Foiled by weather, Temora & Parkes

In 2005, I attended an aircraft safe handling course run in Stawell, Victoria.  Graeme Boatman ran the course and is one of the best instructors I've flown with.  Graeme really put me through the wringer and I learnt heaps.

Graeme's business also ran flying tours throughout Australia that were organised by Val Kennedy.  Val's an expert herder of cats, ie; pilots with differing levels of experience, their partners and/or friends all of whom think they know best.  Val and her husband John have become good friends and I've had many flying holidays with them in Australia and they've been brave enough to visit and fly with me in New Zealand on several occasions.  Between Graeme, Val & John they've taught me most of what I know about flying in Australia.

My intention was to visit them in Stawell which is about 1.5hrs flying east of Adelaide.  However, the weather had different plans.  Stawell and the alternate airfields within a reasonable driving time had been fog-bound for days, and the day I wanted to get to Stawell was no different.  After many phone calls during the morning we agreed if the low cloud didn't lift by 1pm I'd have to bypass Stawell and head further north.

1pm came and the weather reports, cameras and Val & John's reports all conspired against me and precluded a visit to Stawell.  Bugger - I was looking forward to catching up with them all.

I decided to head NE to Mildura to overnight on my own.  Val took pity on me and arranged for some people she knows in Mildura to collect me from the airport and I had a pleasant evening with them which was better than staring at the walls of a motel room on my own.

Temora

Andrew & John had made it to Parkes the day before and decided to fly south about 50nm (93km) to have a look at the Temora Aviation Museum.  My intention was to meet them in Parkes later in the day.  However, when I was midway between on my flight to Parkes they told me there was no cafe at Parkes airport and there was a particularly good one in the Temora museum.  I was gagging for a coffee so their update sealed it - I diverted to Temora!

After meeting Andrew & John, we wandered around the museum and had a good look.  Almost all of the aircraft in the museum are airworthy and are meticulously looked after.  As good as the aircraft are, the whole place is a bit sterile.  I think our Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre in New Zealand is better as the aircraft are staged in life-sized dioramas with appropriate props which put them and their history in context.

Parkes Radio Telescope 

We flew back to Parkes together and then drove out to the Parkes Radio Telescope.

Built in 1961, this 64m diameter telescope played an important role in Apollo 11's moon landing as it received the video feed of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon.  The 2000 historical comedy-drama film "The Dish" is a good watch and tells the story of the telescope's role in relaying the live television feed of the first steps on the Moon.  

Since being built, the telescopes technology has been upgraded multiple times and it still plays an important part in space exploration and research.  The visitor centre associated with the telescope is very interesting.

While there we saw the huge telescope dish move several times which was cool to see.

 

  

 

 

Hangin' out with the Grandies

One of my goals for this REALLY Big Trip around Australia was to fly ZK-VRV, “Thunderbird 6”, to Adelaide and take my grandchildren, Arlo (nearly 7) and Annabelle (5), flying.  Ever since they were born, I’ve dreamed of being the one to introduce them to the magic of light aircraft.  With a Grandfather who lives and breathes aviation and a Father who flies for a living, the flying bug was always going to find them eventually.

On their visits to New Zealand they’ve seen “Pop’s plane”, and Arlo even has a big photo of it on his bedroom wall. As I made my way around Australia, Andrew (my son) kept them updated, pointing out where I was and teaching them a bit of Aussie geography along the way. 

Landing at Aldinga was one of those moments I’ll remember forever.  As I taxied in, there they were — two little figures waving with all the enthusiasm in the world.  I’m fairly sure a bit of dust blew into my eye right then because things got blurry for a moment.

There was much excited chatter as the kids helped me unpack the aircraft and push it into a hangar for a few days that a fellow pilot, Allan Gray had offered me when I met him at Karumba.

I’d arrived on a Saturday, and the kids had Monday off school.  Annabelle has just turned five, and Tuesday was her first day at “big school” wearing her new school uniform.  Being part of that milestone before I left was an unexpected bonus.

