Gulgong Gathering

The dictionary definition of a gathering is a meeting or assembly held for a specific purpose. In this instance that purpose was a 4-day Spring ‘fly-in’ for members of the Australisian Comanche Society….owners and pilots of Piper Comanche airplanes. And so it was that last weekend some thirty odd members descended on the small picturesque  New South Wales town of Gulgong and where ZK-BAZ proudly joined an impressive line-up of Comanche aircraft on the privately owned Gulgong (YGGG) aerodrome.

 

Gulgong countryside

     

Some of the Comanche line at Gulgong (YGGG)

Besides being depicted on Australia’s first $10 bank note, Gulgong's unique appeal lies in the fact that it abruptly came into being in the 1870’s before surveyors could turn it into just another country town. Consequently the streets wind and meander through a picturesque and well-preserved settlement of weatherboard, iron, stone and brick buildings with old-fashioned iron-lace verandas, tiny wooden cottages, horse troughs and hitching rails. The result is a gold mining town that once was home to 20,000 inhabitants and is now suspended in the aspic of history. Long may it last…!

The commaradie and congeniality of the Gulgong Gathering is uniquely expressed in this poem by Bazflyer2...

They gathered at the bowls club

on a sunny Gulgong morn

The Comanche lads and lasses

taking the greens by storm

With no regard for bias and

their skips plaintive cries

They hurl the bowls from end to end

their eye upon the prize

Camaraderie and Mate-ship

kept them from a fight

At the rate they are all playing

the games could take all night

They all agree to grace the bar

and gobble down the lunch

Patted each other on the back and

declared them self a bunch, of

Talented aviators the skies being where

they loved it best

They all retired from the bowls and

gave themselves a rest.

Thanks to Jeff Hutchinson the weekends

been a great success

With so many varied personalities

it could have been a mess

But it’s Camaraderie and Mate-ship

that constitutes the prize

Safe flying all you aviators

enjoy the Aussie skies. 

  

Gulgong was also a curtain call for the Bazflyer’s current Australian safari. It was time once again to fly BAZ over the Tasman Sea and return home to Taupo. An assessment of forecast weather conditions confirmed a sooner rather than later departure. Even then weather conditions for last 150 NM into Auckland were greatly less than optimal and unavoidable. After experiencing turbulence, snow and zig-zag radar vectors due to a backlog of IFR traffic, the Bazflyers were pleased to park BAZ outside Air Centre One at Auckland International Airport. 

Once again Mike announces our safe return on his MRC Blog http://mrcaviation.blogspot.com/2018/11/baz-heads-offshore-and-returns-updated.html

 

Commencing from Port Macquire (YPMQ) to Lord Howe Island (YLHI) for customs formalities, then onto Auckland (NZAA) and Taupo (NZAP) was 1295 NM and took just on 8 hours. Total safari flight time from departing Taupo 18th September and returning 20th November was 64 hours.  

 

 

Sun-up departure from Port Macquire, Australia, for Taupo, New Zealand

Rememberance Day

Visit almost any city or town along Australia’s eastern seaboard at this time of the year and you’ll be treated to the visually joyful and sensory splendour of flowering jacaranda trees. The tree is believed to have been introduced from Brazil in the 1850’s. Since then the widespread and prolific planting of this purple flowering tree, along streets, around houses and in parks, has literally transformed it into an Australian icon. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine a time when jacarandas did not rain purple.

The jacaranda tree is immortalised in one of Australia’s most famous paintings, called ‘Under the Jacaranda’. Painted in 1903 by R Godfrey Rivers. The painting is displayed at the Queensland Art Gallery. 

This morning while travelling by vehicle the Bazflyers stopped in the Queensland rural town of Beaudesert. It was approaching 11am as we joined a small assembly of women and men at the town’s WW1 memorial. Everyone stood silently together in remembrance. Precisely one hundred years ago, at 11am on the 11th of November, armistice was announced. World War One officially ended. A war that took the lives of more than 80,000 ANZACs. Many more were wounded.

Standing at the war memorial today it was difficult for a Bazflyer to imagine how the good folk of Beaudesert reacted when the news of armistice reached them that day 100 years ago. However, there is one thing that has not changed. On that day, just as it was today, the jacaranda trees were resplendent in their rich purple blossoms.

Every year on the anniversary of armistice, it’s as if the jacaranda tree had an ordained purpose, it weeps tears of purple rain. It is a tree that blossoms in remembrance of the men and women who gave their lives for us. Magically, this most beautiful flowering tree also inspires....

“The jacaranda flames on the air like a ghost,

Like a purer sky some door in the sky has revealed.”

Excerpt from ‘The Jacaranda’ by Douglas Stewart, from The Dosser in Springtime (1946)

Botanical Wonderland

The value of having a clear vision for whatever you wish to achieve is often touted as the most important element of success. However, when combined with creative innovation the extraordinary becomes possible. The Bazflyers would say that Frank Shipp must have been driven by such ideals when in 2005 he set out to turn his cattle property into what is now the Maleny Botanical Gardens.

