Drenched in Longreach

After a hearty breakfast we took off from Birdsville at 9:20am yesterday on the 307nm leg to Longreach.  As there was no other traffic in the area I took-off immediately behind Dave and felt a few bumps from his wake as I did so.  This meant that Dave and I stayed in sight of each other for most of the 2.2hr flight to Longreach.

Along the way we had fun taking photos of each other. I got some good video of Dave's lovely Vans RV-8 cruising beside me. However, trying to get that off a GoPro, onto an iPad for insertion in a Blog with any degree of quality is not easy so it will have to be added later.

The first part of our journey had us flying north east up the Diamantina River.  This area is known as the Channel Country where the rivers all flow inland eventually discharging their water into Lake Eyre which is the lowest part of the Australian continent.  I've flown over the Channel Country several times and couldn't get over how luscious and green it was on this occasion.  The Diamantina is up to 5nm wide in places (it's actually made up of dozens of smaller streams) and there was lush emerald green grass within the river boundary that would rival anything we have in New Zealand.

As our track continued we eventually left the Diamantina and passed over a slightly higher plain that was peppered with weird sedimentary rock (I think) formations that are 100 - 200ft higher than the surrounding land.   It was fun veering slightly left and right of track to have a look at these as we passed over them.

I use a Bose A20 aviation headset which has a music input. Like most audio devices Bose make, the quality of the music that's played by my iPhone through the headset is really good and the music source is automatically muted if a signal is received by the radio - or you forget and sing into the microphone!  As I scooted from rock formation to rock formation at about 500 - 700ft AGL I had Fanny Be Tender (With My Love) by the Bee Gees, which is one of my favourite songs, belting out through my headset.  You might not like my taste in music but I couldn't be happier with where I was, what I was doing and what I was listening to.

About halfway to Longreach we started to encounter the showers that were forecast but these didn't amount to much.  There was little wind and the flying was great under a high pearl-coloured overcast.  However, that was to change as we reached Longreach and encountered the "moderate" rain included in the Terminal Area Forecast (TAF) for the day.

Bill was approx. 15mins ahead of Dave and I and when he landed he reported heavy rain but was able to tell us where there were clear(er) areas we could use.  There was no traffic around Longreach other than us so we had the freedom to manoeuvre around the worst of the rain.  As the visibility was low I held in a clear area south of the field until I knew Dave had the airfield in sight and was established on final.  When Dave reported that I began my run in to the airfield. I didn't have much option other than to steer a GPS heading straight for the runway and then breakoff onto a close left hand downwind leg for runway 22.  The rain was torrential but there was no wind. As I began my flare onto a very wet runway it crossed my mind that I needed floats not wheels fitted to the undercarriage of Thunderbird 6.

My aircraft doesn't like the rain much and leaks where the canopy meets the turtle deck just behind the engine cowl.  After parking I leapt out and fitted the aircraft cover in teaming rain and got saturated for my trouble.  I then made a made dash for the nearest buildings but unbeknown to me the bloody gate had been shifted since I was last in Longreach.  I was reduced to running along the airside fence line looking for the gate while getting drenched.  Not amused!

The rain eventually reduced to showers and we all gathered under a veranda looking like drowned rats.  The QANTAS Founders Museum was not far away so we took shelter in their cafe before spending a great couple of hours in the museum.

The QANTAS airline we know today was started in Longreach and the story of their early route and aircraft challenges is great.  It's not hard to lose yourself for a couple of hours in the museum that records the early history of the airline.  The museum is not part of QANTAS but is well supported by them.  Sometime ago QANTAS donated a retired Boeing 747-200 and the museum itself has sourced QANTAS' first Boeing 707.  Panels of these aircraft have been removed so you can see what "makes them work".

By the time we left the museum the rain had stopped and we were able to unload our aircraft and get to the motel just down the road from the airfield.

We're here for two nights to ensure we have time to thoroughly visit the QANTAS Founders Museum and the Stockmans Hall of Fame.