Journal-10

Darwin, Australia

Wednesday, 27 June 2007

We left Jakarta at sunrise.

This was the last leg of our flight through Monsoon season. There was a forecast for rain for the first two hours of our flight, but the cloud bases were low. We climbed to flight level 110 and stayed above the rain.

We left Jakarta at sunrise, for a direct flight to Darwin, Australia , bypassing Kupang . It was a1460 miles of flight with 14 k of headwind, but we had plenty of fuel. We landed in Darwin International at sunset. We now have the Monsoon season completely behind us.

We had to spray inside of our aircraft with “Top of Descent” (insect spray), while seating inside the air craft, before Quarantine Officer allow us to get out.

It is now winter in Australia , but at 21 degrees (75 F) it feels like summer for us. We are staying in Darwin for one day to rest and visit Litchfield National park .

Due to shortage of fuel in Indonesia and China, in addition to not being able to get landing permit form China, we made a decision to re-route our flight for crossing the Pacific Ocean . We will be crossing the Pacific from Townsville Australia through Guam and direct to Japan and continue to Alaska .

Crossing Australia to Townsville

Friday, 29 June 2007
We departed Darwin for Townsville, Australia, and plan our flight over KAKADU Park. It is much colder in Townsville with the low temperature of 14-16 degree at night time. Townsville is a very lively city and a party town.

Great Barrier Reef Sunday, 01 July 2007
I decided to take a day off from flying and literally go down under in Australia . The Great Barrier Reef at the eastern shore of Australia is every SCUBA diver’s dream. I reserved a seat on the 8:30 am boat to Kelso Reef to take my first dive at the Great Barrier Reef . I meet Glenn from Sydney and Cedric from Switzerland . We spend the day diving together.

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