Every two years (except during Covid times) Cirrus Australia put on an “event” for Cirrus owners and pilots. It’s supposed to be a chance for people to network and for Cirrus sales people to talk people into buying or upgrading a plane. There’s also few lectures thrown in but they are more light weight than in the COPA weekends that are held in the alternate years. In the past Cirrus Life has been held in Hamilton Island, Uluru and Hobart. In 2023 it was in Adelaide. The idea is that as many people as possible fly there in their own Cirrus. That was our plan (Mike, Brett and I to fly in MSF) until MSF was destroyed in a crash in early October. So without a readily available aircraft we flew down on Friday 17th November with Qantas/Alliance. Sigi, Sharon and Erica came too, as this is definitely designed as a “with partners” event.

Adelaide was a great venue, with beautiful architecture in the city, the rolling hills around its perimeter and added into the mix was a little bit of history related to Australian cricket. 

Touching down in Adelaide around 10am we were met by the Cirrus team who transported us to the Eos by SkyCity Hotel in North Terrace, just next to the Casino and across the river from Adelaide Oval. The event kick off was the Friday evening cocktail party.  Approximately 150 people filled the rooftop terrace of the Eos by SkyCity Hotel.  This venue gave everyone the opportunity to view the city of Adelaide and the Adelaide Oval from a high vantage point and to mix and mingle with old friends.  An artist who did instant caricature sketches added a bit of fun.

Saturday morning saw the start of the conference while the partners took the opportunity to visit the German town of Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills and the McLaren Vale wine area.

There were several guest speakers from Cirrus USA touching on topics of interest ranging from how to clean your aircraft and what’s the best way to do a go around, to an examination of Cirrus incidents over the past 10 years.  Garmin did a segment on their avionics platform, followed by BMG Insurance who discussed the contentious issue of increasing insurance premiums for light aircraft. 

Saturday lunch was held at the Adelaide Oval, a short walk away across the river.  There was plenty of history in the wings here, not only for cricket fans but for AFL too. 

Cirrus invited Queensland and Australian test cricketer, Greg Ritchie, as guest speaker and he kept the audience captivated for about 60 minutes.  Excessive laughter continued throughout his entire presentation.  He brought back many memories of The Footy Show on Channel 9 when Ritchie, as the very popular ‘Mahatma Cote’, ran riot with skits that you probably wouldn’t get away with today.  What an amazing guest speaker!  The lunch was followed by a guided tour of the recently reconstructed Adelaide Oval, including a look inside the heritage listed scoreboard.

Saturday evening we were bussed to Penfold’s Magill winery, home of the famous Grange.  Back in the day the winery was on the outskirts of Adelaide.  Today it’s surrounded by several suburbs that extend right up to the start of the hills district.  Christopher and Mary Penfold started the winery back in 1844 at the Magill Estate and today that estate is in pristine condition.  After a tour of the cellars we enjoyed some wine tasting with canapés while being treated to some great music by the very talented solo violinist Cardinia, who manages to merge classical and pop with a touch of electronic.

Full to the brim we were bussed back to the city.

Sunday there was more Cirrus stuff to consume in lectures and the opportunity to fly a simulator, including being able to pull the ‘CAPS’ handle and deploy the parachute overhead Adelaide. 

The finale was a gala dinner at the Oval.  Cirrus organised a 12 piece band called the Hindley Street Country Club who were on stage for almost three hours, playing non stop a variety of music that got almost everyone up on the dance floor till the end, including a couple of encores.

Monday came and we all headed back home wondering what Cirrus will think up in two years’ time when they host the next ‘Cirrus Life Event’.