At the weekend I was keen to go for a bush walk, but not a super-long one. Cue Turtle Rock - about 30 mins drive from Mareeba, 2.5 - 3 hrs walk, and passing the Emerald Creek ice cream factory on the way back.
(I last did this walk a year ago, just before leaving for Timor-Leste)
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| View towards the south |
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| View to the west |
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| Grass trees with their 'flowers' |
Yesterday I got to do another ferry flight to Arnhem Land, this time in GA8 VH-MQO. This aircraft had previously been based in Timor Leste so it was nice to 'complete the set' and add its rego to my pilot logbook!
As usual, although the route was the same as previous flights, the views and weather were different. Last time I had to make some fairly significant deviations around towering cumulus; this time I nearly went blind looking for a cloud! (They don't call it the dry season for nothing, I guess.)
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| My trusty steed |
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| 150 kg of rather bulky cargo |
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| View out the right window |
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| View out the left window |
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| Dendritic patterns in the salt flats |
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| Flying lower gives a completely different view |
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| Limmen Bight River |
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| Until the last 45 minutes approaching Gove, these were the most clouds I had seen all day! |
Walsh's Pyramid was the first day walk I did on arriving in Cairns just over two years ago, and it has been on my bucket list to do again before I leave. Somehow I convinced three of the students to give it a go last Saturday.
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| Drone shot of Walsh's Pyramid (courtesy of Jacob) |
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| An expansive view from the summit |
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| The obligatory attempt at a group picture - not great with the shadows! |
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| Ethan, Joe and Jacob enjoy the view to the south |
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| Scrambling back down |
In the final stages of the students' PPL (private pilot licence) training we have been teaching them navigation skills and techniques, which means we've been venturing a bit further afield. Here are some photos I took along the way...
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| Rainbow en route from Port Douglas to Cairns |
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| Cropduster being loaded at Tully aerodrome |
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| Departing Cairns airport |
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| Flying towards Cairns from the south. (Walsh's Pyramid is on the left) |
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| Andy Little congratulates the students on passing their PPLs |
Here's the view of tonight's blood supermoon from Mareeba. Although it was raining on and off during the day, the night sky was clear, so after tennis I drove a short distance out of town to get away from the street lights and try to capture some photos...
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| An astronomical event! |
Last weekend I thought I'd take another mini-break and go camping. Lake Tinaroo has a number of campgrounds available, all by the water. It's only half-an-hour's drive from Mareeba, which on the one hand is convenient because it meant I could head out there straight from church after-school kids' club on Friday and spend two nights; but on the other can feel a bit too much of an effort to go somewhere that close to home. I needn't have worried about the latter as the scenery was so different it felt like I was much further away.
I chose to stay at the Kauri Creek campground - not too far to drive on an unsealed road, no generators allowed (so I thought it should be quieter, although several groups of people were playing music until well after dark on the Saturday night). There were also a couple of decent length bush walks that started at the campground - I did one on Saturday and one on Sunday.
The rest of the time was spent reading books, playing solitaire, and doing some Tok Pisin course revision.
Unfortunately my camera batteries were flat, so I had to use my cheap phone to take photos.
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| Early morning view from my tent |
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| The elusive Ulysses butterfly! |
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| Huge palms on the Jungaljungal bush walk |
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| Crossing Kauri Creek |
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| Wet feet |
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| My campsite |
Last week I was asked to take an Airvan for an engine run flight. 'Go anywhere you like,' I was told. 'The engine needs to run at cruise power for about half an hour.'
Rather than just fly in circles around the airport, I thought I would take some of the students along as a bit of a treat. I was also keen to get some photos of Windin Falls from the air - especially given that it was within 15 minutes' flying time of Mareeba!
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| Tinaroo dam |
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| I got to fly from the left hand seat for a change |
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| Our shadow |
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| Windin Falls |
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| Arriving back at Mareeba airport |
