Good to go, except for low

I went back up to Tocumwal on Thursday evening so I could get an early start Friday helping Mike fit the magneto back in FLK and time it. The magneto is the engine bit that makes the spark plugs spark, so it's essential for the engine to fire. It's also important that it is timed properly so that the spark is created at the right time for the engine to run smoothly.  FLKs magneto was behaving badly, so it needed a bit of attention.

Quick magneto story... When I first came to Australia, I was really into skydiving.  I was jumping down at Pakenham and occasionally helped out on the manifest desk on the weekends. Manifest is like the front desk - where jumpers sign up to go up on a load and also pay for their jumps. The planes used to work pretty hard down there and as you'd expect, things occasionally needed some maintenance. Manifest would also keep people informed if there were any delays or issues with loads. Mary Kelly, who used to run the desk had a clever way of handling questions relating to aircraft issues. Regardless of what the problem was (often we wouldn't know yet anyway), Mary would put on a sombre expression and nod knowingly, saying : "magneto..." The person would either return a knowing nod and shrug "hmph..." or just look blankly. Either way, it would immediately stop any further enquiries on the matter, which was the desired effect.  

How clever would I have looked if I'd applied Mary's theory to FLK!  You wonder why I fly planes with no engines.

This weekend is Melbourne Cup Weekend, which means Tuesday is a public holiday and many people usually take the Monday off. It also often means Victoria is likely to be covered in a low pressure system (wind and rain).  Melbourne Cup weekend is the unofficial start of the gliding season. There are club camps and activities all over the place (e.g. lots of Victorians going to fly elsewhere). The Vintage Gliders Australia folks are having gathering at Bacchus Marsh so having missed out on flying into the Antique Aeroplane Association of Australia's fly in last weekend, I was hoping I could fly the Falke into this Vintage Gliding event. Unfortunately, now it's the weather's turn to be uncooperative. I still can't wait to get down there (driving)  to catch up with everyone (better get going!)

So FLK is now ready to finish off the trip (thanks Mike!). Aside from the weather, there are a few logistical challenges to work through but essentially we're right to go. I can't wait to get back into the air!




Must be Melbourne Cup weekend! (image from Weatherzone)

 

FLK with 'The Catcher' - my time saving low tech invention for accidentally dropped bolts and screws.

Mike hard at work while I warm up in the cockpit. Someone had to take the photo!

A Great Way to Pass the Time while waiting for FLK

The weekend just passed was the Antique Aeroplane Association's annual Auster Rally at Kyabram in Victoria. Kyabram is frustratingly close to Tocumwal, where FLK waits for it's repairs. I had hoped to fly into the event in the Falke, but it just wasn't meant to be.

This yearly event run by the AAAA is in honor of the Auster aircraft. Auster's wingspan almost qualifies them as gliders. They've also been used as tugs over the years. They are a bit faster than the Falke (which is not real hard) and they've got stacks of character - as do the majority of Auster 'drivers', which makes for a fantastic weekend.

The AAAA runs a few fly-in events a year. The first one Phil and I attended some 10-15 years ago was at Kyabram. Since then, the events have grown and have generally been held at larger centres. It was really nice to go back to a simple grass paddock and a low key event this time. Phil and I managed to sneak out of Melbourne in the Pacer on Friday afternoon. All up, I believe about 50 aircraft turned up, which is excellent considering the wet weather on Saturday morning.

It was great catching up with all our friends from around the country, telling people all about my big adventure. I think I set a new record for time spent saying goodbye on the Friday night. It must have taken us 2 hours to get out the door after I kept running in to people I hadn't seen in a while on the way out.

The Awards dinner was held on the Saturday night. The tables were decorated with little flying Snoopys and windsocks to add to the atmosphere. After the presentations, an auction was held selling off the flying Snoopys for the Stand by You Cancer Foundation. The Association had included information about my trip and the links to my blog and donation page in their quarterly magazine so many people from the AAAA had already made generous donations (THANK YOU!). They knew I was a bit short of the $5,000 target and wanted to help close the gap. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of the Association members as the donations on the night (on top of those already made!) doubled the 'gap' amount. Thank you so much for your support AAAA!

