MONDAY 29 AUGUST     PUNGALINA

It was very pleasant to have a sleep in.

John called me down to the camp, where he’d spotted a file snake on the sand beside the creek. It was very subdued and did not seem to want to move. We used a stick to push it right back to the edge of the water, where it slowly swam away. Had no idea why it had come up onto the sand. Maybe it had tangled with a big python or water monitor? Maybe it wanted to do a skin shed?

John went up to the house, to water, and to do an inventory of the alcohol supply, that A wanted.

As we moved about the camp, kept listening for any distant sound of a motor.

V and F arrived about lunch time. They had been camping at Kingfisher Camp for a few nights. I served them a cold meat and salad lunch. They set up their tent – a nice new one – in our clearing.

We sat around in the shade of trees, and talked. They filled us in on how the season had been at Adels and news of people we all knew.

Showed them over the safari camp. So far, from what they had seen on the drive in here, they were impressed with our wilderness.

They had met O when they arrived. Although we had given them directions to take the short cut from the track in, to the camp, they had not been sure about the turn, and had found themselves on the airstrip, which they followed to O’s house. He then gave them directions to here. They also met the dings.

After happy hour admiring the sunset from Cane Toad Clearing, I went and cooked our dinners down in the camp kitchen. It was easier to do using the camp stove and oven, rather than heating up our van. But we took the food back up the path to our camp to sit and eat.

John had to lend F a pair of long trousers, as he only had shorts with him and there were some mozzies about.