We’d hoped to take them flying during their last trip to New Zealand, but the weather didn’t cooperate. I didn’t want their first experience to be bumpy or frightening.  This time, though, Monday was perfect — so back to Aldinga we went.

With a booster seat safely setup on the passenger seat, Annabelle decided she would be first up for a ride.  Full of confidence she climbed into the booster seat first.  She loved the short ten-minute hop south of the airfield, chatting the whole way and proudly recognising the motorway we’d driven in on.  She giggled at the firm bump of the landing and immediately asked to go again.  That's how I wanted it to be.

Arlo followed.  He’s more reserved, but he climbed in without hesitation.  Another short flight, just enough to give him a taste.  When we touched down smoothly, he grinned and said, “I heard the tyres squeak.”  I told him he’d better report that to Dad!

Sharing those flights with them after imagining the moment for a long time was something truly precious. A memory I’ll hold close for the rest of my life.

My special photos 

Greeted by my two best buddies at Aldinga airfield

"Let's go Pop"

Luvin' it

"My turn"

"This is cool Pop"

Onward to Adelaide

As I had a long 602nm (1,115km) journey to Adelaide we were up and away from Forrest just before 8am.  It was a lovely morning  clear blue skies, cool and a bit of a tailwind to push as along.

First stop was the Nullabor Motel & Roadhouse just over an hour of flying time away.  My route took me over the east half of the vast Nullabor Plain.  I don't know why but this vast nothingness completely fascinates me.  There's hundreds of kilometres of entirely flat, featureless terrain covered in saltbush, and if you're lucky, you may spot a track or two going to who knows where.  The horizon is dead flat for 360 degrees around you.

In the following video of a gentle turn through 360 degrees I've attempted to capture this complete absence of humanity.  It's a bit jittery as a result of me bracing my iPhone on top of the instrument panel but I hope it demonstrates the "nothingness" and dead flat horizon.

The Nullabor Motel & Roadhouse is an oasis for travelers.  It offers reasonable food and accommodation and there's a good sized airstrip out the back.  The main vector is well graded gravel over clay but had a stiff crosswind when I came into land.  Looking down the side of the aircraft at the runway (rather than over the nose), is a good indication this landing is going to be tricky.  With everything braced to go-around and try again if I couldn't land safely due to the wind, I must say I pulled off a textbook crosswind landing.  Crabbing into the wind on the approach, straightening up at the last minute with the into wind wing down was executed like a pro'.  Nobody was more surprised than me!

It's always cool to land at a roadhouse and then taxi up to the building and hop out for a coffee and a feed.

I said goodbye to Andrew and John at Nullabor Roadhouse as I continued onto Adelaide to spend a few days with son Andrew, his wife Amanda and my two grandkids Arlo and Annabelle.  Andrew and John will head in a NE direction toward Brisbane and I'll meet them on the way somewhere.

I carried on across the top of the Great Australian Bight stopping for fuel at Ceduna before the last 305nm (564km) leg to Aldinga airfield just to the south of Adelaide and only about 20mins drive south of Andrew & Amanda's home.  On that journey I flew about 50nm (93km) over water across the Spencer Gulf.  It was a strange feeling having spent so much time over land in the last few weeks.  I better get used to it again.  There's a lot more water coming up in just over a week when we had back across the Tasman Sea for home.

Nullabor Motel & Roadhouse

Typical Aussie Roadhouse forecourt.
Large trucks, weary travelers and wildlife danger signs

 

Nutritious roadhouse meal.  I had a vegan salad 🤣

Fascinating Forrest

On one of my previous flying trips in May 2009, I called into Forrest in the middle of the Nullarbor Plain for fuel.  It was a brief "gas and go" stop but the place has always fascinated me and been somewhere I wanted to go back to and spend some time there.  It was a "must do" when planning the REALLY Big Trip around Australia.

