Brisbane, Australia

After Aviamagazine's reporter was finished with his business obligations, a five week East coast trip followed. The first stop was Brisbane, which was already visited 3 months earlier. This time a very special visitor was expected, in the shape of an A380 in partial QANTAS colours as part of its world tour. Other highlights were seen in the shape of Virgin Blue's 50th 737, an Air Niugini 767 and a Fiji - Air Pacific 737. The photo of the A380 on the 16th was taken from the Brisbane Botanical Gardens during its departure to Malaysia.

RAAF Williamtown, Australia

The next stop on this trip was the RAAF base in Newcastle. Several squadrons of Hawks and Hornets are based over here and there is a small but nice aviation museum. The flying activity was relatively low due to the absence of 2 Hornet squadrons. The Hawks were very active with more than 25 flights a day and 8 of the remaining Hornets only flew on the second day. The PC-9 is 1 of 4 equipped for Forward Air Command duties. These are the only grey coloured PC-9s in the RAAF. This airfield is also used by civil aircraft, from AeroPelican, Virgin Blue and JetStar.