Day 3: Desert, Salt Lake, Desert, More Salt Lakes, Desert, Mountains



Birdsville Hotel Car slogan "We may be rough, but at least we're expensive". So is the AvGas!

Woke up in Birdsville after finally getting a decent night's sleep.  I had felt shattered from only three hours sleep the night before.

There was a glorious blue sky and again, strong gusty winds.  Brian and Linda left our party to head up to Bundeberg, Queensland.  While our much reduced crew flew out over the arid Simpson Desert towards Lake Eyre in South Australia.  The lake was rumoured to be full of water and brimming with birds.  While it was great to cruise over Australia's lowest point and largest lake, the rumours may have been exaggerated...  There was a bit of water in North Lake Eyre and we did scare a few ducks.

Mouth of the Warburton River at Lake Eyre

Pink algae blooms in the Lake Eyre salt crust

After three hours straight flying and a last minute vomit from Louise (from now on we're not wasting money on bacon and egg breakfasts for her), we landed in Marree to refuel and restock our stomachs.  There was a little bit of confusion on which direction the runway was and Pauly and I flew in at opposite ends.  I ran into the refueler I met earlier this year on the Central Australia flight.  It was nice to have a chat with a familiar face.  Dodgy weather was heading for us so we decided to leave stright away and head for sunny Hawker.

Me and Tommy the refueler at Marree

It was great to leave the cloud and strong winds behind.  Although Pauly and I had radio chat for quite a while trying to work out where each other was flying.  After constantly scanning the horizon we realised that he was flying about 1000 feet directly below me.

The scenery changed dramatically from desert to the spectacular Flinders Ranges.  Approaching Wilpena Pound was an awesome sight, standing up like a monolith against all the other mountains.  You really get an appreciation of the two mountain ranges that join to form a natural amphitheatre seeing them from the air.

Flying over the Flinders Ranges, Wilpena Pound

Inside the amphitheatre of the Pound

18 nautical miles from the pound to Hawker, we set up the plane on its glide slope and aimed for the airfield.  I always love flying into these remote towns, some of which have the best airstrips - long and bitumen like Hawker.

Tomorrow we head to Mungo National Park to stay at the Mungo Eco Lodge, which has been recommended by some flying friends.

Over and Out

Some days you should stay in bed...

Sometimes you get up in the morning and you realise it might not be your day...

After a bacon and egg breakfast we were all looking forward to see the some of the highlights of the trip...  Broken Hill had a cold morning and we couldn't wait to get up to 35 degrees in Birdsville.

The south-easterly winds were 15-20 knots and very gusty so we knew it was going to be a challenging day ahead to land on some of the remote airstrips we had planned to.  All of them were going to have a pretty stiff crosswind (the wind blowing at an angle across the air strip making it harder to land).

We had a great 20 knot tailwind pushing us up to Tibooburra, our first refueling stop.  There is no other fuel between here and Birdsville.  We booked the fuel a month in advance to ensure we had our ration.  Refueling was a cool setup with a guy coming out to the airstrip in his four-wheel drive with a tank on a trailer full of Avgas.  Couldn't wait to get going to our next stop at Camerons Corner, but had a "debate" about which runway to fly out on as the wind was swinging around a bit.

Phone box at Tibooburra Airstrip

Remote refueling at Tibooburra

On route to Camerons Corner we got up to about 6,500 feet to avoid the thermals.  Louise opted to take a fly over of nearby lake and felt a bit green, but no vomiting...yet (still 3 days to go).  Coming into Camerons Corner, where the three states of Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia meet, proved to be the challenge of the tip so far.

Pauly and Louise landed but got bogged at the end of the runway in soft sand.  Greg and Kate came in for the rescue and helped push the plane out.  Brian and Linda had a couple of goes and aborted, opting to continue on straight to the Dig Tree.  Myself and Lida gave it a crack, but aborted because it didn't feel right with gusty crosswind and a tall tree at the start of the strip making it hard to get low without overrunning the airstrip.  I headed to the Dig Tree with Brian and Linda.

Meanwhile, Pauly's plane was dislodged from the sand and the two planes decided to make tracks and head straight to the Dig Tree as well.  Unfortunately, on take off, Greg's plane took a nose dive off the side of the 

runway.  The propellor, wheels and wing were damaged beyond immediate repair.  The locals gave a helping hand and towed the plane to the hotel/pub.  Pauly and Louise took off okay and reported in at the Dig Tree.  We later heard that Greg and Kate hitched a ride to Tibooburra, but the car were in got a flat tyre.  It just wasn't their day!

Oops! Nose-dive damage to Greg's plane

Not many people can say their plane crashed in all three states at once!

I've wanted to see the Dig Tree for many years.  I finally got there.  It is the place where the explorers, Burke and Wills came back to find their support team had left earlier that day after months of walking up towards Cape York.  Their team had left supplies buried at the foot of a tree and carved a message into the tree.  The tree itself is a bit less spectacular than what I thought, but you realise how amazing it was for them to traverse the barren landscape that it was and that we flew over so quickly.

Me at the Burke and Wills' Dig Tree

I guess everyone felt a bit flat after we received the news that Greg's plane has crashed.  But we were all thankful no-one was injured.  The radio chat to Birdsville was very quiet.  Louise also had her usual afternoon siesta.

Flying over Lake Eyre tomorrow should be spectacular.  Hoping to see a few more birds than last time.

Over and Out

Birdsville and Back...

Another test flight is underway for On a Wing & a Chair. This time is to see whether Louise (coordinator for the round Australia flight) can hold her lunch down. Miraculously, with some good meds and being pilot in command for a while, she averted distributing her stomach contents within the aircraft.

We're doing this trip to refine the team and work out some of the logistics and possible glitches associated with the future round Australia flight. Today is day one.

The weather was looking very dodgy at Tooridan, our take off location. Myself and Lida (a friend helping out in a 'carer' capacity) were to meet three other aircraft at Maryborough to accompany me on the flight. Luckily the weather cleared enough to fly and we finally met on route to Maryborough, and in person at Swan Hill.

Crop circles at Swan Hill - can't believe the aliens are still at it.

A very bumpy landing at Swan Hill

Flying between Swan Hill to our final destination for the day, Broken Hill brought back some memories as I passed over the cattle station - Tor Downs. I had engine trouble there in July last year and ended up having to stay overnight with the farm owner and their family. I will always be grateful for the hospitality they showed myself and my passenger, Brian that day. This time, circling over the airstrip and homestead to see if anyone was at home, I could barely recognise the landscape from the previous year when it was so red and barren. Today it was green and full of shrubs and greenery, barely recognisable.

We were up high at 8,500 feet avoiding the turbulence and getting the smooth air, but after circling low over Tor Downs I couldn't resist doing a bit of sight seeing and checking out a rice crop farm in the middle of nowhere. It's amazing what you see out here, miles from anywhere.

Tomorrow we're off to two spots that I couldn't make during my Central Australia flight. These being Cameron's Corner and the Burke and Wills Dig Tree. Ever since I was 17 and wanting to drive through the outback, it's been something I've always wanted to do...experience a little bit of Australian history.

Louise, Pauly, Brian, Linda, Greg, Kate and Lida at the Junction Hotel in Broken Hill