The largest section of straight railway track in the world is 478km long and Forrest sits almost in the middle of it.  There's nothing (and I mean nothing) for hundreds of kilometres around except the railway line and the road across the Nullarbor Plain about 100km to the south.  Originally Forrest was established as a railway town in 1917.  "Town" might be stretching the definition a little.

In 1929 the airport was established as a half-way stop for the transcontinental aircraft flying from Adelaide to Perth.  de Havilland DH66 Hercules were initially used on the route but couldn't make it without refueling so the airport and a hostel was established to accommodate the 14 passengers.  The airfield offers two large sealed runway vectors at 1349m and 1519m which, as the only features on the vast Nullarbor Plain can be seen from miles away.  It's regularly used by pilots today for fuel and a leg stretch.

We left Esperance and began our journey to Forrest, skimming along the coast past the scatter of little islands that make up the Archipelago of the Recherche.  As we headed east, coastal beaches started off blindingly white, then gradually gave way to cliffs 200–300 feet high.  Out here it looks like someone attacked Australia with a geological cookie‑cutter — sheer cliffs at the edge, and absolutely nothing happening on the land behind them.

As we turned toward Forrest from the coast we passed over the Eyre Highway that runs from Adelaide to Perth and which requires an investment of days of your life to drive.  There was quite a bit of traffic on it.

We landed in Forrest about 11am which gave us the rest of the day to explore.  We were met by manager Andy who refueled our aircraft and helped us push them into the massive historical hangar for the night,  Then he drove us to our cottage.  The cottage is only one of six available for transiting pilots or road travelers who care to drive into Forrest.  It was old but comfortable.

Armed with a booklet provided in the cottage, in the afternoon we did the historical walk which took us around a dozen or so interesting places around the airfield and abandoned meteorological office setup to support the airfield.  That walk finished at the railway where we were lucky to catch an enormous freight train heading east.

There's lots of quirky things around Forrest one of which is the pilot's toilet.  There's a pen provided for you to record your visit on the wall and it's cool to stand at the urinal and see who's been there before you.  The "Trans-Tasman Adventurers" are now permanently recorded as having visited that loo.

Included in our stay was a nice home cooked evening meal provided by Manager Andy and wife Donna in the sun room of their cottage.  There were several other guests there including a couple of electricians who specialise in outback work and who fly into locations with all their gear in the back of a Piper Twin Commanche.  It was a fun evening with good down-to-earth Australian cobbers.

I'm glad I made it to Forrest and thoroughly enjoyed my time there.  It’s one of those wonderfully odd Australian places that refuses to disappear — a tiny dot of civilisation with a colourful history on the vast Nullarbor Plain.

Cookie-cutter Nullarbor Plain coastline (*)

 

Nullarbor Plain - nothing on the chart and nothing out the window 

Forrest Airport (YFRT)

 

 

Many generations of aircraft have been protected by this historic hangar

Like many other before us, we left our mark on the pilot's toilet wall

Longest piece of straight railway in the world - 478km 

 

Huge freight train (1 min) 

Fun evening meal at Andy & Donna's place

 

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(*) Photo supplied by Andrew Schofield.  Check out Andrew's blog: too: https://nzcirruspilot.com/trans-tasman

Cutting the SW Corner

We ended up staying an extra night in Fremantle as Andrew's ZK-LDY required a part to be flown in overnight from the east coast to complete its 50hr check and make sure she was ready for the long trip home across the bottom of Australia and the Tasman.

We'd done a lot of flying which included some long legs in the preceding two weeks and, to be honest, I was starting to feel a bit of accumulative fatigue.  The three nights we spent in Fremantle was a welcome relief and enabled us all to recharge.

So far on this trip we've had fantastic flying weather.  Clear, blue skies and even tailwinds on most legs.  However, we were watching a front with associated rain and poor visibility approaching the SW corner of the continent.  That was due to reach the coast about the time we were planning to fly south from Perth and around the SW coast with stops at Margaret River and Albany.  As we'd had an unplanned extra day off and, with approaching weather, we decided it would be wise to "cut the corner" and fly direct to Esperance leaving early to get in front of the forecast weather.  It was disappointing to have to drop the SW corner from our route but you always have to leave something for the next trip!

