Cirrus – MSF – touring aircraft

On January 17 2018 I had my first lesson in a Cirrus SR22. I’d had a few lessons in an SR20 in 2015 to experience how low wing compares with a high wing (Cessna) with Adam Starr at Flight One in Archerfield. The SR20 is only really suitable for training and short distances while the SR22 is the big brother, with a larger engine and better payload and endurance. Mike Cahill flew me over to Archerfield in his SR22 to meet up with Adam. I flew with Adam to the training area over South Stradbroke where we climbed to 3000 feet to do some steep turns, stalls and practice engine failures. Then it was back to Archerfield for a few circuits. Mike then flew us back to Redcliffe. The Cirrus is a very good aircraft to fly, with a side stick (ala Airbus) as opposed to the yoke in the Cessna, and cruises at about 165 knots and can carry four adults (including pilot) plus bags. This compares with 130 knots and 3 adults in ROC the Cessna 182 so, with 2 GPSs and autopilot, it’s a good option for touring.

And for those who were fans of the Flying Doctors TV series of the 90s you may notice that the call sign (Mike Sierra Foxtrot) is the same as the Nomad aircraft that featured in the series. The Nomad was built at the Government Aircraft Factory at Fishermens Bend in Melbourne. Dad took me there one time we were in Melbourne when I was a teenager. I once flew in one from Newcastle to Sydney. It was like flying in a shipping container with wings! The Cirrus is definitely a better way to fly.

I’ve been trying to gain experience with IFR and IMC so flew ROC down to Coffs Harbour just before Christmas 2017 to visit my sister Liz.  The Stradbroke Island aero club hosts a breakfast on the third Saturday of every month and that was what it was so before heading to Coffs I did a 20 minute VFR flight over Moreton Bay to Straddie with some other aero club members from Redcliffe. About 30 aircraft attended the breakfast, varying in size from single person ultra lights to six seaters.

Parked at Dunwich

After an hour or so the others headed back to Redcliffe and I took off IFR to Coffs Harbour via the Gold Coast. There was a bit of traffic at the Gold Coast so ATC sent me inland into IMC. I hadn’t reckoned on that so hadn’t calculated a lowest safe for that track. I told the controller so and he let me track direct to Coffs and climb. I emerged from the clouds not far from Mt Warning.

Emerging from the clouds

The clouds gradually cleared as I headed south. First Evans Head emerged between the clouds.

Evans Head

Then I passed Yamba and Iluka straddling the Clarence River.

Iluka and Yamba

At Coffs I was met by Liz and two of her grandchildren who inspected ROC thoroughly and seemed to give it thumbs up, even if it “only fits 4 people”.

On the ground at Coffs

It was a good day to practice IFR with patches of cloud so about 30 minutes of IMC during the 90 minute flight. I tied down the ROC and we headed off to Bellingen to stay the night. During the night there was a very strong wind and I was a bit concerned about ROC’s welfare but I had tied it down firmly and it was none the worse for wear when we returned on Sunday morning for the return flight.

After preflighting and submitting my flight notification I had to taxi all the way to the far end of the very long runway for takeoff. I thought the kids would get bored and depart but no, they waited and apparently thought my takeoff was pretty good – but not as impressive as the sky diving plane that took off with its door missing!

Homewards was IFR again but this time inland, via Casino and Kyogle

Near Kyogle

I then passed over the Border Ranges with Mt Lindsay and Mt Barney then on to and over Beaudesert, Springfield Lakes, Lake Manchester and the ranges west of Brisbane.

Passing Mt Lindsay and Mt Barney

It was another great day for flying IFR with about 30 minutes of IMC and the other 60 minutes clear blue skies.

Cessna 172 – Mount Gambier – Blue Lake – Port McDonnell – Ewens Ponds – Nelson

Early in February 2018, during a visit to Mt Gambier, I did a check flight in a Cessna 172 that belongs to Bob Rowe, one of the local aero club members. Bob signed me off as capable so it means I can now hire it when I’m visiting.

I took mum and dad’s neighbour Simon for a flight the following day, and he kindly acted as photographer.

The Cessna 172 is an older aircraft that has been well looked after. It’s fairly basic with dials, no glass cockpit, no auto pilot and a basic GPS. It also has a carburettor rather than fuel injection.

After waiting for a REX plane to land we took off from RWY 18, heading straight for Mt Gambier city about 10km away.

Soon we were over the Blue Lake at 2000ft, and did a couple of orbits over the city.

The Valley Lake is on the left and the Blue Lake on the right. The Lakes golf course bottom right.

We flew over the city centre and Simon got a good snap of Bay Road leading up to mum and dad’s place, hidden amongst the trees.

Then it was off to the coast, where we passed by Port McDonnell with its breakwater.

And on along the coast to the east, where the beaches were clean and inviting. The sea was calm as there was almost no wind. The sky was clear too and at about 25C perfect weather for flying.

These are Ewans Ponds, a series of freshwater ponds that are fed by a spring. The water flows into Eight Mile Creek and on to the coast a few km away. These ponds are great for scuba diving but you need a wet suit!

Picannini Ponds, at the bottom of this shot, are a favourite spot for cave diving enthusiasts.

We flew along to the mouth of the Glenelg River, near Nelson.

And over Nelson itself.

We followed the Glenelg River upstream to Dartmoor then headed back to “The Mount”. Soon we were turning onto final for RWY 18.

Cirrus – SR22 – IFR – RNAV

In February 2018 I did a few familiarisation flights with Mike Cahill in his newly acquired (second hand) Cirrus SR22 to practise cross country flying and use of the avionics and GPS/auto pilot.

MSF ready to depart

On this occasion I flew IFR from Redcliffe to Kingaroy and back via the Sunshine Coast. It was a perfect morning – about 25C with blue skies and a few puffy clouds around and almost no wind. We climbed out of Redcliffe to 8000 ft and tracked west. 25 miles from Kingaroy I started descending and tracked over to the southern RNAV (GPS) approach for runway 34, did a holding pattern at Sierra Echo at 5100ft AMSL and then used the GPS to fly the approach.

I carried out a missed approach at 2000ft AMSL (500ft above ground) over the threshold and climbed out to 3700ft, then set up the northern RNAV for runway 16 via November Delta. There were a couple of other aircraft doing similar exercises but air traffic control kept us separated.

We landed on RWY16 and taxied to the parking area. After a short break and a chat to a couple who’d also flown up to Kingaroy for the day, we took off again, climbed to 7000ft and tracked direct to Sunshine Coast Airport.

Maroochydore from 7000ft

We passed overhead and then tracked direct to Redcliffe, with air traffic control stepping us down as we passed Bribie Island. Landing at Redcliffe we filled the tanks to tabs plus 30 litres and then taxied out again for 6 circuits with touch and go to get a better feel for the landing. The plane is actually great to fly and lands really smoothly. Even though it has a fixed undercarriage it has a TAS (True Air Speed) of 165 knots and endurance of 2.5 hours flight with 4 adults plus baggage so it should be a great touring aircraft.

Redcliffe – Hervey Bay – Sunshine Coast

In February 2018 we had another club flyaway to Hervey Bay. Sigi and I did the same trip two years previously in a 172 on a very windy day (= turbulence!). This time it was in MSF, Mike Cahill’s Cirrus, and the weather was much better. Sigi decided she wouldn’t go this time as she’s been to Hervey Bay quite a few times already, so Harpur joined us in the capacity of official photographer. Mike took Bryan Galvin, so we had a full complement. It was a good opportunity to fly the plane with max take off weight.

Bryan and Mike wait as Sam takes off ahead of us

This is an advantage of MSF over the ROC. You can fit four adults plus fuel plus baggage and fly a reasonable distance. I flew the outward leg, IFR, with Mike co-pilot. We climbed to 8000ft and passed over Sunshine Coast airport then flew direct to Hervey Bay, passing through a bit of cloud on the way. Good IMC experience! I used the time to become more familiar with the avionics in the aircraft, making the most of the autopilot and GPS.

Hervey Bay Airport

There were about 6 club aircraft all arriving about the same time as well as local traffic so we had to arrange our slots so that we didn’t conflict. We worked together using the radios to increase our situational awareness as we descended from 30 miles out. The wind was from the south east so I passed overhead at about 3000ft, did a right turn and joined downwind. After a smooth touchdown I taxied to the GA parking area which our group had pretty much filled to capacity. A couple of maxi taxis took us into town where we had lunch at one of the cafes along on the esplanade.

For the return trip Mike decided to fly VFR at 1500 ft along the coast with Bryan as co-pilot. I was able to experience the comfort of the rear seat next to Harpur. We waited for a Virgin jet to land, then taxied back up the runway following Sam in his Piper.

