MONDAY 22 AUGUST PUNGALINA
Worked 9am to 9pm.
A and W left.
O told us that his lady friend planned to move from Brisbane to take a job at the health centre at Borroloola – so she would be much closer! I thought that was rather a giant leap of faith on her part and wondered how well she would cope with work in what was, essentially, an aboriginal health facility. We suspected that the old, more direct track from here to the west, might now get opened up again! This track was the one we took to go to the Escarpment, across the river, but continued on, winding about some difficult and very swampy terrain, to meet the Borroloola road near the Kangaroo Creek crossing, almost to the track to Robinson River. But it would take a lot of work to make it reliably drive-able – definitely dry season only.
Dingo pup 1
Dingo pup 2
O was now motivated to get on with building a new house that he had plans for, next to the existing “house”. It would come in as a kit, by truck. That in itself would be an interesting exercise, given the nature of the track in here.
But, before that, he would have to get the foundations and so on, ready for it.
Our expected two new guests were Japanese, here to fish. Their plane was scheduled to get into Darwin about midnight, just gone. They were hiring a vehicle and driving from Darwin and had assured O that they would be here by late afternoon. I was rather dubious about that – it was a hell of a long way, over some fairly poor quality roads. So I had planned a meal that would not “matter” if they arrived late – or did not arrive until Tuesday.
I cooked chicken breasts to be cold meat for Tuesday.
In the event, the two men arrived at 4pm – and wanted to immediately go fishing! So O took them off to Croc Hole on Karns Creek, where they caught some sooty grunters. The name seemed to amuse them!
Croc Hole
For a somewhat late tea, I served eggplant moussaka, carrot and zucchini strips, followed by apricots set in orange jelly, with cream.
After such a long day, the men indicated they would like to sleep late in the morning. That was fine by me! They were only interested in fishing, so a late start would not matter.
They went early to bed – good! No camp fire session tonight.
This Adventurous Age 