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 🤣