Goanna

Miles didn't give me a lie-in, despite it being the first day of the year. I was up with him and a pounding head bright and early. My mission: get him as far away from the camp as possible so that everyone else could stay asleep!

We wandered around looking at cicadas, spiders and wallabies until I felt that the others would probably be up. I passed Miles to Gina and went back to bed...

... and woke up some time later when the tent hit 4000 degrees. I emerged to an empty campsite. Everyone else had gone somewhere and I was left on my blissful own. I pulled up an inflatable armchair and sat and read my book. I was a little uneasy about the sheer size of this monitor lizard that popped out of the bushes right next to me, but he trundled away, looking for an open tent somewhere.