The route flown was Lilydale to Mildura (for Christmas cake delivery and fuel) then overhead Whyalla to Ceduna for more fuel then to Nullarbor Hotel for the night. All refuelling was using card swipe bowsers at Mildura and Ceduna and food is available at Ceduna from a roadhouse about 20 minutes walk from the airfield. A taxi service is also available in Ceduna (about $5 each way from the airfield to town).

Nullarbor Hotel is a roadhouse on the plain, located at the head of the bight. It has multiple runways bulldozed from the surrounding scrub, and some care should be taken to avoid landing on a runway which is growing back. I believe that one of the runways has been sealed recently. Expect some strange looks from campers as you taxi the aircraft up behind the motel accommodation! Accommodation was in a single room with 2 singles and a double, and was about $90 in total.

Tracking along the Nullarbor Cliffs

The next day saw an early morning flight along the Nullarbor cliffs to Eucla, then to Forrest for more fuel.

A pre-flight briefing was obtained from DECtalk and flight plan submitted by calling flight service on the single payphone at Nullarbor Hotel. After a careful pre-flight inspection and run-up on the move to avoid stone damage to the prop we were off and cruising at 1,500ft tracking coastal. After an hour and a half, up came Eucla. A few low level circuits gave us some unique views of the historic Telegraph Station. There is an airstrip near the station and its possible to land and walk to view the ruins. This was the intention on the return leg, but approaching bad weather made us skip this.

Unloading the plane at the Nullarbor Hotel

Joining crosswind for Runway 36 at Forrest

From Eucla we tracked inland to Forrest, which is a very small settlement and very large airfield on the Trans-Australia rail line. Both runways are sealed and are over 1800 metres long. Fuel is available at Forrest, but its good to check before you arrive, as the fuel truck can take a number of days to make the overland journey to replenish stocks if they run dry.

After refuelling and performing some pre-flight maintenance on a Tobago that would not start we were off to Kalgoorlie. This leg was very warm and sunny, so we cruised as high as possible to keep out of rough air. Approaching Kalgoorlie, we were being bumped around in thermal turbulence at 8,500 ft, and after landing it was a balmy 35 degrees.

From Kalgoorlie we tracked overhead Perth International (seeing rows of parked Ansett aircraft) to Jandakot, via Canning Bridge. Jandakot is an amazingly busy airfield, it seems to rival Avalon East during the air show. Planes are everywhere!

After sightseeing around Perth and the surrounding for a week and a half, we flew to Esperance via Albany, seeing many whales in the ocean shallows. Esperance is a magical place of white sandy beaches and island dotted turquoise waters. To get around Esperance we hired a car, which was available at the airport with some prior notice (we called with our ETA before departure)

Vital ingredients for a successful trip. Jeppesen Charts. Flight plan. GPS. Sandwich

We spent two days in Esperance, then travelled to Forrest. While waiting to depart we saw one of the first Skywest Fokker 50's flying back to Perth since the collapse of the Ansett group. It had been a quiet few weeks at Esperance airport.

The possibility of threatening weather kept us from stopping at Eucla, so we tracked direct to Forrest via Caiguna. After refuelling at Forrest on the way over we had to stay the night there on the return leg. We arrived in the middle of the afternoon and had a wonderful barbecue dinner before retiring to our house for the night. Accommodation is $50 per person, with dinner and breakfast and free use of the fax machine for briefing purposes. We even had The Thunderbirds on cable TV to watch while performing pre-flight planning. Perfect!

The morning leaving Forrest was wet. Very wet! They assured me it never rains at Forrest. Wherever I fly it rains. After loading the Bonanza in the hangar and pre-flighting under cover, we quickly dragged it into the rain and departed. Conditions were wet and visibility limited for 45 minutes until we emerged from the front, to high ceilings and clear weather. Forty five minutes of bad weather in 27 hours flying. I can live with that...

From Forrest we tracked direct to Ceduna and then to Whyalla for fuel. Whyalla also has a card swipe bowser, which makes fuelling a hassle free event. From Whyalla we tracked overhead Adelaide to Portland for our last overnight with friends. From Portland we had a quick 90 minute leg back to Lilydale and the end of a wonderful trip across Australia.

Additional photos of this trip can be found on Jim Crumpler's web page and Bevan Anderson's web page. Thanks to Jim Crumpler and Priscilla Williams for use of some of their photos. Contact Bevan Anderson if you want further details on the trip.