We are here! We have made it! We have flown from England to Australia. Jason and I have triumphed! And on Empire Day, of all days. We landed at 3.30pm, after 20 days of hard work and endeavour. Despite my fears it was, perhaps, the simplest of journeys across that long stretch of water. The […]
I fell into a deep sleep on those steps I wrote of yesterday. I was woken by a bearded white man, the pastor no doubt, who beckoned me inside the building, where he provided a more lavish meal lacking in the raw and bloody meat that one would expect to be served in the jungle […]
A terrifying landing of the kind I would never like to repeat and for quite some time I was in the company of the island’s tribesmen. Today was always going to be a test of my reserves, and an effort to journey 1,000 miles in the air to Atamboea, on the island of Timor in […]
Exhausted. Totally exhausted. I am so very tired and extremely discouraged because everything seems to be going wrong. I will be so glad when the sea crossing is over as I dread being in the air above that deep blue nothingness. When one gets so tired one also loses one’s courage. I am ashamed that […]
After yesterday’s trauma it was welcome relief to be guided to Surabaya by a pilot from the Dutch air mail service and for the responsibility of routes and navigation to be handed over to someone else as I flew behind his mighty Fokker. The day started with a journey to collect my luggage, which had […]
Short cuts are not always advisable, nor do they provide a shorter journey time. Thankfully, our guardian angels and God himself are by our side, ensuring that we stay safe. Today I was lost over the Java Sea, having chosen to cross it as I reached the island of Bangka. While the weather had looked […]
14 days in and I simply cannot wait to arrive in Australia in order to get a good night’s sleep. However, a late and somewhat sad reminder from father by way of cable that in order to beat Bert Hinkler’s record I must simply arrive at Darwin on Tuesday ahead of 6.50pm. “Don’t overdo yourself, […]
A false start at dawn this morning. The cowling on the engine flew open just minutes after we took to the air so we made an almost immediate return to the ground. I was fearful, as I have never attempted to land Jason with full fuel tanks before and did not intend to go sky […]
Such a day! We returned to the air, where we belong, my Jason and I. I will not keep it from you, diary, I have been left exhausted by today’s efforts and have a blinding headache. I will expand this story to explain why. I had misgivings about Jason’s repaired wing when I rejoined him […]
Jimmy Martin has cabled me to tell me of the interest of the papers. Word has spread and my flight is big news at home. Who would have thought that a girl born in a simple house down St George’s Road in Hull would ever be newsworthy? I am delighted that my big dreams have […]