We arrived at Jandakot at 7am and had the aircraft packed and ready for departure quickly.  We're getting good at that now.

Even though it was early, the airfield was busy and we spent about 20 mins on the ground taxiing and waiting for departure from one of Jandakot's two parallel runways that were in use.

My aircraft registration is "ZK-VRV" and in New Zealand just the last three letters are used when communicating on the radio.  It's not necessary to include the "ZK" prefix that identifies the state of registration.  However, when flying in a foreign country you must use the full aircraft registration when making calls on the radio.  Using the phonetic alphabet my registration then becomes a tongue twister of "Zulu Kilo Victor Romeo Victor". Usually Andrew and John are close by and making similar radio calls using their full "Zulu Kilo Lima Delta Yankee" registration.  It ties the controllers in knots and, departing from Jandakot on this morning, the ground controller got most of his calls to us spectacularly wrong as he gave us instructions to taxi to the runway holding point.  You could hear him laughing at himself in the background.

After what seemed to be an interminable delay waiting for a spot on the runway we were cleared for takeoff and away.  The cold front we were keeping an eye on was clearly visible with darkening skies to the west but presented no problem as we were well ahead of it.  In fact the winds associated with the front were in our favour and we enjoyed a 43kt (80 km/hr) tailwind.

After a 2:15hr flight that passed quickly we landed at Esperance in gusty conditions and caught a taxi into town.

We take turns booking motels, and whoever booked Esperance clearly had an off day.  We ended up wedged into a tiny 1970s brick bunker painted in battle‑ship grey — the sort of room that gently erodes your will to live. Still, it was only one night, so we sucked it up and looked forward to our departure the next morning.

Enroute from Perth to Esperance with the cold front we were racing clearly visible

A nice 43kt (80km/hr) tailwind on this leg

We're flying over a lot more green pasture than we have been in the last few weeks

Esperance

Keeping out the way of the military

As we wandered into Geraldton on 13 July 2026 in search of breakfast, the sudden reminder that we’d crossed into Australia’s southern half hit with a crisp enthusiasm. The wind had teeth, and the temperature had fallen well below the balmy warmth we’d been spoiled with for the last few weeks.  Bugger!

We were heading to Perth from Geraldton and had to find our way past Perth airport to Jandakot.  To the north of Perth is the large Pearce air force base.  As we planned our route south down the coast to Perth and briefed the procedure for getting into Jandakot all of a sudden a lot of the airspace north of Perth that we planned to fly through went red!

We do all our flight planning using the AvPlan Electronic Flight Bag (EFB).  Aside from helping us plan a route, it gives us up-to-date weather forecasts (incl rain radar) and NOTAMs.  Notices to Airmen (NOTAM) are issued to advise pilots of anything that could be a hazard to a flight.  AvPlan monitors these and, while we were having breakfast, the Pearce air force base had activated the airspace reserved for military flying.  That started a whole new cycle of planning as we had to be mindful of maximum heights we could fly and the boundaries of the active military airspace we had to avoid.

In amongst that planning, we did decide to veer off the coast of Perth and visit Rottnest Island which wasn't in our original plan.

Apart from the dramatic red colour of the military airspace we were flying around on our way south, the flight down the coast and out to Rottnest Island was pretty routine - apart from the last few miles over water from the coast to Rottnest Island ...

In my aircraft I have two LCD displays - a Primary Flight Display (PFD) which displays my artificial horizon, heading, airspeed and altitude and a Multifunction Flight Display (MFD) which I have configured with a moving map.  There was parachute op's overhead Rottnest Island and several other aircraft sequencing their arrival including Andrew and John in their Cirrus somewhere in front of me.