Waiting for the Virgin flight to land

After waiting for him to depart we took off and flew across Wide Bay to Fraser Island, over Kingfisher Resort and Lake McKenzie then down the east coast to Rainbow Beach.

Inskip Point barge

As we passed over Double Island Point we were amazed at the number of cars on the beach, even if it was a Saturday.

Cars on the beach at Double Island Point

At 170 knots it wasn’t long before we were over Noosa and tracked through the Sunshine Coast Airport airspace.

Sunshine Beach

and From there we tracked down the coast to Caloundra, where a skydiving plane dropped a load just before we arrived.

Caloundra

They remained over land and we remained over water until we reached Bribie Island where Mike headed straight for Redcliffe via Beachmere.

I flew down to Adelaide recently to have a couple of lessons with an instructor in HJV, a Cirrus SR20 that belongs to the Adelaide Aero Club and is based at Parafield Airport. The idea was to combine a check flight, that would allow me to hire the plane solo in future, while taking the opportunity to familiarise myself with the air space around Parafield. It’s quite congested, being located between Adelaide international to the south and the RAAF Edinburgh air base to the north. There are only two corridors of uncontrolled air space to the north west and north east and they’re quite tight so it’s important to know the visual cues for the boundaries of the controlled airspace either side. On Wednesday we flew out to the north west via St Kilda to Dublin and back to Parafield via Outer Harbour for a touch and go, followed by a departure to the north east via the substation towards Angaston in the Barossa Valley and back via the Warren Reservoir for a few circuits. That sorted out the Parafield airspace in my mind.

Planned route from YPPF to Dublin in the northwest and Angaston in the north east

The next day we departed via St Kilda again and then obtained a clearance to fly through the Adelaide controlled airspace to Aldinga aerodrome near McLaren Vale. We flew along the coast over the water at “not more than 500ft” and had stage wise clearances to avoid the aircraft arrivals into Adelaide.

Passing Adelaide International

We passed out of controlled airspace at Port Noarlunga and soon landed at Aldinga where we had a coffee at the lovely little cafe next to the taxiway.

On the ground in Aldinga

Aldinga is the centre for Adelaide Biplanes who do scenic flights around the area, as well as a many private pilots. Being a Thursday there were only two other aircraft around.

After the break we departed to the south and followed the coast to Cape Jervis at 4500ft. We could see Kangaroo Island in the distance over the strait.

Cape Jervis with KI in background

We then turned and headed east along the coast at 3500ftSoon with views back up the Fleurieu Peninsula as we went.

Looking north towards Aldinga

Soon we were passing Victor Harbour and Granite Island.

Victor Harbour

Then it was on to Goolwa where we had a great view of the Murray mouth.

Goolwa and Murray Mouth

Turning north we returned to Port Noarlunga at 2500ft. At Port Noarlunga we received another clearance from Air Traffic Control to fly through Adelaide air space northwards to Outer Harbour, then back into Parafield. I got the tick and am now approved for solo hire of HJV.

In March 2018 I had a fly-in reunion with two school mates in the Grampians in western Victoria. Russell (aka Akko), Dave (aka Margs) and I hadn’t been in the same place at the same time for over 30 years. The planets aligned as Russell was back in Mt Gambier for a week at the same time as me. We both had two days free so I hired Bob Rowe’s 172 and we flew over to Stawell to visit Dave who has a sheep property and olive grove and cafe nearby (www.redrockolives.com.au). From Mt Gambier we tracked over Casterton and the Western Districts. Passing over Victoria Valley we headed for Stawell, flew over the town and landed on their great long sealed runway. Dave took us to a cafe in town for lunch and then all three of us climbed aboard for a scenic flight around the Grampians, including a few orbits over the farm and the olive grove. In the evening we went to Ararat for the monthly “Ararat live” concert. It was a guy called Steve Poltz from the US who’d just played at the Pt Fairy Folk Festival. He’s best known for his collaborations with singer Jewel, especially the 1996 single, “You Were Meant for Me”, which he played amongst many more and a lot of improvisations. Very amusing. In the morning we headed over to the Red Rock Cafe for brunch and to stock up on olive oil. Then it was back to the airport for departure. We tracked around the northern end of the Grampians then across to Edenhope, Coonawarra and finally into Mt Gambier with a quick flight over the town and the lakes.

Mudgee – Wagga Wagga – Mildura – Lake Mungo – Darling River – Louth – Lightning Ridge

Australia’s three iconic rivers, the Murray, the Darling and the Murrumbidgee drain around one seventh of the continent. The Murray-Darling river system from its source near the Queensland/NSW border to its mouth in South Australia is the third longest navigable river in the world, after the Amazon and the Nile. The water from these rivers has opened up thousands of square kilometres of otherwise inhospitable country to cultivation through irrigation systems that have been operating for well over 100 years. I’ve been fascinated by these rivers since first going on holiday to the Riverland in South Australia and north-western Victoria as a child. Earlier this year, on numerous trips from Brisbane to Adelaide, I noticed that the standard IFR route uses Mildura as a waypoint. As we passed over Mildura I’d look down from 30,000 ft to see the confluence of the Darling and the Murray at Wentworth and think how enjoyable it’d be to follow the Darling from its source to where it flows into the Murray then retrace the route of the Murray and Murrumbidgee upstream. The seed of an idea for a flying holiday that would put my recently acquired private instrument rating to good use was germinating.

We had known for some time that our daughter Sonja would be working in Mildura for a few months from August so that seemed a good reason for my wife Sigi and me to fly down the Darling to see her. I chose October as I reasoned the weather in SE Qld and northern NSW should still be relatively stable while the weather down south should have warmed up a bit.

I booked ROC, the club’s C182, for Monday 16th with a plan to fly across to Bourke and to stay somewhere on the banks of the Darling for one or two nights and then continue to Mildura, returning via Wagga.

However as the date of departure approached, Brisbane and SE Qld was hit by unseasonal heavy rain and strong easterly winds. My delight at having a 40 knot tail wind was tempered by the severe turbulence Sigmet that covered the whole of the south east corner of Queensland from Kingaroy down to the border, centred over the Lockyer Valley. This unfavourable weather was meant to clear by Monday but we ended up having to wait for 3 days.

Finally the winds abated so we could depart Redcliffe on the morning of Thursday October 19th. Due to the forecast weather patterns I reversed my original plan, deciding to travel clockwise rather than anticlockwise around NSW. Our first stop would be Mudgee, about 3 hours to the south on the west of the Great Dividing Range. There was plenty of cloud as we headed out of Redcliffe so it was a great opportunity to make the most of my instrument skills to make it through to clear air south of the border. ATC cleared us direct to Amberley at 6,000ft and we climbed into cloud above the lowest safe altitude. After reaching 6,000ft we remained in cloud for about one hour until we were almost at Stanthorpe. It was good IMC practice. After crossing the border into NSW it was nothing but blue skies with the occasional puffy cumulus cloud as we tracked via Inverell and Gunnedah and on to Mudgee. Perfect flying weather.

Mudgee is a pretty little town nestled within a ring of hills. It has a number of small wineries located within about 5km of the aerodrome. Very convenient for fly-in wine lovers. We stayed overnight at the Hangar House. It’s an amazing property adjacent to the taxi way that was originally intended to be a flying school but is now a Bed & Breakfast with enough space in the purpose-built hangar to park ROC along with a Partenavia belonging to Alex, the owner. Alex told us that about 20% of his guests are fly-ins. He understands the problems of fly in guests who have no ground transport so kindly lent us his car so we could drive to a winery about 5 minutes away, where we tasted a few wines and shared a charcouterie platter. It was great to sit out on the verandah at Lowes enjoying the sun.

Sadly the good weather didn’t last. A cold front went through overnight and Friday morning greeted us with cloud covering the tops of all the surrounding hills and steady drizzle that occasionally turned to rain. The forecast indicated it would ease by lunch time so we waited. And waited. Our plan to fly on to Wagga that day didn’t look too promising and we thought we might be stuck in Mudgee for another night. Normally that wouldn’t be so bad but Alex told us he had no rooms that night and that Mudgee was pretty much booked out for the weekend.

So I pre-flighted ROC , submitted another IFR flight notification, this time to Wagga Wagga via Temora, and waited for the weather to clear. After about another hour the rain stopped and the cloud lifted. I decided to take off and orbit above the aerodrome to lowest safe. Once above lowest safe we could track to Temora, climbing through the clouds. I checked with ATC that the flight plan was still valid then taxied out to the runway. After take off I made a couple of orbits over the aerodrome as we climbed and before we reached our lowest safe of 4700ft a gap in the clouds appeared in the direction of Temora so we headed off and soon were well above lowest safe. We continued to climb to 6000ft in and out of clouds. More practice at flying in IMC. Gradually the clouds started to thin out especially in the direction of Wagga so I amended the flight plan and, after advising ATC of my intention, tracked direct to Wagga. That’s one of the good things about flying IFR. You can not only fly through clouds but can change your mind along the way and ATC help you get to where you want to go. You just have to let them know where you want to go and they provide you with weather and traffic information.