Maleny is a small settlement comfortably nestled high in the coastal ranges about two hours drive north of Brisbane. Using the geographicly unique Glasshouse Mountains and surrounding rainforest as a giant backdrop, Frank has creativity applied his brand of innovation to the steep bush-clad landscape. The result is a lush oasis of waterfalls, ponds, plants and walking paths; and 16 acres of botanical wonderland. 

Frank’s remarkable achievement was definitely not lost on the Bazflyers who in a past life created their own 5 acre rural garden. Furthermore, it was truly inspiring to learn that Frank’s vision continues...he is working to make Maleny Botanical Gardens the best in the world.

Closing the Big Loop

It’s been eight weeks since the Bazflyers arrived at Gold Coast Airport following a 7-hour non-stop flight across the Tasman Sea from New Zealand in Piper Comanche ZK-BAZ. And so began a big loop out west. A journey of over 40 flight hours covering a distance of nearly 11,000 kms. The big loop was closed on Friday when BAZ touched down at Archerfield, Brisbane. 

The big loop out west

Jet Base Archerfield and an opportunity to wash the accumulated red dust off BAZ

Beechworth

The small picture-postcard town of Beechworth, tucked away in the Victorian High Country, came into being after the discovery of gold back in 1852. Like most historical gold strikes of that era, fast-tracked wealth delivered some colourful characters. So legend has it, one of the candidates in Beechworth’s first council election campaigned riding a horse with shoes of gold, a piece of local history that is celebrated every year with the town’s annual Golden Shoes carnival.

However, it was a rather different type of gold rush that bought the Bazflyers into Beechworth. The former railroad tracks that once linked settlements along the area’s picturesque valleys have nowadays given way to cycle trails. https://www.railtrails.org.au/trail?id=50&view=trail

The Murray to Mountains Rail-Trail attracts more than 100,000 cyclists each year into the area, supporting accomodation providers and all manner of eating establishments. Not only is cycling the new golf, it has every prospect of being a new gold rush for Beechworth.

Beechworth Post Office

Cycle Trail going into Bright

Breakfast at Lupo’s was as good it gets but the porridge was even better.

Great food all along the way could easily convert a Bazflyer into a foodie.


Bazflyers unequivocally recommend Nigel for the friendliest bike hire and shuttle service.

Port Lincoln

While flying from place to place the Bazflyers are always on the look-out for a good story and a couple of days stop-over in Port Lincoln did not disappoint. This place has some seriously wealthy locals and some enormously proportioned homes all of which can be attributed to fishing. In fact, the southern bluefin tuna has showered the hard working migrant fishing families of Port Lincoln with unimaginable riches. 

Once just simple fishermen, they have made fortunes out of the tuna industry and some of them have built massive houses. Homes named 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty', after the television series. Some of the fishermen have even successfully ventured into race horses such as Tony Santic, owner of triple Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva. Interestingly this horse with race earnings well beyond $15 million, was named after five of it’s owner’s employees - Maureen, Kylie, Belinda, Diane, and Vanessa - by taking the first two letters from each of their names 

A statue of Makybe Diva adorns the Port Lincoln foreshore.

Fancy a shower after swimming

 

Famous Coffin Bay oysters 

40% of the South Australian grain crop is grown locally and exported fromPort Lincoln 

Nearby Coffin Bay National Park

Flying the big Bight

The remote isolation of Forrest’s resident couple fully hit home while flying south after takeoff. The nearest civilisation to Forrest is Eucla, a tiny settlement perched on the edge of the Great Australian Bight near the boarder separating the states of West and South Australia. Bazflyers were told a drive down the track to Eucla, in good conditions, takes five hours in a 4x4 vehicle not including any enforced stops along the way due to punctures from sharp rocks. Now that’s got to be extreme isolation...!

Forrest to Port Lincoln. Magenta line traces the Bazflyer’s actual flight path

An insider’s perspective 

The Great Australian Bight, that huge bite shaped landform abruptly defining the southern extremity of the Australian Continent, came into existence when Gondwana broke apart and separated Antarctica from Australia over 50 million years ago. Reminiscent of a giant Tiramisu dessert, the magnificent Bunda Cliffs made up of fossiliferous limestone, occupied the view for approximately 180 km of the flight along the Great Australian Bight. 

The sole highway connecting west and east Australia roughly parallels the Great Australian Bight. Here a section of highway has been dual-purposed as an emergency landing strip for use by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Almost abruptly the camouflage brown Nullabor Plain gives way to bright green cultivation and we were preparing to land at our destination, Port Lincoln.

