25-Mar-2005 -- This was Day 1 (Friday) of our Easter weekend trip to attempt 4 confluences along 24 south latitude, working westwards from 118°E through to 115°E. The party consisted of my wife Sandy and I, and my brother John who accompanied us in his own vehicle (safety in numbers of vehicles!).

Earlier in the week I had phoned Mt Vernon Station and talked to Brian Rick who was happy for us to use his station's tracks. We called in to the station around 3.30pm and Brian gave us some tips on the best approach to the confluence point. We drove north to the Pingandy turnoff, then headed east towards some stockyards. Leaving my vehicle and van, we proceeded across the Ashburton River in John's car and managed to drive to within 1.4km of the confluence. The short walk in was over undulating rocky ground, accompanied by a superb rainbow (see photo) and a few drops of rain from a nearby thunderstorm. Even though it was late afternoon (around 6pm) the temperature was still 32°C. After taking the usual photo set, we returned to the stockyards and drove west to find a campsite off the Pingandy road, ready to tackle 24°S 117°E the next day.