Eventually we were flying over a layer of clouds and we could see the western edge of the frontal system in the distance. By the time we were abeam Temora it was blue sky and clear of clouds below us as well. We descended into Wagga, passing over the Murrumbidgee and followed a few other GA aircraft in.

After tying down the aircraft we wandered across the apron past about 20 REX training aircraft. Wagga is the headquarters of REX so they train their pilots and store their aircraft there. We were met by our friend Trudi who drove us into town by the Murrumbidgee to a park where they had various stalls set up selling local produce and nibbles and drinks and live music. It was very pleasant to be relaxing in the sun again after our gloomy morning at Mudgee.

On Saturday morning we were up early. We wanted to fly with Trudi to Temora, about 30 minutes north, and to visit the aviation museum, before continuing our trip to Mildura in the afternoon. Trudi has started to learn to fly in Wagga and was keen to see what it’s like to fly with a PPL rather than just doing circuits and drills. After a quick breakfast we took off for Temora around 10am and after a smooth 30 minute flight landed on RWY 18 and taxied to the parking area next to the museum.

The museum is a private one that specialises in military aircraft that are all restored and fully functional, including two full scale Spitfires. They have monthly flying events where the various warbirds are put through their paces. We didn’t have a lot of time there but were able to see all the aircraft and also a display on Leonardo DaVinci’s machines that was visiting at the time. It was a very professional setup with some really interesting hardware on display.

Soon after 12 we were taking off and heading back to Wagga. We landed, taxied to the AvGas bowser and filled the tanks ready for the trip to Mildura. We said bye to Trudi and taxied out, took off and climbed out to the west over the town.

From Wagga we tracked west, following the Murrumbidgee as it meandered its way past Nerandera, Hay and Balranald. The green pastures gave way to wheat fields and finally to irrigated vineyards as we approached Mildura. We landed, tied down the aircraft, and caught a taxi into town and enjoyed a refreshment at the Mildura Brewery, one of the establishments created by Stefano de Pieri, Mildura’s own Heston Blumenthal. Sonja joined us for a late dinner after finishing her shift.

Sunday morning dawned disappointingly. Mildura, a city famous for its blue skies, had a grey one. Overcast with cloud at about 2000ft. We had intended to fly first thing to Mungo National Park about 30 minutes to the north but, given the weather, we decided to have a casual brunch while waiting for the clouds to clear. We dropped into Stefano’s Café, another of the establishments that Stefano de Pieri created. By the time we’d finished brunch the clouds had burned off, the sun was out and there was the clear blue sky that Mildura is so famous for.

I prepared ROC for the short flight and then taxied out to RWY 18, backtracking most of its length as there’s no separate taxi way. We took off to the south and turned to climb over the CBD and the river. After about 30 minutes the Mungo Lodge airstrips appeared in front of us. We continued on to the Walls of China, a line of sand dunes that curve about 30 km around the northern edge of the dry bed of Lake Mungo. After following the dunes from one end to the other we headed to Mungo Lodge and landed on one of the dirt strips. After a quick look around the lodge, a cup of coffee and a chat on the deck we prepared for our return to Mildura.

As we headed back to ROC we noticed a couple of emus strolling across one of the runways. This was a bit of a concern. Bird strikes are never good but an emu strike would be especially bad, even on the ground at low speed. So Sonja and Sigi kept a good lookout as I taxied to the active runway. I practised a soft field takeoff, flying just above emu height to pick up speed before climbing away.

About 10 miles north of Mildura we tracked west towards Wentworth so we could view the confluence of the Darling and the Murray from the air. It looked much better at 4,500 feet than at 35,000! We orbited over Wentworth where some local traffic was doing circuits and then tracked to Mildura.

Monday was a non-flying day. I wanted to refuel ROC ready for our departure the next day, though, so drove out to the airport in the morning. The refuelling business had recently been taken over by a US company and they hadn’t set up automated credit card facilities on the bowser yet so I had to call the supervisor to help me. He unlocked the bowser and as I refuelled chatted about how he recently had to refuel a plane for one of the customers because the pilot wasn’t able to refuel it himself. And the reason? He was 92 years old and didn’t feel safe on the ladder. He said the elderly gent was travelling around the state in his private plane with his wife who was about the same age. Impressive!

We drove over to Trentham Estate on the NSW side of the river for lunch. This is a winery we visited a couple of times in the distant past. It really impressed us then and did so again. They had a good selection of wines to taste and made a couple of platters for our lunch. The gardens looking over the river are great and the weather was perfect for a picnic.

On Tuesday it was time to depart Mildura. We were heading to Louth, a town of approximately 50 people on the left bank of the Darling River about 100km south west of Bourke. Just after 8am we drove out to the airport. When you’re flying into an outback town I like to take the day’s newspapers with me as the locals don’t get them very often and appreciate them when they do. It worked in Lawn Hill last year and given that Louth really is “back of Bourke” it was likely that the newspapers would be a hit there too. So before departing we bought a couple, along with flat whites to provide our morning hit of caffeine.

After starting the engine and watching a QLink Dash 8 arrive from Melbourne we taxied out to runway 36 and took off to the north. Soon we were cruising at 6000ft while roughly following the course of the Darling River. We were definitely on our own out there. No other aircraft within cooee. Just us and ATC. There were a number of properties hugging the Darling along the way and a few airstrips associated with them and occasional mines but no sign of activity. Our first waypoint was the town of Menindee, about one hour from Mildura, on the shores of Menindee Lakes, Broken Hill’s water supply.

From Menindee we tracked direct to Louth, just over an hour away and descended to 5000ft. ATC advised that there was another aircraft carrying out survey work for a new instrument approach at Wilcannia. The pilot was flying at altitudes of up to 5000ft and could potentially fly across our path. Closer to the capital cities ATC would keep us separated by referring to radar but there’s no radar or ADSB coverage at 5000ft that far out. So ATC ensured that the other aircraft descended below 5000ft before we were too close to it. All done simply, smoothly and professionally. At times like that you have to love IFR.

Continuing along the Darling we passed over Tilpa, a one house town with a bridge over the river and a sealed runway. There seems to have been a project out west to install sealed runways in key locations to allow the Royal Flying Doctor to fly in with the larger aircraft they use these days.

Another 10 minutes and we started descending into Louth, known in some quarters for its annual races. Not quite as famous as Birdsville maybe but still very popular amongst the NSW outback population we’re told. Back in Mudgee a friend of Alex had told us that she went to the races this year and had a great time.

We orbited over Louth at 2000ft and checked out the sealed strip from above. Cath, the owner of the local pub, Shindy’s Inn, had told me on the phone that I didn’t have to worry about kangaroos and emus on the strip as it was fully fenced, and so it was. A real bonus in such an out of the way place. We wouldn’t have a repeat of our Mungo Lodge emu encounter. Once again some good infrastructure installed for the flying doctor.

Tackling a slight cross wind we landed smoothly and taxied to the tie down area. Following a quick call to Cath a 4WD arrived to take us the short drive to the pub where we’d booked a cabin for the night. Our cabin had a deck overlooking the Darling. The river flows through a deep tree lined channel between levee banks and you could see that the water level is much higher at times of flood. Originally we’d thought we could go for a swim in the river but after Cath told us she hadn’t swum in it the 20 odd years she’d lived in Louth and wouldn’t recommend it we decided to give it a miss. The temperature was only about 30C so we were quite happy to settle into the pub for a drink and lunch instead.

Louth is not big. It’s really just a river crossing and road junction with the pub, a school, the race track, a cricket oval, a somewhat decrepit church, a post office that has been converted into a B&B and about 20 houses. And the bitumen only stretches to the edge of town. Then it’s a 100km drive on gravel to Bourke. There were about a dozen people in the pub. Locals in high vis vests , some grey nomads and a young guy doing a tour through NSW on his Yamaha trail bike.

Apart from the races Louth is famous for its cemetery so we wandered over to check it out. The main reason for its notoriety is the grave of Mary Mathews, the first wife of one of the early pioneers . At about 10 metres, the granite memorial towers above all the surrounding gravestones. Mary died at age 22 after having 4 children. Thomas Matthews married three more times but 17 years after her death, and after being married to his second wife for about 15 years, he had the memorial erected for the wife he still missed. The story goes that his second wife didn’t mind too much!

