As the morning sun beats down on the tarmac at Katherine airport, Jordan Griffin is readying his small plane for the long day ahead.
The six-seater Cessna is not carrying passengers but is filled instead with mail — from letters and parcels, to schoolbooks, food and medicine.
Travelling along some of the country's most remote postal routes, the young pilot spends his days delivering mail to remote communities and cattle stations dotted across the vast Northern Territory outback.
The flying mail service is subsidised by the federal government and visits more than 260 communities across the country each week.
More recently, wet weather and flooding in parts of the NT have brought some planes to a halt. They can't land on soaked grass or dirt airstrips, or navigate through storms or dense clouds.
But with clear blue skies now overhead, Mr Griffin says his team is playing catch up.
"There's been a bit of a backlog [recently] and we've been delivering full plane loads every day," he says.
People greet the plane
Today's route is a 1,000-kilometre round trip across the vast Victoria River region, south-west of Katherine stretching to the West Australian border.
After an hour's flight over the Top End's tropical savanna and winding, rust-coloured rivers, the plane makes a brief stop at Kidman Springs station before it heads to the remote Aboriginal community of Yarralin.
Five hours drive from Katherine, the community is home to about 300 people and was cut off by recent flooding. In communities further south, more than 700 people were evacuated in March as floodwaters inundated homes.
A few four-wheel drives are waiting for the plane when it lands and taxis down the runway.
Local health clinic worker Kasey Henry, who is meeting the plane to drop off some pathology samples and pick up medicine for the clinic, says the plane delivers vital supplies.
"It's kind of special, once everyone knows the mail plane is on its way," he says.
"Everyone can't wait to collect their mail, and the medications are even more important.
"Sometimes when the plane's got a bit of extra room on the flight, we [also] squeeze in a few of our patients … for appointments in Katherine or Darwin."
From Yarralin, the plane takes a short flight to Humbert River, a remote outstation of the historic Victoria River Downs station, nestled between rocky flat-topped escarpments.
Station overseer Mia Kruger pulls up at the dirt airstrip in a four-wheel drive ute with a dirt bike strapped to the tray.
She's expecting a few things: a pair of Birkenstock shoes, her partner's gun licence and some butchering knives.
"In the wet season, we're not able to go to town because of the roads, [so] you only have the mail plane really," she says.
Despite being cut off for a number of weeks, Ms Kruger says "it's really good to see everything nice and green and the cattle fat".
The rain has been a welcome relief for pastoralists, who have grappled with some of the poorest rainfall on record in parts of the region over recent years.
Lifeline after floods
From Humbert River, the plane glides over the vast Judbarra National Park and touches down on the bumpy airstrip at the remote community of Amanbidji.
Local store manager Michael McNamara says stocks are "very depleted", with about half of the store "completely empty".
"We're cut off at the moment, so we're relying on the plane to get all our food and mail … but tomorrow we'll get two planes, so that'll be a big help," he says.
"And maybe in two weeks or a month, the road will be open if the weather permits."
Next stop is Waterloo Station and self-described "eBay bandit" and station cook Matiu Blundell arrives on a buggy to collect the mail.
"We don't get to town much, so we rely on these guys to do a good job," Mr Blundell says, adding that the local road is "pretty beat up at the moment".
But with the stock camp gearing up to begin mustering cattle in the coming weeks, Mr Bundell says the road will soon be graded so the station can "get the trucks in and out of the cattle yards" and to markets beyond.
After refuelling across the border in Kununurra, the plane is on the home stretch as it crosses wide coastal floodplains and touches down on the grass runway at Bullo River station.
The plane pulls up in front of the homestead and is met by manager Catherine Atkins.
"[It's an] unusually large delivery today," she says.
"We haven't had the mail for at least six weeks due to the wet season, [so there will be some] super excited people here today to get their mail that they've been waiting on."
As the plane heads back to Katherine, Mr Griffin reflects on the past few years delivering mail across the NT.
"It's great fun, you get to see a lot of different destinations, all the different colours of all the landscapes," he says.
"And you get to these places and you see the people are so grateful for [this service]."
"It's a really rewarding role."
