Taking off on a trip of this magnitude is definitely not something to be taken lightly. Proper planning is everything, make one mistake, miss one important item and it can cost you dearly. A good ferry pilot insures that he is well prepared with all the maps and approach charts for the route, spare parts and oil for the aircraft, landing and overflight permits filed and most importantly……snacks. The choices you make at the grocery store before you take off can haunt you for thousands of miles, if you know what I mean.
Marcio and I left Sydney with three bags of salt and sugar, we told our wives it was fresh fruit and rice cakes, and a case of good India Pale Ale on ice. There is nothing like a clod beer after on the ramp after a long day’s work. Our first planned stop was Mt. Isa in central Australia, Heart of the outback Mate! But a one hundred knot headwind at thirty eight thousand feet caused us to make an unplanned stop in beautiful Longreach home of the…..of the…….well not much but it did look like there had been water there sometime in the last few years or so.
Getting out of the Jet we were surprised to find that Longreach is home to the Qantas Air museum. It had a Dc-3 747 and a few other old jets that I don’t remember. I miss the days when they named airliners like name ships, the plane in the foreground is called the CITY OF CANBERRA and the 747 is called THE SPIRIT OF……….., can’t remember. You just never know what you’re going to find on one of these trips.
The rest of the flight to Darwin was over some of the most beautiful and primordial looking countryside I’d ever seen. I would dearly love to go back there someday with my family and go on a walkabout. Getting into Darwin there were a few thunderstorms to dodge but being in the Phenom made it a non-issue. When we landed it was still light out, a rare treat for a ferry pilot, we flew all the way across Australia in less than eight hours! I could really get used to flying in jets, the same trip in a small single engine plane would’ve taken over thirteen.
After checking in to the hotel and having dinner Marcio and I wandered over to one of the local watering holes for to observe the Sheilas in their native environment. Being a two young old, good looking Haggard looking, single married guys on the loose in Darwin you can only imagine what an epic night we had.