Time to leave this picturesque spot and head back to Katherine. Packed up and the van and drove back through Litchfield to Batchelor
In Batchelor we had a look at some local markets then checked out a couple of local sites including this miniature castle. Tuns out it was built by a Czech migrant who settled here and worked for the council on the gardens. Couldn't work out what to do with this rocky outcrop and decided to build a replica of a 12th century Czechoslovakian castle (got to say that would not have been my first thought) - took him 5 years and he died just before finishing it off.
Then checked the airstrip which was used as a base by MacArthur's forces during the war. This one had to be extended to cope with the B17 bombers (apparently Darwin couldn't handle them) and bombing raids around the pacific originated from here.
Next passing through Adelaide River and just ot the south had a good sized bushfire happening - burring up to the side if the road with a fresh south easter keeping it moving.
The windy conditions also resulted in some interesting clouds patterns
Next on the way to Pine Creek stopped at the WW2 McDonald Airstrip - there are many of these airstrips built during the war which are now desolate (must give aircraft a good feeling to know there are so many emergency landing options around). We even went for drive down the airstrip but were unable to take off.
Next a visit to the Miner's Park at Pine Creek which has had considerable success from gold mining operations.
Decided to drive the extra 100km to Katherine and back to Leonie and John's place where we'll spend the next few nights.
The Campbells
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