SUNDAY 8 JULY     KURRAJONG AND PICCANINNY GORGE CAMPS

I had an excellent night’s sleep. Was able to wrap myself in all the bedding, so wasn’t even too cold.

Got up at 7.30am, feeling surprisingly good. No ill effects from yesterday’s exertions. Even the heel/Achilles was only a mild niggle.

I had a relax day at camp – reading, writing, tidying up. Spent ages cleaning out between the expandable links of my watch band, with a knife point. It hadn’t fared well when I slid down a sand bank yesterday, but hadn’t been cleaned for a very long time before that.

I did some washing, by hand, in the wash up container, and pegged it out on the guy ropes. Burnt the burnable rubbish in our fire pit. That would be a bit less to take back out with us, as was required – no rubbish collections or disposal facilities here.

Last night, there was a Defender with a type of built on camper, nearby. This morning I talked for a short time with them, about the vehicle and their experiences with it.

During the morning, all the other campers in the generator area departed – left me feeling lonely, briefly. Two nights here seemed, from my observation, to be the norm – with one big rush around to see the main highlights in a short time. I considered our leisurely way much more enjoyable.

Later in the day, several groups of campers came into the area so I was no longer alone. I thought there was a school group in the bus group area – it sounded like a whole lot of excited teenagers.

The sounds of sightseeing planes, and helicopters was regular – but far enough away not to be intrusive.

I had another light tea and early night.

Found out later that the other two had spent the day exploring further up the narrow Piccaninny Gorge, and its side gorges, from their base camp. They went as far as they could go, to the point where serious rock climbing would be needed.

Then they just sat round their camp enjoying the solitude, and wondering if the place was haunted! Last night, they had been really startled by quite eerie whoop-whoop noises, echoing off the surrounding cliff walls, late at night. They thought (hoped?) it might have been an owl’s wing beats – a big owl! But…….