April, 5th

Bathurst

During the night we already heard the rain coming down steady. We were prepared to spend yet another day in Narromine. Some very brave pilots left anyways. It was said that conditions were improving towards the South and West.

Our Bed & Breakfast hostess Val had pitty on us and let us borrow her car. We went for a little chatt at the airfield, said our goodbyes to some of the pilots and went off to one of the interesting cavern, about 80 kilometres away. We drove in the same direction our flight to Sydney was supposed to go to . We could watch the sky clearing up.

A phonecall to the next airfield reassured us: no rain there and the clouds were high enough so that we would be able to pass the mountains on our way! That was all the news we needed - we went right back, packed our stuff, returned the car, took the trikes out of the hangar and took off.

It was about time as the flight would take about two hours and we were only three hours away from sunset. Thanks to the sun already halfway down the zenith, the landscape below us stood out and every stone or bush formed a distinct shadow. The air was calm and we were able to steer directly towards our destination with slight tailwinds.

We were flying just underneath the bed of clouds above us. Bathurst is an airfield with both a concrete runway and a gravel one.The place is used mainly by gliders, who receive instructions here sponsored by the Airforce.

They allowed us to store our luggage in their quarters. We secured the trikes in front of a huge hangar and were driven to a motel nearby. That evening we started to 'balance the books' and calculated our time in the air and the kilometres we had put behind us.

It was a strange feeling that our adventure should be almost over. But we did have one more day ahead of us - hopefully one with good weather!