PART THREE: SINGAPORE to SYDNEY

The schedule between Singapore and Djakarta (ex-Batavia in 1969) is a delight to contemplate. At various times and days of the week it is served by the following airline and aircraft combinations:

Air India: 707
CSA Czechoslovakian Airlines: IL-62
Garuda Indonesian Airlines: DC-8 * 990 * Electra
Japan Air Lines: DC-8-61
Malaysia-Singapore Airlines: 707 * 737
Qantas: 707
Thai International: Caravelle * DC-9-41

As tempting as it is to stick around for the Friday departures of either the 990 or the Electra, there is a time element to this journey that requires continuing on to Sydney just as the Australia-bound passengers of old did. So it is that on Thursday you plan to fly on to Djakarta aboard the first flight of the day - Garuda’s 1330 DC-8 departure.

But wait! The last flight of the day from Djakarta to Surabaya (ex-Sourabaya in 1939) departs at 1250, forty minutes before you even leave Singapore! Once you get to Surabaya, you won’t be able to continue on to Kupang (ex-Koepang in 1939) until Monday morning. Worse yet, in 1969 at least there is absolutely no way to get from Kupang to Darwin without going all the way back to at least Denpasar. Alright then, so what if we just go straight to Surabaya and skip Kupang? Alas, there are no nonstop or direct flights from Surabaya to Darwin and the only available connection – via Denpasar – would entail a two day layover until Monday morning.

Hmm…

How about we just go from Singapore to Djakarta to Denpasar to Darwin and onwards? Once again, the Thursday departure out of Singapore is going to leave you with an overnight layover in Djakarta since the first scheduled flight to DPS that connects with your inbound from SIN won’t depart until Friday at 1300. And even then you’re still going to have to layover in Denpasar until Monday morning before there’s a flight over to Darwin.

Sigh…

Alright then, since you’re going to have to layover somewhere enroute and you’ll still get to Darwin at the same time on Monday regardless of where those layovers will be – here’s the plan:

You’ll contact the Raffles and see if they can put you up for another night. On Friday morning you’ll depart Singapore aboard Garuda’s all-economy class 990 down to Djakarta (Yes!!!), connecting to the early afternoon flight over to Surabaya. You’ll spend the weekend there. On Monday morning you’ll catch the early morning DC-3 departure over to Bali and then continue aboard yet another 990 down to Darwin. As an added bonus, the 990 flight between Denpasar and Darwin offers a First Class cabin. A seat up there will cost just £30.00 more. Yes, please!



Garuda's Convair 990
Prior to the introduction of the Concorde SST,
the 990 was the world's fastest jetliner

As an aside, the original 1939 schedule called for a 0530 departure out of Sourabaya, stopping briefly in Koepang before arriving in Darwin at 1810. Your 1969 schedule departs Surabaya at 0600, has a one hour and fifty minute connection in Denpasar before arriving in Darwin at 1410. Gotta love the speed of those 990s!

The 1939 schedule spent the night in Darwin and then continued on to Karumba and Townsville the next morning. Unfortunately, in 1969 there is no direct service to Karumba from Darwin. MacRobertson Miller Airlines comes very close, offering a Fokker F.27 down the coast to Gove and Groote Eylandt (Island). Unfortunately, there’s nowhere to go from GTE but back to Darwin. The only way to get to Karumba is via connection through Mt. Isa, but then getting from Karumba to Townsville will require a three day layover and connection via Cairns or a return to Mt. Isa and onward.

Weighing the desire to follow the old 1939 routing as closely as possible vs. continuing your journey as expeditiously as reasonably possible, you decide to route south through Mt. Isa where you’ll overnight before continuing over to Townsville the next morning. Your decision is made easier by the fact that TAA Trans-Australian Airlines just happens to offer a Monday only 727-100 T-Jet nonstop down to Mt. Isa. The connection is tight (only 1:05) but the OAG indicates that the one hour minimum at DRW for International to Domestic flights makes it legal. It also helps that the four General Electric CJ-805-23s powering your Convair 990 made short work of the 1100 mile flight from Denpasar, enabling you to arrive into Darwin twenty minutes early. Welcome to Australia, Mate!



