27

Friday 30th [underlined]
The skipper & his crew were away for water again
before sunrise, & got 2 trips in before breakfast. At about
7a.m. Mr Basedow & I went ashore, - he wishing to see
the outcrop on some hills a couple of miles away. He had
his Winchester rifle, & I took "Edward VII's" gun. The
sun had not got too hot, & the outing (though covering
some very rough hillsides) proved a very enjoyable one.
In addition to a number of varieties of small birds - which
we left alone - we saw a jabberoo (flying towards us, but
turned before getting within range) 2 native companions
(which flew up from some tall grass in a billabong, after
we had passed) a turkey (which we would like to have
bagged, but was out of range) white cockatoos, bronzewing
pigeons, a small black pigeon & a wallaby. All we secured
was a bronzewing pigeon; though kangaroo tracks were fresh
& plentiful we saw none, & the wallaby was only seen in the distance.
We returned on board at 10a.m. having had a rough scramble
down the hill sides. The dinghy was sent back for a load of
firewood - the tanks having been filled in the meantime - & we
set sail & proceeded down stream, having enjoyed our stay
in Blunder Bay so much that we were almost sorry to leave.
Unfortunately a number of ants were brought aboard in the
firewood, & we were constantly having to knock them off us.