Back at the pub we had a couple of beers with the locals. When they heard we’d flown in and I mentioned how good the airstrip was one complained about the deterioration of the service provided by the flying doctor.

“They used to fly in small planes that could land on any dirt strip on any property. Now with their King Airs and Pilatus’s they need long sealed strips and so people have to drive from miles around to places like Louth. Not good!”

That was one angle we hadn’t thought of.

Oh, and the newspapers were a great success!

Wednesday dawned with a clear blue sky. It was time to head home. We’d be following the Darling and its tributaries across northern NSW. Cath took us out to the airstrip and wished us “bon voyage”. It was a short VFR hop to Bourke where we filled up with AvGas then headed off IFR to Lighting Ridge. I’d lodged a two stage flight notification with a guesstimated 90 minute stopover in Lightning Ridge. As we climbed to 7000ft we were identified by ATC who notified us that a Piper Chieftain was coming towards us a mile or so to our right descending into Bourke. We kept a lookout but didn’t spot him.

We passed over some pretty desolate country on the way out of Bourke. Not much in the way of farming out that far. Officially the Darling begins about 50km east of Bourke at the confluence of the Culgoa and Barwon rivers. A large number of tributaries flow into these rivers further east with the Border Rivers around Stanthorpe and Inverell generally considered the headwaters of the Darling.

About an hour out of Bourke we descended into Lightning Ridge. Overflying the airstrip I noticed some workers with a truck parked next to the runway threshold. One of the guys called up on the radio.

“Hey mate are you planning to land here?”

“Yes sure am.”

“Ok we’ll get out of your way.”

“Thanks.”

After shutting down we wandered over to the terminal building and considered how we’d get to town. A pinup board had a hand written sign on it. “If you want a lift to town call the Outback Resort and they may help you out”. So I called and explained that we wanted to get into town for some lunch.

“Oh we don’t have any taxis in town love but our handyman can pick you up.”

5 minutes later Barry the handyman appeared and drove us into town.

Lightning Ridge is an opal mining centre and has a largely itinerant population. A sign at the edge of town says: “Lightning Ridge – Population ???”. There are thousands of claims and mullock heaps spread around the town and reaching out up to 50km according to Barry. The town has thermal baths and a few opal retailers and jewellers with some great designs for sale and a couple of nice cafes. Barry drove us to one of those. A light breeze blew through the shaded verandah as we tucked into our steak sandwiches. It was a perfect day. Apparently the tourist season was coming to an end though as the 40+ days would soon arrive. Barry returned at the agreed time and drove us back to the airport.

“Thanks for the lift Barry. How much do we owe you?”

“Oh I reckon twenty bucks would keep the boss happy.”

We returned to ROC and were soon cruising at 7000ft on track for Goondiwindi. The land gradually started to green up as we approached the border. Banks of puffy cumulus clouds appeared ahead of us with their bases just below 7000ft so we flew in and out of them like passing though waves of fog. It’s great to fly into a cloud and pop out the other side and take in the new vista. Another plus of flying IFR. Over Goondiwindi we turned towards Brisbane and were soon passing over Wellcamp Airport on one side and Toowoomba on the other. Brisbane Centre passed us over to Amberley Approach who gave us a clearance into Redcliffe at 7000ft. We flew over Lake Wivenhoe, the upper reaches of the Brisbane River and Somerset Dam and were transferred to Brisbane Approach for our descent into Redcliffe. The sky was blue, visibility was for ever, it was a great homecoming.

We landed, emptied ROC of our belongings and dropped the keys off at the aero club. One of the instructors asked where we’d been. “Mildura ,eh? You know that’s where ROC comes from? It used to belong to a geologist who lived there. He chose the call sign.”

In September 2016 Sigi and I flew to The Town of 1770/Agnes Water for a couple of nights. This twin town is the site of Captain James Cook’s first port of call in what is known today as Queensland on his voyage of discovery up the east coast of Australia in May 1770. There were just two small settlements here until it was rediscovered by some celebrities about 20-30 years ago. Being some 500km north of Brisbane it is quite remote and used to be even more so. Apparently it used to take 4-5 hours to drive the last 60km from the main highway over a rough track. In the mid 90’s a sealed road was completed. Since then resorts and accommodation galore have been constructed. Fortunately for us, there’s a grass airstrip too, located smack bang between the township of Agnes Water and the Town of 1770 and there’s a resort literally just across the road.

Agnes Water and Airstrip from the North

We took off from Redcliffe on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. It happened to be the day of the aeroclub open day so, after spending a few hours at the club in the morning, we managed to taxi away in the ROC (Cessna 182) just after lunch and climb out to the north west. It was about a 90 minute flight via Gympie, and to the west of Bundaberg. I’d decided to fly IFR as there were a few clouds forecast on our way. As it turn out our flight path actually managed to avoid the clouds even though some reasonably heavy rain was falling closer to the coast.

Town of 1770 from the West

There’s a hill at the southern end of the runway at Agnes Water and it slopes down gently to the south, so normal practice is to land from the north and take off to the north unless there’s a strong northerly wind. Guess what? I’d rung up the aerodrome owner (“Woody”) before we started and he’d said that although the strip was in good condition there was a strong northerly blowing and we may have to land from the south. As I’d already been to there before and knew the lay of the land that didn’t bother me, I’d just have to be prepared to do a couple of overflies and check it out well before we attempted to land. If it were too difficult I could divert to Gladstone.

We made an approach call on the Agnes Water frequency when we were 10 miles out and were advised by one of the local pilots that they were indeed landing from the south. He was heading off up the coast so said we’d have the circuit to ourselves. There would be plenty of room for us to check out the field and do a couple of overflies.

Approaching from the south at about 1500ft I advised Brisbane Centre that we were in the circuit of Agnes Water and cancelled the Sarwatch. I then concentrated on the state of the strip, the wind and the surroundings. We did a midfield crosswind join on RWY33 then joined the left downwind, eyeing off the hill to the south of the strip and the houses on its flanks. Turning base and then final I got a feel for how high I’d have to be to clear the hill and how I’d have to drop down to reach the threshold. On this instance however I remained at 500ft and did a flyover to inspect the strip, check the windsock and look for animals or obstacles. It was all clear and the wind was a consistent 10 knots from the north. The strip looked in good condition and I could see a clear path to climb out to the north if we had to abort the landing and go around.

Runway 33 Looking North

We climbed back up to 1000 ft and turned downwind for the second time. This time I was confident we could land so prepared the aircraft and turned base once again. Passing over the top of the hill we turned final and once we’d cleared it dropped down towards the threshold. We touched down softly not too far down the runway and taxied the remaining distance to the tie down area.

Tied Down for the Night

While we were tying the aircraft town, Woody called to see how we’d fared. I told him it was fine and he seemed relieved. We put our $50 landing fee into a secure box mounted within a tree trunk and walked 300m down the bush track and across the road to the “Lagoons at 1770” resort. This is a top spot with amazingly friendly staff and a restaurant that would do any capital city proud. It was a 5 minute walk to the beach that stretches 6km from the Agnes Water town centre in the south to the Joseph Banks Conservation Park at the northern tip of the peninsula on which The Town of 1770 is located.

Lagoons at 1770

We spent two nights at Lagoons at 1770, spending the Monday walking up the beach to 1770 and back and swimming in the pool and at the patrolled beach at Agnes Water. It was a very relaxing spot and would be a nice spot to spend a week sometime.

Beach Access from Lagoons at 1770

On day 3 however it was time to head back to Redcliffe. The weather was fine and clear with no cloud forecast so I decided on a VFR flight back along the coast. We checked out at about 9am and by 10am were rolling down RWY33 to the north (with a slight tail wind). One of the local aircraft told us over the radio that they’d just seen a number of whales breaching about 25 km north at the northern end of Bustard Bay so we headed up that way to look for ourselves. We weren’t as lucky. We couldn’t see any whales and after doing a couple of orbits we headed back south, passing over 1770 and Agnes Water towards Bargara. The weather remained kind as we continued down the coast to Hervey Bay. As we passed to the west of the airport we saw a Virgin jet taxiing to the runway. He called up and asked our intentions. I mentioned we were heading direct to Rainbow Beach and he said “Where is Rainbow Beach”. Once I explained I meant the southern tip of Fraser Island he understood and said he’d climb out to the east to avoid us.

Inskip Point Left with Fraser Island on the Right

Further down we heard a light aircraft was taking off from Rainbow Beach for a parachute drop so we had a chat and agreed to remain over water to avoid him as he climbed out.

