Expedition Log

Day 17 Friday 27th January 2006

Dave Gill only hired fourteen porters. Five took heavy loads so they were paid 10K each. The others were paid 6K. Looli was not paid as he was staying at the camp for a few days. Kaatol also wished to stay. They set off between 7am and 9am and Dave and James set off about 10.30am arriving at camp at about 2pm to find the porters cutting a new helipad. The old helipad is now a patio with Herb’s tent in the middle. The 12V car battery was left for Garry as it was leaking acid so it would have been dangerous for a porter to carry. When they arrived James spent some time rearranging the first aid kits.

Moose, Robbie and Herb went with Jean-Paul to survey from the new helipad to the the Ora River down in the doline while Tom and Dave Clucas went down the track past the toilet to see where it went. They found it led to the edge of the small southern doline. They decided to see if they could cut a track down to what appeared to be a bridge between the two dolines. At around 10am Tom went back to camp to wait for the porters who were bringing more food. Dave carried on until 11am and got to the bridge before he turned back. On the way back he walked into a small branch, which went straight up his nostril causing his nose to bleed. A bit further on another branch flicked back into face face and flicked out one of his contact lenses. He managed to find his way back and fortunately had brought a spare pair of lenses. In the evening Moose and Dave entered the survey data into the computer.