BAZflyer: 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.