The Cooloola Coast was full of holiday makers with 4WDs on the beach. There must have been some good fishing spots down there. As we passed Noosa we called up Sunshine Coast Tower and got a clearance through the D Class airspace and then set course direct to Redcliffe via Bribie Island.

It was great little trip and is ideal for a weekend or a couple of nights mid week. The promity of a number of resorts to the airstrip makes it very convenient. Alternatively a taxi could be called to reach accommodation in central 1770 or Agnes Water. Although the strip can be a bit tricky in a northerly wind it’s not anything that anyone with a bit of experience landing on grass strips wouldn’t be able to handle although they may need to go around once or twice to get a feel for it. Under normal conditions you’d land from the north over some mud flats. The $50 landing fee may seem steep but it’s used to maintain it and Woody provides a very friendly service and advice as required. There’s plenty of room to park and tie down as well.

Aircraft Parking Area

Emerald – Longreach – Adel’s Grove – Lawn Hill – Winton – Kingaroy

After more than 5 years of flight training and 220 flying hours around south east Queensland I felt it was high time that my wife Sigi and I attempt our very first long distance air safari. It was early in 2016 and I’d read about previous aeroclub flyaways to Adel’s Grove in north western Queensland so when I received an email from the club announcing such a flyaway for June I thought it’d be a great opportunity to spread our wings while enjoying a bit of moral support from other club members, both during preparation and during the trip itself. Adel’s Grove is located on the eastern boundary of Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park, about 1800km north west of Brisbane. It’s a small pocket of private property, planted out with a range of exotic plant species by a French-Australian botanist called Albert de Lestang in the early 20^th century, and has been run as a low key resort since the 1980’s. The name comes from Albert’s initials – A de L.

As the departure date drew closer, however, one after the other of our fellow travellers withdrew. Eventually Sigi and I were the only ones left and had to decide whether or not to do our first long distance trip on our own. By this time, I’d already reserved VH-ROC, the aircraft I’d been flying mostly over the previous 12 months since receiving my PPL, I’d bought all the latest maps, and planned all the flight legs. As we’d be flying over officially designated “remote” areas we needed a survival kit, first aid, additional water and rations. This was just in case we were forced down in an out of the way spot. The aircraft is fitted with an emergency locator beacon but in the Australian outback it could take time until Search and Rescue locate you. We’d take two days to fly up and two days to fly back, with a three night stop in Adel’s Grove and one night in Longreach each way. I’d contacted the resort at Adel’s Grove and aerodromes along the way to confirm availability of AvGas and access to mechanical repair services, just in case. So we were pretty well all sorted. So after a brief discussion we decided it was still on.

Sigi had been bit nervous in the days leading up to our departure, only having flown with me on a few occasions, the furthest being to Hervey Bay, about 60 minutes up the coast, so I was pretty impressed that she ventured out to Redcliffe with me that sunny Thursday morning for a 5 hour flight into the outback. We parked our car next to the hangar and loaded our bags into the ROC. The sky was blue and enticing so, after pre-flighting the plane, rechecking the weather via Naips online and submitting the flight notification on the Ipad, we started up and taxied over to runway 25. Soon we were climbing away from Redcliffe into the cloudless blue yonder and setting course for Emerald.

We passed over my “aerial stomping ground”, tracking over Kilcoy and Lake Somerset and on past Kingaroy and Wondai, where I’d gone on my first solo cross country flight more than 2 years previously. I’ve flown back and forwards over this country so many times I treat it like my backyard. It’s a very picturesque area too with rolling hills and rivers and farmland.

As we passed over Wondai we left that familiar territory behind and struck out into the south eastern interior, a part of Queensland that neither of us had been to before. Farmland stretched to the horizon, interspersed with towns like Cracow, with its mine, Theodore with its good looking sealed strip, the Dawson Range escarpment cutting across our track like a gigantic blade and the South Blackwater coal mine.

After just over two hours we began our descent into Emerald. A Qantaslink flight announced its departure to Brisbane on the area frequency and the CTAF as we approached. An RAAF pilot announced he was 30 miles to the east and about to carry out a practice instrument approach over Emerald in a C17 Globemaster. I mentioned we were 20 miles out and agreed how we would avoid each other as he overflew at 3500ft. We could see him in the distance passing over Emerald, turning and heading back in again from the west. We descended to 2000ft and passed under him as we entered the circuit and landed on runway 15. I checked that we had sufficient fuel left for the trip to Longreach, put the ASIC ID card round my neck, secured the aircraft and we walked over to the terminal for a coffee. It was a strange but satisfying feeling sitting in the departure lounge full of RPT passengers waiting for their flights as we drank our flat whites, knowing that we’d arrived “under our own steam” and would depart again the same way.

After the break we headed back to the ROC. We’d parked next to a FoxBat, a small plane made in Ukraine and the owner, a grazier, was preparing to fly back to his property about 30 miles west of Emerald. We chatted with him and his son, who was dropping him off at the airport. It turned out the son had done his PPL at Redcliffe, and is currently undertaking CPL training in Rockhampton. The farmer said he used the FoxBat on his property. With a very short ground run he can land it and take off from most of his paddocks. We watched him taxi to the runway and take off. Sure enough, it lifted off after less than 100 metres of ground run. We departed 10 minutes later and as we overtook him over Sapphire he called us up on the radio and wished us a pleasant flight.

Flying to the north of the main highway, we passed over the Drummond Range, the settlements of Alpha and Beta (yes they really are called that) and on to Barcaldine. Abeam Ilfracombe we spotted Longreach airport in the distance. We descended and joined downwind for Runway 22, turned and touched down lightly not too far down the runway. With about 1.5km of runway remaining we then had to taxi for what seemed like ages to reach the apron at the far end!

With Longreach being the first Qantas base in the 1920s, it’s now home to the Qantas Founders’ Museum. The collection includes one of the early 747s flown by Qantas and the first Boeing 707 they bought. Our intention had been to visit the museum that afternoon but by the time we’d refuelled the plane and secured it, it was after 4pm so we decided to leave the visit until our return journey.

Across the road from the museum we checked in at the Kinnon and Co motel. A grazier family, the Kinnons have developed their tourism business in Longreach as a sideline, specializing in “outback experiences” such as Cobb and Co coach rides, visits to their operating cattle stations, bath tubs under the stars and cruises on the nearby Thomson River. After a brief swim to cool off we headed off along a nature trail that runs alongside the road into downtown Longreach.

Located on the Tropic of Capricorn, Longreach is an interesting outback town with about 150 years of history. Its railway station is 100 years old this year and there had been a special celebration the day before with the Queensland Governor arriving by train from Brisbane in a 100-year-old Vice-Regal carriage. More than 200 people had gathered at the station to cheer and welcome him. The tour was arranged to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of Queensland Rail and the Governor was hoping his outback visit would boost morale in the drought-stricken region. Little did he realise that less than a week later the area would be deluged, giving the locals even more to cheer about. After a couple of award winning steaks that boosted our own morale we walked back along the nature trail to our motel for a good night’s sleep, checking out the starry, starry night as we went. The outback really is the best place to observe the stars. Fascinating!

Day 2 took us to Adel’s Grove. We departed Longreach before 8am and headed north, generally following the main highway to Cloncurry and passing over Winton and McKinlay (the pub was used in Crocodile Dundee as the Walkabout Creek Pub). Landing at Cloncurry we discovered the bowser was out of action. Our lesson for the day was: phone up the fuel agent if you need AvGas and check its availability before you finalise your flight plan each day. It wouldn’t have helped in that case as the bowser had just broken down but was sound advice for the future. Luckily on this occasion we could easily divert to Mt Isa for fuel. So we took off again and flew west over the hills, passing over the Ernest Henry Mine just west of Cloncurry. Ernest Henry is a copper mine developed by Mount Isa Mines in the 90’s and while working for MIM I’d heard lots about it but never seen it. Finally I did – from 4500 ft.

Twenty minutes later we were preparing for a landing into Mt Isa from the south. We joined downwind and landed on runway 34, taxied to the bowser and topped up with AvGas. The local ARO, Andrew, drove up to us and introduced himself, took my ASIC details and asked whether we had hi-vis jackets. He explained that they’re about to introduce a new requirement for all crew airside to wear hi-vis and it will appear in the next ERSA. It’s something we’ll need to keep in mind for future visits and be aware that more aerodromes will introduce this requirement over time.