Arriving on the Saturday afternoon - quite a few planes here already, looking fabulous.

Prime parking spot next to a few Austers

This camera makes the cockpit look so roomy!

Boats zooming around on a full Lake Eppaloch

FLK Update

FLK continues to be stubborn about not wanting to go back to Victoria. It is taking bribes in the form of magneto coils so I hope to convince it soon that it's really not such a bad place to be.

The mag has been attended to quickly and efficently at Moorabbin (thank you Ian!) and I will be bringing it back to Tocumwal late next week when time has been squeezed into a busy schedule to fit it (thanks Mike!). Let's hope that does the trick!

So the adventure continues - I'm just so glad this happened so close to home - how lucky is that!  Geoff (the owner) has agreed to let me hang on to FLK for a little while longer to let me finish the trip down to the Victorian coastline once the repairs are complete. Thanks Geoff!

I've also extended the dates on the donation page so it doesn't close before I finish the trip - it would be great to raise $5,000 (nice round figure), so if you were thinking of making a donation and have not got around to it, please do so before it's too late. Donations are most appreciated, as are your excellent comments which I've really appreciated and enjoyed reading throughout the trip.

All the donations go directly to the Stand By You Cancer Foundation. The funds are not used to pay for any of the trip - I am personally funding the whole trip myself, with the wonderful support of my husband.

Back home (kind of)

I made it back home. Yay! Unfortunately, FLK didn’t want to come back to Victoria. I think it missed Mike (the engineer) and wanted to spend a little time with him in Tocumwal. Once the issue is resolved, I’ll go back up to Tocumwal and finish off the Victoria part of the trip, hence the 'kind of' in the title of this post.

Now there will be some people reading this that know how much I hate the end of a good holiday and might be thinking that this is my way of extending it. All I can say to that is that I had no control over this – I swear! My holiday is simply not meant to end just yet. What a shame ; )

So how did I get home yesterday? I think I mentioned before that Phil was going to fly alongside me in the Pacer so I could finish the trip in the same way I started - with him as my 'wingman'. We would also be able to get a few air to air photos.  Phil had flown up to Tocumwal to meet me so we went back to Bacchus Marsh in the Pacer. Gee it was fast compared to the Falke - even with the headwind.

Again the changes in the countryside amazed me. After having flown over such remote areas, the paddocks in Victoria looked so tiny. There was a fair bit of haze around (or was it just that I was now used to clear, smog free air?) and together with the late afternoon sun, it gave a surreal, dream like impression, which was rather appropriate.

Meeting up with Phil at Tocumwal

What's wrong, baby?

Back at Bacchus Marsh.





Time to Spare? Go by Air

I had planned on getting to Bendigo today, stopping at Tocumwal for lunch/refuel and to say hi to Mike Burns who helped get the plane ready for the trip. The oil was also due for a change so I thought it would be a good place to do that before crossing the border to Victoria. The plan was for Phil (my husband) to meet me at Bendigo tomorrow morning (Wed)  and we would fly in company down the coast and back to Bacchus Marsh.

But I got off to a slow start this morning. I had woken up at 3am all excited about being so close to home. The excitement wore off about 5:30 am when I finally managed to fall back asleep.  Had to hit the snooze button a few times when 'get up time' arrived so quick. I figured I had a fairly easy day, so no need to rush things.

I got to the airport and started getting the plane ready. I was getting close to going when the place turned into Heathrow airport. There were regional airliners coming and going in all directions. Apparently there was a bit of a backlog due to a bird strike and some bad weather.  I waited until everything quietened down and finally got off the ground.

Next came the headwind. The trucks were beating me today. Enough said.

I was again amazed at the countryside. It was like a beautiful green patchwork quilt. As I got closer to Tocumwal, there was also a fair bit of flooding visible. Mike told me later that several roads, including some major ones to Wagga and other key centres had been closed off due to flooding in the last week or so.

