I missed the view

We said goodbye to the Kimberley today ☹️ and started east on our trek through the middle of the Australian continent.  From here on the temperatures in the low 30’s that we’ve been enjoying will reduce.  The scenery will be considerably different as we cross the Tanami, Simpson and Stryzelecki Deserts that challenge those unfortunate enough to travel by land.

After calling into Derby for fuel we set heading for Halls Creek 240nm away.

On the 2.5hr leg to Halls Creek I took the opportunity to log some instrument time.  As both Simon and I are both rated to fly the Cessna 172 and Simon could take control of the aircraft from me if it became necessary, he can act as a Safety Pilot.  That allows me to use “foggles” to restrict my vision to just the aircraft instruments.  I can’t see outside and must keep the aircraft on track and at an appropriate height by sole reference to the instruments.  This can be challenging as your senses play tricks on you and you have to learn to trust the instruments and not what the “seat of your pants” is telling you.  As I fly on my own at home and don’t have access to a Safety Pilot who is rated in my aircraft I don’t get much opportunity to log simulated instrument time. This was a good opportunity to brush up on my instrument flying skills.

I flew 1.2hrs using the foggles in generally smooth conditions and didn’t do too bad a job - if I do say so myself.  Relaxing and making small and gentle control inputs is the key.  Just to be a nuisance Simon got me to deviate from track on one occasion and then made me re-intercept it.  Plus he seemed to take great delight in talking to me and asking me questions to disrupt my concentration.

Just to add some spice, I opted to follow the instrument approach procedure into Halls Creek and when I took the foggles off - wow, there was the runway.  Great fun.

Leg Summary:

Route: Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm (YCYG) - Derby (YDBY)

Distance: 68nm (126km)

Time: 0.9hrs

Alt: 1,500ft

Route: Derby (YDBY] - Halls Creek (YHLC)

Distance: 240nm (444km)

Time: 2.6hrs

Alt: 3,500, 5,500 & 7,500ft

Flying with goggles on so I can’t see outside. A picture of concentration!

Gorgeous beaches & soft pastel colours

After a quick look around Broome and pleasant night at the Cable Beach Club & Spa Resort we loaded up and pointed our trusty Cessna 172 north along the beautiful beaches of the Dampier Peninsular.

Cruising along the coast line at 3,500ft the ride was smooth and the coastline was stunning.  A typical isolated and scrubby land morphs into pristine wide, white sandy beaches which are lapped by a crystal clear azure sea.  The water is as clear as gin and you could easily see the bottom.  As Simon was flying this leg I looked hard for sharks as I think they’re known to frequent this area.  None seen.

I believe the Dampier Peninsular still supports some small Aboriginal camps and we passed several clusters of buildings that could’ve been camps.  Mind you, using the term “buildings” is probably stretching the definition of the word in most cases.

It’s flights like this that make me truly grateful for the ability and the means to be able fly and pursue my passion for aviation in environments like the Dampier Peninsular.  Not many get to see this part of the world and, although I’ve worked hard to be able to fly, I consider myself very lucky.

At the north end of the Dampier Peninsular is Cape Leveque, where I have stayed before and, just around the corner, is the Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm where we stopped for two nights.  We had a short tour of the facilities and it was interesting to learn how cultured pearls are seeded, harvested and graded.  Some of the jewellery available for purchase was beautiful but very expensive. There wasn’t much priced less than $1,000 and we were shown one string of pearls that was valued at $670,000!

We had a nice lazy day at Cygnet Bay including a swim in the sea which was clear and warm.

Leg Summary:

Route: Broome (YBRM) - Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm (YCYG)

Straight line distance: 103nm (191km)

Time: 1.5hrs

Alt: 3,500ft

Crossing Cable Beach during Departure off Broome Rwy 28

Broome departure requires a climb to 1500ft before turning right. Looking back toward Broome

Beaches of western side of Dampier Peninsular

Beaches of western side of Dampier Peninsular

Beaches of western side of Dampier Peninsular

Beaches of western side of Dampier Peninsular

Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm

Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm

It’s not supposed to happen here - diversion due weather

Mornington Wilderness Camp has limited internet connectivity so it was difficult to peruse the weather forecast for our comparatively short, 224nm (414km) flight to Broome.  That wasn’t really a problem as the sky was blue, there wasn’t a breath of wind and we knew we could get mobile internet coverage about 30 mins into our flight.

Off we went, picked up the weather and filed a flight plan in flight which was necessary as Broome is a controlled airfield.  The technology and resources we have available in our AvPlan flight planning software which Simon and I run on our iPads is amazing.