While we had a coffee and sandwich in the terminal I planned the final leg to Adel’s Grove. This would be the most remote yet, flying over uninhabited country for more than 100 miles. Luckily the ROC has a good Garmin GPS, and we had the maps and OzRunways to help us locate landmarks along the way. OzRunways is a great help in planning and conducting flights around this huge country.  It shows clearly the route you have to take, calculates fuel requirements, weight and balance and shows your current location on the map. It can be used to submit flight notifications as well so is a one stop shop for all flight planning activities.  After submitting the flight notification and phoning Adel’s Grove reception to tell them to expect us in about an hour and a half, and buying the day’s newspaper, we were ready to head off. Adel’s Grove wasn’t in the Garmin’s data base so I input the lat/long co-ordinates and we were set. Taxiing out to the runway we heard a Virgin flight and a flying doctor approaching so waited at the holding point for them to land. We then backtracked down to the end of the runway, turned and headed off to the north.

Passing over the George Fisher Mine just north of Mount Isa we flew parallel to the Barkly Highway, the only sealed road linking Queensland and the Northern Territory, until it curved off to the west. We continued further north into a remote and largely barren landscape, passing over Lady Annie Mine and the Gunpowder region.

It’s a long way between any signs of civilization up that way but there is great natural beauty. It must have been incredibly difficult to navigate in those remote regions in the days before GPS with so little in obvious landmarks.

After about an hour we passed over the Gregory River and were soon on our descent into Adel’s Grove, with the nearby Century Zinc Mine acting as a giant visual homing beacon.

There was a great view of Lawn Hill Gorge and the surrounding country as we approached the resort and did a couple of circuits.

We made a 300 ft overfly to check out the condition of the strip from the air. It’s a gravel strip and seemed to be in good condition, albeit a bit narrow. A windsock near the parking area was hanging limp, indicating calm conditions. Perfect for landing on the narrow strip, I thought – no crosswind to contend with. After a smooth touchdown we were directed to the parking area by the minibus driver who was there to meet us. While he drove Sigi to check in I secured the ROC.

Twenty minutes later he was back to take me to the resort. They have a variety of accommodation types at Adel’s Grove including ensuite single, twin and double rooms. We’d reserved a pre-erected “glamping” tent. It had its own deck, flooring, comfortable double bed and electric lighting.

After settling in we explored the resort grounds and along the creek and went for a quick dip at some rapids nearby. I dropped off the newspaper we’d bought in Mt Isa at the reception and there was an outpouring of gratitude. I’d been advised to take the day’s newspaper with us to remote strips as it’s something that the locals really appreciate and this was certainly the case. It appears that they don’t get that many fly in visitors and even less who bring them the day’s newspaper.

We booked in for a sunset viewing on “Harry’s Hill”. Harry was a local identity who used to take visitors to this vantage point covered in termite mounds about 2km away from the resort to tell stories about the region while the sun set over the hills.

Harry passed away some years ago but the resort carries on the tradition complete with a toast to Harry’s memory. So as the day drew to a close we watched the sun disappear over the horizon while enjoying drinks and nibbles – the end of another perfect blue sky flying day.

Day 3 was our day to visit Lawn Hill Gorge. First up though was a chance to check on the ROC, top up the oil and walk the airstrip to check its condition, all 1200 metres of it.

A good, hard packed gravel strip but with soft ground on either side. Not good if you taxi off the side I’d been warned on the phone a few days earlier. Apparently they’d had a bit of rain two weeks before and one aircraft was bogged when he strayed off the runway and had to be towed out. I spotted three Jabirus at the far end. Majestic tall grey birds with red heads and black wing tips. Disturbed as I approached, they soared away into the crisp morning air.

On my return to the tie down area it occurred to me that the windsock was still hanging limp even though there was a fair crosswind blowing. On a closer look I discovered the reason – it was caught on a steel beam – that’s one reason why it indicated calm conditions on landing! Lesson for the day: don’t automatically believe every windsock you see! One of the resort maintenance guys drove past so I told him and he climbed up and released it to flutter in the breeze.

After breakfast on the deck in front of our tent we arranged a lift to Lawn Hill National Park, about 10 km away. The creek flows through a very beautiful gorge with cliffs about 20 metres high. It’s separated into an upper and lower gorge, divided by some waterfalls. It’s known to be inhabited by crocodiles. Unlike the man-eating salt water crocodiles near the coast of northern Australia, these are only “freshies” i.e. freshwater crocs. They are relatively small and only bite humans if provoked. They can give you a nasty bite however so there were plenty of signs warning against them.

The lady at reception had reassuringly told us (with tongue firmly implanted in cheek) “I wouldn’t worry too much – I haven’t seen any yet and I’ve been here since Saturday!”.

At the national park we rented a kayak and headed off up the creek. The Lawn Hill Creek flows through a very beautiful gorge between cliffs that are about 20-30 metres high.

It’d been 37 degrees two days before so we were lucky that it was only about 27 and a bit cloudy so good for paddling and walking. On reaching Andarri Falls we had to lift the kayak out of the water and walk around a short track to the top of the falls and continued in the upper gorge.

We were on the lookout for crocodiles but were out of luck. The consolation prize was a tortoise, scambling up a rock out of the water as we passed.

After about a 2.5 hours return trip we surrendered out kayak and headed off for a walk around the top of the gorge. That warmed us up enough to enjoy a swim in the “croc infested” waters!

Back at Adel’s Grove we had dinner on the deck and chatted to a few other travellers with their own travel stories. Most of the clientele were “grey nomads”. These are retired people, usually couples, travelling around the country in four wheel drives and caravans. They are usually well equipped and many travel for months and months at a stretch. Some had even taken on jobs at the resort, either at reception or in the bar and restaurant to pay their way for while and have a break from travelling. Most were impressed with the fact that we’d flown in. One lady told a story how she had participated in an air race around Queensland in 1988 prior to Expo and concluded the trip with a fly past over Brisbane on Expo opening day.

Day 4 was spent around Adel’s Grove. We had intended to fly up north to Burketown on the gulf but the wind was unfavourable so we gave that a miss. Instead we hired another kayak and headed up the creek from the campground. It was a very peaceful stretch of water.

This time we were in luck, spotting a reasonable sized crocodile sunning itself on a log. It was about one metre long and an impressive specimen. I sure wouldn’t want to be bitten by it!

Some wild pigs crashed through the bush on the other side of the creek as we were walking back to the campground and a lone kangaroo hopped past. We enjoyed one more outback dinner on the deck before retiring. We had a long flight ahead back to Longreach in the morning.

Day 5 and we were rolling in the ROC down the runway at Adel’s Grove soon after sunrise, heading south to Mt Isa and Longreach. The plan was to stop at Mt Isa for fuel and a coffee, then fly direct to Longreach. The weather report had indicated there may be some showers in Longreach in the afternoon and because we wanted to spend time at the Qantas Founders Museum anyway we decided it best we get there as soon as possible. We couldn’t resist a couple of passes over Lawn Hill Gorge though after takeoff, as it was such a lovely morning. The trip to Mount Isa was very smooth with no other traffic except for a REX plane heading out to Cloncurry. We listened to the AWIS weather, noted the northerly direction of the wind and planned another touchdown to the north. As we headed downwind Mt Isa town and mine was straight ahead of us.

Touching down about 9:15 we refuelled the plane, had another brief chat with Andrew the security guy, then locked up and headed over to the terminal building to have our coffee, buy a sandwich for an enroute lunch, check the weather forecast again and submit the flight notification for the next leg. This all took about an hour so we didn’t start up again until 10:25 and took off to the south east, tracking direct to Longreach.

As we flew over another very remote part of the country, with no man made landmarks, the GPS and OzRunways were invaluable. The first discernible landmark was the railway line from Mt Isa to Townsville. It makes a large loop around the southern end of the mountainous area that forms the mining region between Mt Isa and Cloncurry. I’d planned to fly at 7500ft but some clouds started to appear and were just at that level so we descended to 5500ft. As we continued the clouds started to get lower so we flew lower, until when we were about 100 miles out of Longreach we were down at 1800ft and the clouds were looking even lower ahead. There was some drizzle on the windscreen as well and we could see moderately heavy rain falling up ahead. Also by now we had a 30 knot head wind which was slowing us down no end.

Now this turn of events had always been a possibility, albeit a slight one, as the morning weather report had indicated some showers were expected at Longreach, so we decided on our “Plan B”: divert to Winton. The chief navigator, with the aid of OzRunways on the Ipad, pointed us in the right direction and off we flew, descending to circuit height of 1400ft as we neared the town (the clouds were still getting lower). We spotted a magnificent wide sealed runway and joined downwind for runway 16, noted the windsocks were practically horizontal (meaning at least 15 knot winds) and somewhat crosswind. Turning onto final at 500ft above ground level, our flight computer showed that we were flying into a 30 knot headwind even at that level, meaning that our touch down ground speed was only about 40 knots instead of the normal 70. We parked the ROC on the apron and sat in it for a while as the wind rocked us gently to and fro. A small helicopter departed into the clouds in front of us but as the wind continued to blow and increased further in intensity we decided to head into the terminal building.