In the middle of all that busy-ness, my PFD went dark and then rebooted.  I also got all sorts of warning messages from the MFD telling me the transponder had gone offline, autopilot servos had disconnected and other less than desirable warnings.  Shit - this has never happened before.  My primary flight instruments have gone but the engine continued to hum away.

I've flown my aircraft long enough to be able to land by "feel and sound" if I have to but loosing your airspeed and not knowing your height when trying to stay clear of the controlled airspace just above me is not good.  Fortunately, I can change the mode of the MFD and, without much fuss and bother, quickly had the primary flight instruments displayed on the MFD together with the map.  Thank goodness for modern aircraft avionics with multiple failover modes.

The PFD rebooted itself twice and then came back on-line as if to say - "what's the problem - I just took a nap but I'm back now".  By this stage I was starting to position myself for landing at Rottnest Island and landed without any further incident.  Touch wood, the instruments have all been fine since then.  However, I have downloaded the diagnostic logs and sent them off to Dynon, my avionics manufacturer, and asked for an explanation about what may have gone wrong. 

After landing at Rottnest Island we walked the kilometre or so to the shops and restaurants for a pleasant lunch and a stroll around the waterfront.  As we only decided to visit the island at the last minute we hadn't done much research.  Several people have asked if I saw any quokka - the islands smiling marsupials.  Despite there being a reported 10,000 of these cute creatures on the island we never saw one and I didn't even know about them before leaving the island.

It was a short 17 minute flight from Rottnest Island to Jandakot Airport following the recommended inbound route.  Jandakot is one of the busiest General Aviation airports in Australia, if not the busiest.  We were efficiently cleared to land on one of the two parallel runways which were both in use by a controller who was disarmingly brief with his instructions.

A few days off in Perth

Since leaving Paraparaumu my aircraft has flown for 45 hours and, at 50 hours, is due for a routine change of oil and oil filter and a check by a Licensed Aircraft Engineer (LAME).  Andrew's Cirrus has also flown similar hours and is due for a check.  We'd arranged these checks at Jandakot before leaving home.

After landing at Jandakot we taxied to Applied Aviation Maintenance's hangar past dozens and dozens of aircraft.  I've never seen so many light aircraft at the same airport.  Everything from corporate jets to helicopters, fire bombers and a healthy sprinkling of Cessnas and Pipers.  After introducing ourselves to Rob at Applied Aviation Maintenance he showed us where the aircraft wash bay was and we taxied both aircraft there for a well deserved wash.  They were both covered in red dust and looking quite scruffy and it was good to spruce them up.

I like to assist with the maintenance on my aircraft so worked with Rob the next day as he inspected Thunderbird 6 thoroughly.  Andrew and John chose to visit the Maritime Museum and Fremantle Prison and I joined them at the Aviation Heritage Museum where we walked under and around their massive Avro Lancaster in awe.

We had lucked out and got cracker accommodation overlooking the Fremantle Marina, close to shops and restaurants and thoroughly enjoyed our stay there.

 

A sea of red active military airspace and our route around it

Perth 

Rottnest Island

Never saw one of these - a Quokka - on Rottnest Island

Red dust be gone!

Huge Avro Lancaster at Aviation Heritage Museum

Bustling Fremantle at night

As far from home as we're going to get

We said goodbye to Ross, Elsa and their friends during breakfast and then readied ourselves and our aircraft for departure from Cheela Plains.

Behind the area where we parked our aircraft there was a collection of huge mine dump trucks that towered over you as you walked up to them.  We were told these sad and dejected relics were left there many years ago because they couldn't negotiate a creek on the way to some mine.  There's many abandoned mines in the Pilbara and a lot of equipment left behind especially if recovery costs exceed scrap value.  The Cheela Plains trucks are clearly the ghosts of a past time. Big yellow bones left where the mining frontier once pushed through Cheela Plains - or tried to.

Cheela Plains to Carnavon & meeting the Slinging Down Under guy

We left Cheela Plains at 8:45am in calm and cool conditions.  It was a lovely morning and only about 12 deg at 6500'.  This is often the best time to fly in the outback as the exposed rocky land hasn't had time to heat up and generate convective turbulence that can make flying in the mid to late afternoon unpleasant.

