Route
Cairns to Noumea
I had some problems in Cairns. It is the monsoon season, and it really rains. I fueled the plane day prior to departure. There was a significant amount of water in the plane, and there was a very loud whine in the audio system, and the HF display had all the LED elements flickering. I wandered around the airfield on a Saturday, and found a pleasant and helpful hangar owner, who helped me pull the plane in out of the rain. I pulled the radios from the racks, dried everything I could reach, pulled up the carpets, and placed a fan in the door to dry it out. With my departure across the Pacific scheduled to begin the next day, I was just crushed. Unable to do any more, I went back to the hotel to file the flight plan, check weather, and be depressed. I also started calling ahead, begging hangar space in my next stops. One more check on the plane, worried about it sitting open overnight, didn’t help. The Cairns Port Authority said they would watch over it, so I had dinner (kangaroo, ostrich, crocodile, and lamb, trying to cheer up) and went to bed at 8 pm. I was awake at 1:30, worrying, and making some calls to the US to seek advice. I slept a little more, then awake at 4:30, to the airport. I put stuff back together, and find the audio whine gone, but the HF display still on the fritz. It is raining again, so staying won’t help. I need to get the plane out of the hangar, but it is upslope, and I am fueled and heavy. Pull as I might, nothing happens. I tie my rental car to the tow bar, and gently tow the plane past a couple of others, park the car back outside the gate and sprint back through before the automatic gate locks me out. I taxi over to customs for my departure clearance, and can’t find my passport, run around looking for it a while, customs drives me about, but I end up taxiing back to GA, about to look for the embassy number. Then I find the passport, cleverly hidden in my chart book. Back to customs across the field, take my briefcase out of the plane, into customs, and then through the security check with bag screening, to go back to my plane, same as Kenya, a procedure that makes no sense. If I didn’t want it found, I’d leave it in the plane with all my other property. They take my raft knife, then walk with me to the plane and give it back. The customs officers were very nice and patient with a guy who can’t hang on to his passport, and helpful also. They are just following the rules, which I understand.
Barrier Reef
