26-31 Aug, 2024 Bush camps, Mosquito Creek area, east of Nullagine, WA

Mon, 26^th

6am sunrise, 15.6 degrees. The others up early to wander before they get too hot. We got up at 7am as it’s a bit cool for us, haha.

We all had fun wandering around detecting though the higher temps aren't making it too comfortable for our Tassie friends but they just detect early and then later in the day.

Steve went back over the hill to chat with the other campers. I had a cuppa and rang Terry. Doing well. The President of the Van Club called in to say they are awarding him a ‘Life Membership’ to the club and he will get it at the next rally which is the birthday one. Erica would be so pleased though I know she was disappointed they hadn’t been awarded it early as they were the only original members left.

Steve still hadn’t come back so I took a radio and went looking for him. He was still chatting with the campers who turned out to be people we met years ago, first at Mt Dockrell near Halls Creek (2018) then around here. Anthony had a Unimog but has sold it but Steve still recognised him. His mum, Gail, travels with him in her old Toyota which Steve recognised too and they had a ‘new chum’ to detecting, Colin from Melbourne. Colin was loving the whole experience but wasn’t too excited about the ‘animals’ as the cattle wandered through camp and he is in a swag! They said they saw dancing lights a couple of times low on the horizon where Venus sets so we will have to keep and eye out. I said it’s probably satellites as they can be anywhere but he said they just appeared, darted, then vanished.

We had our drinks and nibbles around the fire as the sun set.

We watched Venus disappear but didn’t see any dancing lights.

 

Tues, 27^th

16 degrees, clear sky and light breeze.

Moved camp. Lots of nice wildflowers adding colour to our camp.

Got out Dan’s firepit to cook our pork steaks and jacket potatoes for dinner. Early start and early drinks sent the Tassies off to bed early but we enjoyed being outside enjoying the stars.

 

 

Wed, 28^th

13.2 degrees, it’s getting colder!!

Getting hotter in the day though and the forecast will be high temps for the next week. It shouldn’t be this hot, Mike read there was a heat wave happening, yes we agree.

We decided to move camp by a little creek that the others were wishing had cool running water in it!

I have phone reception here with the aerial and we got a call from Jon. Beau was bouncing like mad in his jolly jumper so he wanted to see if we could get a video - no but we had a lovely chat and heard Beau ‘laughing’. He is rolling a lot so they have to keep and eye on him.

Relaxed in the shade reading our books.

Another lovely sunset.

Steve spotted a low light where Venus had set and then a bit later we saw another one. Another one followed that - they only appear for a short bright line then disappear so we reckon they are the Starlink ones as they were in the same spot and bright for the same distance, horizontal to the horizon but not far above the horizon so we think this is what the others were seeing.

 

 

Thurs, 29^th

17 degrees this morning when we got up at 7am.

At 8.30am the others came back not coping with the heat already. They decided they may as well head south to where it was cooler so they could spend more of the day detecting rather than trying to keep cool in the shade here even though they wanted to explore this area more. They only have a month left before they have to get the boat back to Tassie.

We waved them off and hope they have a good trip as they head towards home.

We had lunch then moved on too but northward into Lower Mosquito Creek area as there is a lot of pending leases and crown land where leases have been dropped now.

We passed a camp of 3 vans then found a nice spot for the night and set up.

Read in the shade till 3pm, thermometer says it is 39.4 degrees in the camper!

Another lovely evening though it is staying warmer longer now so don’t need my flanny shirt on at night.

 

Fri, 30^th

Lovely sunrise (photo through the front screen) this morning so we actually got up earlier too.

Wandered here and there. It got to 42 degrees in the camper but the breeze outside makes it cooler than that.

Steve likes to make people’s day as they wander through the bush by marking where he finds a bit of gold with a big smiley face. We have come across some when we wander over areas we have been before and they still make us smile.

The breeze hasn’t brought the temp down much while we sat outside for drinks and dinner.

It took a while to cool down and it was still 28 degrees at 10pm.

 

 

Sat, 31^st

Valerie’s birthday - no phone service so I hope she had a lovely day.

Cool wind but it only got down to 21 degrees overnight. Another clear blue sky with a gusty wind which help keeps the heat off us.

Went wandering again.

Had a cuppa then moved camp.

We had some water left in the bucket so put in the clothes to ‘wash’ while we drive around.

Found a spot on another pending area (lots of prospecting leases have been pending since May this year) worth investigating and parked up. I gave the clothes a good rub in the water and hung them up in the hot sun and wind so didn’t take long to dry while we had lunch in the shade (31 degrees in the camper).

The wind stopped after 3 so we decided to move camp again, 35 degrees.

Found another spot in a valley on the other side of the lease.

No golden rocks for us but I did find an old button and tack up on the hill. The creek has been dug out and there are lots of detector holes around - we are always just behind everyone else!!

Another beautiful evening - very peaceful.