SAT 14 MAY - MOUNT HAGEN - PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Big Bob arrived in Mount Hagen from the USA on the Saturday afternoon. P2-BOB had just come out from a service and was ready to take them around the South Pacific.

SUN 15 MAY - MOUNT HAGEN - PAPUA NEW GUINEA
The morning was spent fitting the extended range fuel tank and generally getting P2-BOB ready for the departure the next day. The aircraft was also fitted with a "Spider track" so that our position would be updated and viewable on the internet every two minutes. This system operates through the Iridium communciation Satellite system.

MON 16 MAY - MOUNT HAGEN (AYMH)PNG- HONIARA (AGGH) - SOLOMON ISLANDS
We were up early for a 7.30 hrs departure from Mount Hagen.

Todays flight was 979 Nautical Miles and was 6 hours and 4 minutes flight time. This is our longest planned single flight sector. We tracked from Mount Hagen to overhead Nadzab and then direct to Gizo and onto Honiara.

Spaniard Don Alvaro de Mendana y Neyra left Peru with teo ships in November 1567. On 7 February 1568 he saw and named Santa Isabel Island and settled there. On 11 August, after six months of conflict, the voyagers set sail for Peru.

Mendana returned almost 30 years later in 1595 with four ships and 450 would be colonists. He came upon and named Santa Cruz, and established a settlement before dying there of malaria. After two months the settlement was abondoned and the survivirs limped back to Peru.

One of the leading hotels in Honiara "The Mendana" still bears his name.

We stayed in the King Solomon Hotel in Honiara.

TUE 17 MAY - HONIARA (AGGH) - SOLOMON ISLANDS - NAURU (ANYN)
Todays flight was 672 Nautical Miles and was 4 hours and 15 minutes flight time.

Nauru is a small Island just 33 miles south of the equator and it is a country that still operates on a cash system. There are no credit card facilities, no ATM's, no banks and the currency is the Australian Dollar and one has to pay cash for everything. The currency in circulation are of course very well worn Australian Dollars so we left a few new ones there for them to recirculate. Nauru receives a flight from Brisbane each week that goes onto Tarawa and Fiji and another one that comes from Fiji and Tarawa and goes back to Brisbane.

The main road that goes past the airport also crosses the apron of the airport (every flight must be an International Flight) and this road is closed whenever an aircraft is on the ground for security reasons. The road is therfore closed for about an hour twice a week when an aircraft is on he ground. As we overnighted in Nauru the main road was closed for almost a day (the duration of our visit) as our aircraft was parked on the apron that the road crosses.

Mining still goes on in Nauru not only for phosphate but also limestone. These very unusual limestone/coral formation are mined.

WED 18 MAY - NAURU (ANYN)- TARAWA (NGTA) - KIRABATI
Todays flight was 391 Nautical Miles and was 2 hours and 30 minutes flight time.

Kiribati extends from Tarawa to Christmas Island, just south of Hawaii and is all on the same day and time zone.

Tarawa is an atoll in the Central Pacific Ocean, located just north of the equator and was the previous capital of the former British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. It is the location of the capital of the Republic of Kiribati, South Tarawa. The island is best known by outsiders as the site of the Battle of Tarawa during World War II.

During World War II, Tarawa was occupied by the Japanese, and beginning on November 20, 1943 it was the scene of the bloody Battle of Tarawa. On that day United States Marines landed on Tarawa and suffered heavy losses from Japanese soldiers occupying entrenched positions on the atoll. The Marines secured the island after 76 hours of intense fighting with around 6,000 dead in total from both sides.

We had to put on 12 hours of fuel at Tarawa as the next place where we can get Avgas at is Pago Pago in American Samoa, about three days away.

THU 19 MAY - TARAWA (NGTA) - KIRABATI - FUNAFUTI (NGFU)- TUVALU
Todays flight was 694 Nautical Miles and was 4 hours and 45 minutes flight time.

Where the bloody hell is Tuvalu?”

Tuvalu is one of the smallest and most remote countries on the globe. The country has a total population of 12,000 people who live on 5 atolls and 4 islands spreading over 800 km. of Pacific Ocean beginning 5 degrees south of the equator. Timeless Tuvalu is also one of the lowest lying nations; the highest land is just 5 meters above the sea level. Global warming and hence rising sea levels threaten its’ existence.

Funafuti Atoll is the capital. Watching the rare airplane take-off or land is one of the highlights of the residents. We had to circle overhead while they cleared the runway and over 100 people were out waving as we touched down.

Within an hour a volley ball game was going on in the middle of the runway and a soccer game at the other end. People greet each other by raising their eyebrows. The Australian dollar is the currency.

FRI 20 MAY - FUNAFUTI (NGFU)- TUVALU - HIHOFO (NLWW) - WALLIS & FUTUNA
Todays flight was 391 Nautical Miles and was 2 hours and 25 minutes flight time.

Wallis & Futuna have no taxis, no hire cars, few places to stay and no tourists. French is the main language so it was not easy for us to arrange for things to do. The same manager was at the hotel where I stayed when I was here four years ago and the same person was in the control tower. However all the French expatriates seemed to have changed and the Gendamme who met us had only been there from France for three weeks. He complained about the heat.

As we could not get a hire car we did not get out to see much in the afternoon that we were there.

However there was a colourful cemetry not far from where we were staying.

SAT 21 MAY - HIHOFO (NLWW) - WALLIS & FUTUNA - PAGO PAGO (NSTU) AMERICAN SAMOA
Todays flight was 327 Nautical Miles and was 2 hours and 5 minutes flight time. It was our shortest fligh to date and during this flight we crossed the international dateline so we started on a Saturday and two hours later we finished on a Friday.

We also flew out to Tau, Ofu & Olosega Islands in the afternoon. They were about 30 minutes flight away and Ofu & Olosega were most spectacular.

SAT 21 MAY - PAGO PAGO (NSTU) AMERICAN SAMOA
This is now our second Saturday. We thought that we would hang around for two Saturdays to give someone plenty of time to take us to heaven if in fact the world was going to end today. From the time we started with Saturday 21st in Wallis until we finished it in Pago Pago after crossing the dateline it was a total elapsed time of 47 hours.

We spent the day driving around the main Island of Tutulia in American Samoa and stayed two nights in the Jose Ferrer room at the Sadie Thompson Inn.

The Samoan people were very friendly and the Island is mountainous and spectacular.

SUN 22 MAY - PAGO PAGO (NSTU) AMERICAN SAMOA - RAROTONGA (NCRG) COOK ISLANDS
Todays flight was 746 Nautical Miles and was 4 hours and 20 minutes flight time. It was the first flight that we had tail winds as all our previous flights since leaving Mount Hagen were slowed down by head winds.

Refuelling in Rarotonga was done out of drums as was the case in most refuelling stops on out trip.

Upon arrival in Rarotonga we hired a car and drove to the other side of the Island and stayed at the Little Polynesian.

The Little Polynesian was a lovely little place to stay with only 14 rooms. The food was great and the owner Dorise Reed looked after us well.

MON 23 MAY - RAROTONGA (NCRG) COOK ISLANDS - TAHITI (NTAA)
Todays flight was 619 Nautical Miles and was 3 hours and 52 minutes.

Upon arrival at Tahiti we parked P2-BOB at the aeroclub, hired a car and stayed at the Tahiti Nui Hotel in the centre of Papeete.

TAHITI AND HER ISLANDS(22nd MAY TO 1st JUNE 2011)

TAHITI TO PNG (1st JUNE TO 16th JUNE 2011)

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