It was a typical Zimbabwe pre dawn, cool, no breeze but with the smell of Africa in the air. Pierre Jaunet drove Captain Bob Dyck, First Officer David Andrews, Hostess Vicki Hollings, and myself in his landrover V8 through the deserted streets of Harare (Salisbury) towards the International Airport where engineer Harry Holdcroft and John Howroyd, assistant engineer/Pilot, waited patiently for us to arrive.

 This morning was the culmination of almost ten months of work by the NZ Catalina Group; the start of the ferry flight of Z-Cat from Zimbabwe to Aotearoa. Contracts had been negotiated and signed, insurance arranged, aircraft prepared and crew trained and ready. A new HF radio had been fitted in the "Blister" compartment, together with power for the portable Garmin 55 and safety equipment - raft, jackets and beacon on the floor, a GPS aerial fitted inboard on the top of the port wing for the cockpit Garmin 100, a back up Garmin 95 fitted on the co-pilot's side, spare parts stowed away, fridges filled with food, and maps and charts on board. The HF radio and liferaft had been generously lent to us by Peter Pellew at Ardmore.

 We taxied quietly around to the front of the main terminal as the first light was showing to the east. Still cool as the airfield elevation is 4900 feet AMSL.

 Customs officials had to be woken up and a local reporter from the Harare Times interviewed Pierre as we waited for Immigration to set up shop and process our departure. Sad goodbyes to Pierre, a walk around and fuel drain, and Z-Cat was taxiing for a 05 departure and the Comoros Islands, just north of Madagascar. 0630 local time as Bob lined us up and opened the throttles on the two Pratt & Whitney 1830's, giving us 42" MP at this altitude, sky was blue and little haze as we passed the tower at 300 feet (runway is 15,500 feet long at Harare) and turned towards the eastern highlands and Mozambique.

 Climbing to 9000 feet we crossed the highlands over 7/8 cloud. Time to crank up the HF and talk to somebody now we were out of VHF range. Beira Radio were pleased to talk to us and take times and positions for a couple of hours. Then time to call Maroni Radio in the Comores who we thought would also be glad to talk but Oh No! What is our clearance number for Moroni? Pass - but we had applied for our clearance 11 days previously. Please check with Civil Aviation. Sorry, CAA advises that it was only received yesterday and you cannot land. Mumble, mumble - back to Beira Radio - could we land at Pemba (on the Mozambique Coast) refuel and continue direct to Seychelles? Negative - you only have over flight clearance for Mozambique. What the hell do we do now? Go to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania? Go back to Harare? What a start!!

 Beira must have read our thoughts and called back giving us permission to land at Nampula so down went the port wing and we turned back, 50 miles to Nampula. Mozambique has been in the grip of civil war for approximately ten years, and lucky for us the United Nations had a task force at Nampula which was there to assist with and monitor the elections in two weeks time.

 British, Canadian, Australian and Russian flight crew were based there and all enjoyed a guided tour of the Catalina. The UN guys escorted us to the town after clearing immigration (US $80 fee with no receipt) and arranging fuel with BP Garnet to top up to 650 gals/side. The once beautiful town, with centre island and gas lamps up the main avenue, was now almost derelict. Scattered vehicles at all angles with all wheels missing, pavements turned to pot holes and sand, houses minus walls, taller buildings in terrible repair, no hot water in the hotel and people nonchalant and staring. A beer and cold shower at the UN Hotel helped and dinner at the local tennis club included crocodile on the menu. Three of us slept on the Catalina for security and UN guys drove the rest of the crew out in the morning at 06:00 local for a 06:45 T/0 on 05 bound for the Seychelles.

HF radio on Beira then across to Moroni and finally we obtained clearance to fly overhead Moroni at FL 70. They certainly did not want us to land! A beautiful day leaving the African coast and over the Comoro's Islands with their white sand, deep blue water around numerous islands and reefs. Scattered Cu at 3000 feet but, as the day wore on, bands of CB's building up to 20,000 feet necessitating some change of headings to avoid flying through. Ten hours flight to the Seychelles but good to talk to an English voice as we came closer. Much of the HF chatter was in French with heavy accents especially from one gentleman on Antananarivo Radio in Madagascar who dominated the airwaves continuously with a high-pitched voice.

