Up from the last beds in dongas that we’ll have for a week and on the road by about 9 am. We were all feeling good so the pace was brisk as the weather warmed in to the low-30s Celsius. Bruce was ever the non-conformist and headed out across the dried out mudflats rather than follow the road around the edge.

First stop was at the rock shelter and aborignal art near the Moochalabra Dam. It was getting warm.

Still keeping a good pace we got to the end of the King River Road at the old boab Prison Tree. The King River Road disappears as a farm track from here, we kept on the road to Diggers Rest Station.

Definitely warm by now. A few kilometres down the track Linda had her only puncture of the trip. As she had the new-fangled tubeless tyres she fixed it with adhesive ‘bacon strips’ pushed through the hole without taking the tyre off the rim. Neat.

The Kurunji Track was blocked by a locked gate as Diggers Rest has had trouble with tourists leaving the gates open and needing the paddocks to be remustered at considerable expense. No matter, the Shire Rangers in Kununurra had assured us the Kurunji is a public right of way so we unloaded our bikes and heaved the gear over the gate.

Much warmer now and I should have drunk more water.