Longreach Waterhole

We went camping out at Longreach waterhole, about 270 km's further north this weekend...
The two Alan's, nurses from rural and remote, a sort of community nursing team that travels out to the surrounding camps, picked us up at 6.30, way to early for this night owl.
They turned up in 2 lge 4 wheel drives, with a large cage trailer which has Alans portable camper tent thing installed on top of it.
The sun was just rising in the most ridiculously picturesque manner as we drove up the Stewart highway, and I almost forgave them the uncivilized hour.
There was 6 of us all up, me and my housemate fellow nurses Sue and Peta, the 2 Alan's and Emily, a young doctor from Taiwan, who alone out of all of us, had never been camping, let alone in the Ozzie Outback!
After about 2 hours we turned off the highway and headed out towards the lake over dusty red dirt roads through the scrub....and numerous confusing turns onto various tracks later, arrived at Alan and Alans favorite camping spot.
Within minutes thee was a tarp up surrounded by shadecloth to keep the biting wind out, and some water boiling in a most ingenious kettle which is hollow in the middle! You just fill it with sticks and leaves and hold a match to the bottom! I want one!
Then Alan went shopping for tomorrows lunch by tossing some yabby traps into the water and we settled into a strenuous day of lounging around, watching the myriad bird species cavorting above and in the water and yarning about our lives...
Poor Emily seemed a bit shell shocked, and stayed well inside the confines of the makeshift shelter, with her feet neatly encased in stockings and plastic shoes.
"I don't want to get a tan, I'm Chinese and we like to stay pale...and I'm going back home in a week! Plus the ground is dirty and you don't know whats on it!"
I couldn't resist pointing out to her that if she didn't go barefoot, she was blocking her Chi by not connecting Kidney source point one ( which is on the bottom of the foot just below the pad bit) to the Earth....but she still wouldn't take off her stockings, grin!
I slept like a log that night, out under the stars next to the fire in my swag...for those of you non-ozzies, a swag is a thin mattress inside a touch canvas cover, that you slip inside. It keeps out the most of the creepy crawlies that might want to snuggle with you during the night, and also wind and light rain.
Im now sitting in the back of the car heading back home...with a bucket full of yabbies for tea, feeling totally peaceful...i didn't realize how much my soul had missed the peace of the bush and the comfort of sitting next to a campfire at night...