The Winton aerodrome is of course a fairly low key affair. The terminal was warm and dry however and the caretaker Bill came past and kindly offered to make us a cup of tea or coffee. Given that the temperature had dropped below 20C by now we agreed and soon he was back with a thermos of hot water and some tea bags. We chatted as we drank our tea and ate the sandwich we’d bought in Mt Isa. Bill and his wife Ivene were from Deagon in Brisbane but had been out in Winton for a few years as their daughter had moved out there. “We haven’t had a storm like this for ages. It’s been blue sky for weeks.” was Bill’s observation.

It started to rain and after a while the “storm” worsened somewhat. The wind picked up some more and rain fell at 45 degrees across the car park. Referring to a new weather forecast we discovered that rain was expected to continue all through the rest of the day and the night until the morning. We cancelled our hotel in Longreach and booked into a motel in Winton for the night. I went out to secure the aircraft for the night by now having to wade in about 10cm of water to secure the tail of the aircraft to the tie down cable.

Ray and Jan from the Outback Motel were only too happy to pick us up from the airport and take us into town. Winton is famous as the place where amongst other things, the first Qantas board meeting was held, Waltzing Matilda was performed in public for the first time, and Lyndon B. Johnson while a soldier during WW2 spent a night after the troop carrier he was in “crash landed” nearby. They must have had a bit of a storm that day too!

After checking into the Outback we went for a walk around the streets of Winton, inspecting some unique artwork at Arno’s wall. A local artist of sorts, Arno has constructed an interesting wall along the side of his house.

It’s up to 2 metres tall and includes all manner of machinery that he’s rescued from the local tip over the decades, embedded in concrete. He’s also established a park next door to his house for the use of the general public and appears to be quite a character about town.

Ray recommended we have dinner at the Tattersalls Hotel down the street from the motel so we headed off for a couple of steaks. The “Tatts” was a classic Australian outback pub with characters galore, a mixture of locals and travellers.

The varied clientele was entertained by “Sax and the Single Girl” who was a really good saxophone player. The steak was great as was the Merlot. We swapped aviation stories with a couple from Mudgee who had also diverted to Winton in their Cessna because of the bad weather. They were on their way to Sweers Island in the Gulf for a bit of fishing. The rain was a big talking point around town because the main roads were cut so people couldn’t get in or out. Not at all normal for this time of year!

Day 6 was time to head for home. After a hearty breakfast at a cafe in downtown Winton Ray drove us out to the airport. We met up with Bill and Ivene, who in addition to providing hot tea could supply us with AvGas. The sun was out, the clouds were dissipating and all looked good. The wind was still 10-15 knots and somewhat crosswind but it was fine for takeoff. So we headed off to Emerald, climbing to 7500 feet and passing over some scattered clouds along the way.

At Emerald there was a quick pit stop to top up the fuel, grab a coffee and croissant, submit the flight notification for the next leg and we took off again, tracking direct to Redcliffe. Once again there was a bit of cloud around that irritatingly hovered around the 5000ft level, so we had to remain around 3500ft. We passed over the Blackwater Coal Mine, Theodore and Cracow and the clouds eventually thinned out a bit so we could climb to 7500ft again. Making good time we were on track to arrive at Redcliffe at 4:45 with 40 minutes to spare before last light. Over Wondai, where I flew to on my first solo cross country flight a couple of years ago, we entered familiar territory and thought we were home and hosed. Just at that moment, however, we noticed some bad weather brewing on the horizon. Clouds had gathered east of Kingaroy over the ranges near Lake Somerset and Kilcoy and we could see heavy rain ahead. Normally we would wait it out or head north east to fly around it but with last light only an hour away we didn’t have enough time, so we diverted back to Kingaroy and landed. Surprisingly, there was an RAAF Bombadier Challenger jet on the tarmac that dwarfed our Cessna 182. I rang the aero club and told them we wouldn’t be back until the morning, booked a motel and caught a taxi into town. Finally after flying to Kingaroy so many times I had an opportunity to get to know the town and have a meal at the RSL!

Day 7 saw us wake to a cold grey day in Kingaroy. We’d arranged with Darren, our taxi driver from the previous day, to pick us up at 6:45 before he finished his night shift, thinking we could be off the ground by 7:15 and back in Redcliffe before 8am. As he drove us to the aerodrome Darren filled us in on his night’s work with no time to sleep and so much work on he had to call in the boss to help out. Who is getting taxis in the wee small hours in Kingaroy we wondered?

Arriving at the Bjelke Peterson airport we noticed that the weather gods weren’t playing ball. The sky was overcast with a ceiling at about 1000ft and there was low cloud covering a nearby hill. I recalled a story from my instrument theory course last year of a tragic accident involving a light aircraft flying into that very hill in low cloud some years ago. This was not a good time to be flying. A single engine aircraft appeared out of the cloud and passed overhead at circuit height, enroute to somewhere, and disappeared into the clouds again. Not my idea of fun. We decided to wait for the clouds to lift. The weather report indicated that would happen before 10am.

The RAAF challenger jet was still on the tarmac and the crew were busy getting it prepared for departure. We had a chat to the pilot who invited us in to have a look at how our taxes are spent. Very nice it was too with plush armchair type seating for about 10 people and breakfast under preparation. The spot we’d tied down for the night would be direct in their jet blast on departure so the RAAF pilot and I agreed it’d be best to move the ROC to the far side of the apron to watch them depart. They of course would have no trouble with the low cloud and could climb through at 5000 ft/min to cruise at 40,000ft if necessary.

It turned out that Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce had visited Kingaroy for the night while on an electioneering trip around the country. He turned up just before 8am and soon after he boarded, the jet taxied down the runway, turned, started rolling, accelerated and blasted off into the clouds, leaving us to ponder the advantages of an instrument rating over the Visual Flight Rules.

By 9:15 the clouds were starting to burn off and the sun appeared so I finalised the flight notification for our final leg and started the engine. At 9:30 we too were rolling on runway 16. I’d planned a roundabout route in order to avoid the cloud that was still hanging over the ranges on the direct track to Redcliffe. This meant flying first to the north east via Kilkivan then east to Gympie and then south east to Redcliffe. It would take about 75 minutes rather than 40. At first though, on climbing to 3500ft it looked like we may be able to fly direct to Redcliffe above the clouds but after climbing further to 5500ft we could see a wall of cloud over the ranges ahead so decided to stick to the plan and fly the long way around. Heading for Kilkivan at about 3000ft we flew over, under and between clouds. One advantage of flying at 3000ft or below is that, under the Visual Flight Rules, you just have to remain “clear of cloud”, rather than maintaining 1000 ft vertical separation and 1500 metres horizontal separation from them.

Approaching Gympie the clouds lifted and we could climb back up to 5500ft. By the time we passed the Glasshouse Mountains it was clear blue sky. Soon we were on final into Redcliffe – with a 10 knot cross wind as our final challenge. Having completed many cross wind landings in Redcliffe over the years it wasn’t a problem.

We touched down, taxied to the hangar and shut the engine down. The safari was over. It was a good week, and it was great to gain so much experience with remote flying to unknown aerodromes and airstrips with different weather conditions. Having travelled from one corner of Queensland to the opposite one it made us appreciate even more just how big and diverse this country is.

Cattle station – airshow – camping

In May 2016 my son Tim and I flew up to the “Old Station”, west of Gladstone, together with Bryan Galvin, another aero club member. Old Station is a 40,000 acre cattle station whose owner is a private pilot and constructed a 2km long grass runway in a very long paddock just near the homestead. This weekend was their annual fly-in and about 100 aircraft flew in from all around Queensland.

Our flight up there went from Redcliffe to Caloundra (where we picked up Tim) and then direct to Old Station. There was a bit of traffic on the way up, with most people heading for Old Station. After 90 minutes we were 10 miles out and hearing that runway 24 was the active one set ourselves up for a down wind join. We had our eyes peeled for the property but it wasn’t until we were about 5 miles out that it appeared from behind a hill and was quite a sight, with about 80 or so aircraft there already and over 100 camper vans and caravans. We followed another plane on downwind, did a wide base to give him plenty of time to land and vacate the runway then headed down to the grass strip.

As we bumped onto the taxiway we couldn’t help but notice a Jabiru with a bend nose wheel. Obviously the strip wasn’t as smooth as we’d been told.

It’s quite a big event and has been going for about 20 years. There was an impressive range of aircraft including aerobatics, some vintage replicas and warbirds.

Various aerobatic teams put on a two hour show in a variety of planes on Saturday afternoon.

