Darwin to Cairns Route. Only 906 miles. Some water.

Darwin to Cairns

Klaus and Ursula took me to dinner, after which we went to their house and checked the weather, and faxed the flight plan. I went home after a very nice evening, and slept well. I woke up at the alarm, went by customs to get an internal Gen Dec at their request, then met Klaus and Ursula, who drove me to the plane. I had fueled the day before, and was ready to go.

West shore of Gulf of Carpenteria

I took off on my on course heading, climbing to 115. The airplane was quite light, and it was nice to fly. Not much stormscope activity, but lots of cloud layers, occasional towering storm, and rain. About 1.5 hours IMC, out of 5:50. I crossed the Gulf of Carpenteria, then over interesting terrain, and on until the east coast was visible, Cairns hidden under clouds. I asked for vector to the ILS 15, which parallels the coast to an easy landing.

Rainshower

I had called ahead to get some minor maintenance done, and I was able to taxi directly to the GAM hangar, and nose in. We had the plane uncowled and they fixed a loose p-lead within five minutes of my landing. The shop gave me a ride to the hotel with my bags, it was a most pleasant arrival. The Australians have been great all around, I seriously wish I could stay here and tour a while. I will come back, though. First trip since Puerto Rico without a customs stop, a relief.

Vectors to final for the ILS 15 at Cairns