April 13 Mt Beauty to Goulburn

Pay's residence Bogong

Saffi and a group of Pay deer

The sun rose to a clear day, no rain but the clouds were still on the mountain tops.  We said our Goodbyes to Carolyn (Cooney) as she was off to Albury for the day.  Following a short walk up their property and a call from Carolyn we were advised that the weather was clear out of the valley and we could set off.

We packed our gear and Alan took us into the airfield.  We had planned to look around the cute little town and catch up with Pollack however as the weather closes in quickly Alan suggested we go whilst it was clear.

We pushed Stinson out of the cavernous hangar after loading all our gear, did all the necessary checks, climbed aboard ready to set off …..then……nothing.   She wouldn’t fire.  Kept trying a few things.  New battery, so that wasn’t the problem.  Alan advised that he couldn’t smell fuel outside and then Kevin realized that the primer was not working.  There was not the usual squeaking noise as he pushed the knob in.  He immediately knew what the problem would be so we climbed back out, got the necessary tools and commenced the removal of the primer.  Alan had to continue on with his day – so he departed – however 2 workmen from an adjacent block helped us out with tools as needed.  Kevin got covered in fuel but removed the assembly and found one of the jets blocked with grease – just as he had suspected.

Whew…. I didn’t really want to be held up here in Mt Beauty for another night because more bad weather was due.  Re-assembly complete and repacked, we renewed the starting procedure to have her roar into life – just like normal.

  

Lift off from Mt Beauty



 It was about 10 degrees C outside so she took quite a bit of warming up but then we slid down the strip with about 5 knots on the nose.  Pulling her up in the crisp air I marveled again at the beauty of the valley ahead.  We cruised a low level to locate the Pay residence from the air and spotted it easily.



Gundagai



Climbing to 3,000 ft we overflew smaller mountains on a direct track to Albury.  We dropped into Albury to refuel and then headed off again to Goulburn.  We headed 030 for Gundagai an easy 80 miles then headed 070 for 40 miles to Yass.  Across the high country at 3,700ft we headed east with a 120 knot groundspeed due to a fantastic tail wind.  We sighted Goulburn on the nose and had to descend and lose speed to join the circuit for a landing on the grass strip – rwy 26.  Kev was quite happy with his 3 pointer landing.

We spotted Dick driving in the gate just as we were taxiing in – perfect timing.  We tied her down, loaded our gear into the car and were driven to the Nell household by 4.30pm. - a very easy day’s flight.  As Kevin and Dick have been friends since about 1976 they always have lots to talk about with the conversation ranging from our journey to Dick & Margaret’s latest acquisition (another motor bike) to current affairs.

Over top Goulburn