In the evening there was a band with live music and four massive braziers filled with ironbark posts that kept the chill of the night away from the visitors.

They used a number of neighbouring paddocks to provide room to park the aircraft and over 100 caravans and camper vans that arrived for the weekend.

We camped out under the wing of the plane (literally).

On Sunday morning they served a big country breakfast and we packed up our tents and headed back down south. We flew via Bundaberg and then followed the coast down to Hervey Bay and Fraser Island. 

Then it was on past Rainbow Beach and Noosa, and the Sunshine Coast aerodrome and Caloundra, where we dropped Tim off and then headed back to Redcliffe. It was perfect flying weather with blue sky and very few clouds.

Cessna 210 – wheels up

Another milestone was achieved in May 2016 when I passed my RUC (Retractable UnderCarriage) endorsement. All the aircraft I’d flown previously had been fixed undercarriage. The wheels on those basically hang below the aircraft and provide considerable air resistance and additional drag as we fly reducing our airspeed and limiting our range. If we want to progress to faster machines to travel longer distances we can move to aircraft that have a system that lifts the undercarriage out of the way. I had to learn how to retract the undercarriage on take off and, somewhat more importantly, how to extend it again before landing. Not terribly difficult but it did involve taking a somewhat larger plane, a 6 seater Cessna 210, which has an 8 cylinder engine and 300 hp. It cruises at 160 knots, so considerably faster than the 182 which is more like 130 knots. The lucky instructor was Mal McAdam. We had to head over to the training area at Bribie Island for a few manoeuvres and exercises before doing some circuits at Redcliffe.  The aircraft (call sign Echo Lima Sierra) is shown below. The main wheels fold back up into the slots in the bottom of the fuselage, while the nose wheel folds forward.

First Mal took me through a preflight briefing, inspecting the system and how the hydraulic power pack and associated pump functions. We checked the hydraulic fluid level and discussed how the system can be debugged while flying. Then it was off to runway 07 for take off. It’s Saturday afternoon and all is quiet. The Saturday morning rush is over and we’re on our own. The sky is blue and all is good. I open the throttle and we hurtle down the runway. This is certainly the first plane I’ve flown that I’ve actually felt pressed back in the seat on acceleration. The big engine has some power all right. We accelerate to 65 knots, rotate, lift off, weather cock into wind with rudder (there’s a reasonable cross wind from the right) fly over the end of the runway, touch the brakes, select undercarriage up, wait for the red light (1..2…3….4….5), then power back to top of the greens, prop back to 2500rpm, flaps up and climb to 500ft, start the turn to the left and continue climbing to 1000ft, then level out and head for Beachmere. And what do you know? We’re halfway across the bay already! This plane moves!

I make the Redcliffe departure call then abeam Beachmere change to Caboolture CTAF and let them know we’re on our way to central Bribie for some aerial work between 2500 and 3500ft. Over Bribie it’s time to get a feel for the plane with a few steep turns, dodging some clouds as we go. Then trim at 3000ft, cut the power and hold altitude by gradually lifting the nose. Pull back, pull back. We carry out a couple of clean stalls and recover to 3000ft. Practise extending the undercarriage, wait for the green light to come on, check the main wheels are visible, and then retract. Extend again and extend full flaps then practise stalls with flaps and gear extended. Wow the nose goes high before it stalls! Stall warning sounds, the nose drops, power on and level out again at 3000. Now just need to practise manual lowering of the undercarriage. Just in case the electric power pack for the hydraulics were to fail, there’s a hand operated pump with a handle between the seats. So Mal pulls the circuit breaker, I select wheels down and start pumping. After about 30 pumps it starts to get difficult and then the green light comes on. Success! That wasn’t so hard. Circuit breaker in again and retract the wheels again.

Now it’s back to Redcliffe for a few circuits. It doesn’t take long in the 210. Mal scolds me for cutting the power back for descent. No need in this plane – just point the nose down and off we go. Before long I’m making the inbound call and head into a very quiet Redcliffe circuit.

A few rusty circuits later Mal suggests we do a full stop and get a bit more fuel. This seems a good chance to have a break and discuss what needs to be improved. We land and taxi to the bowser. Just then it starts to rain, a brief shower, so we take the opportunity to discuss what I need to do better to improve the circuits. It all seems a lot more understandable on the ground while I’m not simultaneously flying the plane. So with this new found perspective and the rain stopped, we put 100L in each wing and then taxi back out to the runway.

This time they are much better circuits and it all seems so much smoother. Climb out, touch the brakes, wheels up, top of the greens, flaps up, turn and climb to 1000ft, level out, trim, manifold pressure back to 20 inches, trim, “brakes ok, check speed, undercarriage down” (1…2….3….4….5) green light on and main wheels visible, “and locked, mixture rich, fuel’s on and sufficient, hatches and harnesses ok”. Abeam the threshold check speed, 10 degrees flap, hold 1000ft, let the speed fall away, aim for 90knots, make the turn onto base and check speed, 20 degrees flap. Descend on base, trim for 85 knots, watch the rate of descent and trim, don’t turn too early given the head wind, then turn onto final and select 30 degrees flap, trim for 75knots and the aim point. Do the PUFF check (Prop fine, Undercarriage down and locked, Flaps at 30, cowl Flaps open. Adjust the power to keep on glide slope to the aim point until we cross the fence then retard the throttle and look down the end of the runway. Keep pulling back and flare as we near the ground, then touchdown, slowly lower the nose, retract the flaps, power on again and off we go for another circuit.

After three more good ones Mal calls it a day and we do a full stop and head back to the hangar. All good. All makes sense. I have the endorsement. Now, what next? Must be a trip to a cattle station. NDP is the aircraft of choice – a Cessna 182RG (Retractable Gear).

To mark Anzac Day in 2016 the Aeroclub arranged a Fly By of the Sunshine Coast with 8 aircraft. We met before dawn and held a short memorial service before taking off from Redcliffe at first light, with 2 minute intervals between us.

We flew at 500ft, remaining over water as we passed up the east coast of Bribie Island and past the Caloundra aerodrome.

As we continued up past Maroochydore we saw a formation of Tiger Moths pass over us, heading in the opposite direction.

Once we reached Noosa we climbed to 1000 ft and turned back towards the south. As we headed back down the coast we passed over the top of the planes that were following. Eventually one of them, a Cessna 210 that is quite a bit faster than the 182 we were in, asked whether they could overtake us. How could we say no, especially as it gave us a chance to get a shot of them bathed in sunlight as they passed.

Not long after we were landing back at Redcliffe. Back on the ground we finished the morning with a barbecue breakfast.

In May 2016, after having spent a few months grinding along with my PIFR (Private Instrument Flight Rules) training it was time for an outing with the Aeroclub. It was a fairly casual affair, with a short hop to Caloundra to visit the Queensland Air Museum and then a 30 minutes flight out to Kingaroy. I paired up with Andrew Pearson, another relatively new PPL, who was looking for someone to share the cost. We took off from Redcliffe on a perfect blue sky day. Andrew was in command and I was in the right hand seat so had plenty of opportunity to take some photos. We headed up the coast past Beachmere and the mouth of the Caboolture River,

then passed over our old training ground of Bribie Island,

and descended into Caloundra with Moffat Head on our right hand side.

We were flying in IVW, a 172 that had just returned from being repaired after a student had run it off the runway into a ditch. It has a new engine so that had to be run in full rich and at high revs. There was only a very light wind from the east so we landed on Runway 05, giving direct access to the parking area.

On the ground we waited for the others to arrive. One of the other club members was in his Beechcraft Bonanza. It’s a lot faster than a 172 so he’d already been out to Moreton Island and up to Noosa before landing and taxiing into the GA parking area.

We spend about an hour at the museum then took off again out west towards Kingaroy. We passed over the Sunshine Coast hinterland and the Mary River valley.

It wasn’t long until we were approaching Kingaroy. There were a few gliders about so we negotiated a “landing slot” and joined the circuit.

It was a perfect day with almost no wind as we landed on runway 16.

While we waited for the others to join us we caught up with a friend of the family who lives nearby.

We then headed into town for lunch at the local pub. After lunch it was back to the Jo Bjelke Peterson airport for the trip home. Andrew handed control over to me and we gained a passenger. Kerry had flown up with Rob in the Bonanza but as Rob had to leave early he came back with us. He took over photographic duties from the rear seat.

We headed back via Nanango and Lake Somerset with the Glasshouse Mountains in the distance.

It was a pleasant trip back despite the fact that we couldn’t go above 5000ft with the new engine. There was some turbulence but not enough to cause any discomfort.  Soon we were on final into Redcliffe.

With no crosswind to speak of it was a gentle touch down, and we taxied back to the hangar. The end of a great day.