Leg 20; Darwin to Newcastle Waters.
It was going to be a hot day, so I thought I'd get set up before dawn. Not cold, but definitely dark, so the MSFS torch came in handy ( that's the proper name for a 'flashlight', colonials
)
Taxying out to runway 11:
Departing Darwin, and setting a course of 143 from the Darwin VOR (DN ). Looking out at the pre-dawn sky and the lights on the ground, it was one of those 'I'm really there' moments:
Sunrise over the Northern Territory - another 'moment':
One of the many mines in this part of Australia - the Union Reefs gold mine, once owned by
Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. Maybe a rich relative.
RAAF Tindal, my first and only turning point. It was originally built by the Americans to launch B-24 raids against the Japanese in Papua New Guinea, but the war had shifted by the time it became operational. In 1946, the airfield was renamed in honour of Wing Commander Archibald Tindal, the first RAAF serviceman killed in action on the Australian mainland during World War II; he died while manning a machine gun against Japanese raiders bombing Darwin on 19 February 1942. Note to those following behind me - the DME doesn't work!
In the foreground is the railway line linking Darwin on Australia's north coast to Adelaide on the south coast. It carries The Ghan, one of the world's greatest railway journeys. This particular section, between Darwin and Alice Springs, was completed in 2004:
Some of the dirt airstrips I'd seen coming south were almost indistinguishable from their surroundings, so with the DME at RAAF Tindal inoperative, I used the Arrow's stopwatch to time my progress along the 158 radial from Tindal's VOR (TN). I needn't have bothered; nearby Lake Woods provides an easy visual reference point for spotting the runway at Newcastle Waters:
Finals into Newcastle Waters. I'm not sure how many of the MacRobertson racers needed to come here - probably only the shorter-ranged aircraft. The others, such as the two remaining DH.88s and the DC-2, would likely have cracked on direct to Cloncurry or even Charleville:
Coming to a halt at Newcastle Waters. Remarkably, this little airfield was once part of the Imperial Airways/Qantas route in the 20s and 30s:
You'll be buzzing Mike's (Airspeed) house in Victoria before you know it. 
Viewing the pictures of your travels, Paul, I keep hearing a Jimmy Buffett song...'On the Far Side of the World'. 
Yep, there's a torch in MSFS. If you're in an aircraft with no power, it illuminates automatically, though you can also bind it to a key for manual ON/OFF. It shines wherever you are looking. When the aircraft's battery is turned on, the torch goes out, so it's best to have the cabin dome light switch in the ON position first.