Tuesday, 4 May 1948. This has been a day of both high lights and dim lights and under the conditions by which we are living, both are small things; the highest of the high was a plain glass of ice water and the dullest of the dim a punctured bicycle tire. There were other events but t hose two stand out. Last night I was driven over to the Cape York Telegraph station, a dis- tance of between eight and nine miles. It was dark and our headlights turn- ed a glare on objects not otherwise seen. A large wallaby sprang from cover and raced madly along in front of us for some distance until it occurred to him to get back into the scrub again. At one point several birds, apparently sleeping on the trail, sprang into life, seeming to come from under the wheels of the jeep. In about an hour we reached the telegraph station, a collection of cor- rugated iron shacks, comprising living quarters, dining hut and telegraph of- fice and after a comfortable night we breakfasted. During the mean, Jacp Cupid, the lineman in charge, came down from his quarters and took me up there. He has a very comfortable and roomy house right at the tip of the cape. His house is perhaps fifty yards from the Torres Straits and is the most nor- therly place of abode in Australia. During the war he entertained many Ameri- can soldiers and his most prized possession is his guest book. With him live his wife and a son of about fourteen. There I was given tea and cold watermelon, a high light only less than the glass of ice water, and returned to the main station where I made my calls. Those to Mills, B-P and Jensen, the Protector of Islanders, were satisfactory, but from George Asange, Burke's agent at T.I., I found that the shipping confusion still exists. Alagna should leave Brisbane on the 8th northbound and T.I. on the 21st southbound. Wandana, not laid up as we had been told, should leave Brisbane on the 15th northbound and T.I. south on the 31st. I made reservations for our party on both, but if the dates hold, it will be Wandana. Neither will make the trip to R.I.P. so we have to contrive our own transportation form there to T.I. From Jensen's office I obtained considerable information on the matter of the black boys. They are entitled to L10 monthly, of which they receive ten shillings weekly, less the cost of tobacco and tea issued to them, as pocket money. On being told of the desertion of Robert and Bob, they told me that they were glad old Moreton was still with us as he was the best of the lot, and they suggested that we try to get two other boys, Martin Ropeyarn and Willie Somerset, as they were both good. My calls finished, I said goodbye to the men at the station and was shown the holy of holies, a kerosene operated Electrolux. A tray of ice cubes was taken out, allowed to thaw, and I had my drink of ice-water. That's what they called it - my name was nectar. And to think that some people do not like ice in their drinks. My bicycle, which had been tied on the jeep last night, had survived the journey though one wheel stuck out about a foot from the side of the jeep and more than once looked as though it would be torn from the rest of the machine by the trees which reached out as we passed. It should be understood that a road in this part of the world consists of a two-wheeled cart track and out- side the track is a waste of head-high grass and short trees. Mounting my fine velocipede I started the nine-mile ride back to Locker- bie and covered the first three miles in good style though the road there was covered with small stones about the size of one's fist, and the jolting was considerable. But by that time I had had my spell of good for the day and