Back up at the toTTT camp, Warwick Lord and the others had started setting up camp. We all looked around and spread out a bit. David & Tracey set up their brand new South Afican made rooftop tent and awning. Scott and I began unpacking Castrol. We had arranged with David to pick up some parts he needed at Peter Haylock's store. It was a front hoop and other canopy hardware. We walked over and delivered David's door hoop, top rails and side rails.

In the middle of chatting and fitting the canopy parts to Roo, David & Tracy's Landy, a Land Cruiser arrived at the camp. It turned out to be a local tour operator who knows all the bight's secrets. If I told you what he said I'd have to kill you: to sum up; DoD stores, and beach cleanups, UXB and Toyota tales from beyond. I think it was a nice thought to come and fill us in on what is happening up there. (Thanks G.S.)

Once the canopy was secured with the help of Dennis and Graeme we all went our separate ways to cook up some food. Dennis had already boiled the billy and now he got his BBQ going too. The snags and bacon appeared from inside the eskies. Dennis' BBQ cooked for 4: Dennis, Graeme, my son Scott and me. Peter & son Robert used a gas campstove and Stuart & his mate Scott used one as well. Anna & Darren with Christian, their young boy, drove home to Anna Bay to enjoy a good night's sleep and return in the morning. David & Tracey... what do you say? They cooked up what was the best meal ever made on R & R: hot corn cobs and potatoes, grilled steaks, etc. There was plenty to go spare food to go around too. They had a space age looking BBQ unit which was large looking but folded down to a compact size. Their little dog Sydney had his own food too and kept us entertained. We all checked out their impressive rooftop tent which was cosy and secure looking. It had a rear access ladder that doubled as the supported the back half of the tent.

About a half an hour after the sun went down on that perfect blue day, we all made our way down to Dennis' camp fire. It was in the same spot as 2001 and he remembered to bring two bags of sawn hard wood just like last year as well. The forethought paid off and was much appreciated by all. Is there anything else half as good as conversation around a good fire under a clear night sky? At one point we all stopped when a lonely 'plane with landing lights glaring came out of the dark. It seemed to coming right at us, even though it was on its way to the RAAF runways. We talked about how the world has changed since last year's R & R and how 'planes can make people very jumpy. A few drinks went around as well as the stories. Meanwhile David walked back to Roos and returned with a camp oven. He shovelled hot coals under it and on top of it. We were all curious as to what he had in the oven... Anyway, after a fair while David opened the oven up... Ever had a serving of hot Peach Cobbler whilst camped up in the dunes after a big day out? It really topped the night and added something extra to the R & R. Some people like me didn't know about this dessert (Peach Cobbler uses 2 cans of sliced peaches and a packet cake mix), but when you smell it, taste it, and eat it out of a kidney cup -you'll just love it like I did. Most of the people on the 2002 R & R will remember that hot treat for a long time.

Later on people drifted off to their sleeping bags. Peter was pretty tired, since he had left Mittagong at 4am to successfully evade Sydney traffic. Warwick slept in his Ambulance. There were a couple of tents amongst the Landys and there was a tent on top of David & Tracey's Landy as mentioned. Sawmill and Chloe got their back ends fitted with extra bits of canvas to act as awnings over their open tailgates. Thats how Graeme and Dennis bunked down. Scott and I slept on a hootchie on the sand beside Castrol in our sleeping bags. We counted shooting stars for an hour... I woke up with a cold face about 0430. (My beenie had come off). I noted the time because I watched some odd lights in the sky at the rate of one every five minutes or so. At that time of the morning the best explanation I could come up with was that it was just sunlight from the other side of the terminator line reflecting off things in orbit. All the lights were tiny and moving (way faster than jets) on different courses. I dunno for sure, but as the first light arrived they became harder to see until they couldn't be seen anymore.

I got up and -yes! Another clear blue sky day had arrived. Not a cloud to be seen once again - beaut. The group stirred their coffees and had their breakfast and made ready to get going by 9am when Anna & Darren were due to return. The only thing to go wrong was that Castrol's front tyre had deflated overnight. Warwick connected his 12v pumper to it and the air pressure was quickly restored to 8psi. End of problem.

We had a short meeting, looked at map and made a fairly casual plan to spend a bit of time -once again- north of Silver City looking for that lost OP we tried to find last year. From there we would go all the way south to the Sygna and then exit through Lavis Lane, pump up the tyres at Williamtown and convoy to Warwick Lord's new place for a bit of a sticky-beak.

Meanwhile my son Scott had caught some small sand crabs. While he was out finding them he had noticed some more Tank Traps up in the high dunes about 400m to our north. It should turn out to be more of the Tank Traps along the line of the old track, pointing in the direction of the northern end of the TTT. At about 8.30am nearly the whole group legged it for 500m to the north. The other Scott stayed behind to watch the Landys. We could see the small number of Tank traps exposed at the bottom of a gully. They were in line with the others further east (the other 14 near the exposed end of the TTT ramp visited yesterday and last year). I took a photo of Scott standing beside the top of the old ramp to show how much of it had been buried. With the GPS marks we could accurately 'see' the buried sections of the TTT on the map.

Back at the toTTT camp once again, we finished packing up whilst waiting for Ana & Darren to return. Castrol filled in time trying to get up the top of the highest bit of sand in the area. The summit was just too soft and steep so Castrol stopped about two lengths short and reversed back down -very slowly.