WEDNESDAY 20 AUGUST    ADELS GROVE

I was on Reception again. John on canoes.

V and F had to leave earlier than intended, due to a family  illness. They would go tomorrow. This necessitated rearrangement of the work roster. As V and I have been the main ones on Reception, with J helping out when we were very busy, I suspected this meant I would now mostly be on Reception, and J would have to manage most of the tent work.

Had a farewell to V and F after tea tonight. I will miss them. Our vans were next to each other, and we tended to gravitate together sometimes for after dinner ports around a small campfire

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.

MONDAY 18 AUGUST     ADELS GROVE

I was on the tent housekeeping again, John on amenities/grounds.

This was the start of our 17th week of working here. Whilst little things were starting to niggle – like the food – we were still loving just being here in such a superb place. Whilst cleaning tents and doing other routine tasks, I was giving some thought to the social dynamics of a group, when confined over some time in an isolated area. Interesting………

Finished the leftover tents from yesterday and only had a couple to do that were vacated this morning – it was rare for guests to only stay one night, so most of those who came in yesterday afternoon would not be leaving for another day or two.

SUNDAY 17 AUGUST     ADELS GROVE

I was on tent housekeeping.  John on canoes.

The new canoe launching ramp

A  group that came in yesterday was to stay two nights, and do the Riversleigh tour this morning. They fronted up first thing to cancel all their plans and leave today. They said the meal last night was a disgrace and the cook was a very unpleasant person! That was not great PR! Costly too – some $600 worth lost.

We had been getting quite a bit of adverse feedback lately, along those lines. It was becoming embarrassing for us on Reception who received the criticism. But I had to agree about last night’s meal. Corned beef, mashed potato, overcooked cabbage with no butter or pepper on it, frozen carrot slices, cooked to soggy. The white onion sauce was curdled. There was not enough – the tourists got quite small serves, particularly as the dishing up proceeded. Staff got next to nothing. But Cook had – before serving up – piled plates really high for her and husband. Then they took these out to the tables and sat next to the tour group who complained this morning! The group complained about that, too! Dessert had been baked rice custard – very over cooked and dry, with no cream or milk to put on it. Cook’s food was not too bad when she started here – not sure what has gone amiss lately.

I now had every tent in the place to do today, and six of the seven cabin rooms too. Linen from 6 double beds,  and 34 single beds – 74 sheets alone. Then there were the pillow cases and about 50 towels to wash. Today set a housekeeping record!

J spent the morning helping with the laundry, which was a great assistance, because I could focus on stripping beds and cleaning tents. By 6pm all was washed, dried, all beds remade, and all but 6 tents fully cleaned. And I was stuffed! I would do the rest of the tents tomorrow.

SATURDAY 16 AUGUST     ADELS GROVE

I was on Reception, John on canoes.

There was a fly-in group expected, sometime after breakfast. We’d had another lot stay last night, and D drove these over to the airstrip for their departure. He came back and was waiting around at Reception, chatting with us there, waiting for the next lot to arrive.  Suddenly, we heard a loud roar and I saw a plane moving quickly, past the treetops. D, whose back was to the airstrip direction,  said it was his earlier lot, taking off. I replied that – if this was the case, he’d just stuffed up his take off, big time, because the plane I saw was going down, not up!

D argued that what he’d heard was too fast for a landing, but he drove off anyway, to go and check. It turned out to be the group we were expecting in. He hadn’t done the required flyover first, his flaps were not deployed properly, and he landed too fast, using up the whole strip and some of the cleared mowed area at the end! His eight passengers were not happy!

I was just pleased the whole lot had gotten down intact. After all the disruption and drama of the search and rescue effort, earlier in the year, really did not want any more officialdom disrupting our routines, such as they were.

In the afternoon, another fly-in phoned to confirm he was coming in tomorrow. But there was nothing in the booking books – again! Fortunately, I had tent vacancies – just.

There were about 70 guests for tea tonight, with assorted tour groups and DBB guests.  Again, there was not enough food for full serves for staff. Cook knew, this morning, how many she was cooking for, so this was annoying. It really was not that hard to get it right – I should know, having done it last year.