As I approached Tocumwal, I could see a long line of cloud/mist sitting round about where Victoria starts.  Looked like it would clear eventually – plenty of time... You can see where this is headed.

I had lunch (thank you Gloria and Glenys!) I got the oil changed and Mike helped me tinker with a few adjustments on the Falke.  Before you know it, it was late afternoon, so decided to stay here tonight. I think my latitude/attitude change is still a state or two behind - I guess I wasn’t quite ready to go back to Victoria just yet.

Morning flight planning

Waiting for RPT #3 to go

A third hand would be useful to taxi the Falke. Brakes, throttle, stick? Good thing you steer with your feet!

Trying to leave Griffith. It actually went down to 42kts (78kph). At least it was a scenic route!

Admiring the patchwork

Landing at Tocumwal - need that 3rd hand again.

Griffith and Flashback to Sweers Island

I’m writing this from Griffith, NSW. I flew here via Cobar, in ‘stealth mode’ – that is, without the spot tracker. The batteries packed it in and the replacement ones I had were the right size, but apparently the device only takes lithium batteries. The ones I had were plain old alkaline ones.  Sorry about that!

I really enjoyed the flying today. I’ve enjoyed it every day, but today especially. When I flew this leg in the other direction, I was flying in company with my husband, so it brought back some good memories. It seems like a lifetime ago now. I'm looking forward to seeing him!

About half way between Cobar and Griffith, everything starts to change. It’s no longer remote, it’s no longer the outback. The airport was busy, there were planes going everywhere – Royal Flying Doctor, crop dusters, twins, - all ‘working’ aircraft. I decided to have a bit of a tootle around as I waited for the circuit to die down a bit – because I can ; )  After about 20 minutes, I’d managed to climb up to 4000 feet without even trying and was reminded of how cold it was up there. I still hadn’t regained feeling in my toes, so I decided to come down and slot in between a couple of crop dusters.  I also needed to get to the shops to get some lithium batteries for the spot before they closed.

As the taxi drove into town, there were more reminders of the ‘change’: McDonald’s, BigW, Target, Woolworths, Coles, KFC etc .  Got the batteries, checked into the motel and it was dinner time. Having had one of my few remaining muesli bars for lunch, I was starving.  Despite all the hallmarks of civilisation, the serves here are definitely ‘country size’. The wagyu rump steak I ordered was half my weight. No wonder the Leagues Club is packed on a Monday night. I almost finished it too! Better have a lie down now...

Almost forgot – here is the link to the audio file and write up from the ABC interview with Karyn Wilson on Sweers Island.  It was done several days before the Morning Glory finally came.

http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2010/10/11/3034962.htm



With the drought in recent years, Bourke council had a clean up of the river bed while the water was low. They made these sculptures with the junk they collected. These are at the motel in Bourke.



Lining up for departure at Bourke

A bit of help from nature to climb out of Bourke. It did hit 10 knots up.

Refuelling from the jerry can at Cobar. I'm not tall, strong or game enough to try to lift the full jerry can. The decanting in the special approved container worked a treat, even if it took a while longer.

A reminder of how slow I'm going. I did manage to pass this truck (white dot on the right side near the middle) but it took a while.

Life is wonderful.

Sundays in the Outback

I had the feeling I’d be getting some strong headwinds at some point on the trip. Let’s hope today is as bad as it gets for the rest of the trip. I’m now more than half way on the return trip, I’m starting to get excited about getting home. I crossed the QLD/NSW border today and I’m now in Bourke. I’m not really sure what time it is here. I think I might have lost an hour crossing the border. There is no carpet in my room so I can’t tell if the daylight savings has faded it  ; )