 A beautiful golden sunset over scattered Cu had turned to dark as we descended for approach into Seychelles International, landing at 19:00 local time and than taking until 22:30 to fill the tanks after the main refuelling pump broke down. Full tanks would give us a total flying time of 18 hours at normal cruise at FL 70. Oil was 52 gals per engine with a usage so far of under 1/2 gal/hour/engine.

 We would pull the filters on both engines the next morning before commencing our longest leg over water to Male in the Maldives. It rained that next morning which made the work difficult so our departure was delayed until 08:00 local, meaning approximately two hours of darkness on approach to Male but weather forecast was good with a slight tail wind expected.

 Our stay in the Reef Hotel that night was interesting, being greeted by a band and dancing at the foyer bar, finding that the restaurant had closed for the night but they had some sandwiches, and a tale from the Manager, how some years

previous he and a friend had found a Catalina in 40 metres of water in good condition but partly covered in silt.

 We picked up the tail wind as predicted and covered the 1210 NM trip in 10.5 hours and, at first, being refused landing in Male because we had only over flight clearance We convinced them that to continue our journey another three and a half hours to Colombo at night was not an option so they relented and brought us in, changing the approach three times to avoid overflying their main town of one and a half square kilometres in size.

Quick clearances by helpful officials, who took us to the water taxi and arranged accommodation, saw us over the lagoon to the main island. We were booked in and watered some three hours after touch down. A good meal, a fax to Ross Ewing informing him of our progress and in bed by 10:30 local. We could have a sleep in today because only a short hop of 420 NM to Colombo and we had enough fuel on board from the Seychelles because Male didn't have AVGAS.

 The Maldives consists of 1200 coral islands grouped into nine atolls with elevations only up to 2-5 metres.

 The International Airport occupies all of Hulele Island necessitating our boat taxi one mile across to Male. We had time to walk through the township after breakfast on our way to the water taxis. Very hot being only 4 degrees 30' north of the equator but local men all wore long pants and the women in saris. Very narrow streets, white plaster exteriors and lots of mopeds and push bikes. Extraordinary green gardens as we approached the palace and golden roofed mosque by the waterfront esplanade.

 Water taxiing back to the airport we passed a small island which was the local Club Med. Every resort occupies its own coral island and alcohol is permitted except for the Male township.

 Clear blue waters and white sand made this place the most picturesque of all our ports of call and certainly the one we would have enjoyed staying a few extra days!

 Our 3.3-hour trip to Colombo ended in a short turbulent descent through cloud and rain and Comm 1 failed as well as the transponder - caused through water leaking through the windscreens. Dave was to reseal these in Colombo and tape some of the hatches over to avoid a repeat.

 Bob Dyck noted dryly that all Catalinas leaked in the cabin area from brand new.

 Colombo saw us parked in front of the International Terminal with 747's, Airbus, etc and created a large amount of interest. Vicki had to leave us at this port after looking after us in the food department and was sadly missed. She flew Singapore Airlines and her flight was delayed 20 minutes because the 747 Captain was admiring the cockpit of the Catalina!

"They won't leave without me" he assured us.

 We required a large uplift of fuel for our leg to Medan and our Sri Lankan fuel man of devious character informed us AVGAS was $US 1,50/litre - an extravagant price and, no, they would not accept Carnet cards. We required 27x210 litre drums and it had to come 40 km so we waited until 9:00 pm local to receive only 20 drums that had to be hand pumped up into the tanks. The afternoon build up of CB's had now brought torrential rain, thunder and lightening and John bravely stayed up on the wing while Harry and I assisted and cajoled the locals into pumping faster. We sent Dave and Bob to a hotel to get some rest while we refuelled and finally finished at midnight very wet and tired. Up at 4:00pm but with seven drums of fuel short Medan was too far so a clearance to

Port Blair was attempted but without luck because it was a naval base and they required a couple of weeks notice.

 Wait for more fuel was the only choice, so small jobs were done including recovering the use of No 1 Comm Box which we dried out but the transponder had shorted out the main power supply and was u/s.

