The storm that passed south along the east coast of Queensland and New South Wales over the weekend of 4/5 June was a good one. There were winds in excess of 120km and torrential rain. 4 - 5 people were killed in storm related accidents and properties in the northern coastal suburbs of Sydney had significant parts of their land washed away. The houses on those properties are sure to be condemned.
We used the time in Port Macquarie wisely. We lazed around, visited other aviators, Looked at their aircraft in the shelter of their hangars and went to seafood restaurants!
We are now chasing the front and associated low pressure area east across the Tasman Sea back to New Zealand. We have to watch the weather carefully to ensure we don't fly into the back of the front and encounter the weather that's lashed the coast of Australia.
This morning we were airborne by 7:45am and launched into a clear blue sky on a cold, 6 deg Celsius morning.
Over the weekend we took great care to file our flight plans for our Lord Howe and Norfolk Island legs with Airservices on-line. Theoretically all we then had to do was radio Brisbane Centre on the ground at Port Macquarie and ask them to activate our flight plan for that leg and nominate a SARTIME, (Search & Rescue Time). When the controller was contacted immediately prior to take-off he told us he couldn't access flight plans for VFR flights - what? He accepted our SARTIME but seemed disinterested in our flight. Prior to this trip I'd heard Airservices weren't really interested in private Trans-Tasman flights operating under Visual Flight Rules and this was clearly demonstrated to us today.
There was broken cloud over much of our route that we climbed on top of to take advantage of the nice steady tailwinds. It was fun cruising amongst puffy clouds but we were eventually forced up to 9,500ft. It's not a good idea to spend too long at that height as hypoxia can set in so I ducked down through a nice big hole in the cloud to a more comfortable 5,500ft. It was a pleasant 2:14 flight to Lord Howe which included a short diversion to fly around the impressive 1,800ft Balls Pyramid that rises like a steeple from the sea.
On landing Peter Phillipps introduced himself. He's a local aviation nut (like us) and has published books and DVDs on interesting aircraft that have visited Lord Howe Island and the days of the flying boats that serviced the island before the airstrip was built. Peter took us on an aviation related tour of the island and is a mine of information. Our trip included a short walk to an Australian Airforce Catalina crash site. In September 1948 this amphibious aircraft was making an approach across a ridge at night for an emergency landing in the lagoon. It had a fuel leak and apparently there was fuel ankle deep in the bottom of the hull (not good). It clipped the top of a ridge and plunged down the other side. The two engines are still where they fell and other parts of the wings and miscellaneous wreckage surround them. It was most interesting but this is the closest I want to get to an aircraft wreck thanks. If you find yourself on Lord Howe Island I recommend contacting Peter's "Chase 'N' Thyme" bus tour company and booking a tour.
Lord Howe Island is a delightful place. The beaches are gorgeous, the topography is impressive and the pace of life is pleasantly slow.
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