Burketown to Cooktown

Burketown - Weipa, 12/5/97.

We left early again overflew Karumba and headed for Kowanyama. We got 40 litres of fuel there to get us through until Weipa. We didnt realise it at the time but topping with fuel done us more harm than good. We didnt really have to get the fuel but decided to for safety sake. Someone at Kowanyama had called customs who were at Weipa airport waiting for our arrival. The customs officer had Darren's name, the aircraft rego, where we had been and how much fuel we had purchased. They were polite and there were no major hassles, but it was just a pain in the rear to have to go through it. We played the mandatory game of twenty questions, they checked our ID and it was soon all over. They gave us a card with a contact number to advise our intentions further up north on our trip. We rang the number, advised them of what we were planning and we had no further contact with customs. What did we learn from all that, if your up this way ring customs and tell them what your doing there! While waiting for our taxi at the airport, which had two flat tyres, the local Police offered us a ride into town which we took after cancelling the taxi. The caravan parked owner jokes with us about getting out of the police car, but imagine what he thought when we told him about the customs welcoming committee.

Weipa - Cooktown, 13/5/97.

After Breakfast on the BBQ, we caught the real taxi to the airport. The plan for the day was to arrive in Cairns tonight, however as we took too much time with everything it was obvious we werent going to make it there. The flight to Horn Island was nice, great views. We had lunch on the island, refueled and departed as soon as we could so we wouldnt be stuck at Lockhart River. Around Horn Island the traffic was huge, as we departed there were coastwatch aircraft and Army Iroquois Helicopters everywhere in the area. It was a long trip, but we made it to Cooktown about 20 minutes before last light. As we were looking for a place to stay a local pilot put us onto the Hill Crest Guest House. They came out to the airport to pick us up and looked after us very well. Since it was only an hour to Cairns we decided not to refuel, we had just over 2 hours endurance anyway.