Borroolola to Timber Creek

Gorrie Airstrip WWII

On the way to Katherine we stopped overnight at the abandoned Gorrie Airstrip which was built for World War 2. There are many of these airstrips in Northern Australia and we've stayed at a few of them. They make excellent camping sites and there was room at this one for about 200 vans, but there were only 4 of us here for the night.

This is the largest hard slab we've ever camped at - 1.6kms (1 mile) long

The Airstrip was finished in 1943 and housed up to 6,500 personnel and 98 aircraft. Sitting back picturing what this place would have looked like in 1943 with all these brave souls protecting our future was a very sobering experience.

Not all of them came home and some just made it

On 9th February this B-25J belly-landed at Gorrie

Katherine

The highlight of our 3 days in Katherine was meeting up with Luke, Megan, Osric and Shacklock. They were to join us at Lorella Springs but alas that didn't happen.

On our first morning we were invited for a Bacon and Egg breakfast at the Fritchley's - yum!

We of course had to celebrate both Jayne's and Megan's recent birthdays. Megan spent hours baking this killer chocolate cake (from raw ingredients) for us to enjoy.  Jayne supplied the candles, kids toys, balloons and birthday bunting to decorate our van and our neighbours came over for afternoon tea.

I had the blowing out of the candles all lined up to photograph, and then "Cyclone Osric" hit and nearly blew all the icing off the cake before our very eyes. He was so fast

Bailey really enjoyed getting extra pats and a back massage from Shack

A bike ride was called for next day, and we rode 8.6 kms around Katherine. Osric did extremely well keeping up, with Luke giving him a little extra help when he ran out of steam.

Jayne got a flat tyre which required some running repairs

Bike riding photos courtesy of Megan and Luke

Sadly after 3 days it was time to leave, and both Jayne and I were exhausted. We needed a well earned rest.

Top Springs Hotel

We decided we hadn't done enough dirt roads yet, so took a detour along the Buchanan Highway between Katherine and Timber Creek.  We pulled up in the parking area across the road from the hotel checking the layout etc. There was a small helicopter warming up across the road, so we sat there to watch him take off.

He was sitting there for awhile then our two-way radio came to life. It was the pilot of the helicopter calling us! He asked us very politely to move as he was going to be taking off across where we were parked. We were quite a distance from him, but I didn't argue and moved as requested.

He then took off, flew down the road about 3 metres off the ground slowly gaining height. I looked into the cabin, no doors of course, and it was fully loaded. He was very heavy, so we understood why he asked us to move as he couldn't get over us.

The really funny part was as he came down the road, he turned left at the intersection and continued down another road again very slowly gaining height.

They really are bush cowboys out here.  Sorry no pictures as it all happened too fast. In fact he came back in the morning and landed so quickly we couldn't manage a picture as he was flying. So we have these ones. It's a really cute little helicopter, I want one!

You can see his swag on the passengers seat

A classic outback scene - camping out the back of the pub, and a cattle road train out the front

We had a great night at the pub with a few locals and road crew who were staying over for the weekend.  The bar staff was a German girl and her English boyfriend who were leaving to go back to Germany the next day.  Their German friends had arrived to take over from them once they left. 

Victoria River Ford - Dashwood Crossing

Camped by the river.  Are there crocs in there? Probably but thankfully we didn't spot any