Man who lives so far removed from society needs to use a Cessna 182P instead of a car for his weekly grocery shop run
Published on Mar 22, 2026 at 11:18 PM (UTC+4)
by Molly Davidson
Last updated on Mar 20, 2026 at 8:54 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Mason Jones
A man living in remote Western Australia has a weekly grocery run that looks a little different to most.
He still needs to get into town for supplies, just like anyone else.
The difference is how he gets there.
Instead of driving over 60 miles, he flies a Cessna 182P from his local airstrip.
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Why he uses a Cessna 182P instead of a car for groceries
Outback Tom lives in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, where towns are sparse and distances stretch out quickly.
He shares a remote property with his granddad, and the nearest proper grocery store is in Kununurra, about 60 miles away.
That distance turns a simple grocery run into a solid hour-long drive each way.
So instead, Tom has built a routine around flying.
On a typical Sunday morning, he heads to his local airstrip and takes a Cessna 182P into town to pick up the weekly shop.
The flight only takes around 15 minutes, although getting airborne is the slow part.
He runs through full pre-flight checks, covering fuel, oil, controls, and weather, and admits the prep can sometimes take longer than the trip itself.
Once he’s up, it’s a straight run across the Kimberley.
The airport he departs from is almost always empty, so there’s no waiting around, just a quick takeoff and a clear path ahead.
After landing in Kununurra, the routine flips back to normal.
He’s got a car parked at the airport, drives about five minutes into town, and heads to the store with a list from his granddad.
Then it’s back the same way.
Groceries loaded into the plane, another quick check, and a short flight home.
By the end of it, the entire shop is done within a single morning.
The cost of flying to the grocery store
While the routine looks simple, Tom is open about the cost behind it.
His pilot license came in at around $21,000 (30,000 AUD), with another $14,000 (20,000 AUD) spent travelling to Darwin for training, since there were no closer options.
Running the plane also adds up.
It burns about 54 litres of fuel per hour, which he estimates at roughly $120 per hour of flight time.
On this trip alone, refuelling in town costs $380 (530 AUD) for 170 litres.
There are ongoing costs too.
The aircraft needs servicing every 100 hours, which he expects to land somewhere near $2,100 depending on what needs replacing, although storage at his local strip is minimal.
Even so, for Tom, the trade-off holds.
Living this far out means time and access matter just as much as money.
And while most people measure a grocery run in traffic lights and queues, his starts with a takeoff and ends with a landing.
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With roles at TEXT Journal, Bowen Street Press, Onya Magazine, and Swine Magazine on her CV, Molly joined Supercar Blondie in June 2025 as a Junior Content Writer. Having experience across copyediting, proofreading, reference checking, and production, she brings accuracy, clarity, and audience focus to her stories spanning automotive, tech, and lifestyle news.
