Jun 28, 20222 min read

Australia

After taking off from Koepang the flight crossed the Timor Sea, fighting against strong headwinds, in three hours and twenty nine minutes. "We flew over fleecy clouds at a height of 7,000 feet, and possibly this was one reason why we saw no sharks, concerning which everyone had warned us about."

As the Electra approached Port Darwin the water was a vivid green; back in Koepang there were jagged mountains, in Darwin there were "endless trees on an endless plain." After touching down in Australia, the aircraft had barely rolled to a stop before "we were pounced upon by a doctor," who thoroughly examined the fliers for any sort of tropical disease. While in Darwin the Electra was cleared by officials as an ocean-going vessel; the only things in the plane, according to Earhart, were spare parts, fuel, and oil. "At Darwin, by the way, we left eh parachutes we had carried that far, to be shipped home. A parachute would not help over the Pacific."

In a newspaper interview Amelia told reporters that "it's been a very interesting flight. But for a slight mechanical trouble, which was remedied at Bandoeng, Java, we have experienced no hold-ups. We've been sitting down waiting for Australia to turn up and we'll push on to Lae, New Guinea, tomorrow morning. I'm not taking any risks but am flying as fast as possible. From Lae to Howland Island will be the worst section of the flight, but with Freddy Noonan navigating I'm confident we'll make it." (The Central New Jersey Home News, Monday, June 28, 1937)