THURSDAY 5 JUNE     ADELS GROVE

We had received word that the supply truck would not be arriving until tomorrow.

Shop and canoes again.

Today was the monthly Flying Doctor Clinic, here. For this, a doctor and assistant are flown in, and people come from the surrounding area to consult, have tests done, and the like.

The plane – as all were supposed to do – flew low over us, when it arrived at 9.25am. The “buzz” let us know to send a vehicle over to the airstrip to pick them up.

The Clinic was run out of the old office donga, and on its back veranda.

The shop was busier than usual today, because of people coming to the Clinic. Some aboriginals had come from the National Park, and from Riversleigh Station. They always wanted to buy pies and sausage rolls – of which we had a supply for sale in the freezer. There was only one small, and not very powerful, microwave oven in the kitchen, so it always took ages to reheat these frozen items. As the family groups waited around, the kids dropped icy poles and stuff all over the place, and pilfered small lollies, fishing lures and the like. I tried to give them the evil eye to deter them, but since they were in the shop and the microwave I was tending was back out in the kitchen, I was fighting a losing battle.

There was always a big clean up needed in the shop, on the veranda, and in the amenities, when they all went.

After all that, the truck arrived about 8pm, and parked in the usual unloading place, out the front of the main building. He had to run his onboard generator all night, to keep his freezer and chiller sections working, so it was noisy and could be heard over much of the establishment, in the still of the night. I guess he wanted the security of being parked up where there were other people, plus some creature comforts, but I wished he’d stayed out by the road side somewhere.