Today was a very full day! Kieran did Park Run while Karen explored the national park and Bob and I rode to the local markets where we picked up fresh bread (yum) and some salad ingredients. We rode back to the van, dropped our purchases off and continued our ride to the diversion dam on the Ord River (see photo above). There are 20 individual gates on this dam to allow wet season flooding through when necessary. Today there were 3 gates open.

We arrived back at the van after riding a total of 19km in 30+ degree heat and had enough time to cool off in the ac before heading out for the next instalment – a 6 hour cruise on the Ord.

We travelled a total of 110km on the river – from the diversion dam to the Lake Argyle dam and back again. We had a fantastic afternoon with great commentary on the history of the dammed river and the resulting attraction of wildlife and wetland creation. There were birds, crocs (freshwater, although estuarine are turning up every 6-12 weeks), and we watched the sunset from the river before heading back to the vans. We all enjoyed the day immensely.

Tomorrow we depart again and start the serious travelling east. We will enter the NT in the morning and lose 1.5 hours in the process. We will be night owls tomorrow!