It doesn’t really matter – everything is closed today anyway. Sunday in outback towns is like stepping into another dimension – The streets and buildings are there but there are no people and no cars. Kind of like a Spielberg movie – everything is deserted but there are faint signs of habitation. This concept is mildly compelling in a big city, but in an outback town, it’s not great – especially if you’re looking for a meal.  It’s not only on Sundays either – Saturday afternoons are much the same, as I was reminded of only yesterday. The only place in town that was open was Crazy Clark’s, which is like the Reject Shop or  the $2 shop. I didn’t really feel like having out of date lollies for lunch but as it was nearing 3pm, I was getting pretty desperate. To my surprise and relief – CC’s had a variety of tinned food that even looked like it was produced in the right decade.  I ended up lunching on a salad of kidney beans, corn and lemon pepper smoked tuna – all for under $4 - including the container I bought to mix it in. Bargain! Must be something in the water up here (maybe it’s the sulphur?)  that brings out the resourcefulness in you.

No tinned food or muesli bars for dinner tonight - my thoughtful hosts at the Back O Bourke accommodation (no kidding!) picked me up from the airport, lent me a car so I can have a look around town (it was deserted) and made me a nice home cooked meal.  Got to love Sundays in the outback!



Getting ready to go at Charleville (also deserted)



'En Route' cam. Finally worked it out and remembered to turn it on!

Au revoir, cane toads and toilet frogs

Near the QLD/NSW border

<insert sound of crickets and tumbleweeds rolling past>

 Striking artwork on the side of the supermarket.

Headwinds and Jerry Cans

I made it to Charleville today. I had a 10 to 15 knot headwind most of the way here. I had anticipated having to land at Blackall to top up out of the jerry can, but things were looking good so I cut the corner and headed for Charleville. All up, it took me about 3.5hrs so it was a pretty slow trip, which seemed even slower when I started thinking about all the water I had been drinking.

I’ve been wanting to tell you about my jerry can story. It goes back to when I was planning and getting ready for the trip. Most of the legs that I planned had a fuel stop in case I needed to top up. The fuel stop for the Longreach to Charleville leg was Blackall. The only problem with this plan was that they no longer have fuel at Blackall. I wasn’t comfortable with the fuel margin on this leg should I encounter strong headwinds or need to divert due to weather so I needed a plan.  The simple solution was to bring along a jerry can full of avgas. It would also be handy for any other fuel situation I might encounter.

Geoff (FLK’s owner) had also mentioned to me that it was advisable to tape up the airbrakes overnight should there be a chance of rain as the airbrake boxes are made of wood (in fact, much of the plane is made of wood) and can be affected by water sitting in them for extended periods.

So off I went to Bunnings. Now, if you’re like me, as soon as you walk into that place, you forget what you went there for and end up wandering the aisles aimlessly, buy stuff you didn’t go there to buy and forget to buy what you went there for in the first place.  To overcome this issue, I’ve started the practice of pausing at the entrance and asking the attendant where I can find what I went there for.  In this instance, I did this with reasonable sense of purpose. It took me a while to realise why the attendant looked so distraught when I asked: “where are the jerry cans? and where will I find the electrical tape?” I was still laughing when I got to the register – and paid cash! ha!

When I told my husband when I got home, he suggested I should have also asked where they keep the fertiliser. Wonder what they would have done? “oh, it’s just for the plane...”

I got into the observatory tour for tonight so looking forward to being humbled once again by the wonders of nature and the world around me.

Departing Longreach. The two ends of the runway have different postcodes.

A gliding friend of mine would say: "Power pilots call it turburlence":  500 feet per minute climb, (variometer just in frame at the bottom) passing 4600 feet - engine at idle. Not a cloud in the sky. Magic.

Bypassing Blackall - again.

Paddocks! Haven't seen those for a while.

Wet and Windy in Longreach

The weather I’ve been talking about in previous posts has arrived. The rain woke me up just before 6am – it felt like I was sleeping in!  I don’t think anyone in Australia east of Alice Springs from north to south stayed dry today. When I switched on the TV in the room, one of the morning shows was talking about this being the ‘biggest rain event of 2010’. It reminded me how much I don’t miss TV - except for Glee, of course. You’ve got to love Glee - if only because it irritates those who don’t love Glee (aka closet Glee lovers).