 "Three hours Boss" they told us as we waited throughout the morning for the fuel! It reminded us of a saying they have in Africa, when asked how long? The reply is "Coming Just Now Sir"! Just Now can mean anything from 30 seconds to three hours!! We gave up at midday and went back to the Airport Garden Hotel and had a slap up smorgasbord lunch (which gave two of us cramps and diarrhoea).

 Back to airport and waited until 7:00 pm for the seven drums, of course it was now raining with thunder and lightning again and we had to pump the fuel ourselves. Surprisingly, very little water was in the tanks when we fuel drained the next morning and Bob yawed left and right on the taxi out then Harry redrained the sumps and filters before take off.

 Much cloud over Colombo as we climbed to 8000' and set heading east over the high mountainous area of Sri Lanka. Picked up a good tail wind over the land (130 knot g/s) but as we left the coast the predicted 10-knot headwind appeared

and made the flight to Medan - our longest leg in a time of 11 hour 15 minutes for approx 1160 NM (Average g/s 102 knots) flying down the straits of Malacca brought us over numerous oil rigs and large vessels of one of the world's major sea lanes. A landing on 05 at Medan one hour after dark was fortunate because we couldn't locate our landing plates for 23 in the Jeppesen ferry kit. This was the only time we could not locate the charts we wanted. All other essentials were supplied to us by Jeppesen in California in a very professional manner.

 A couple of old British Airways AERAD supplements for Africa and the Middle East were also of great value, more especially for quick location of ICAO location indicators for the GPS and radio frequency both HE and VHF.

 One of the Air Traffic Controllers at Medan (he looked after the busy Medan Singapore sector) took us under his wing, and for a generous tip, arranged refuelling immediately at US$0.60/litre, drove us to a hotel, picked us up in the morning and had accounts for landing/parking ready as well as weather and flight plan lodgement. A great help and appreciated by all.

 The short flight of 3.4 hours to Seletar in Singapore was uneventful and not a problem to ground control without a transponder! The only major effect of no transponder was refusal to overfly Auckland controlled airspace IFR! Hot and humid at Seletar and the afternoon spent on a 50 hour check and refuelling finally to arrive at Hotel Imperial at 7:30 pm to a cold beer, hot shower and good meal served by a delightfully made up (female?) male waiter.

 Taxi at 6:00 am and a slow climb under radar 15 NM over Malaysia before our allowed turn at 3000 feet. Back over Changi at 5000 feet and climb to FL 075 over Tahjung Pihang before setting heading direct to Den Passar in Bali at total 7.7 hours for 900 NM (Av 117 knots). Blue skies and small amount of Cu as we flew past the large bush clad volcanic islands of Java with well-cultivated flat lowlands and plenty of local small boat activity. After refuelling we found a small hotel close to the airport with independent chalets, outdoor restaurant and a large pool with a bar in the middle that closed as we swam out to it. Just as well perhaps as we still had a 950 NM run to Darwin the next day. Cashed US$100 here and received some 200,000 Indonesian rupiahs but it cost 7000 rupiahs to send a fax plus toll call. It is all relative I suppose.

The sun was shining as we prepared for take off at Den Passar on October 21st 1994, not knowing what day of the week it was since leaving Zimbabwe. Long flights, refueling and short nights all tended to blend into one by the ninth day of our ferry but we were all keen to get to Darwin, relax and order something in English and be understood for a change.

 We had forgotten about the Aussie barmaid accents, which are almost as difficult to understand as their Indonesian counterparts! We were also looking forward to meeting the guys at Paspaley Pearling Co who run Mallard flying boats out to the pearling rigs and had said they would look after us and shout a few beers. They had also arranged for someone to look at our transponder but we didn't get in and cleared through Customs until 7:00pm so it was too late. Paspaley run two Mallards ex Canada; one with conventional radials, the other fitted with PT6 turbines. The repowered one was very tail heavy making it difficult to handle on water so they were considering placing the batteries in the forward compartment to compensate for the lighter turbines. They had made a magnificent job of refurbishing the Mallards and also had one stripped in the hangar ready for restoration. They looked after us well and organised accommodation, fuel and three difficult to find 20 litre drums of W-120 oil. We were using approximately 3/4 gal oil per hour in both engines and this would give us enough to complete our ferry to New Zealand.

