Kalbari was lovely, but like most of this coast so deserted it is almost eerie. We had to drive for almost an hour to get back to the main road, which explains the frequency of tourists in that lovely little town. We stopped at the Murchison River Gorge, nearly empty in the dry season and took some pictures. There were mountain goat across the gorge, and a huge termite mound, but aside from that no sign of animal life. We keep seeing signs warning us of kangaroos crossing, but as yet no live jumpers.

The drive up the highway was uneventful. The scrub land here is incredible: just a hair this side of utter barren wasteland, the soil so parched and rocky that only a few fitful bushes, no higher than your knee can survive. We hoped that the next ‘outback’ station had gas. They did, and we paid the $1.53 per litre without complaint. On the way up the road we passed two cyclists with shock. It must have been 45 Celsius on the tarmac and not a cloud in the sky; by bike probably three hours to the next station in that killer heat.

The road into Monkey Mia was just as barren. We took a turn at the first sign of life a tea house run by a garrulous old Aussie with three yellow teeth and a long scraggly grey beard that looked liked it housed some family friends. Lunch was edible, just, and we did pick up enough local information to formulate a plan.
We drove into Denham and picked up a few supplies, then headed across the peninsula to Monkey Mia. We arrived early enough to get a powered site for the night and hustled down to the dock to book an evening cruise on the Shotover, a catamaran with a reputation for seamanship. The cruise was gorgeous; smooth and without incident into an Indian Ocean in the evening air with a romantic sunset to finish the day.
We uploaded some pictures and tried watching a movie on the laptop, but didn’t last too long. The day had been too long and we were too tired. Besides, we had an early appointment.