Forrest Revisited

Situated out on the arid and virtually treeless Nullarbor Plain (Nullarbor: meaning ‘no trees’), and totally exposed, the irony is that this place is called Forrest, which, in spite of the spelling, conjures up images of abundant trees. Not necessarily images of the stalwart explorer and first Premier of Western Australia, John Forrest, who led an expedition across the barren plain in 1870, and after whom this unique outpost has been named.

Kalgoorlie tracking 090 degrees to Forrest

On a previous occasion the Bazflyers staged through Forrest stopping just long enough to refuel. This time besides refueling, an overnight stop was also added, to sample at least a morsel of the location’s unique history. Nowadays only two people, a married couple, live at Forrest. A far cry from the settlement that it used to be. 

Forrest railway station on the Trans Continental Railway

The 478 km section of railway line through Forrest is the longest stretch of dead-straight track in the world.

Nullabor panorama captured at Forrest

Forrest came into being in 1917 as a maintenance depot along the great Trans-Continental Railway connecting Adelaide in the East and Perth on the West Coast. Of particular interest to the Bazflyers was the vital role Forrest subsequently played in the evolution of Australian air transport. The first airplane passenger service across Australia took off in 1929 using three-engine Hercules aircraft, operated by West Australian Airways. The journey with these airplanes between Adelaide and Perth took 16 hours flying time and Forrest, a convenient half way location, became an overnight staging post for passengers and crew. A hanger to accomodate 4 airplanes was built along with hostel accomodation for 14 passengers, crew and ground staff. The original hanger provided shelter for ZK-BAZ but sadly nothing of the former hostel remains.

The original Forrest hanger.

With the advent of faster aircraft, the need for an overnight passenger stop was no longer necessary. However, Forrest continued in its role as a critical refuelling point for civil and military aircraft crossing from one side of the Continent to the other.  During WW2 is was a joint RAAF and USAF station. The private owner of today’s Forrest still provides fuel for passing aircraft and overnight hospitality for those who have a nostalgic interest in the past, or indeed just happen to need a bed for the night.

The old Forrest school house provided comfortable Bazflyer accomodation. 

Forrest Airport sunset

Boulder

Last time the Bazflyers dropped into Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport a seriously threatening weather system brewing off the South West corner of the Continent precipitated an overnight stay only that was followed early the next morning with a precautionary departure heading East. Just as well; that system moved rapidly unleashing its fury with snow dumps across the South Eastern States and a few days later it bestowed similar treatment upon New Zealand. Fortunately, the Bazflyers managed to stay ahead of that weather system all the way home to the Baz Base, Lake Taupo, New Zealand.

Esperance to Kalgoorlie-Boulder

An opportunity to do the Kalgoorlie sightseeing missed on the previous visit was eagerly anticipated. Furthermore, this time there were no ominous weather systems anywhere on the horizon.

Spectacular landscapes on the way to Kalgoorlie 

Kalgoorlie came into existence following a discovery by three prospectors back in 1893 of nearly 100 ounces of gold. It didn’t take long before the lode was occupied by thousands of miners when Kalgoorlie became the richest gold deposit in the world.

In the day there was a hotel on every corner and several more in between.

Evidence that copious sums of money flowed freely can been seen today in the grand architecture of that time. An excellent example being the Town Halls respectively build in the adjoining rival settlements of Kalgoorlie and Boulder. 

Seating in the Kalgoorlie Town Hall where opera singer Dame Melba would perform to a packed house.

Not to be outdone the municipality of Boulder commissioned Philip Goatcher, the world’s highest paid scene painter of that period, to paint a drop curtain for the stage. This curtain is thought to be the world’s only remaining example of Goatcher’s scene paintings...and it is in Boulder!

Albany

“Jandakot Tower, BAZ ready”....“BAZ cleared for takeoff”. With that the Comanche throttle was edged forward, propeller going to full rpm, airspeed increasing, the magic of flight. Once again the Bazflyers were in the air continuing their journey south following the coastline to where the Continent of Australia meets the Great Southern Ocean. Destination, the town of Albany.

West Australia’s southern coastline and the Great Southern Ocean.

The isolation and sheer force of the Southern Ocean was unexpected. The unrestrained and relentless ocean sculpturing a raw coastline – think cliff faces carved out by crashing waves, natural rock formations in the shape of giant bridges, and remote, white sandy inlets with turquoise-coloured water lapping at the shore.

Albany was revealed as a very old settlement strategically situated at the head of King George Sound. A town that has significant ties to World War I, being the departure point for the majority of Anzac troops going to Europe during the war. The first convoy departed 1 November 1914. It comprised 38 ships carrying 29,000 men and women with more than 7,000 horses.

Looking out over King George Sound where ships carrying New Zealand and Australian troops assembled prior to embarking for what was to be World War One. Thousands of them were never to return home.

National ANZAC Centre at Albany, an incredibly moving memorial to all the men and women who were ANZACs.