TUESDAY 19 AUGUST     ADELS GROVE

I was on reception, John on amenities/grounds again.

Earlier in the season, the boss had acquired a small, rather clapped out, trailbike/motorbike thing, for the men to use to travel about the grounds. This had been much appreciated. It saved them time, because it was quite a walk from the end of the tented section, to the far reaches of the camp ground. When they were doing the donkey fires, they would need to go back and forth several times between the fire at the tent area and that at the campground, and that had been tiring for them.

Today, John was zooming down the track to the campground and didn’t see a snake lying across the track. It was in a line of shadow from a tree. It struck at him. Fortunately, on quick reflex, he lifted up his legs and it missed! I reckoned it was our old friend the taipan, still hanging about. Gave him quite a fright! John, I meant, though the reptile probably got one too.