A good day

Stage three half-time camp – 01.10.2002

I finally spend a reasonably good night . It was pleasantly cold again at 7° degrees. We set off without incident and with more energy than in the last two days, leaving the dry camp behind us. Just 10 kilometers before we reach the homestead of Lorna Downs, we see the houses flashing in the glaring sun. It’s amazing how close objects appear on the plane and how long it takes us to get there.

A large herd of cattle roams the grounds of the deserted farm buildings. They have laid siege to the waterhole. We also take the opportunity to water our camels. Rufus takes great pleasure in demonstrating his skills as a cattle dog. It hardly costs him any effort to drive the cattle away from the watering trough. “Well done. You’re a great hero,” I praise him as he comes back wagging his tail.

After our porters have drunk their fill, we walk through a gate and leave the large fence behind us. We follow the main path, but it doesn’t take long before it bends again in an undesirable direction. We are forced to leave him. A fence stands in our way shortly afterwards. I lay him down and we continue our cross-country march across the barren, moon-like landscape. After 6 ½ hours of walking, we set up camp on a side arm of Canary Creek. There are a few gidyea trees that our boys like and provide us with plenty of shade. Breathing a sigh of relief, we settle down in the camp chairs after unloading and drink several cups of water. Right here in this camp, we have covered half the distance between New Haven and the east coast, 1233 kilometers. Although we are still very tired, we are delighted with this stage success. We would love to celebrate it, but unfortunately we don’t have an ounce of energy to spare.