A few months in New Zealand had turned out to be plenty of time to visit the majority of airports in the country, and see a large number of the sights (although of course it would take years to really see everything that New Zealand has to offer). When the Australian government announced that they’d be opening up quarantine-free travel inbound from New Zealand, I jumped at the chance to get back over to the “West Island” and see more of what it had to offer; I was particularly keen to see Western Australia, which we had not had a chance to visit when flying with my brother.

I crossed the Tasman direct this time, straight from Invercargill to Sydney, before heading to Tasmania to visit Ollie (the pilot who’d flown the rental Cessna 206 with me the previous year). After a great week checking out Tasmania, I set off to conduct a full circumnavigation of the continent.

The write-up of the Australia (part 2) section of the trip can be found below.

• Australia 2, Part 1: Crossing the Tasman
• Australia 2, Part 2: Tasmania flying
• Australia 2, Part 3: South Australia coast
• Australia 2, Part 4: South Australia desert
• Australia 2, Part 5: Entering Western Australia
• Australia 2, Part 6: Arrival in Perth
• Australia 2, Part 7: The West Coast
• Australia 2, Part 8: See you in the Northern Territory
• Australia 2, Part 9: Northern Queensland
• Australia 2, Part 10: Southern Queensland
• Australia 2, Part 11: Final Days