On September 12 last year, pilot William Scott-Bloxam, his wife and co-pilot Vera, and passengers Keith Mortimer, Hubert Hofer and Ms Burke, landed in Mr Scott-Bloxam's light plane at Mopah airport in Merauke in Indonesian Papua, where a sporadic separatist insurgency has led to tight military control.
The Australians, who say they only wanted to visit for a long weekend to investigate tourism opportunities, did not obtain visas, flight approval or security clearance before they landed.
They were arrested and convicted of immigration offences. Mr Scott-Bloxam was sentenced to three years in jail, while the other four were given two-year sentences. These sentences have since been quashed and the "Merauke Five" are no longer in jail although still in Merauke on a holiday longer than originally planned but not as bad as one might envisage.
As Forrest Gump would have said, "Stupid is as stupid does."
