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CAMP LIFE IN
THE NORTH
No Pleasant Days
"The Age" Special Representative
SOMEWHERE IN AUSTRALIA,
Tuesday. — It is becoming really
hoc in the inland now. The plea
sant days which make the winter
here the best climate in Australia
are giving way to a season in
which the sun beats down fiercely.
Anywhere in northern Australian
country which is dry and hungry
one minute can become a sea of
swirling water after a sudden
storm and camps and stores swept
away. :
One camp is in a really bad
area, where mosquitoes and sand
flies are : so ' bad . that the men
have 'to wear, special gloves and
veils so that' no part of their skin
Is exposed. Toget Into bed wlth-
out. allowing these pests inside' the
nets is a task that calls for the
utmost, dexterity, and - Is nevei
quite successful. Every drop of
water has to be carried. Yet
those in camps in- far more plea
sant surroundings,' despite the fact
they are well aware of conditions
at this other camp, are pestering
their pfficers and N.C.O.'s to be
allowed' to put in' a term, there
when the personnells changed at
the end of. every month, v. .->
- , . f. - ' .
Dare-Devil Drivers
All through the day and night
big trucks bring supplies to these
troops, after lumbering through
the empty lands of the north,
over dry creek beds, sparsely-
grassed plains, black soil flats,
ghtly covered with nutwood,
corkwood, lancewood, bull waddle
and gum. the montonous terrain
of the inland. The crews of sucn
trucks are the same type of men
as those at the camps, full oi
grit. These men were country
hauliers in civil life. and. In addi
tion to having the technical
knowledge necessary for their
army job. they had acquired the
temperament. Isolated from even
the few amenities that exist else
where in this area, drivers of the
inland have only their work to
interest them, and perhaps that
is one of the reasons why thev
are so keen. Their main con
versation is of their -work and in
cidents associated with it.
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