The 1.5hr flight to Carnavon passed quickly as we flew in smooth conditions over a barren land.  On this leg we flew over a some desert areas and got our first sight of the uniform sand hills that dominate Australian desert areas.

Us pilots spend hours reading about or watching YouTube videos made by other pilots who are touring or ferrying aircraft around the world.  One of the guys we've been following is Kade who has created the Slinging Down Under YouTube channel (Kade's aircraft is a Sling TSi).  Kade's videos include the building of his aircraft, his first flights and now a tour of Australia with his wife Carly and young daughter Evie.

They left their home in Albury about a month ago and, from his videos and planned route, we knew they were traveling west across the bottom of Australia and then north up the coast of Western Australia.  We wondered if we might bump into them somewhere.  

As we pulled up to the fuel pumps at Carnavon, guess what?  Over in the corner of the apron was Kade, Carly and Evie packing up their Sling, VH-KCB.  We walked over to them and they were stoked when we said "hey - you're the famous Slinging Down Under guy".  We had a great time chatting to them for about 30 mins swapping flying adventure stories, places to visit and experiences.  A lovely family creating memories while showing their 7 year-old daughter the best of Australia.  Maintaining a YouTube channel of the quality of Kade's Slinging Down Under channel is hard work, and I think Kade was genuinely chuffed to know we were regular followers who took the time to speak to him.

As we were chatting, Carly grabbed their camera and Kade interviewed Andrew, John and I for inclusion in his next YouTube episode.  I hope it comes out OK!

After meeting Kade, Carly and Evie we walked into Carnavon for a coffee.  Along the way we realised that Carnavon was the westerly most point we would be visiting in Australia and as far away from home as we were going to get.  It was a bit sobering to realise that when we took off we would be heading for home.

Carnavon to Geraldton over Shark Bay 

Denham in Shark Bay was high on my list for an overnight stop, but school‑holiday bookings had snapped up every room in town so we had to be content with overflying Shark Bay and carrying on south to Geraldton.  However, the flight over and around Shark Bay didn't disappoint.  Shark Bay is another piece of gorgeous Australian coastline.  Crystal clear waters and miles and miles of white sandy beaches.

Shark Bay is large bay and includes the Peron Peninsular and is bounded by Dirk Hartog Island.  I tracked from the mainland coast across the bay to the peninsular, passed overhead the Shark Bay airfield and onto the south end of Dirk Hartog Island.  As I left the island and tracked south I could see large salt evaporation ponds at Useless Loop, (yes - "Useless Loop" is a real place name).  This vast solar‑evaporation salt farm is one of the most remote, pristine, and impressive industrial sites in Australia. It produces exceptionally pure salt, thanks to the region’s dry climate, high evaporation rates, and ultra‑clean marine environment.  The varying colours of the evaporation ponds beside the different shades of blue of Shark Bay was stunning.

When we met Kade and Carly they told us to watch for whales on the coast as we tracked south from Shark Bay to Geraldton.  It didn't take me long to find about 4 or 5 whales in the shallows just 100m or so offshore.  The water was so clear you could see them beneath the surface and it was great watching them surface and "blow".  I did several orbits around the first pod and saw several others as I tracked south at 1000 - 1500' along the impressive sand cliffs.

With a firm bump we arrived at Geraldton to conclude another great day of flying and meeting like-minded aviators.

Huge abandoned mine trucks at Cheela Plains

Pilbara desert landscape

You wouldn't think so, but I'm in my happy place.  Truly.

Meeting Kade of Slinging Down Under fame.
(L to R) John, Andrew, Peter, Kade

Carnavon, the westerly most point of our trip.
Time to head for home.

Monkey Mia (foreground), Shark Bay

Salt evaporation ponds, Useless Loop, Shark Bay

Whale playground, on coast south of Shark Bay