Fish (mostly) out of Water

An early flying adventure, October 2008, by Michael Smith

I've been flying a Searey amphibian which I christened Southern Sun in Melbourne for a few years now since earning my wings in a Jabiru at Point Cook 5 years ago. While I'd been down to Tassie, and many trips around Victoria, I had yet to venture north of the Murray. So when the family was keen for a holiday in Port Douglas, they took the Qantas option while I decided to trek north via the outback. I was rather enamoured by the wonderful patterns that occur along the way, some natural, some the result of man's touch. All part of a rich and diverse tapestry of countryside we have, from rich red soil, to dense bush, desert and of course finally the reef. Lot's of little stories from the trip, of course heard a few times "what are ya doin out here mate, yurs a long way from the water..."

Melbourne to Port Douglas

Penfield - Bourke - Longreach - Hughenden - Georgetown - Wonga Beach. Flying time 18 hours

After delaying departure for two days due to rather nasty weather, once away I was determined to take advantage of a splendid tail wind, and comfortably made Penfield to Bourke non stop. Arrived mid afternoon, used my new carrnet card for the first time (and wow, that's beats lugging jerry cans out to the plane...) and tied up next to an RFDS plane. Then discovered from some chaps in the terminal that the weather the day before was so bad the RFDS plane was hit by lightning, while others landed with 65 knot headwinds! To think the day before I had wondered if I was being overly cautious in not departing!

 Next day more tailwinds, the Searey cruises in the 80knot region, so it was ever so sweet to see 103 knots on the GPS, and with regularly  100knots and an early start saw me in Longreach by lunchtime. It was exciting to finally make it to the home of Qantas and had the whole afternoon to visit the Qantas Founders Museum and the Outback Hall of Fame and Museum, both were excellent. A walk around town found a well kept and thriving community, the sign on the local pub declared they had "all the best local DJ's" and that "Longreach Idol was coming soon", ah, if only I'd had more time.....

I had hoped to make Port Douglas in one leg, but for the first time on the trip I was not going to be making the beloved "downwind departure" call. With 20 knot northerlies, the GPS would not be whispering sweet 3 digit nothings in my ear today, but rather that humbling 60, and at times 55knots. A stop at Hughenden for a refuel and as things were getting pretty bumpy now that we were nearing the divide, I decided a night in Georgetown, rather than one of the airfields up on the range would be the go. Highlighting the great spirit of our Outback kindred folk, the refueller having sorted out my fuel said "here mate, take me ute, head out to the motel and I'll pick it up there later". It ended up he had a meeting there also with the local tribe - not only was he the refueller, but also the Mayor!

A quick early morning jump over the tablelands saw Port Douglas pop into view, meaning coffee with my family wasn't too far away. There's little that needs to be said about Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef, it was stunning, and the various hues of blue a vibrant change from the variations of red, brown and green of the few previous days flying. Swimming on the reef with my family amongst the tropical fish was a real highlight of the trip. I spent a day landing on the reef at several spots between Cairns and Cooktown, well, that was pretty special too.

Port Douglas to Melbourne

Wonga Beach - Longreach - Cunnamulla - Cobar - Denilliquin - Penfield. Flying time 21 hours

 When I noticed Cunnamulla was on my track home, it just had to become a stop - we showed Dennis O'Rourke's controversial documentary about the life in the outback town back at the start of this century at our cinema, and I was intrigued to see what the town was like, albeit briefly. I refuelled and then popped into town for lunch and was quite concerned when I saw that nearly every shop was closed, oh my gawd, I thought the place had died in the aftermath of the film. When I stopped in Cobar (a Copper mining town) later that night, I discovered everyone had been closed as it was a public holiday in NSW....phew.

I was really impressed with the willingness of locals to lend a helping hand, there was the Mayoral refueller mentioned above, in one town the refueller took me into town to get some lunch, while in another town the owner of the motel I bunked at drove me to the airport at 6am as there was no taxi in town.

While my favourite example was having managed to flatten the battery trying to start on a very icy cold morning, with no one in sight, I sat for a few minutes, head in hands wondering "what now".... I called the NRMA and vaguely said I was "at the aerodrome in a white falcon with a flat battery" and the dispatch girl happily sent me the roadside assistance - upon arriving and finding no Ford in sight, I pointed to the other side of the fence - the guy just laughed and got on with getting the plane jump started - agreeing that it was white, but maybe more of an albatross than a falcon! Try that one on in the city. 

All good fun, an adventure indeed. With the ferry tank system had up to 7 hours range plus an hour reserve, so was able to cover some long distances. Longest leg was 6.4 hours, and yes, needed the special bottle with the long neck a few times. In flight catering was mainly cashews, apples, jelly beans and aqua. Kept the sun off my nose with my lucky Fedora. For the record... photos all taken with a Leica on a flexible mount that let's me still fly the plane.