The last couple of days have been such a blur, it’s good to have a bit of time to reflect on what I got to experience on Tuesday morning. Very few people have had the opportunity to experience this unbelievable natural wonder. The Morning Glory is jaw-droppingly beautiful, majestic and peaceful all at the same time. It is humbling and exciting. It is mysterious and it is grand.

I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be one of the few people who get to experience it. Sure, it was something ‘on the bucket list’, something I really wanted to do, but just like really wanting to win the lotto, you know it’s probably never going to happen. That's kind of like I was feeling - I 'bought my ticket' (I flew up to Burketown) but I wasn't really going to 'win'. Not me! Turns out that this year, only two glider pilots got to experience the Morning Glory. Words cannot describe how it feels to be one of those two people, but tissues certainly come in handy.

I just can’t help thinking about how lucky I am to have regained my health and to have had support and help from so many people to make that amazing flight possible.  Thank you!

I also can’t help thinking about the many who are not so lucky and find themselves with health issues and are on their own or in need of some assistance, just to get through their day.  I’m very grateful for all the generous donations which have been made to the Stand By You Cancer Foundation as a result of my adventure.

The forecast for tomorrow is looking better. I hope to make it to Charleville and hopefully get to do the star tour at the observatory that I missed out on when I was there a lifetime ago (2 weeks ago?).

The internet connection here is woefully slow, so only a few pics today – sorry!

The Falke wondering what all the wet stuff is

My Stand By You shirt with signatures from most of the people I met in Burketown.

Qantas Founders Museum Longreach

The Qantas Founders Museum at Longreach was the second thing on my list of things to do on the trip - I had been looking forward to this for a while. The museum is independently run, it is not owned by Qantas. It relies on visitor entry fees and donations to keep its doors open.  They run a few different tours and I can say that I would recommend ALL of them, particularly the Wing Walker Tour, which is a bit on the expensive side but worth every penny in my opinion. I’ve included some photos from that tour below. I got to see every inch of that 747, inside and out. I don’t think you get to do that anywhere else.

The small tour group I was part of had the added bonus of having a pilot who flew both the 747-200 AND the 707. How lucky is that? It was great to have him provide insights into both aircraft and hear about  some of the antics the crew used to get up to. Gene, our guide was fantastic as well and very generous with his time – he really knows his stuff and had everyone interested and engaged throughout the whole tour which went for a few hours. 

The Museum itself is great. It is very successful at conveying what a difference aviation has made to this part of the world. One of my favourite stories is the following one. I think what appeals to me is that it illustrates simple and effective problem solving - and it's kinda funny (It is copied from one of the exhibits):

Isolation forced many bush people to deal with their own emergencies. Calling a doctor was a serious business, never taken lightly.

One Muttaburra hotel-keeper sometimes found his patrons apparently dead. Their breathing was infrequent and very faint, reflexes were absent and there was no response even to painful stimulation. But the publican had a reliable test for whether the doctor was really needed. He shook the apparently dead one vigorously and shouted in his ear, “Have a drink.” If there was no response at all, the publican called the doctor.

The boys headed off this morning. What a great time we had together.   



The Falke on the apron (on its own at the back) taken from the inside of the 747



This is the oxygen for passengers should it be required. The masks that drop down in the cabin for ALL OF THE PASSENGERS comes out of these 7 (that's right 7!) tanks.

The lever to wind up the nosewheel manually - now which way is up? I can never remember.

This is straight up the guts of the tailplane. These are the cables that operate the rudder, elevator and trim. Just like in the Falke, really.

Gotta love the DC-3

Just like the old days? This man used to fly this plane.

Gene taking us through the 747's systems

Ignition off?

A bit roomier than the Falke, but too many buttons and dials

Out on the wing of the 747-200. How good is that!





Heading Home - Long Way to Longreach

My mom has been following my trip from Quebec in Canada. Thanks to the time difference, I usually find a message from her every morning, commenting on my exploits. It’s a nice thing to wake up to (merci, mom!). She also sends me a message in the afternoon, which gets me before I go to bed.  The one she just sent me is short, sweet and just simply spot on. She says that the name of the place we got to today sums today up pretty well: Longreach.

