South down the west coast of the York Penisula

Thursday Island

Today we completed our coastal circumnavigation of the York Peninsula having flown north along the east coast of the peninsula to Cape York and south down the west coast to Karumba.

We’d landed on Horn Island off the coast of the York Peninsula and so were subject to strict bio-security requirements before flying back to mainland Australia.  There’s creepy crawlies in the islands of the Torres Strait they don’t want on the mainland so you have to provide prior notice of your arrival on Horn Island and present yourself to an Australian Biosecurity Officer before departure.  The Officer provides you with a pre-departure spray which must be used when the aircraft is packed and ready for departure and a top-of-descent spray which must be used on descent to your first point of landing on the mainland.  It’s not a difficult process to follow.

Bugs be gone

 

Horn Island airport is busy and, after being refuelled from a truck (a novelty for us Kiwi pilots), we had to taxi after an Alliance Fokker F28 jet, behind a stationary QantasLink Q300 and we led a Cessna Caravan onto the runway.

Taking off from Horn Island we did a wide circuit of Thursday Island where we’d stayed.  It was good to see the island from the air and its infrastructure.  All power on the island is supplied by diesel generators and the power station could be clearly seen on the north side of the island.  Nothing is grown on the island.  Everything is delivered by barge.

Leaving Thursday Island we set a southerly heading for our long multi-day trip back to Brisbane.  Our first stop was Weipa for fuel.  We only took what fuel we needed to reach Weipa at Horn Island as it was likely to be expensive.  It must be real expensive as the Horn Island refueller either didn’t know the price or was too scared to tell us.

North of Weipa are many bauxite mines all serviced by their own airstrips and small ports.  We saw tugs towing barges laden with minerals out to sea to who knows where.  New Zealand’s Bluff Aluminum smelter?  The refueller at Weipa told us the town was owned by Rio Tinto.

Before we began refuelling from the truck at Weipa, I dipped the aircraft’s fuel tanks and was concerned to feel the fuel bladder in the right-hand tank had lifted and felt squishy.  The 150 litres stored in each wing of a Cessna 182 is held in a bladder and I know they can be fragile.  I expected the worst and could think of better places to be stuck with a disabled aircraft than Weipa!  I called the engineer who looks after VH-DXJ and he told me not to worry.  He said that once the tank was full, the bladder would flatten out.  Phew!

It was a long leg from Weipa to Karumba.  There were periods of silence (I saw Robert nodding off beside me) but also many hilarious conversations about topics that should not be published.  We saw boats on very remote rivers and conjured up fanciful stories of drugs being landed from far off places and other nefarious activities.

We landed just on 5pm at Karumba.  With no cellphone coverage at this remote town, we had to leave our bags in the plane and walk 1 – 2km into town to find our accommodation and ask them to take us back to the airport to collect our bags.

Then it was into the bar.

 

Leg Summary
Horn Island (YHID) - Weipa (YBWP)
Planned Distance: 127nm (235km)
Time: 1.3hrs
Alt: 4,500ft

Weipa (YBWP) - Karumba (YKMB)
Distance: 292nm (541km)
Time: 2.6hrs
Alt: 4,500ft 

Bauxite mine

One of the many scenic tributaries and rivers

Fires lit by lightning or indigenous people are a common sight

Refuelling at Weipa

Coastal waters on west coast of York Peninsula

Gulf of Carpentaria approaching Karumba in the late afternoon

 

The northern most point of the Australian continent and beyond

 

Cape York with York & Eborac Islands beyond

 

Woohoo.  I’ve made it to the top of Australia – the pointy bit on the east coast that represents the most northern point of the Australian continent.

It was a big day today that started with looking out the window at steady rain and low cloud.  Uh oh.  However, the forecast said it would clear at Mareeba airport at 10:00am and that’s pretty much what it did. 

We were airborne at 11:10am and tracked out to Port Douglas on the coast.  Strong SE winds of ~20kts have prevailed since we left Brisbane on Sunday and they’ve been pushing warm moist air onto the coast where it’s lifted and forms cloud and rain.  We picked our way around rain showers and low cloud all the way from Mareeba to Cooktown where we stopped briefly for fuel.

We had booked tickets on the ferry from Horn Island where we planned to land, to Thursday Island where we're staying at 3:15pm and, with a long sector to Horn Island in front of us, our refuelling needed to be quick.  We landed at Cooktown 12:02pm and took off again at 12:30pm and, in addition to re-fuelling, we had time for a banana.  What a team!

The weather gradually improved as we headed north along the coast and we climbed up to 8500’ to pass over cloud and for some of the longer over-water stretches.  However, the tail wind at that altitude wasn’t as good as it was lower so that cost us a bit of time.

It was a long leg (exactly 3.0hrs) from Cooktown to Cape York and then the 15nm crossing to Horn Island.  We chatted away about a range of things and munched on Minties.  Our route took us over some lovely islets, reefs and sand bars nestled in an azure sea.  There was always something to look at.

From Cooktown there’s an 860km dirt road to Cape York which we crossed several times and saw in the distance from time to time.  As we approached the Cape we could see a number of cars and campers parked a bit south of the Cape and as we overflew the Cape there were quite a few people clearly visible at the lookout on the northern most point of the continent.  Some even waved.

