Flying in a Land Down Under

Tassie

Tasmania had ranked high on my list of Australian destinations long before we left home. We had been to the island 15 years ago and I liked it a lot. Back then we walked the South Coast Trek, a famous hike, this time we wanted to see it from above.

Our Tasmanian loop

We would have loved to stop on Flinders Island (the one off the Northeast of Tassie), unfortunately it was impossible to get accommodation there. So we thought, we’ll at least fly over but even that didn’t really work out as the island was mostly covered by low clouds.

We had been able to find a hotel in George Town, YGTO, on the north coast of Tasmania, so we flew there. One can walk into town from the field there, but it takes almost an hour. It turned out to be a rather sleepy place with nice strolls along the river being the major attractions.

Flinders Island mostly covered by clouds

Short final 24 at YGTO

I’m walking, yes indeed…

Walk along the river in George Town

We had planned to fly to Hobart’s Cambridge airfield, YCBG, along the Tasmanian east coast, but weather didn’t cooperate, we even had to file IFR. Wineglass Bay actually was on our list, but unfortunately we missed this one out.

YCBG is a bit odd, as it is located inside the CTR of Hobart’s big airport, YMHB. Runways are parallel, just displaced by a kilometer or so. When you arrive under IFR, you just swing over once visual. You won’t get a clearance to land, but traffic at YCBG is on the YMHB frequency, so for practical purposes it’s like a controlled airfield.

Leaving George Town

Approaching YCBG, YMHB to the left

Hobart is a pleasant town with a very European feel to it. This is in part because of the many remaining British buildings, but also because of the cooler climate. It’s a port town that’s apparently very important to yachters. I don’t understand much about yachting, but there are also many good restaurants in town and you don’t need to know much to enjoy food and drink.

On a little harbor cruise in Hobart

Yachts in Hobart

Dinner at the Astor Grill

Hobart is the start and end point of the South Coast Trek, which we did 15 years ago. It commences with a flight in a 206 or so from YCBG to a small strip on the south coast called Bathurst Harbour, YBHB. From there you have to walk for six days back to the end of the road south of Hobart, where you will be picked up by a bus. It was one of the nicest walks we ever did and we were keen to fly along this coast. Weather wasn’t perfect, but we were even able to spot the path in a couple of places.

Leaving Hobart

The South Coast Trek ends somewhere here

I can well remember walking along these beaches

Weather was about the same when we walked down there

YBHB is down the valley, too rough and to short for our Mooney

Weather improved on the way to Strahan, YSRN, our destination for the day. Cruises along the Gordon River depart from Strahan, but we couldn’t get a ticket, so we had to do a little arial cruise before we arrived.

Weather improved along the west coast

Descending into the Gordon River valley

Gordon River

One of the cruise boats on Gordon River

Final 18 at YSRN

Apparently they call the mouth of the inlet of Gordon and several other rivers the Gates of Hell. That’s where you’ll end if you pronounce the name of the town in the wrong way. Besides this particularity, Tassie’s longest beach is located near Strahan.

Make no mistake here

On Tassie’s longest beach

In contrast to Flinders Island we were able to find accommodation on King Island, the one off Tasmania’s northwestern tip. So we flew from Strahan to King, YKII the next day.

Flying through the Gates of Hell

Tassie’s longest beach from the air

A bit hazy towards the northern end

Coasting in at King Island

Short final 10 at YKII

RM parked at YKII

Not only could we find a hotel on King Island, we could even book a rental car. It turned out to be in terrible condition and came at a horrific price, but it was worth it in the end. We had two wonderful days on the Island. The scenery is beautiful, weather was great and people are the most laid back and friendly one can imagine.

King: Yellow Rock River

King: still Yellow Rock River

King: Yellow Rock Beach

King: Cape Wickham Light House (tallest in Oz)

King: Seal Rocks (no seals to be seen)

We were quite happy on King Island

Unfortunately weather didn’t stay that nice for another day, so we had to file IFR to get to Melbourne.

Lining up 10 at YKII

Bye bye King Island

Yes, Hobart was by far the most distant place we flew to. More than 9000NM away from Mannheim, Ushuaia is only a bit over 7300NM away.

Melbourne to Adelaide via Ararat

While we were on our own in Tassie, we were about to meet fellow pilots again at the next three stops. Once more we had the privilege of meeting extremely hospitable nice and humorous people. The two relatively short legs took us from Victoria to South Australia.

Our route from Melbourne to Adelaide via Ararat

There are two GA airfields serving Melbourne. Both aren’t too close to the center, but have public transport access. We opted for the one with lower fees, which was Moorabbin, YMMB. They have no less than ten runway ends at YMMB and a lot of traffic. A strong northerly wind was blowing when we arrived so 35 left and right were active. Apparently 35R is used for pattern work but it is the only one with an instrument approach, so we had to swing over to 35L.

YMMB with its plentiful runways

Melbourne in the distance

The parallel runway was in use as well

Short final 35L at YMMB

Unfortunately it started raining heavily shortly after our arrival and it wouldn’t stop for 24 hours, so we didn’t see much of the city. We were invited by adventurer Michael Smith the next day. He has a private strip where he has based his new toy, a twin Rotax 915iS equipped experimental flying boat. Michael invited us to his home where we were treated with buttered scones, lemon curd, cream and jam. In an email he had written that “unfortunately not enough people take the time to have a proper adventure…”. We felt this invitation was a great honor 🙂.

