4 Mar. Early start on the return journey. First fly toJandakot and refeul while Dianne returned the hire car, then a race with the weather. After a week of hot dry weather, a wide band of cloud camped over the hills to the east. After a 'look' back to Jandakot to refeul, a cup of coffee, and a wait for a while. By that time and ex student of mine (from 25 years ago) who was flying in the area had recognised our call sign and asked Flight Service that the weather east of the ranges was breaking and quite clear, so off to Merredin. Half way to Kalgoorlie, the heat turbulence started in earnst, making the ride distinctly unpleasant. After landing at Kalgoorlie, Dianne wasn't feeling the best so we took a break at the Aero Club fo lunch. That seemed to help, and when she announced she was ready to go again, we departed for Balladonia. Surprisingly the turbulence had reduced markedly, but the flashes of lightning ahead told us it wouldn't last for long, and it didn't ! By the time we got to Balladonia, we'd had enough for the day....5.1 hours
After shutting down to let Dianne off to guide me down the track, the service station manager drove up and stopped for a chat all the time having a snake dangling from a stick out of the car window. The red tail had us intrigued, as we had never heard of a snake like that in Australia. He explained that it was the second snake of that type he had caught and relocated recently, so he had painted the tail red to see if it was the same one coming back ! Starting the engine, we were met with a clicking of the starter and no rotation. Great about the most isolated place on our trip and now we start having problems ! Back to hand swinging. With the storms around, we were able to push the Acro part way into a shed for the night, and removed the battery for recharging overnight, I couldn't find anything obvious with the electrical system, so decided to handswing all the way home, keeping the battery for essential use only.
5 Mar. For the short flight to caiguna, we set out at 0800 after the service station opened (to get the battery) and followed the highway - one bend in 100 miles ! Over the last 30 miles, we decided to have a bit of fun as we had fuel to spare, so dropped down to 500' close to the highway, waving to, and flying circles around, trucks. Some flashed their headlights or hazard lights at us, which was a bit different, At Caiguna, while having a cup of tea, we actually spoke to some of the truckies. Most got a kick out of it, though one was ver 'anti' - couldn't eat his breakfast because we had given him such a fright. Thought we were the highway patrol ! Back to Forrest and Nullabor (with the GPS working perfectly), but caught a 'sinker' on landing at Nullabor, and as the strip edge was just outside the wingtips, decided to go round and land on the wider cross strip. This time we could get Avgas, and since the sea breeze had come in and we could fly off shore in calm conditions, Dianne decided she could handle another leg to Ceduna. This leg crossed a 2.5 hour time zone, so arriving at Ceduna involved a quick refuel, tie down, into the motel, shower, and into the restaurant for the whiting again, before it closed. Some of the fish spotters were still there, plus 2 RV4s from the Fly-in, so another social night was had !
6 Mar. During the night, a strong southerly had come in (again), which didn't bode well for the direct flight to Whyalla, so prearranged fuel at Widunna, loaded up and took off. Of course at about 1500', the wind slowly came round onto the tail at 15-20 knots. Paul, the gardener, gave us a quick refeul, and after take off, climbed to pick up the tail wind and get height to cross Spencer Gulf to Port Pirie for fuel and lunch. No refeuller in sight and the nearest food a taxi ride into town.
After a sandwich in the shade of a refeullers hut, we decided to take advantage of the tail wind and fly direct to Mildura, by passing Renmark, where we originally planned to refeul. Thankfully, the winds held in, but the increasing build ups ahead caused the brain cells to stir. Lightning started to flash, and showers started to fall from a fairly high cloud base, so we opted to go round the southern edge. This was strating to eat into the small surplus fuel we had. AbeamRenmark, I could spot a gap in the showers which I reckoned was direct to Mildura (so did the GPS) so pointed there and watched the fuel - there were no airstrips on the chart between the two. After about 30 minutes, we started to break out of the storm area, the tailwind dropping to 5-10 knots, so all seemed well though there was a bush fire over to the right. We both spotted what looked like a private strip, so put that on the chart 'just in case'. The penny dropped a few minutes later that the 'bushfire' was in fact a dust storm; and guess what, it was blowing directly at Mildura !
This started to get my attention , particularly with our fuel state, so the race was on for Mildura - us or the dust storm. We descended to 3000' to sit just above the dust, me (and the GPS) saying that Mildura was dead ahead. With 5 miles to go and still nothing visible below, I said to Dianne "put the camera away, and look for a field" - her answer was 'I have and I am !" Through a fold in the top of the dust we could just make out the field at about 3 miles, so a quick left circuit, land, and fast taxi to the tie down cables. As I was throwing the ropes out to Dianne, the storm was really close, so there was a mad panic to get the ropes on at least the wings before the wind hit. The last rope was being tied when the wind hit (had to put our goggles back on !) - too close for comfort. Within minutes an airliner was going round off the VOR approach. Needless to say, we enjoyed a quiet dinner and a bottle of wine that night......3.9 hours
7 Mar. Awake before dawn for the last day. There was no sign of storms of the previous night, though we both wondered if the grapes drying in the sun (acres of them) were washed before packing. The sign at the refeulling point said "RIGHT circuits required Runway 27" - the afternoon before I couldn't have cared less ! Next stop Griffith for fuel and a cup of tea at the Aero Club, then onto Cootamundra, fine weather and tail winds all the way. At Cootamundra we walked into town for lunch, then off on the last leg to Camden
Approaching the Blue Mountains, which had caused us some concern on day one, a layer of low stratus seemed to sitting down over the hills, so descended to have a look. Again the base was fairly distinct with plenty of escape options to the northwest, so pressed on. The base lowered some more, but after 15 minutes down low over the hills again, the weather started to break and we had a clear run home......4.1 hours
No refuel this time, or oil, or a wash, just unpacked everything, pushed it away, and went home for a few well deserved rum and cokes.
Even though we had done a similar flight in the Pacer, this was a real adventure. First planning the flight with fuel and navigation problems, then finding somewhere to put all the 'must take' items, eg, first aid kit, water, survival kit, solar still, fire extinguisher, filter funnel, tie-down kit, chocks, cover, camera, warm clothes, and then a small bag for 3 1/2 weeks.
All we needed then was a water cooled credit card ! The flight took about 44 hours, 1100 litres of feul, and 6 litres of oil. The only problem was electrical, a defective plug. My original plan was to sell the GPS when we got back, as I enjoy pilot nav... I've changed my mind ! After we got back, I started to give some thought to selling the Acro and buying a bigger tail dragger for travelling about; but after a late autuum afternoon flight, dead calm, crisp air, sun setting, I thought: "Lloyd, you would have to have rocks in your head"