I’ve been to most parts of Australia, but never comprehensively toured the whole continent.  So I’ve planned a route that takes in all the State capitals, the north-east and north-west corners, and the ‘red heart’.  Anyone who’d like to follow along will see a whole lot of new cities and some pretty varied scenery, and hopefully enjoy some excellent flying weather - and should get some good screenshots as well.

First leg – Melbourne-Hobart – is on ‘Freeware Screenshots’, under ‘Round-Australia Tour..’.  

It’s quite a long trip – ten flights, and roughly 7,000 miles altogether.  But I’ve broken it down to into easy stages, legs in the range 700-1,200 miles or so, so any kind of aeroplane will do.  Though best to use a default or freeware one so we can all post screenshots on the ‘Freeware Screenshots’ forum.  

No point in making a race of it – too complicated, and anyway racing properly (i.e. taking time on the ground into account) would mean too much night-flying, and people wouldn’t see much!

No point in making it too difficult, either; obviously, the more people who join in the better, whatever their skill level.  So navigation methods, use of autopilot/GPS, weather, time compression etc. are up to you.  So is whether you taxi out and in each flight (my preference, it makes things more realistic) or not.  

I’ve also made sure that all the airports suggested have full nav-aids and ILS; with two exceptions – Moorabbin, Victoria (which is optional anyway) and Learmonth, Western Australia (the weather in the northern part of WA is generally so good, and the cities are so small, that as far as I know none of the airports there has ILS).

If anyone would like to join me, for all or part of the way, suggested route is as follows:-

Start/Finish:- Victoria - either YMMB Moorabbin or YMML Melbourne Int. – I chose Moorabbin because it is my home airport, but the longest runway is only 4,400 feet, so anyone using a big aircraft, or needing ILS to be sure of a safe landing, is welcome to use Tullamarine, as everyone still calls Melbourne Airport.  

Then:-

Tasmania – YMBH Hobart;
New South Wales - YSSY Kingsford-Smith Int. (Sydney);
Queensland – YBBH Brisbane Int., then YBCS Cairns Int.;
Northern Territory – YPDH Darwin Int.
Western Australia –YPLM Learmonth,then YPPH Perth Int.
Northern Territory – YBAS Alice Springs.
South Australia – YPAD Adelaide Int..
Victoria - (YMMB Moorabbin or YMML Melbourne Int.).

Hope to see you!