Tues, 26th Sept, 2017 Lake Mason camp, near Sandstone, WA

7am 14.3 degrees clear sky, still windy. Glad we didn’t pack away the winter woollies.

Said farewell to Ursula and Marianne till we catch up with them in November as they said to stop in and stay as they have room for the van.

Nicer day for a photo of our camp beside the cook’s quarters and kitchen.

With Trish and Claude we headed to our ‘scrapes’ where I had found my first bit of WA gold last year. Lots of pretty wildflowers carpeting the ground.

Water in Lake Mason this time from all the recent rain.

Well-worn track now to our spot as Steve had passed it on to Justin and Jennifer and we had heard the caretaker that we met when we were last here had gone over it well with his 7000 but you never know we might be lucky. Steve was – back to the world of little ones now.

Back to camp for a late lunch. Sent off a text to Tom and Sandy to say we had found a bit. The phone service had dropped now the sky is clearer so only an occasional moment when it connects for any messages to go through.

The wind has picked up bringing clouds again. The boys went off detecting in another spot so Trish and I played Sequence in our van to get away from the flies. They are so bad here. Also the wind – luckily there is no loose dirt to blow into the van here.

Other campers arrived from Albany and set up in the shearing shed – they say there are no flies there.

Jon rang but of course the call didn’t come just a message saying he had called. I texted him and Dan to say we had moved on and had done well.

Drinks around the fire then we cooked roast chicken and vegies in the camp oven as the wind has stopped blowing at last. Lovely evening as the sky was clear too.