March, 15th

Penong

A pilots-dream came true today. Gisela landed in Nullabor, taxied to the gas station and had our fuel-tanks filled right there and then. No one at home is going to believe this! But I am jumping ahead again...

Our alarm went off at 5:30 AM this morning and outside we had a drizzle just like what we are used to at home - the typical Northern German Weather. While I was getting prepared to spend another night in Border Village, Gisela was more optimistic. We made use of our spare time by writing the first postcards untill they skies started to clear up. Take-off went very smooth and we continued along the Eyre-Highway heading East. At 5.000 feet we had 110 Kilometres per hour over ground. The bad side was that we were freezing up there and on top of that it even started to rain again.We had obviously met up with the bad weather front.

Two hours later we landed in Nullabor, which is a stop for truckers and campers in this solitude. And finally we had the chance to "drive up to the gas station" a picture I just had to capture on film and video. We let the bad weather front pass, obtained landing-permission for Yalata, our next destination, and asked for assistance with re-fueling upon our arrival. When we landed on the first asphalt paved runway for the past 2.000 kilometres the friendly gas attendant was already awaiting us. We spent just 15 minutes there and when back on our way we didn't have to go to high altitude to come across favorable winds.

Slowly the landscape beneath us started to change. The last time we saw fields and meadows like this had been three days ago. More than an hour later we landed in Penong. This airfield with its four proper runways is situated right next to a small village. After parking and securing the trikes for the night we went on a little walk to the only hotel in town. Actually, Penong consits only of this hotel, a gas station with a very good diner, a church, a sports complex, a huge granary and a handful of houses. We virtually had the hotel and the hotelbar for ourselves.