Friday 20 May 2011

May 20 Exmouth to ??? via Carnarvon


Spoiling us even on our last morning, Stevie cooked bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and toast for breakfast. Mmmmm (diet here Kevin comes).  Just for the record I ate cereal and toast!

Down at the Light Aircraft field we untied and loaded her up then took the compulsory family photo.  We just love visiting the Exmouth family and hope to see them again soon. J
Leigh Carmen Andrew Stevie Kev Kirsten and Vicki

BYE!!













Departing at 9.18am we overflew the field then over the beautiful Cape National Park Ranges toward the Ningaloo reef and beaches.  The beautiful gorges and valleys are an unseen wonder of the world and following those the beaches are a pristine example of white sandy beaches with turquoise water.  The beauty of what lies beneath will remain in our memories for ever.


Gorgeous Ningaloo beaches

shadow at 500 ft agl


We arrived at Carnarvon exactly 2 hours and 10 minutes after leaving Exmouth and quickly refuelled before checking the weather forecast again.  
Arriving Carnarvon

The old Carnarvon terminal























We were lucky enough to only have 10knots headwind even though the forecast was 30 knots.  Climbing higher we even got 10 knots tailwind which helped us immensely. The radar that morning had shown nil rain however a phone call to a friend at Geraldton had advised that it was raining for 30 minutes.  We waited for 30 minutes then headed off again.






Turning inland we headed past the part dry huge Lake “Collins” trying to track as short a distance as possible for Geraldton.  Approaching Hamlin Pool the visibility ahead started to grow darker and before we knew it – we had to turn around away from the approaching rain squalls.

We checked out a station strip but it looked very muddy and had a road across it half way down.  We turned inland as a roadhouse with a strip was only about 10 nm away.  Approaching the rh I spotted the strip on the western side and it looked in good condition.  We flew a precautionary pass to check it out then prepared for a r h circuit to land just as another squall got us. 

Overlander Roadhouse - 1 night unexpectedly
Luckily for us the strip was firm and Kev stalled her on safely.  We walked to the roadhouse and enjoyed a coffee whilst watching the weather passing.  Back at the plane and checking the radar it was obvious that we would not have clear skies for the next leg of 1.5 hours to Geraldton. We were grounded on our last day.  We had to book a room and stay at this Roadhouse.  Apologies to our friends whom we were going to catch up with in Geraldton.

We had told our girls that we would arrive home tomorrow in time for Bailey’s first birthday party on Sunday.  We really didn’t want to miss it and didn’t want this bad weather stopping us getting there.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to the closing entry for this fabulous trip.
Have been watching since sighting your aircraft at Tocumwal.

Unknown said...

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Stinson Reliant SR8C VH-UXL

Stinson Reliant SR8C VH-UXL
over Perth city (Photo: Greg Hill)

About Us

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Flying farming couple who live on 135 acres. Kev is obsessed by aeroplanes. Vicki is devoted to horses and White Swiss Shepherds.