A fantastic life

Day: 149-151 Stage three / total expedition days 540-542

Sunrise:
06:03-06:01

Sunset:
18:36-18:37

Temperature - Day (maximum):
38°-40° degrees, in the sun approx. 57°-65°

Temperature - Night:
9.2°-13.2° degrees

Latitude:
23°39'35.5''

Longitude:
141°38'50.5''

Mayne River-Camp – 12.10.2002 – 14.10.2002

After a fantastic night’s sleep, we sit down under the gidyea trees to have breakfast. It is already 30 degrees at 08:00. We decide to hang the large, solid plastic sheet we bought to protect our equipment from heavy rain in the trees as a sunshade. In a good mood, I climb around in the branches to brace the canopy. Then we sit down again and enjoy the brilliant shade like little children. Tanja opens another bag of supplies and puts a huge surprise on the table. “It’s not my birthday, but we can still eat as much chocolate as we want today.” “Yes! That’s fantastic,” I exclaim excitedly and grab one small Rapunzel chocolate after another. Since Rapunzel chocolate is made from purely organic ingredients, I don’t have a guilty conscience about harming my body too much and I get a real food craving. Poor Rufus, on the other hand, is not doing so well in the temperatures at the moment. He has to stay on the chain because of the danger of poisoned bait. “Why?” he seems to ask us, but unfortunately we can’t explain it to him. Tanja always takes him for a walk. “You should take a look at his poop. You’d think he was shitting bricks,” she says. “I think he needs more liquid. What do you think about diluting his dog food with water?” “A good idea,” laughs Tanja and puts it into practice.

Although the thermometer rises to 40° degrees at 13:00 and I even measure 65° degrees in the sun, it is a beautiful day. I’ve decided to take today off and start writing tomorrow. This is all the more reason to enjoy and celebrate the moment. In the evening we bake a delicious pizza in the campfire. The scent wafts over the camp. The camels watch us enviously as my mouth bites into the delicacy and my taste buds go crazy. We talk about our experiences and what we have learned from them under the canopy of the sky. From time to time, we interrupt our interesting conversation to watch one of the many shooting stars chasing through the night sky. It’s a wonderful life out here. A life whose highs soon give us daily gifts and whose lows allow us to learn an incredible amount…

As Rufus has retired early to his sleeping bag due to the exertions of the march, I take the opportunity to look for his diary. But before I go looking under every saddlebag and the various items of equipment, I think about it first. What logic does a dog use to hide its secrets from humans? Hm, he has most probably noticed that I browse through his top secret notes from time to time. That’s exactly why he always finds better hiding places and I’m forced to search longer and longer. I now sit in my camp chair and let my gaze wander around the camp. Rufus has no idea what I’m planning to do. He lies dreaming and twitching next to my camp bed. That’s a good thing. At first my eyes can’t see anything, but when they fall on our shady roof I have to smile. Somehow he managed to throw his diary onto the roof. Normally I would never have thought of it, but the play of light from the moon makes the silhouette of the book shimmer through the foil.

THE EXPEDITION DIARY OF AN EXPEDITION DOG NAME RUFUS

I am so happy about the bone that Norman the cook from Marion Downs gave me as a parting gift. Although the once huge beef shoulder bone has shrunk considerably under my treatment, it still keeps me afloat during these dry periods – haha – joke made. Water is about the least we have here. Nevertheless, I’m glad to have my bone with me. Sometimes I even fell asleep with my head on it from exhaustion. Back to the lack of water, it’s so dry that even making goofy (deflating myself) is painful. I even had to cry a little about this a few days ago. As privacy is written in lower case in the camel camp, Tanja came straight away to take a look at me and then at my Goofy. Of course, nothing is kept discreetly to ourselves and all the information is passed on to Denis at the top of his voice. Denis replied that the poor guy stops drinking at midday because the water gets too hot for him. Tanja then said that we needed a plan B to get more water into the Rufus. Since then I’ve been drinking my evening snack with a straw. Plan B is to soak my dog crunchies beyond recognition. However, I have to admit that I feel better now.

Almost at the same time, another drastic change happened in my dog’s life. After we walked through the gate of Mount Windsor Station, I didn’t realize what Tanja meant when she said: “From now on, Rufus is on security level 1.” Since then, I have either been on the chain or on the lead or not allowed to leave Hardie’s saddle. It is almost inconceivable to me that someone would put poisoned meat out for small dogs. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Denis has also given me a new nickname. “Ketterich.” It is an unfree life as a Ketterich…