As we proceeded we regularly checked the METAR which provides the actual weather conditions at an airfield and is issued every 30 mins.  The first METAR we saw mentioned there was sea fog rolling in to the airport.  A SPECI was issued shortly after.  SPECIs are issued within the validity period of a METAR if the weather conditions change significantly.  The SPECI indicated the fog had arrived and that was shortly followed by advice on the Brisbane Centre area radio frequency (which is an information service over the northern half of Australia) that Broome was accepting instrument approaches only.  Oh oh - we can't do one of those 😧

At that stage we were about 145nm and 1.25hrs from Broome.  If we decided to proceed, hold and then have to divert to Derby we’d be getting low on fuel so it was a no-brainer decision to divert to Derby, fuel up and sit there until the fog cleared.

As it happened, the fog was short-lived and it would’ve been clear by the time we arrived in Broome.  However, once you’ve made a plan you stick to it.

We had about 30mins on the ground in Derby, fueled up, checked the weather again and set off for Broome to arrive in clear blue skies.

I was last in Broome in 2007 and it's changed a lot since then.  It's gone a bit up-market and now there’s lovely homes where previously there was just scrub.  The main street is now full of swanky pearl shops as Broome and the Dampier Peninsular is the heart of Australia's pearl industry.  We did a quick lap around the shops (not our scene) and then found a nice boutique brewery.  The things you have to do while on holiday ...

I’m not sure if I’ll enjoy it here - Cable Beach Club Resort & Spa

Beautiful Cable Beach

Sunset over Cable Beach

A dose of conservation

Returning from the Horizontal Falls we had a lazy afternoon and pleasant overnight stay in Derby.  The following day we then had a short flight to Mornington Wilderness Camp (MWC).  It was stinking hot in Derby as we left and was a pleasure to climb to 5,500ft and cooler air.  However, it was just as hot, if not hotter, on our arrival at MWC.

MWC is run by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC).  They are largely funded by fundraising and philanthropic donations with some assistance from Government to allow them to manage 3.9 million hectares of conservation land at 29 locations throughout Australia.  MWC is one of the seven sanctuaries AWC manage in the Kimberley and the base of their Kimberley operations.  Their influence in the Kimberley extends across 4.3 million hectares.  In addition AWC also coordinates an EcoFire project which delivers a prescribed burning program across 3 million hectares in the central and northern Kimberley. This is the largest non-Government managed fire program in Australia,

MWC is a 320,000 hectare property that was formerly a cattle station.  Over the last 15 years it has been progressively de-stocked and left to return to its natural state.  Part of the land management involves controlled burning at the beginning of the dry season, when the ground is still moist.  Early burning reduces the fuel load so big fires can’t develop later in the dry season.  They’ve had considerable success at MWC with regenerating flora and fauna and rescuing species which are near extinction.  It’s a mind boggling job when you consider the size of the land they manage and their objective to return that land back to its pre-European state.

Our two night stay was in eco-tents in a gorgeous setting.  It gets very cold at night (near zero) but the beds are very comfy with heavy blankets - I was as “snug as a bug in a rug”.  The nights are noisy with critters sniffing and snuffling around and you can’t sleep-in for long as the dawn bird song wakes you early.

On the full day we had a MWC we were taken on a tour to Dimond Gorge by a exhaustingly enthusiastic young guide who really knew her stuff.  The gorge was a beautiful, peaceful spot and I thoroughly enjoyed the 3km or so that we canoed down its calm waters.  Our paddle was followed by a refreshing swim where we collected the canoes from.

This area is known for its geology and there’s impressive examples of rock folding that occurred when the sedimentary rock was thrust up and “bent” as two continental plates collided millions of years ago.  Most of the rock around here is red and, together with the folding, displays some great patterns.

We’ve really enjoyed our time in this beautiful, peaceful spot.  The AWC team at MWC are to be commended for their conservation work.

Leg Summary:

Route: Derby (YDBY) - Mornington Station (YMNT)

Distance: 141nm (261km)

Time: 1.5hrs

Alt: 5,500ft

Mornington Station approach

Termite mounds the size of aircraft!

Accommodation for the next two nights in an eco-tent

Comfy beds

Mornington Wilderness Camp reception and open air dining room

Dimond Gorge, Fitzroy River

Dimond Gorge, Fitzroy River

Outback lunch in the shade as it was bl**dy hot (L to R: Neil, Susie, Susie (guide), Simon, Pete, Shelley)

Beautiful, peaceful outback scene

Beautiful, peaceful outback scene

Horizontal Falls & The Horizontal Hotel

The centrepiece of this flying trip in Australia was a float plane flight out to the Horizontal Waterfalls and night staying in floating accommodation at the falls.