It was quite a long day today. I was glad to have some company along the way. The guys from the Byron Bay area: Erich, Russell, Brian and Paul stayed on yesterday as we got back pretty late after riding the Glory. They will be leaving here tomorrow (weather permitting). I’m overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness these guys have extended to me. I’ve learned so much from each of them and have immensely enjoyed all the laughs we’ve had together. 

I’ve been looking forward to spending a bit of time in Longreach, so will spend at least a day here checking out the town and waiting for the weather maps to look less scary. I'll also write some more posts about the Morning Glory in the next few days too. The last two days have been pretty rushed so there was little time available for reviewing photos etc. 

No more salt flats and big winding rivers, back to scrub. Amazingly it's still quite green. Russell White, who has been doing the trip for over 20 years mentioned to me that he had never seen it like this - so green.

The clouds came out for a play



What a great day. It got even better after this photo. If we had more time, we could have all glided from Cloncurry to Longreach - big fat strong thermals not too far apart.



There is no place like cloud base. You can see the distance between the clouds pretty well in this photo by their shadows on the ground. The cloud streets did not line up with the track but they were not too far off so didn't get tooooo distracted.

Burketown Day 10 – Worth the wait

I think I mentioned in yesterday’s post that we were planning on leaving today. I even started packing up the glider with the bottom layer of stuff – tent, sleeping bag, etc.  There was a fair bit of discussion last night and the consensus had been to stay another day.  This was based on some bad weather coming through later this week which would have all of us spend some time (get stuck) in various locations around Queensland, depending on our individual routes home. My argument to stay a few more days was based on the thought of being stuck in one of these towns as the Morning Glory sailed over Burketown. We should wait a couple of days, hopefully get the Glory, then go home after the bad weather goes past. It worked, but only for a short time. This morning, the consensus had changed and departure was back on today’s agenda. We were still going up to have a look though - we were still here, after all (stay with me, you’ll see why this is relevant shortly).

FLK was still the sniffer ship, so would be taking off first. Got rid of the tent, etc and wiped the dew off the wings. Hmmmm, dew on the wings. I wonder if... nah, it did the same thing the other day and there was nothing.

Dumped my stuff in the Savannah Lodge Rav4, Erich hopped in, and off we went. The sunrise looked its usual gorgeous self, there were a few cus popping here and there, mostly out to sea. We could also see a bit of something off to the north west. Brian and Paul soon overtook us in the Dimona, as did Geoff in the Pik 20E. They radioed back that not much was happening and that they were headed back to Burketown. We thought the something warranted a bit more exploration. There was definitely something happening, and we were going to find out.

The bands of cloud were not very well formed at first. The lift also appeared to be in the ‘wrong’ spot – this is what threw Brian and Paul off (plus the fact they were pretty loaded up given the departure plans). As we went further the system revealed itself more and more and it all started to make sense. It was truly spectacular. Phil, I really wish you were here to experience it with me.

Now, the reason I went on about the preamble was that it provides the context for my stuff up. I left the high res camera in the bag. On the ground. It gets worse... I left the memory card for the other camera in my laptop last night when I downloaded the photos for this blog. Ooops.  So I’ve got my iphone pictures and Erichs pictures so all is not lost. Here are a few of my faves.

Things are getting better, smooth cloud surface. The air was smooth as silk for the whole flight.

The 'crest' of one of the Glory waves. there were 2 systems (and a 3rd further on). You can see one of the waves to the left of the photo, going off into the distance. It intersected another system running in the direction we are flying, which was stronger and went out to sea as far as the eye can see.

You can see the cloud we are on at the bottom of the frame, also the lower, intersecting waves in the distance.

The stronger system had a stronger edge you can see here.

180 degrees from the previous shots, going along the front of the wave

Another 180 degres and you can see the line curving around and going forever over the sea

Celebration jellies.