The flight from Townsville to Darwin is actually free of problems. The clouds at different levels clear up fast and best aviation weather accompanies us. Merely once more the wind turns out to be our opponent. Differently than on the flights before, the data of the wind maps which are provided globally by the weather institutes in London and Washington clearly deviate from reality. It is a real exception to the rule of good forecast data. At different flight altitudes we try to find the best ratio between true airplane speed (TAS) of the aircraft and the smallest headwind component. At flight level 160 our optimum seems to be reached. However, this initially results in ground speeds of 120 KT only at 172KT TAS. By the end of the trip our ground speed improves to 155 KT – however, all together about 1 hour of additional flying time accumulates compared to the planning. Well for the nerves if the tanks contain enough reserve fuel.

As under water only few impressions with the camera can be caught from the air in such a way as we see them in reality. However, the absolute “now where” sometimes presents itself from the bird's-eye view like a beautiful painting.

With Darwin we have already reached our last stop in Australia, a continent on which the nature is deemed to be of real big value.
Saltwater crocodiles in any case deserve the biggest respect. On a trip on the Adelaide River we have the rare opportunity to observe a district fight of two male animals. To demonstrate the strength of these reptiles, some are fed from the boat: still invisibly under the water surface at the next moment they catapult their whole body vertically from the water to catch a piece of meat. Now and again the sea eagle is a little quicker. He should well pay attention, as birds stand on the menu of the always crusty fellows.

In the Litchfield national park we meet the tiny small termites. Their constructions are real skyscrapers. Not only architectural masterly achievements but also climate-technically on the last state.

With the last look at the great nature we want to say goodbye to Australia on Sunday. The approx. 11,000 km small detour on our round the world tour has been worthwhile every moment.
Now, however, the resignation lasts longer, than planned. The ITCZ (Intercontinental convergence zone) violently lets off steam on our further planned route between Timor and Borneo with wide areas of thunderstorms which reach altitudes of up to 13 km / 45000ft. A passing of this zone on the planned next 6.5-hour flight is currently impossible. Since our start two months ago this is only the second delay on our schedule. So far we can compensate for the extra days in Darwin with time buffers we planned for bad weather situations like this.