Lasseter starts the day in Ill humour--Liver as Taylor would say, his bile not helped by Blakeley's very direct questions about yesterdays cliff camps and bean trees and pointed reminders that the expedition is now more than two days out of Alice Springs and by agreement Lasseter must reveal the location of the reef , what about it??!.

But Blakeley has inadvertently given Lasseter an excuse not to divulge the information, he will say nothing while Fred Colson is travelling with the expedition and not a shareholder, it's a matter of trust and Lasseter trusts no one--impasse. Fred Blakeley needs Fred Colson, he'll just have to wait until Illbilla.

Travel through the same terrain as yesterday, jumbled hills frustrating the men and wearing tempers thin, Lasseter continuously nags Blakeley about his poor water management, he is of course right, others agree. Late afternoon and Blakeley notes a change in the fall of the country and decides they must be in the vicinity of Dashwood Creek. He then has another of those inexplicable Blakeley quirks.

He halts the expedition on the edge of good hard ground and decides he and Colson will search ahead for the creek and hopefully water, Colson quite sensibly decides to follow a brumby pad, Blakeley of all things hauls his bike off the Thornycroft and searches the high ground. The Captain and Taylor stifle sardonic mirth, why on earth are we stalled here and not following the horse tracks in the vehicles??.

Naturally Colson finds the creek with plenty of good water in soaks, about 8 miles west of the vehicles and returns with a full water bag of the clear stuff, just on dark meets Blakely on the track who quenches a mighty thirst. Taylor has the wit to fix the spotlight to a long pole to guide the men in. Some humour is restored to the camp tonight and Blakeley promises two days rest when they get to the Dashwood.

At Oneri Spring the Endeavour expedition have the usual Sunday of it, pottering about with camp duties, make and mend and baking, Terry and Williams climb Mount Connor, examining the geology and from the summit the best route west. A binocular survey doesn't look promising, a sea of sand hills to Ayers Rock, 56 miles off.

LASSETERIA