 06:30 hours saw us at Darwin Airport the next morning but the fuel guy was one hour late, which gave time to flight plan and collect the weather. Struck a head wind out of Darwin and g/s was down to 85 knots plus thermals were starting over the hot dark red brown rock that makes up so much of North Australia.

Over the Gulf of Carpentaria was smooth flying but picked up some good thermals over land west of Cairns. At one stage the ASI read 130 knots and VSI +1000ft/min. Now strata Cu had built up over the bush clad escarpment west of Cairns but ducking between cloud and a dip in the skyline we burst out into sunlight and the fertile coastal plains about Cairns.

 Formalities were not a problem here but the locals were very security conscious as they had a bomb scare a few days previous. We found a nice motel from the picture display in the airport foyer and a nice restaurant by walking down towards the waterfront. Harry gave the waitress some stick and asked for a Castle beer. Clever girl, she said, "You must be from South Africa." It came about that Harry had an apartment in Durban not far from this girl's mother so he agreed to call and see her and pass on her daughter's love.

Small world!!!

 Day off in Cairns so up early with washing machines trying to freshen up our soiled flight suits and clothes. We hired a rental car to get around and headed for the airfield to move Z-Cat across to the GA side. No start on port engine, which had given a bit of starter problem in Darwin, so up went Harry and John to replace the starter in just under two hours.

 More supplies, 25-hour check completed, toilet emptied and we were all ready for a beer and chat in the North Queensland Flying Club. We nearly had to leave Harry there with a heart condition after he spotted the young-barmaid in T-Shirt and tight shorts. He was only mildly palpitating until she decided to play pool on the low table with some of the locals! Had dinner at the Cock and Bull with an old helicopter jockey from Zimbabwe that Harry had run into during the day and Bob and John searched out a few local relics at the all night market.

Take off was 0:00 local behind a cutlass that was to take some air-to-air shots as we departed for Brisbane. Bob completed a perfect 360 at 30-degree angle of bank for the cameras and we set course for Brisbane. The lack of transponder forced us to descent to 4000 feet in cloud and rain for three hours until we came out just north of Surfer's Paradise, An agent from Adagold, Richard Modistach, had been informed of our arrival in Brisbane and offered his full services for a moderate fee.

 This was well worthwhile as he saved us extensive time with his security clearances and drove us to and from our motel. In the morning we had a quick look at the Fokker Trimotor "Southern Cross" preserved under cover in a viewing module near Brisbane International and set off in good weather for Norfolk Island. HF in use again, but was it hard to convince Sydney to not call us Zulu Kilo - Charlie Alpha Tango. They obviously don't have many Zimbabwe-registered aircraft flying the Tasman!

 A 7.3 hour flight to Norfolk Island over 5-6 eighths cloud at 7000 feet and joined overhead for Rwy 11. A circuit took us right around the island and allowed Bob to set up nicely for a 15-20 crosswind landing which he greased on and impressed the natives considerably. Norfolk knew we were coming in as we had contacted "Pinky" the night before and given him an ETA that we missed by only two minutes! Pinky was the local Airport Manager and, while being an uncontrolled airfield, he would advise on VHF any traffic in the vicinity plus give an update on local weather.

We were met and escorted by local Catalina member Neil Tavener and his friend Neville Christian, Minister for the Environment. They certainly showed us the local environment and we ended up sampling the local seafood at the Seafood World Restaurant.

A 06:30 wake up and a 07:30 local take off saw Norfolk Island fading away to the north; really the best warm welcome we had to date on our ferry flight. A smooth five-hour flight saw Cape Reinga appear over the nose and the realisation why New Zealand is called "Land of the Long White Cloud". What a great sight, home again after four weeks away for myself, and first sight of New Zealand for the rest of our crew except David Andrews who had previously visited New Zealand.

 A greater sight however was the Harvards and Devon formating with us over Whangaparoa to accompany us up the Waitemata Harbour, overflying Whenuapai, the City, and Auckland Tower and escorting us down to New Plymouth and a 400 strong reception of public and ardent Catalina supporters. The Customs clearance and immigration went smoothly thanks to assistance by McCathie Customs and Alan Tonkin of Skycare, A great finale to a perfect ferry flight that went through 12 countries in 14 days and recorded 90 hours of trouble free flying in our 50 year old Catalina PBY-5A.