Trans-Australia 727-100

After a blissfully comfortable night in the comparatively dry air of Mt. Isa, you awake the next morning to a classic old Australian breakfast – lamb chops and eggs with toast and Vegemite – before heading out to the airport for your early morning three-stop flight to Townsville. Man, you sure have been spending a lot of time aboard Fokker F.27s of late. Your flights across India accounted for ten individual segments, to which you’ll add another four today and two more tomorrow. Throw in the Alitalia flight from Brindisi up to Rome a couple of weeks ago and you’ll have logged seventeen flights aboard F.27s on this trip.

Continuing on from Townsville we’re back to that little problem of trying to match the 1939 routing with 1969 schedules. While there is service to Gladstone from both Ansett and TAA, unfortunately GLT is not on any of the mainline through services from Townsville south to Brisbane. It gets service up from Brisbane but not from Townsville or Rockhampton. Interestingly, a check of schedules from the year before shows that ROK-GLT service existed. Perhaps the fact that Gladstone lies only 70 miles south of Rockhampton may have had something to do with dropping the Rockhampton-Gladstone route a year later in 1969. As such, since it makes no sense to fly down to Brisbane just to fly back up to Gladstone and back, you elect to fly straight to nearby Rockhampton. Following a two and a half hour layover in Townsville (Those were great homemade meat pies at the airport kiosk!) you’ll board Ansett’s DC-9-30 for the short one-stop flight down to Rockhampton.

The next morning you’ll head out to the airport to board yet another F.27 for the short two-hour service down to Brisbane. Your flight to Brisbane makes a stop in Bundaberg, home to Australia’s famous Bundaberg Rum. It’s a bit early for rum though, so during your three hour and forty-five minute layover at Brisbane Airport you order a delicious plate of baked Barramundi in a coconut curry with a delightful Chardonnay from the Margaret River region in Western Australia.

And finally, we’ve arrived at the last leg of this fantastic journey! You’ve a choice between either an Ansett or a TAA DC-9-30, both of which depart at 1445 and arrive at 1600. Since you’ve not yet flown aboard TAA’s model, that’s the one you choose to take you down to Sydney.

And that's it, gang! At twenty-one days it’s been almost twice as long as the original flying boat schedule but hey - what a great trip!

* * * .. * * * .. * * *

To those of you who’ve taken the time to read this “trip report”, thank you! I hope you enjoyed tagging along and that you’ve found it worth the read. If the interest is there, perhaps I can work up a trip back to my home in Alaska through the South Pacific.



Day Fourteen ~ Thursday

Forced layover in Singapore

Day Fifteen ~ Friday

Garuda (GA) 891: Singapore (SIN) to Djakarta (JKT)
Dep. SIN 0950, Arr. JKT 1045 – Nonstop service
Equipment: Convair 990

Garuda (GA) 470: Djakarta (JKT) to Surabaya (SUB)
Dep. JKT 1250, Arr. SUB 1500 – Nonstop service
Equipment: Convair 340

Day Sixteen and Seventeen ~ Saturday and Sunday

Forced layover in Surabaya

Day Eighteen ~ Monday

Garuda (GA) 620: Surabaya (SUB) to Denpasar (DPS)
Dep. SUB 0600, Arr. DPS 0730 – Nonstop service
Equipment: Douglas DC-3

Garuda (GA) 998: Denpasar (DPS) to Darwin (DRW)
Dep. DPS 0920, Arr. DRW 1410 – Nonstop service
Equipment: Convair 990

TAA Trans-Australian (TN) 551 Darwin (DRW) to Mt. Isa (ISA)
Dep. DRW 1515, Arr. ISA 1730 – Nonstop service
Equipment: Boeing 727-100

Day Nineteen ~ Tuesday

TAA Trans-Australian (TN) 467 Mt. Isa (ISA) to Townsville (TSV)
Dep. ISA 0700, Arr. TSV 1055 – Direct service via Cloncurry, Julia Creek and Hughenden
Equipment: Fokker F.27

Ansett (AN) 651 Townsville (TSV) to Rockhampton (ROK)
Dep. TSV 1330, Arr. ROK 1515 – Direct service via Mackay
Equipment: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30

Day Twenty ~ Wednesday

Ansett (AN) 669 Rockhampton (ROK) to Brisbane (BNE)
Dep. ROK 0845, Arr. BNE 1100 – Direct service via Bundaburg
Equipment: Fokker F.27

TAA Trans Australian (TN) 419 Brisbane (BNE) to Sydney (SYD) D9S
Dep. BNE 1445, Arr. SYD 1600 – Nonstop service
Equipment: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30