A short 15 kms or so over grey clay flood plains and then up a lovely rain-foresty track alongside a small stream and onto the Stuart Highway. Bitumen again!

A fast (for Brian, Christine and Chris O’B, slow for me) run for ten kilometres south on the Stuart Highway, then a west turn and a 12 km lumpy ride into the old mining town of Batchelor (previously the dormitory for the now closed uranium mine at Rum Jungle) in time for a food stall lunch at the Sunday market. Very pleasant, as was dinner at the modern Rum Jungle Tavern.

On the way in to Batchelor we passed a failed mixed species timber plantation, itself on the site of a failed tobacco estate. Many have tried to capture the rainfall and warm temperatures up here but failure is more the rule than success.

The Batchelor Holiday caravan park was well kept and just starting to slow down at the end of the dry season tourist rush.