I heard a very strange noise in the night … turned out it was dingos howling … not sure I’ve ever heard them before. It almost sounded like a human pretending to make a howling noise. We’ve been told not to leave food scraps out, as the dingos have been coming into the campground.

The weather is still very hot, but we’re going to attempt the 5km Mpulungkinya Walk at Palm Valley today. Luckily it is overcast so the sun isn’t beating down on us, but it’s over 35 degrees so we set out with plenty of water and snacks.

The track from the campground to the start of the walk is short but very rough – no towing allowed. It’s quite fun though! It passes through a gorge of enormous Cycads, thought to be 300 or 400 years old. The park is famous for the thousands of Red Cabbage Palms that are found here. It’s supposedly a bit of a mystery as to how they got here – they are 1,000km from their nearest relatives. It’s pretty strange seeing palm trees in the desert! You can walk through the gorge, but they ask you not to walk amongst the palms as the juveniles can easily be trampled by visitors.

We’ve never been here before – it’s pretty amazing! There are small waterholes in a few spots, and breathtaking views out across the park as we walk out of the gorge. The whole area is much greener than I was imagining.

We are all pretty stuffed by the end of the day – the heat is quite draining. Have a lazy afternoon in the campground. The kids bike ride around the campground. Grant and I go for a short walk later in the day with Nick, Gill and Alyssa to the Kalarranga Lookout – definitely worth the walk!