FRIDAY 1 JULY     PUNGALINA

Mail plane day. I went up and collected the grocery delivery, sorted same and took the things that were my order back to camp. Also received another box of library books – excellent.

O arrived back around lunchtime with the truck order. That was a major job to sort out and check off, and sort into what was for the camp and me, and what was for the house. Some things had not come – presumably unavailable – bananas, mandarins, celery, honeydew melon from the greengrocers. The four 4litre bottles of kerosene I’d ordered for the flares, had turned into four 1 litre bottles. That would not last long! The six cans of chick peas were also missing from the wholesaler order. The massive Woolworths order was filled well – they do a good job. However, it seemed that all the chiller items had been missed – or not offloaded from the truck: lamb chops, butter, chicken breast fillets, sausages, a couple of whole chickens that A had wanted to roast. Those were the things that could provide us with some dietary variation from beef, so this was a disappointment all round. Also missing were the six loaves of sliced toasting bread A had wanted. It was like some perishables had been left for last minute filling into the order – and then forgotten. We did not receive the invoices – they went straight to A – so I could not check if we had been charged for any of these things.

So, at least, my supplies were replenished ready for future guests. Although, it had to be said, bookings were not too abundant, right now.

Dealing with all that took up a goodly part of the day for me, by the time things were transported to camp, and put away.

John had patched up things as best he could, in the vegie patch. And, later in the day, O strengthened the fences.

The two rows of little paw paw trees were growing quite well. Both John and I had put a lot of time into making sure they were well watered, likewise the various patches of pumpkins and melons that were on mounds around the general garden area. I also had a sprinkler on the lime and lemon trees, regularly.

The foot traffic of the last week or so around the kitchen tent and campfire area had worn down the grass in places, and it would need sustained watering to bring it back to sound condition.