Thursday 27th November 2026 was Johanna and Hans’s last day in Australia. We were in Sydney and I’d booked a seaplane with https://sydneybyseaplane.com.au starting at Rose Bay. It’d be just one more of Hans’ bucket list items ticked off. It was a short drive from our hotel in Double Bay to the Rose Bay marina. We were picked up at the agreed time by Ricardo, a man in a boat, who’d lived all his life at Rose Bay, and took us out into the bay and we waited for the plane to arrive.

Seaplane Steve was the pilot with over 27,000 flying hours in seaplanes and he would take us through the heads and up the coast to Barrenjoey Head at the mouth of the Hawkesbury River, returning via Manly and Mossman.

We finished with a couple of orbits over the opera house. It was only 30 minutes but it was pretty impressive way to see Sydney Harbour and the northern beaches. I’d flown it before in the Cirrus twice but you see so much more when you don’t have to concentrate on flying the plane.

Our friends Johanna and Hans (Septimus) visited us in November 2025 and we wanted to show them the real outback of Australia. They’d been here before and seen the cities and the coast but what about some ridgy didge experiences? What could be more ridgy didge than Lightning Ridge? Initially I thought the weather might be too hot for them in November but a mild week was forecast so we booked Cirrus XAP, booked a B&B in the Ridge and booked the full day tour of its highlights and we were all set.

We took off from the Gold Coast airport with our first stop being Goondiwindi, as with 4 grown adults and an air conditioner, XAP didn’t have much more than 3 hours endurance. The landing at YGDI was uneventful and we refuelled and were ready to head further west. Unfortunately I didn’t close my door completely so there was a bit of cold air causing consternation in the back and suddenly Johanna’s silk scarf that she’d been using to keep herself warm flew out of the crack in the door and was gone. The Venturi effect at full force. Luckily we didn’t have far to go to our next stop Hebel.

Now Hebel is real outback. A pub, a general store and not much else. We walked the 1km into town and ordered lunch at the general store. https://hebelhotel.com.au. Our guests explored the “town”. It didn’t take long.

We managed to arrange a lift back to the airstrip with one of the ladies who worked in the general store and soon were enjoying the 20 minute hop to the Ridge.

On arrival we called our host and were picked up and taken to the BNB. We chose https://sonjasbedandbreakfast.com because of the name. Nice enough but a 20 minute walk to the centre of town. The https://lightningridgeoutbackresort.com.au would’ve been a more convenient location. Nevertheless we needed some exercise and had dinner at an Italian restaurant in the main street. Walking home we had a full moon.

After a walk down to a cafe for breakfast we joined the tour of the Ridge with https://blackopaltours.com.au/tours-packages/ and saw all the sights. If you want more details of what there is to see read my other post https://privatierair.com/2025/01/19/outback-adventure/

By the time the tour was finished with us we needed some lunch at the bowling club. https://lrbc.com.au

From there it was back home for a rest before heading out for a sunset dip in the thermal baths.

Johanna and Hans both agreed that two nights were enough in Lightning Ridge so we headed out to the airstrip the next morning and, after refuelling stops in Walgett and Goondiwindi, we were winging it back to the Gold Coast via the Scenic Rim.

Johanna wanted to get back to the beach so we dropped Sigi and her off at the Gold Coast airport while Hans and I took off again, this time for Redcliffe. On the way we passed over the sand mines at Straddie and the Bribie Island/Caloundra area.

It was the first Friday of the month so the aero club was having its monthly barbecue and this time a G7+ Cirrus was being shown off. We decided it’d be good to park XAP, a G2 (Generation 2) from about 2006 next to a brand new Cirrus. The local sales rep Ed gave us a talk extolling the virtues of the latest model while all listened intently.

Afterward we retired to our AirBNB in downtown Redcliffe where we could then head off in the morning for breakfast down on the esplanade and drop into Bee Gees Way.

Finally it was time to head for home passing overhead the Gap and the Spit before landing back in the Gold Coast.

Our lightning trip to the ridge was over.