Fri, 28th June, 2019 Bush camp near Mosquito Creek, east of Nullagine, WA

7am 11.8 degrees, clear sky and no wind.

Drove into Nullagine. Still a fair bit of water sitting in the waterhole at 20 Mile Sandy Creek from the recent storm.

Some of the burnt hills with the spinifex on the flats.

Sent off a text to Rochelle for her birthday tomorrow. Rang Erica then Mum. Rang Rebecca and wished her a happy birthday for the 30^th. Fran sent through a thank you text for the money I sent. She used it for a lovely massage. So nice to know she used it for something nice.

Uploaded my blog, did emails and banking. I noticed a cash advance fee and interest charge on the Visa card and amazingly got onto a chap at the bank who said that when Steve bought his magazines at the Newman Newsagency the lady must have used the card machine for lottery tickets. The government made it that if you purchase a lottery ticket using your credit card it is classed as a cash advance then you have to pay interest on it from when it was purchased. Luckily the fee was only 33 cents with 18 cents interest but the chap said he would refund it as we clearly hadn’t purchased any lottery tickets. Pays to check as it could have been a scam as they often try your card with little amounts before taking out a big whack. We have been very lucky but I am very careful with our credit cards and checking off the statements etc.

No 40E permits at the Post Office so I rang the Mines Dept and they have all been processed so we will be able to go onto the leases as of the 5^th July. I tried the Laverton Post Office as originally that is where we had them posted but I had asked the Marble Bar Registrar to change it to Nullagine since he had taken so long to process them. Obviously he didn’t as the letters were there at Laverton. The nice lady said she would redirect them for us and send them on Monday.

Exchanged a gas bottle ($55 compared to $26 at Bunnings) and topped up the fuel, $1.89/L. Got a few vegetables and fruit though the choice was limited even though they got their fortnightly delivery yesterday. The potatoes were very soft so will ask Margaret to get me some on their way here. Joys of living in remote areas. Glad we stocked on everything else in Newman.

Kerry and Brian arrived so we had lunch together then headed along the Skull Springs Road nearly to the turnoff to Mosquito Creek. We turned south in the MM leases and parked up on the pending lease. We had spotted the Unimog that we saw the other day. Steve was sure it was the chap with his mum that he met at Mt Dockerell near Halls Creek last year.

We found a good spot to park and after a cuppa left Kerry and Brian to set up camp. We will be back about lunchtime tomorrow once we pack up the van and head down.

The chap with the Unimog was detecting nearby as we drove out so we stopped to say hello. Tony remembers his mum saying about having a visitor last year. He did a lot of detecting up there and decided last year to do it professionally. I said had he heard about the increase in the 40E permit fees and he was not impressed. His mum and her partner were travelling with him and they were just staying a few days till they head south.

Headed back up to Mosquito Creek. Ray and Carol weren’t back yet which was unusual but Dave wasn’t either so hopefully they are together and ok.

We got the fire going and poured a drink when they drove in. They had a terrible afternoon. Got some gold in the morning and decided to head back early when Ray staked his tyre. The tyres that came with the new vehicle aren’t suited  to this country and he is now wishing he had changed them. Unfortunately too while he was putting the safety stand underneath the car the jack slipped and he smashed his thumb. Luckily he pulled it out quickly enough otherwise he would have lost it completely. To top it off the other chap, Kevin, who we saw detecting in that area too accused them of following him. He is supposed to be a friend of Dave and Ray’s but they have seen his true colours now. Dave joined us for drinks and we had a big discussion about Kevin.

Ray and Carol decided to go to Newman and buy new tyres as they can’t afford to stake another one as they can’t be repaired with the usual plugs.

Nice cool breeze has picked up though by 9pm it was blowing strongly.