Rain pounded on the roof of the hotel on and off throughout the night, disturbing my rest. We were due to be taking off before dawn, and doing so into rain and cloud is never enjoyable; indeed it’s usually best not to fly in such conditions, and so I was worried that we might be looking at a delay. My alarm went off at 0305am and I rolled out of bed and dressed. Leaving the hotel at 0320, the roads…
The next morning we were collected by a water taxi before dawn, as the hotel shuttle boat didn’t start running until later. The sun wasn’t around yet to warm things up, and the breeze was chilly as we sped across the small waves back to the main island. The dawn was breaking as we pulled back into the marina at Denarau after a thirty minute ride. After grabbing some pastries for breakfast we were soon in a taxi headed back…
I slept poorly, apprehensive about the upcoming flights and the uncertainties around fuel. As well as the issues with the unreliable handlers in American Samoa, the fuelers on Kiritimati had stopped responding to any phone calls or emails, so it wasn’t entirely clear how or if fuel would be available on arrival there despite having pre-paid for the barrels long in advance. Today, however, should be more straightforward; a five hour flight to Fiji. Despite being offensively overpriced in terms…
The hotel front desk had managed to arrange a rental car for the day. What I hadn’t realised was that the rental car rep would be knocking on my door before 8am to drive me to their location! I stumbled out of bed and threw some clothes on for the short ride to the Toyota rental car location, which was a couple of folding tables sitting outside near a few parked cars. The paperwork was slow but straightforward and I…
I was woken by my phone ringing. On the other end of the call was Marc, a local pilot and adventurer who had helped me out with the various procedures for flying to and around New Caledonia. He let me know that he was 10 minutes out and was going to pick me up and go for a coffee! I leaped out of bed and got ready, packing my bag and checking out. It wasn’t long before Marc pulled up…
After a restful night’s sleep I woke up to a breakfast of leftover cheese and donuts. I couldn’t sleep in too long because Ken and Ruth had arranged for Wendy, a reporter from the local Pittsworth Sentinel, to come and interview me about the flight. As well as providing some exposure for the flight and the African Promise charity, this would bring some attention to the Fig Tree venue. Wendy and her dogs arrived right on time and we spent…
Arriving back at Sydney International before 6am in the morning, I made my way north to Maitland airport via metro, mainline rail, and taxi. Planey was waiting patiently in the hangar, just as I had left him. With a few final goodbyes to the folks at the Newcastle Aero Club I was soon on my way south, starting off a few days of local flying in Australia before it came to the final departure from Brisbane. I stayed just inland…
I touched back down in Sydney in late May. This was my first time visiting Australia in the winter and although it was chilly, it was certainly nothing like the winter temperatures we get in the UK. It’s a huge country though and further south, or later in the winter, temperature can drop significantly. I was hoping to be well on my way to warmer climates before then! The first couple of days were spent preparing Planey for the next…
Morning at Mungo Lodge was just as beautiful as sunset had been the night before. After breakfast in the restaurant and a very short stroll back to Planey we set out once again. With the sun at our back we headed west towards the mid-size airport of Wentworth to pick up some much-needed fuel. As I pulled up to the fuel pump I was initially concerned that fuel might not be available; there were a couple of workmen busying themselves…
After breakfast Lee provided a lift back out to the airstrip in the Landcruiser and I pre-flighted Planey. I had been relived to see that no donkeys had interfered with him overnight. The weather was once again perfect and I was airbourne en-route to my first planned fuel stop at Kulgera. After passing a couple of thousand feet in the climb I was able to get mobile phone signal so I phoned ahead to the roadhouse at Kulgera to confirm…