and went on to eat the meal (which turned out to be revolting) and then heard more scuffling in the bushes. Snakes we though – but nothing as simple as that. It was rats, and not content with the bushes they came right up to our fire to see what was cooking. The final straw was when we went to fetch a water bag to do the washing up. Brought it back to the fire and found that it was crawling with lice. This was definitely not the place to camp, whatever anybody else thought about it. We each had a hot wash while we were at it and then packed up and started off along the track determined to camp as soon as we came to some trees.

Went about 15 miles before we found any, and then there were only two – one by the roadside and one in a creek bed a few yards away. Helen parked Alfred in the open grass and settled down in the front seat. Kath and I went to investigate the creek bed and the tree, to shelter from the cold wind blowing across the plains and found to our horror that the bank was full of holes (snake holes?) with what looked like cockroaches inside of them. We beat it back to the shelter of Alfred’s wheels and settled down to sleep.

I was woken by feeling something run over my shoulders and back, and then over my feet – B--- rats again. Sat up and cursed and shone my torch and shooed and settled down again. Two seconds later, Kath sat up and did exactly the same. Repeat performances from both of us all through the night. McKinley, the bore and district are not places to linger.