Last night was a bit later than usual. First, because my kangaroo skewers took forever to get served, but more importantly because we had a beer and travel talk with Thomas from Berlin. He is the first motorcycle traveller that we met since starting this trip, at least for a longer chat.

That, plus a couple of urgent emails requiring my attention in the morning meant that our plans for the day started with a delay right out of the gate. Not that one item makes for a very long list, but we also wanted to get some good distance in afterwards back to the Stuart Highway and north if possible.

That one item? The King’s Canyon rim walk, a 6 km walk (plus some detours along the way) was marked with a whopping 3.5 hrs. We got there around 10 with the bike fully loaded. That always makes for a bit of an awkward change from biking to hiking mode, but nowhere nearly as hard or annoying as in our early travel days.

Nina was ok with most of the walk, only my brief explorations of the edge off the 50m sheer cliffs was met with little enthusiasm.

Although we took every detour, had lunch at the Garden of Eden and took way too many photos, we were back at quarter past one. Are we actually getting fitter? Either way, we were changed and back on the road by 2 pm.

I was keen on some bush camping, but from 4 pm onwards, the roadside was all fences, or desert plain without a single tree. So we pushed on a bit longer, on to the Stuart Highway and made camp at the Desert Oak rest area (Overnight camping is allowed here). I even found some good fire wood nearby. Thus, the day ended with a cup of tea next to a campfire on red sand.

Not too bad for a day to end.