71. Friday, 14 May 1948. This entry is written back at Lockerbie. We left Newcastle Bay about 9.45 A.M. after the usual flurry of packing which goes with the establishment and breaking up of every camp, has a journey without incident through the scrub abd forest and had no rain. About four miodes from Lockerbie we found and picked up a carpet snake which was sunning itself in the middle of the trail; I have just measured it, nine feet, three inches. Last night Willie Somerset came to me with a brown snake, found just outside the boys' tent; altogether Newcastle Bay was quite a good collecting camp, so far as reptiles go, but the two large butterflies which so successfully avoided me there, were in profusion all through our journey, of course, thumbing their noses in a lepidopterian sort of way. Mrs. Holland gave us a very pleasant lunch after we had unloaded the truck and it did not take long to get camp reorganized again; we had left several of the tents standing and were able to stack our gear and baggage to somewhat better advantage than it was when we first set up the Lockerbie camp. It felt good to be away from the sand and salt and to take a bath in fresh water. I put the carpet in a snake nag and drowned him, later using the water to soak our dirty clothing in. Tomorrow will be a refitting, oiling, laundering sort of day and at the moment our next move has not yet been decided on. There is no particular reason why Lockerbie should have a rather homelike atmosphere - I think I have tried to describe it elsewhere and it is nothing more than a bush camp, but nevertheless, perhaps because we were returning to a known place, rather than going to an unknown one, we are all relaxed and at ease here. Soon we shall move over to Dick's house to hear the 9 P.M. news and then shall turn in, I think. I suppose we all feel here that vigilance is not so necessary, as we have been here before and know what we are likely to meet, and that accounts for our let-down. Saturday, 15 May 1948. This morning I went over to the telegraph station again and have some more or less definite news to set down here. The Alagna is die to leave Thursday Island, southbound, on the 27th or 28th and a barge (former landing craft) will be arranged for to call for us at R.I.P. on the 25th or 26th. We shall have a day in Thursday Island to arrange trans-shipment of gear from our barge to Alagna and should have time to get a hair-cut and a glass lf beer as well. Today has been and tomorrow will be spent in packing the collections made so far for shipment to Cairns and on Tuesday we shall move to Sanameia Lagoon, just north of the Jardine River and about in the middle of the Peninsula. We shall return from there on Saturday, close things up at Lockerbie and establish ourselves at Red Island Point until we leave. From R.I.P. we shall wover the Jacky-Jacky airport, or what is left of it, and make a visit to Cowall Creek to sign the indentures covering the boys working for us, all of whom wish to make the whole trip. Van went off this afternoon to the Area of Tom Holland's saw-mill and may stay there during the Sanamela period if his results are good. Mail came in last night and I know that the letters Bill Wallace mailed after the Lochiel, on April 20th, reached New York before the end of that month. Good going, I think. Last night there was a police broadcast saying that Lochiel was overdue and feared lost with all hands, but this morning she arrived in Portland Roads. She had been sheltering from the gales we felt in Newcastle Bay, most likely. Yalate, too, has appeared from the blue of Cairns and reached Thursday Island this morning.