TUESDAY 6 SEPTEMBER     PUNGALINA

I was up at 7 to do breakfast. Packed a sandwich and cake lunch for the men to take with them.

The group departed about 9am. Their comments:

* thanks for a wonderful stay in a wonderful part of the world. The food was great, the rivers and springs are fantastic in their natural setting and O, John and Wendy are great hosts.

I packed things up as usual, did the washing and tent cleaning and putting them back in order for any unexpected guests.

I tidied up our van annexe area a bit.

The word came from A that the group that was booked in for October for five nights, had cancelled. So we had no more bookings and little prospect, I thought, of any more.

We now began to wonder if we should stay on into October, as we had planned? Had intended to be here for that October booking, then to help O pack up the camp – apart from helping, just to make sure that all was put away clean and in proper order. And that camp gear stayed together, not disappearing to the house!

But with no more guests there was little to do. There was no point in me cooking up any more stocks for the freezers. John still had his vegie garden work and daily watering, but only limited camp upkeep with no expected guests. It felt like we were being paid for no longer full work.

As well, we had been getting some broad hints from O that his lady would be coming back for another visit and he would really like his privacy then.

Our happy hour was pleasant. As the days heated up, the cool of dusk was much appreciated. There was just a crescent moon as we sat out in the clearing.