Friday the 15th March 2024 was a bit of a windy day. Garry Ayre and I had decided to fly to Orchid Beach on Fraser Island / K’gari as I’d been wanting to go there for a long time but the strip is too short for a Cirrus. Garry with his newly minted PPL is keen to get to know a few more airstrips around SE Queensland and despite being a local had never been to K’gari before – ever. Now I’m back to flying in the 172 the opportunity arose so we grabbed it.

I flew the outbound leg so I would have the challenge of landing at Orchid Beach on a short-ish strip in fairly windy conditions. Taking off from Redcliffe we crossed Bribie Island and breezed past the Sunshine Coast and Noosa. Tracking up the Cooloola Coast we were soon at Double Island Point and passed Rainbow Beach before crossing to K’gari. It took about another 20 minutes from there up the eastern coast of the island before we reached Orchid Beach. We only saw one other aircraft on the way. It looked like a sight seeing aircraft as it landed on the beach below us just near Ely Creek.

We were flying at about 2000ft to avoid a ceiling of stratocumulus cloud at about 2500ft so couldn’t see that far ahead. Coming around the final headland the airstrip at Orchid Beach appeared before us like a big green paddock right next to the beach.

Now my dad flew into Orchid Beach a few times in the 1970s and had told me that the strip they used at the time had fallen into the sea long ago due to coastal erosion. The current strip was built sometime later I suppose.

There was a strong and gusty south easterly blowing so it was sort of parallel to the 13/31 airstrip but as we watched the windsocks they were definitely moving around with a westerly component at the northern end. Ah well there was nothing else for it but to give it a try and if it was too wild we could just “go around”. First I set up for a 500ft overfly however, to have a bit of a look at the strip, check its length and scare away any prowling dingoes. As we approached the strip from the north at 500ft the turbulence was pretty impressive and Garry mentioned something about a “washing machine”. The windsock was dancing around quite a bit as we flew overhead.

Climbing out again to 1000ft it was also fairly turbulent so we agreed that even though I’d give it a go if I felt at all uneasy I’d put the power on and we’d climb back out again. Our plan B was to go to Maryborough for a coffee instead.

Coming around on base leg for RWY13 the turbulence seemed a bit less and the windsock was remaining fairly stable and parallel to the strip. I turned onto final and descended. At about 300ft we got more of the turbulence we’d had on the first approach and the crosswind component increased as the windsock danced up and down. I could feel the tension rise, but hey it wasn’t any worse than some of the cross wind days at Redcliffe. The gusty nature of the wind meant that my airspeed was not very stable. For a short field landing I had been originally aiming at 61 knots but with the airspeed varying +/- 5knots I decided 65 knots was a reasonable average to aim for. Applying power and dropping it back again I held it within the 60-70 range as we flared, maybe a bit too much and then lowered again and finally touched down with a firm but not too firm landing. We still had a way to go to the parking area so the strip was certainly long enough. It had just been a bit awkward. But it’s important to practise these skills every now and then and that’s exactly what we’d come for so a big tick there. I felt suitably proud of my achievement. I cancelled my sartime and we locked IVW before exiting the parking area.

The airstrip is located next to the general store, cafe and bar/restaurant so ideal for lunch or a coffee. Garry and I headed over, paid our $30 landing fee and ordered a coffee each. And surprisingly good coffee it was too! There’s a deck that looks out to the airstrip and the ocean and a beer garden up the other end. The shop is well stocked and the bottle shop prices aren’t really much more expensive than in the city. All in all a very nice little joint.

Over coffee we discussed the trip back. Garry would take off and fly the leg to Maryborough, passing over Hervey Bay on the way. We’d land at Maryborough for a short break and then head back to Redcliffe via the Sunshine Coast hinterland. On the way out to the strip we agreed on a go/nogo point being the windsock near the parking area. The grass was fairly short but it was a bit bumpy so we couldn’t tell how fast we’d accelerate. We decided that if we hadn’t reached rotate speed by the windsock he’d abort the takeoff and try again.

We backtracked to the very start of RWY13 and had a good view of the airstrip.

There were only some fairly low bushy trees at the far end but there was a bit of a hill. The highest point was straight ahead and we could head to the right a bit to avoid it if need be. But we’d done our calculations for take off distances and knew that it should be fine. There was about 10 knots of headwind too that should decrease our distance further still.

Garry put his feet on the brakes and applied full power. The tacho showed maximum RPM and the crosswind seemed to have died away – we were ready to go. Releasing the brakes IVW started to accelerate down the strip. There were a few undulations so we were up and down a bit and each time we went down it slowed us down a bit so we accelerated more slowly than normal. Even so, we were approaching rotate speed well before the windsock go/nogo marker. Garry rotated and we lifted off slightly, then held in ground effect to increase our speed further and then climbed out well before the end of the strip. We were up!

Climbing out we were hit by the gusty crosswinds again and were thrown around a bit as we turned left and headed out over the sea, then climbed and turned further, departing to the south west overhead the airstrip. It was easy navigation down the coast towards Hervey Bay but I put a “direct to” Maryborough in the GPS just to make use of it.

Approaching Hervey Bay another aircraft advised he was taking off and heading for Lady Elliot Island. Garry mentioned we were about to overfly Hervey Bay at 2000ft so the other pilot agreed to fly no higher than 1500ft until he’d passed underneath us. We kept a good lookout for him as we flew closer but didn’t actually see him until he’d pass in front and below us. We told him we had him sighted and he could start his climb for his flight out to the island.

It was only another 10 or 15 minutes to Maryborough. Garry decided to do a straight in approach on RWY17. A Sling2 from Caloundra was also heading for Maryborough but he was a bit closer to us so he landed and was taxiing into the parking area as we were on final. There was a bit of a crosswind again but not as gusty as it’d been at Orchid Beach.

It was a good landing and we taxied to the parking area for a short “pit stop”. Climbing back in again 10 minutes later we backtracked on RWY17 and then departed to the south passing over the Mary River and the Maryborough CBD.

We passed over some lush green country as we tracked towards Borumba Reservoir in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

This reservoir will be used for pumped hydro in the future and Queensland Hydro will build a new dam to hold water higher up in the surrounding hills.

From there we tracked straight for Redcliffe, descending to 2500 ft to stay below the clouds. I told Garry he needs to get his instrument rating so he can fly through the clouds and doesn’t have to stay below them. First though he has to do the CSU endorsement so he can fly the Cessna 182 that is a bit faster than the 172.

After passing Maleny and the Glasshouse Mountains we were descending into Redcliffe.

There was a raging 15 knot crosswind at Redcliffe so sensibly, after one bounce, Garry did a go around on his first attempt to land. We came around for the second attempt and he put it down nice and firmly. A Lufthansa pilot would be proud.