31701-0028-0001

49th Battn Details,
Port Moresby,
Papua.
1/41.

My Darling Beloved,

I can almost say that I'm having or rather enjoying a week's holiday - on outpost
Nev [Neville] No 1 & 2, & Don Sweitzer are my companions so I'm blessed with congenial company. As per usual we have not been without adventure & thrills.

Last Saturday morning, we awoke (in camp) to find threatening weather. At dawn a terrific guba blew up & the journey called off. However, we set out after lunch when the weather cleared. Twice our truck bogged to the axles, but it only added to the fun. The climb up Maata had me beaten for the first time, although my equipment weighed 70 lbs. The grade is almost as steep as that cliff at Noosa (the one we quarrelled on.) I was thrilled
to bits when I first saw our new grass-hut. — it's a work of art. It makes me feel almost native, living in it. Except for a few nails, it is bound together by bamboo & grass. The planked floor is spaced for coolness, while the nestling of the wind on the roof sound like cooling rain. The hut is built just below the rest-line & on a steep slope in a