Gismo Queen and her King

It's tough beng stranded in the Outback. A beautiful sunny day, eggs and bacon cooked over the campfire for breakfast, savoury damper in the camp oven for afternoon tea, corned beef for dinner, outdoor cinema - I don't think that's how Burke and Wills endured their travels through the Outback!

Such a relaxing morning, knowing there was no pressure to be up and packed. We knew we weren't going anywhere today. After our morning cuppa in bed, I went to collect kindling to restart the campfire in order to cook our bacon and eggs. It was still very wet underfoot. The fire was soon roaring, the sun was shining - we were taking off clothing layers very quickly! After a divine breakfast, washed down with a coffee percolated over the open fire, it was time for some housekeeping. I did the dishes, vacummed the caravan, mopped the floors and cleaned the bathroom. I even started the corned beef for dinner, which was to be finished off in the DreamPot. We then did some outside cleaning of mud off the caravan and car.

By afternoon tea time, the clouds had come back in and the shorts and tshirt which had been donned for a short period of time, were replaced  with long pants and sleeves. The flies persisted though. You can tell it's getting warmer when the flies come out. They started at breakfast but lasted all day, and seemed particularly thick, bit that's probably just because we haven't see any so far. We will probably have to get used to them over the next couple of weeks. Neill wanted to christen his new camp oven so we decided on a savoury damper for afternoon tea. It came up beautifully. Served with the best capucino we have had on this trip thanks to Jude, we then fired up the outdoor cinema. Our TV has a bracket and connections on the outside of the van so we set all of that up in order to watch the Big Lap DVD (thanks, Brooke!). Greg and I had already watched it but thought Neill and Jude would like it. Not that anyone can see us, but we must look pretty odd - four camp chairs around the campfire, watching a TV screen on the side of the caravan!!

We'll try and find out some more about the road conditions tomorrow. We don't expect to see a vehicle until the afternoon so we'll put the radio on late morning to see if we can hear anything. If not, this is a beautiful place with plenty of birdlife so spending another day here certainly wouldn't be a hardship.