45. George and Len arrived in just about noon from their successful at- tempt against Bellenden-Kerr. Both looked very bedraggled and weary and had not been dry since their departure on Monday morning. Many bites of leeches were visible on them and several of the pesta fell from their clothing as they changed into drier stuff. The climb had been pretty tough and the weather atrocious, of course; their first camp, Tick Camp, was at 3,000 feet and they spent both nights at that spot, reaching the summit and returning to Tick again last night. The whole of the trail apparently is through scrub, with lawyer vines and their attendant thorns plentiful, as the scratches on them denoted. They had confrived packs for themselves from old potato sacks and both had carried weights of about twenty-five pounds. Rain had rotted the straps of the packs and caused considerable trouble in un-balance of weight. I fixed both up with some good hot food and again at supper time filled them up; it is not 8.40 but Len has turned in. George is reading one of my who-dun-its while I type this and Van works on his skins. The rain is pour- ing down again and not once have we seen the top of the mountain from this camp since our arrival here. The name of the camp, which I think I have not before recorded, has been settled as Junction Creek, Russell River; permission to collect mammals on Bellenden Kerr itself was refused so all specimens taken are from the surrounding lowlands and from the Junction Creek camp. The refusal of a collecting permit is odd - it is based theoretically on the fact that Bellen- den Kerr is a national park. Insects and plants may be collected there but nothing else and the remainder of the wild life is vanishing because fires are fairly common and it is illegal to put out a bush fire in a national park. However our worries will soon be over on that score; there are no more national parks north of here. Thursday, 8 April 1943. There was a little more sunlight on this, our last day at Bellenden Kerr, but it was frequently broken by showers and in general this has been by far the wettest week we have so far spent in Australia. Van's traps last night produced only five specimens and my reptiles were augmented by two large lizards. Nothing much has contributed to the cause of science during the day. Woodward called for us at 2 o'clock on the button and we had every- thig packed and ready; the stream, however, which his car crossed with ease when bringing us up, was so high that he could not cross and we had to carry our gear out to the truck. It was not far but the slippery stepping stones across the brook put a bit of zest in it. Returning to Cairns now is a quite usual thing for us and we feel rather like old inhabitants, resenting, or at lease commenting on, new arrivals at the hotel who were not there when we went away. This time there are a num- ber of Philippines staying here. However, the staff always seems glad to have us return and our waitress usually produces double scoops of ice-cream for those who desire them. I will admit that out dinner tasted perhaps a bit better than those I have been preparing but also I defy any chef to produce from the cans I use, any more tasty dish than I produce. S.S. Time is not yet in so we do not know much about the various reports that have reached us; that will have to await our investigations tomorrow, as will the steamer north from here and other related matters. In the meantime we shall have at least one good night's sleep.