aroundoz-2002

Another early flight this morning saw the aviation branch of the team = leaving Mackay. The intended destination was Bowen but blue skies & a brisk = tailwind caused some in-flight replanning and we pressed on to reach Ayr = (approx 60km from Townsville & nowhere near Prestwick). Hopefully another update soon ! John, Jim & Ingrid = Comment by jim (2002-03-16 06:41:01) Thanks again for looking after us Derek.

Yesterday evening Jim & John did the servicing on the aircraft which = included the 100 hour oil change. As we are almost halfway through our trip = this hopefully won’t need doing again until the planes are back in the UK. =As forecast, the winds today have prevented any flying but a hire car will = hopefully provide a suitable distraction with a road trip to Airlie Beach & = the Whitsunday Islands.

Another early start yesterday and by recent standards a fairly long leg to Emu Park (150 miles and no emus). A very pleasant flight in nearly perfect flying conditions, apart from some of the terrain. We are starting to come across large areas of mangroves (best seen from the air!), having been relatively spoilt with endless superb beaches recently. Meanwhile Keith was becoming aquainted with Taipans at a snake farm in the Townsville area.

Hi All, Apologies for the lack of entries over the last few days, technology seems to have conspired against us and we typed in vain.. Anyway the aircraft are now in Bundaberg, Keith and Michelle are having a few days to themselves and were last heard of near Mackay. Today the flight took us from rainbow Beach up to Bundaberg taking in Fraser Island on the way. The weather has improved dramatically and the tailwinds were smiling upon us.

On the 3rd March the team left Palmers Island for Tyagorah via the Easternmost point of mainland Australia, Cape Byron. A few rainshowers en-route but generally fairly uneventful. Over the last few flights it has become particularly noticeable how much more tropical it has become. Banana plants at south west rocks and now sugar cane fields everywhere. Jo at Tyagorah kindly found us hangar space and we went off to see the local sights.

The team arrived in Sydney on Feb 22nd and enjoyed a few days of R&R (cheers Chris & Linda). Perhaps too much R&R since we haven’t managed a dairy entry for a while ! The headcount is now up to 5 with the addition of Ingrid & Michelle. Flying finally got underway again yesterday (1st March) when we departed via the, much anticipated, “victor 1” vfr route up the coast pastthe city.

Only a couple of flying days to report due partly to a visit to Canberra yesterday and high winds today. We left Merimbulla on the 18th and made the short flight to Moruya which was dogged by low cloud and rain. Luckily Moruya turned out to be one of the most pleasant stops so far. The following day we had a relatively uneventful flight to Goulburn - our first inland airfield (elevation 2100ft).

The three amigos The team left melbourne on Sat 16th heading off into the gloom towards Wilsons Promentary, the southernmost point of mainland Australia, with John Waite escorting us part of the way. Having completed the first of our objectives, John & Jim met Keith at Yarram. As the weather improved, we continued to Orbost along the much anticipated 90 mile beach which lived up to expectations :-) Today we enjoyed an easy day with just 2 hours flying.

Hangar at Tyabb Hi All, The team arrived in the Melbourne area on the 13th in time for Keiths birthday celebrations yesterday. We have been staying in Sorrento with the aircraft hangared at Tyabb courtesy of John Waite at Southern microlights. Tomorrow we intend to head for Yarram via the southernmost point of mainland Australia. We have now flown more than 2100 miles. More Soon, Jim, John and Keith.

The team have now left Adelaide (and the hospitality of Mac & Cristobel Crabb) enroute for Melbourne. The first leg was to Tintinara and was fraught by low clouds & headwinds. Having finally reached the destination, it proved to be nothing more than a strip for crop sprayers. Luckily we were met by Keith who had a less eventful journey. The following day, the usual dawn start didn’t prevent another battle against headwinds but after another long flight we arrived at Mount Gambier Regional airport (at the same time as a commuter airliner was landing).