Barbara Vial talked about her five treks with camels in the outback.

Barbara walked 120 kilometres in two weeks, with a string of camels carrying water and food for the total time.

The trekkers average 15 kilometres a day.

Surprisingly, deserts in Australia are actually vegetated with plants that have adapted to little water.

Barbara’s first trek was the Nullarbor in 1999, but her favourite area is the Simpson Desert in the centre of Australia.

There are no showers for the two weeks, but the climate is so dry that the red sand can be used for cleaning.

At night, when they swag down under the stars, they had to keep their boots on because of the danger of scorpions.

For Barbara there was the excitement of uncharted waterholes, as they went where cars could not.

A number of scientists also joined the trek for periods of times, tagging dunnarts and GPS locating them, and finding marsupials that had not been recorded for decades.

Barbara admitted that trekking was not for everybody, but she felt privileged to have made her five trips.

The CWA members exercised their creativity for the group cultural day at Kiama on September 10, performing Duck Pond, also known as Swan Lake, as the Milton contribution to the day’s frivolity.

Nora Przialgovskis was the inspirer and Norma Lowe the choreographer for this talented effort.

The dancers were grateful to be swamped with laughter from the audience and feel successful.

The next meeting is the AGM at 2pm, following the general meeting at 1pm. Fees must be paid to vote.

Gossip and projects start at 10am as usual.