Our route

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Departing from my home airfield in Paraparaumu, I'll fly north to Kerikeri where I'll meet up with friends Dave, Don and Bill.

Our aircraft do not have the range to fly across the Tasman Sea in one go so we island hop from New Zealand to Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands before reaching the Australian mainland.

Arrangements have been made to clear Customs & Immigration at Kerikeri and when that's taken care of we'll be off on the 485nm (898km) leg to Norfolk Island.  That's expected to take approx. 3.5hrs.  The distance from Norfolk Island to Lord Howe Island is coincidentally the same.  We'll make landfall on the Australian Continent at Port Macquarie and at that point I expect to be very relieved to leave all that water behind.

Dave, Don and Bill have never flown in Australia and have trusted me to put a 8 day tour through New South Wales and Queensland to give them a taste of the outback.  I'm looking forward to introducing them to some of my favourite places and exploring some locations I've not visited.  We'll be joined in Port Macquarie by another pilot, Gary who will ride with Bill during the outback phase of our trip.

After leaving Port Macquarie we'll head straight into the outback with a brief stop at Narromine for fuel before our first overnight stop at Bindara Station.  Bindara is on the banks of the Darling River and is full of history and wildlife.  It's a great setting and it will be great to sit outside around the fire and swap stories with Barbara and her staff or other guests.

It's a short hop then to Broken Hill to fly over the scar that is an opencast mine just on the town boundary before landing for fuel.  While here we'll visit the Royal Flying Doctor Services museum and hopefully talk ourselves into one of the Doctor's aircraft for a look.

Enroute to Arkaroola we'll fly over Lake Frome with its calm waters and mesmerising colours.

Arkaroola is a geological sanctuary and boasts some of the oldest rocks in the world.  It's a dry dusty place but the tours they offer up onto the high northern Flinders Range peaks in 4WD vehicles and the stories they tell about the geological history are fascinating.

After having two nights in Arkaroola to explore the place it's off to the iconic town of Birdsville - home of the famous Birdsville Races.  Enroute we'll cross the featureless Stryzelecki Desert and call into the remote Nappa Merrie Station strip and walk to the famous Dig Tree.  The Dig Tree was where instructions and provisions were buried by one of the depot teams for outback explorers Burke & Wills in 1861. 

Birdsville is one of the most remote towns in the outback and people travel for days by road to get there.  It has a great atmosphere and you meet all sorts on interesting people in the Birsdville Pub.  Hopefully we'll get to go out to "Big Red" - a huge sand hill to watch the sunset across the desert.

Longreach is our next stop.  Husdon Fish started QANTAS in Longreach and there is a fascinating museum centred on the original QANTAS hangar that you can lose yourself in for an hour or two.  Just down the road is the Stockmans Hall of Fame which is equally interesting and which tells of the hardships of pioneer farming in the outback.  We'll have two nights in Longreach to give us plenty of time to explore the area.

We're off to Charleville next and hope to take in the Cosmos Centre & Observatory.  Away in the outback and far from city lights this open air observatory promises to offer a never to be forgotten journey of the night sky.

Our final stop before returning to Port Macquarie is Lightning Ridge.  The Lightning Ridge area is a world-renowned centre for the mining of black opals and other opal gemstones.  I've not been to Lightning Ridge before but if it's like the opal fields I've visited elsewhere in Australia it will look like Mars with holes and craters everywhere and plenty of characters scratching away for their next big mining break.

All good things must come to an end and it will then be back to Port Macquarie to prepare for the long flight home.

I've completed five trips in the outback of Australia and can't wait to get back there and introduce Dave, Don and Bill to flying experiences and distances we cannot comprehend in New Zealand.  Flying in the outback is like flying over an oil painting - full of texture and colour.  Bring it on!