Last breakfast at Illbilla and with some regrets, the C.A.G.E. team had grown fond of the place over the weeks, it's homely bough sheds, the waterhole, now just a trickle, the Aboriginals and the vastness of central Australia in any direction, surprising how Taylor has taken to outback life, the two older bushmen are rather proud of their young English protégé.  Preparations finalised. the men move off on the return journey, Colson forging ahead in Sunrise, he has business in Alice Springs.

 Midday and Blakeley, Sutherland and Taylor inspect the clearly visible track where Lasseter and Johns turned south yesterday, leading all the way to Bob Buck's station at Middleton Ponds Blakeley suspects. They camp east of Warren Creek intending to climb the unclimable Mount Liebig tomorrow.

Freddy Colson flakes out for the night on the east bank of Ai-Ai Creek, he has spent hours rebedding the shattered corduroy crossing, the broken timbers making fine stakes for very delicate tyres.

Lasseter and Johns arrive at Putardi Springs, they find water, rest up and take stock. It's not been an auspicious start to the south west venture, three days on the track, seventy miles travelled yet barely twenty miles closer to the Petermanns.

H. G. Brown, Secretary of the Department of Transport writes a short firm note to his counterpart in Home Affairs reminding him that he has not yet seen any written confirmation of Arthur Blakeley's statement in Parliament last July that the Department of Transport is footing the bill for the transport of the C.A.G.E. Expedition to Alice Springs. Brown points out that he has written to Home Affairs on the 22nd July, 15th August and the 3rd of September and today, I hope Brown is a patient fellow. It's chaos in Home Affairs, Blakeley may be a reasonable politician but he is a hopeless administrator, typical of his kind, makes sure the left hand doesn't know what the right's doing.