Simon flew this first leg and we departed at 11:00am pretty much at our planned time after weighing all our bags, packing the aircraft and going over our route and weather together. Our objective was to meet Shelley and Pete at Louth at 2:00pm.
Leaving Bathurst we climbed to 6,500ft to clear some high ground to on track to the northwest and up there the weather was fine and clear without a cloud from horizon to horizon. Not long after leaving Bathurst we heard Shelley in Cessna 182, VH-BMJ on the Melbourne Centre area frequency and chatted to her briefly on a chat channel.
Our route took us over farm country and a patchwork of grassy and plowed fields. From about halfway farmland gave way to scrubby cattle country that, apart from the scrub, is flat and featureless. The three hours enroute passed quickly before we had to start looking for the Louth airfield and planning our approach. Our timing was spot on with Shelley and Pete beating us by 10mins.
Louth is your typical outback town. With a population of 40, it’s a cluster of buildings on the banks of the Darling River between a pub and a racecourse. Just last weekend the population swelled to 4,000 as people came from miles around for the annual Louth races.
The Darling is just a trickle of water these days and is very low. In its day it was a major transport artery as barges and paddle steamers moved people, stock and wool up and down the river.
Leg Summary:
Route: Bathurst (YBTH) to Louth (YLOH)
Distance: 288nm (533km)
Time: 3.3hrs
Alt: 6,500 - 4,500ft
Lock up your daughters - the boys are coming
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Darling River
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Darling River
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