IMC in Melbourne

Michael’s twin Rotax 915iS equipped experimental flying boat

Right ambiance for buttered scones

Melbourne doesn’t have the spectacular setting of Sydney, but its vibrant atmosphere easily makes up for that. The city is famous for its street art and it is very lively. Moreover, it’s famous for its restaurant and food scene. Many of the inhabitants have Asian roots and they have brought their cuisines with them. We were at a couple of Asian restaurants during our stay, and a Korean place was really memorable, but this might be because we’ve never been to Korea.

Melbourne in nice weather

Street art in Melbourne

Restaurants with outdoor seating

Dinner at a Korean restaurant

Our next destination was Ararat, YARA where we had been invited by Jim and Sue. We didn’t fly directly but followed the coast to see the Twelve Apostles – rock formations on Victoria’s south coast. Some are needles and others are more solid rocks. Some collapsed in recent years but interestingly, even before that, there never were twelve of them. The name is apparently a marketing stunt of the tourism promotion board.

Leaving Melbourne

Along the south coast

The Apostles

A closer look at the Apostles

Final 12 at YARA

Jim is a former Mooney pilot who now flies a cute little Luscombe. He’s still an AMPA member and he had invited us in the very beginning. He told us that he’s from a family of wine makers, what was enough for us to highly prioritize his invitation. It turned out to be a highlight of our trip. Ararat is situated at the foot of the Grampians, a nice little mountain range. Jim awaited us at the airfield and let us put RM in his hangar.

Jim and terbang, a Luscombe and a Mooney

Ararat and the Grampians

Jim and Sue are a couple with a great sense of humor and great love of food and wine. They took us out for dinner with their friends as if this was the most normal thing in the world and we had an incredibly fun evening with them.

Jim’s brother had taken over the family winery, while Jim had pursued a different successful career and is now retired for a couple of years. He has been livelong friends with the owner of Bests’ winery in neighboring Great Western, where he had arranged lunch and a wine tasting for the next day. I don’t know what Jim told his friend Viv, but he really dished up some excellent wines. At one point it turned out, that Mrs. terbang was born the same year as Viv’s daughter. He said give me five minutes and he came back with a bottle of Shiraz of that vintage.

Lunch and wine tasting at Bests’

Really excellent wines

Shiraz as old as Mrs. terbang

We had dinner at Jim’s and Sue’s home together with other friends of theirs. This evening Jim served wines produced by his family’s winery. Among them was a sparkling Shiraz what I never had before – it was superb.

Sparkling Shiraz produced by Jim’s family

We didn’t feel like flying too early the next morning. I was sitting in Jim’s kitchen still a bit disoriented and something happened I knew only from the famous song’s lyrics: he just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich 🤣 After a big mug of coffee everything looked much friendlier, so Jim and Sue drove us to the airfield and we departed towards South Australia. Unfortunately the coffee didn’t help to make the weather any friendlier. In the beginning there were low clouds and later it was quite windy.

Saying good bye to Sue and Jim

The Grampians after leaving YARA

We had been invited by Owen and Sue (yes, another Sue 🙂) to stay with them at their home in the Adelaide Hills. Owen is an active AMPA member and he’s on the committee (board) there. Amongst other things he’s in charge of communication and runs the forum. It was Owen who sent out an email to all AMPA members where he announced us. We only got all the invitations and nice contacts because of his effort. Therefore it was particularly nice to finally meet him.

Moreover, Owen sorted out PPR to land at Aldinga, YADG, south of Adelaide. The field is privately owned by the hangar owners there. However, he warned us, the approach that day wouldn’t be any fun. Wind was blowing from the southeast so runway 14 had to be used which is not their preferred runway. There is a little mountain range in the extended centerline only 1200 feet high but its effect is tremendous. Owen had told us, that the range would form a rotor and downwind would be very turbulent. Moreover, there would be a pronounced sink on final. Winds aloft were only around 25 knots and 17 knots on the ground, so I was not overly concerned. This complacency resulted in the first go-around of the journey 🤣 We were thrown around on downwind and I corrected for the sink on final too late but too aggressively – this was not a stabilized approach for sure. I was prepared on the second attempt and this time everything worked nicely.

Approaching Aldinga

Turning base

Final 14 at YADG, the little mountain range in the background

We visited Adelaide in the afternoon. Coming from Melbourne any city would have a hard time to impress, Adelaide in fact is a pleasant place, but not that much of a real city. Rather a large and friendly country town than a metropolis.

The next day we drove to the Barossa Valley and around the Adelaide Hills where we had a nice walk. Early settlers came from Italy and Germany to the region what is still visible in the names of the towns here. Today it’s as Australian here as anywhere in the country but it still makes for a tourist attraction.

We spent two nice and fun days with our hosts. The first evening we went to the local hotel. At Australian hotels you can drink and eat but only at some of them you can also sleep – most establishments called hotel in Australia are pubs. The second evening Sue prepared an excellent paella and we were sitting on the deck talking till late.

Adelaide from a view point close to our host’s home

Adelaide

The Barossa Valley

With Owen and Sue

YADG amidst the McLaren Vale vineyards – much more pleasant without this ugly wind

Buckerfan wrote:

This is such a trip down memory lane for me Terbang. Oh my god. I was born in Melbourne and taken off to Adelaide when I was few months old.

Really glad that you liked the report 🙂

Buckerfan wrote:

It’s great claim to fame is that it is the only city in Australia that wasn’t founded with convict labour.

Yes, our South Australian friend told us, that they say that even criminals are all home-grown 🤣