We had flown into Derby airport and were collected from there by an amphibious Cessna Caravan and flown about 30mins north to the falls.  It was nice to sit back and let someone else do the flying and watch the world slide by.  The approach into the water landing site involved flying down a short twisting gully and was probably not necessary but good fun. Both Simon and I were watching the wingtips carefully as they were just about clipping the trees.

Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures has two "house boats" moored just outside the falls that sleep about 50 guests.  There are various pontoons clustered around the house boats with helicopter landing pads, swimming cages, a bar, etc.  A high standard of accommodation is offered in small but very nice rooms.  I had the best sleep of the whole trip so far in a very comfortable bed - it may also have been the sea air.

When we arrived it was hot and stayed warm right into the evening as we dined outside on the upper decks.

The highlight was the fast boat ride through the falls.  The Horizontal Falls are formed by water filling and draining from the enclosed Talbot Bay.  We did two rides through the falls; one late in the afternoon and one early in the morning when there was about 1 - 2 metres of tidal difference on either side of the falls.  There are times during a spring tide that there can be up to 4m of difference but that can be too dangerous to get a boat through.

The boat was powered by four 300hp outboard motors and was skillfully guided through the falls fast and slow by a young guy.  This morning he allowed the falls to suck the boat in backwards and held it there. It was like being in a washing machine.  Damn good fun in a beautiful part of the world.

Arrival at the Horizontal Falls (lovely aircraft)

The “Horizontal Hotel”

Swimming with the Grey Nurse sharks that hang around the pontoons

Our gang having sunset drinks (L to R: Simon, Me, Neil, Shelley, Pete & Susie)

Rushing through the Horizontal Falls

Parked in the Falls

I love the Kimberley

We had a gorgeous flight today over one of my favourite places to fly - the remote and insanely beautiful Kimberley Coast.  Setting off from Kununurra about 9.30am we flew to the head of Prince Regent Gorge in smooth and clear flying conditions.  It’s very remote in this part of the world and there are few stations and roads.  As we flew down the Gorge we slowly let down to 1,000ft as the Gorge widened out.

A turn SW then had us tracking along the edge of the Bonaparte and Buccaneer Archipelagos over the numerous small islands and beautiful sandy beaches.  The sea is a pale azure colour and, where there’s exposed rocky outcrops, you can really see the tide running.  The tidal fall is 11m in these parts and the currents can be treacherous.

We landed at Derby and immediately encountered a serious problem.  We’re being transported by float plane out to the Horizontal Falls this afternoon for a night on their floating accommodation and have just realised you can't purchase alcohol there. One of our party was quickly dispatched into town in a taxi with a shopping list while the rest of us prepared to hold the plane up until he returned.  Phew - that was close!

Leg Summary:

Route: Longreach (YLRE) - Derby (YDBY)

Distance: 386nm (715km)

Time: 3.2hrs

Alt: 1,000 - 4,500ft

Head of Prince Regent Gorge

Beautiful Kimberley Coast

Beautiful Kimberley Coast

Beautiful Kimberley Coast

Beautiful Kimberley Coast

Derby.  Do they realise the sea levels is rising?

Out the back of the Outback

The flight from Adels Grove to Kununurra is the longest on this trip.  This takes us across the top of Australia and the northernmost point of our journey.

We got away early again around 8am.  The flying conditions are smooth in the morning as the air is cool and the low light brings out the colours and texture of the country.

We called in briefly at Borroloola for fuel but didn’t leave the airfield.  Borroloola is an Aborginal community and there’s not much there.

It was Simon’s day to fly and, because the leg from Borroloola is so long, he opted to drop into Daly Waters to stretch our legs.  That was a great decision as Daly Waters is a quintessential outback town with nothing there but a pub.  The pub was built in the 1930’s and, as is the habit in these parts, is full of all sorts of paraphernalia left by travelers as they’ve passed through.  The theme of the beer garden was jandals (thongs) and they were hung everywhere.

The pub is rambling, the floors uneven and it sells everything.  The lamb wrap I had for lunch was delicious and I would’ve loved a beer - but we don’t do that when flying.

