Quiet day today; only up and working on my Blog entries at 1100 hours after long sleep in- a glorious feeling not to feel exhausted in the morning! Jon went out to the airport to meet Richard and help with the fitting of our two new 20 litre long-range fuel tanks to supplement our current 95 litres, to give us a total of some 135 litres and a duration of some  9 hours, covering some 500 miles at a mean speed of 60 knots if necessary.

All being well, we plan to fly across to Australia on Sunday; tomorrow, Saturday, Richard needs time to finish servicing the aircraft and ensuring she is in tip-top condition for our flight. It is now very exciting, realising, to my own amazement, that we are now within striking distance of the country of our final destination!Jon is taking all our kit with him tomorrow on his flight to Darwin, so I will not be able to write another Blog until reunited with my computer in Darwin.This may be late Sunday evening, but my gut feeling is that it may only be Monday morning we arrive in Darwin- just very difficult to predict right now…

We have two choices regarding routes here.

We can take the direct route to Darwin, a distance of 460 miles across open water.

The new alternative, should we want it, is to fly a mere 260 miles to a new airstrip built for the oilfields as well as to monitor boat people seeking entry into Australia.

The airfield is called Truscot, and has no customs, so is not recognised as a legitimate port of entry into Australia. However, we understand that it will not be a problem to divert there for fuel if needed, and then fly a different route, mostly over land via another airfield called Windham to Darwin.  This would be two sides of a triangle, and a longer route overall, but certainly lots going for it. We will only decide tomorrow once in the air, comparing our ground speed and any headwind component linked to our burn rate with the extra fuel load.

Jon will fly from here on a commercial flight to Darwin leaving around midday, taking literally all our luggage with him, as the long range tanks fit into specially customised saddlebag containers that replace our existing saddlebag containers we keep our kit in.

All being well, we all meet up in Darwin later tomorrow.

If Richard and I divert via Truscot, we may or may not get all the way to Darwin, depending on weather, time on the ground etc, and will borrow tooth brushes overnight if necessary!

So, the next Blog from me, God willing,  will be from good old Aussieland, and we will be on the home straight; kind of anyway, as it is quite a big lump of land to fly over!

Thought for the Day: AND JUST TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT WHO SAID THIS, AND WHEN!

Incredible visionary, hey?!

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."
Leonardo da Vinci