Still making very slow progress!

The slow progress and dull, humid conditions made everyone on the truck subdued and lethargic this afternoon.  We all had lunch on the move.  We had followed our melon and ham with cup-a-soup made on board with hot water in our flask that we had 'stolen' from breakfast.  It was a risky business!

The final 24 kilometres to our campsite was extremely tedious and slow.  It was also very bumpy and so dusty that we had to keep the windows closed and turn the truck into a sweatbox!  The scenery as we drove by the lake was stunning, but we were all too tired to be bothered to take photos!

Eventually, we arrived at Camping Bella Vista which turned out to be a bit of a dump with broken-down vehicles littering the place and chickens running around everywhere!  It was also very busy!!  In the last hour of the journey, I had made up my mind to try for an upgrade, but there was no chance!  The lady running the site had seriously overbooked.  She had no rooms left, and we just had to squeeze our tents in where we could.  We found a small piece of flat ground behind the shower blocks and got ourselves organised.

The news then just got better!  The reason for our 12-hour drive to get here was to visit the Marble Caves, either by kayaking or by taking a boat trip.  We had opted to do the three-hour boat trip in the morning.  However, on arrival, we were told that the authorities had closed the lake at 3.30pm this afternoon due to adverse weather conditions.  It is unlikely to reopen tomorrow.  Great!!  Such a difficult journey - and all for nothing!  We were disappointed, to say the least!  We were also told that the much longed-for laundry service was not available either as rain is forecast and they will not be able to dry it!  So, I got on with some hand washing while Mark went to help the cook group.  After the fiasco the other night, Marina had asked Mark to cook the rice for her group - just to prove that his efforts had been deliberately sabotaged!

Dinner was ready at 8.30pm.  We had the rice with creamy pepper chicken and mixed veg.  It was perfectly fine (and everyone agreed the rice was the best we'd had on the truck!), but it was late and blowing a gale, so none of us lingered too much afterwards!Read more