The Daly Waters airfield is also interesting.  It has a large sealed runway and once was an important stopping off point for international aircraft flying from Sydney or Melbourne and destinations to the North of Australia.  It also played a role in WW2.  There’s nothing there now but the old hangar has some great information boards that tell you all about it.

Leg Summary:

Route: Adels Grove (YALG) - Boroloola (YBRL) - Daly Waters (YDLW) - Longreach (YLRE)

Distance: 642nm (1,189km)

Time: 5.9hrs

Alt: 2,500 & 4,500ft

Up at sunrise

Early morning departure from Adels Grove

Nice tailwind up our bum

Interesting geology in these parts

Bush fires are left to burn

Approach into Daly Waters

Daly Waters pub

Daly Waters pub

Daly Waters service station

Peaceful (but sad) Adels Grove

The emerald waters and lush vegetation of Lawn Hill Gorge form a beautiful oasis in the outback, attracting abundant wildlife and offering exceptional views, walks, canoeing and cultural sites.  It’s a stunning place which I was looking forward to showing Siimon.

Sadly, the main reception, kitchen and restaraunt area at Adels Grove Camp adjacent to Lawn Hill was burned to the ground in July which has seriously compromised the operation.  It must have been heart breaking to watch the building burn as the nearest fire engine is 1.5hrs away and the building was all but gone by the time they arrived.  The camp has had to limit the numbers that can stay but the staff remain positive and are making the best of what they have left.  Reception is operated from a caravan and meals and drinks are served in an outdoor dining room which is actually very pleasant given the warm climate.

When we arrived we jumped straight on the bus that ferries people the 10km to the Lawn Hill National Park.  We hired a canoe and paddled up through the spectacular gorge to the Indarri Falls.  Flowering lillies lined the river banks leading to the rich ruby coloured walls of the gorge.

At the Indarri Falls you can leave your canoe and explore the area.  At the small jetty I wanted to introduce Simon to the Archer fish that live in this area.  I’d perked some bread from another person visiting the park and told Simon to sit on the jetty and slowly crumble the bread into the water.  If there’s Archer fish present they shoot a jet of water at you as they think the falling bread crumbs are insects.  The jet is quite powerful and gives you a helluva fright if you’re not expecting it.  Of course, I hadn’t told Simon this!  Sadly, my plan was foiled as there were no Archer fish.  Bugger.

After returning the canoes we did the Island Stack walk which takes you high up onto a plateau to view the lower gorge.  It was a hot but pleasant walk.

Beautiful Lawn Hill National Park

Me paddling hard

Water lilies adding to the colour of the gorge

Indarri Falls

Lower Gorge

Our cabin accommodation at Adels Grove

All that’s left of the Adels Grove lovely big dining deck, restaurant & kitchen ☹️

What is it with Airport Managers?

We only booked one night at Adels Grove and wanted to keep the afternoon free for use there so the alarm was set at 5:30am and we departed from Longreach at 7:20am.  Strong southerly winds and turbulence was forecast over our route but we settled down at 2,500ft, the view was spectacular in the early morning light and we had a nice quartering tailwind that pushed us along at 130kts.

Our route took us overhead the Combo Waterhole where Banjo Patterson reputedly wrote Waltzing Matilda.  The waterhole is in the middle of nowhere but there were some Grey Nomads parked who waved as we circled.

It was “blowing dogs off chains” when we called into Mt Isa for fuel.  Careful parking of our aircraft after refuelling in the shelter of a large tree while we went in search of a coffee raised the ire of the Airport Manager.  We hadn’t parked in the designated park and our tail was infringing (an enormous) taxiway by about 1 metre.  There was more than enough room for a large aircraft to pass behind us on the taxiway.  Most Airport Managers I know had their common-sense removed at birth and this guy was no different.  He would rather we expose our aircraft to blustery winds and damage when it could be parked in shelter without interfering with ground movements.  What is it with Airport Managers!

It was a short flight up to Adels Grove that was uneventful followed by a challenging crosswind landing onto their gravel strip which had me working hard.

Off now to explore the spectacular Lawn Hill National Park ...

Leg Summary:

Route: Longreach (YLRE) - Mt Isa (YBMA)

Distance: 320nm (593km)

Time: 3.0hrs

Alt: 2,500 & 4,500ft

Route: Mt Isa (YBMA) - Adels Grove (YALG)

Distance: 130nm (241km)

Time: 1.3hrs

Alt: 4,500ft

Early morning departure from Longreach in lovely smooth flying conditions

Combo Waterhole

Turning base onto Rwy 23 at Adels Grove. Camp is to the right of the threshold.