I dug the fire trench with the help of my most beloved tool, the pick. Many people along the way made fun of it, but it is brilliant when you are about to go into battle with the hard Australian soil. I made an extra hole for my camp-oven. I built my fires by starting with paper, fire starters, dry leaves, grass or anything else flammable. Then I added small dry sticks, then medium and then bigger logs on top of them.
Lighter wood is good to get the fire going.
Hard, tough wood like Mulga and Ironwood is perfect for making coals to cook. The sun was setting and the rock glowed as magnificently as Uluru . Any old rock will glow in the sunset, but this one felt like it was our own rock. A ute loaded with Aborigines passed by on their way from Warburton to Warakurna. Nigel and his family watched me with what I interpreted as curiosity as I cooked a curry in the camp-oven.