"17:35.0S 123.49.6E"

Bali WADD to Broome, WA YBRM



Today, we started early that day to get to Broome in daylight. The weather forecast
was rather good for our route, except for the strong headwind of 15 to 20 Knots we
had to expect on the way across all that water.

The previous day, we arranged for two 44 Gallon Drums and fuelled up at US$3.- a liter-.
This was the the most expensive fuel so far.
 

Refueling at Bali

Finally we got our start up clearance at 10 o clock, good work we thought-, but no
sooner that we taxied and arrived at the holding point, we were requested to return
to our parking bay Nr. 32.

After a nervous wait there, two air force officers appeared and wanted to see our
military clearances. Those permits and numbers had already been given to the flight
office, but apparently they do not communicate together. After about 30 minutes
of checking we were then finally cleared to depart.

The flight to Broome was again non eventful, except the strong headwind, which
added 38 minutes to our calculated time to our destination today.

Before descending into Broome, we sprayed the carbine as directed with
Insecticide, which we received previously at Christmas Island.

Landfall at Broome in Western Australia

After our landing, our first contact with the Australian Mainland, on a beautiful
afternoon, we were greeted by representatives from Immigrations and Customs.

Formalities were completed with a minimum of fuss and we booked into the
Moonlight Motel, as our preferred Hotel the Mangroves was fully booked during
this High Holiday season.

As we settled into our unit, we contacted John Mc Knight to arrange for a
replacement Artificial Horizon, as this vital Instrument was unserviceable since we
left Singapore.

John the kindly agreed to send one of his own units to Alice Springs to Tony
Burns Aircraft Engineering at the field.

At this point, changed our plans and decided not to carry on to Perth and
Tasmania, due to unfavorable bad weather there. Fights VMC conditions were
the only way for us to continue.

We arranged to continue on to Alice Springs, to have the replacement AH fitted
and continue on to Ayers Rock, Coober Pedy and Adelaide, ready to meet
ICS people at DLQ on the 19.th of July.

This meant, that we had now an extra day to spend, and we hired a 4 Wheel drive
car to drive down to Willy’s Pearl Farm the next day.



Sunset at Cable Beach Broome

That evening we witnessed a tremendous Sun set at Cable beach, we had a great
meal at “Matsos”, the pub next  door to our Motel, special Brews and great Curry.