The rain had stopped when we decide to get out of the tent. As I was climbing down the ladder, a fellow camper, Lew who had a RV next to our pitch came over and declared that he had a look at our website and was fascinated by our adventure. After a short chat he was kind enough to let us have breakfast and freshen up with a promise to come by later with the wives when we were ready.  

About an hour later Lew, Avis, Lois and Mearle came over to talk to us a bit more on our journey. They wrote in our guest book and to our surprise they too had guest books for us to write in, I hope they could read my scribble due to my unsteady right hand after the stroke! We could have talked for ages if not for the rain. I quickly showed them what we did with Tuah and they were obviously impressed.

At 1030am we left Timberland campsite and headed straight for the Mt Washington Auto Road but was disappointed to be told that visibility was only 100ft at most, although the road was open. We decided against gong up as it would be a waste of USD31 just to drive around in the clouds. After a quick discussion we agreed to go for Clarks theme park where they have a Bear show only to find out that the show started at 12pm and it was already 1.30pm. He good news was that there was another show at 3pm!

We got the tickets to the park and was fortunate to catch the train ride up the track for about 15 minutes where the park made it more interesting with a guy “wolfman”, appearing three times each way telling us that we had no right to travel in his territory and shooting blanks and making lots of noises. We then had a walk around the park while waiting for the Bear show.

The Bears were five years old and were trained over three summers to get them to perform various tricks. Apparently, in the wilds they don't live very long between 4 to 6 years. With the Clarks the Bears live a lot longer due to better diet and healthier food and one died at the age of 39. They don't have to go without food for as long as those in the wilds in the winter months either. The Clarks trained the Bears using incentives of ice cream and nuts, and treat them with lots of tender loving care.

Immediately after the Bear show there was a Chinese acrobatic show. This was also entertaining but Adrian would rather prance up and down doing his own acrobatic tricks.

When we left the park we had to say goodbye to the old couple who were sitting next to us. They had spotted Tuah and asked if he was ours and lads of questions regarding our trip. We found a supermarket just at the edge of town and Alison bought some meat and veg to cook when we found a suitable campsite as it was a sunny day. We got to a campsite just outside the town but there was no showers and was told that about 12 miles further on over the mountains there was a campsite with shower facilities.

As we started to climb the hill the weather began to change and by the time we got over the mountain it was raining quite heavily. We got to Jigger Johnson campsite and decided to pitch our tent regardless and we were told by the ranger that there was hot water but one needed four quarters to get 6minutes shower and we didn't have any quarters on us!! Blast it!!

The rain was on and off but Alison managed to curry the meat while I tested the rice cooker on the inverter and keeping the engine running while doing so. We had a nice home cooked dinner for a change and as usual Adrian preferred his egg and rice. We didn't waste too much time hanging around outside Tuah as mosquitoes was in abundance. When Alison finished preparing her updates on Adrian's journal we went up to the tent.