After doing several orbits around the Cape, we set heading for Horn Island just 15nm away.

As we were flying toward the Cape we were listening on the frequency that serves Horn Island and I was amazed at the number of aircraft coming and going from the airport.  It’s quite a busy place.

Our approach into Rwy 14 at Horn Island was a bit of a wild ride in 15kt winds that were gusting to 25kts.  I had to work hard but managed to put the aircraft down gently.

We’d missed our 3:15pm ferry but nobody seemed particularly bothered.  “Just catch the next bus to the wharf” they said.  We didn’t have to wait long for a bus and the ferry to Thursday Island arrived 10mins after we were dropped at the wharf.

Thursday Island is one of the 274 islands in the Torres Strait that runs between the Australian mainland and Papua New Guinea.  It’s only 80nm (148km) to Papua New Guinea from Cape York and it was tempting to keep going!

With a population of 2,085 people Thursday Island is the administrative centre for the Torres Shire (council) and the administrative and commercial centre of the local government area of the Torres Strait Island region.  Walking around we found many empty shops and crime must be a factor as most business had bars over the windows.  However, the locals we’ve spoken to are all friendly and welcoming.

Reaching Horn Island marks the halfway point of our trip and we start to head south tomorrow down the west coast of the Cape York peninsular.

Leg Summary
Mareeba (YMBA) - Cooktown (YCKN)
Distance: 99nm (183km)
Time: 0.9hrs
Alt: 1,000 - 2,000ft

Cooktown (YCKN) - Cape York - Horn Island (YHID)
Planned distance: 342nm (633km)
Time: 3.0hrs
Alt: 2000 - 8,500ft 

Downwind Rwy 29, Cooktown Airfield

One of the many scenic rivers on the east coast of the York Peninusla

Reefs & sandbars off the coast of the York Peninsula

Reefs & sandbars off the coast of the York Peninsula

Reefs & sandbars off the coast of the York Peninsula

Cape York

Horn Island airfield

View from our room at the Grand Hotel, Thursday Island

 

Things that go bang

We had a day off from flying today.  As much as I love flying, it’s important to have a rest day every 3 days or so.

Both Rob and Bruce are keen on military history and were keen to visit the Australian Armour & Artillery Museum.  Wow!  Even though I struggle to tell the difference between a rifle and a tank I did find it interesting.  This private collection consists of over 220 armoured vehicles and artillery pieces from all over the world and is huge.  Many still run and we watched a tank and huge armoured personnel carrier drive out of the exhibition area and do a few laps of the field they have setup outside.

Rob served in the NZ Army in his younger days and had a go at firing .22 and .303 rifle.  One of them went "ping" and one them went "BOOM"!  He was justifiably proud of the good cluster of shots around the centre of the target.

 

A pleasant day off at a place I wouldn't have normally visited on my own.

Beautiful islands, a large military base and en-route weather

Starting the day with a good hearty breakfast at the The Hangar Café & Bar

 

Today’s flight from Shute Harbour to Mareeba (just to the west of Cairns) had a bit of everything.  Beautiful islands, landing at a large military base and en-route weather to contend with.

The day started with a nice breakfast at The Hangar Café & Bar at the Shute Harbour Airpark where we watched some of the tourist flights come and go.

Taking off to the south we entered Hamilton Island’s airspace and overflew the Whitsunday Islands.  The well-known Whitehaven Beach that you see in all the Whitsunday Islands tourist brochures looked beautiful from the air and there were some very large and expensive looking boats parked just off the beach.  The Hamilton Island airspace was surprisingly quiet for such a busy tourist area and we had no trouble getting a clearance to where we wanted to go.

Leaving the Whitsundays, we tracked back to the coast and NW to Townsville.

Townsville airport is a large military base with prescribed VFR routes which must be flown to enter and exit their airspace.  The airport serves a steady volume of civilian commercial traffic and is the base for the Australian Airforce’s Chinook helicopters.  We requested clearance into Townsville well before their airspace boundary and had no difficulty following the Clevedon VFR route to join left base for Rwy 01.  There was a 17kt crosswind which had me working hard but, I’m pleased to say my landing was quite respectable considering that during much of the approach it felt like I was looking at the runway out of the side window.

Leaving Townsville after re-fuelling, we exited the area using the Rollingstone VFR route and set heading for Mareeba.

Mareeba airport sits on the Atherton Tableland which surrounds Cairns.  I’d chosen to fly to Mareeba rather than Cairns as I’d heard that busy Cairns airport isn’t particularly friendly toward light aircraft and the overnight parking charges are steep.  As we planned to stay two nights at Trinity Beach north of Cairns, we opted to land at Mareeba and get a rental car for the 62km journey to where we were staying and our use while staying in Cairns.

75nm out from Mareeba we could see the 3000 – 4000’ Tablelands rising in front of us and … covered in low cloud.  Uh oh.  The SE winds that had pushed us along nicely since leaving Brisbane were lifting moist coastal air and forming cloud and light rain on the edge of the Tablelands.  There was no way we were going to be able to follow our planned track to Mareeba.

It was brighter and clearer to the NW so I tracked in that direction in the hope the cloud was a bank forming on the southern edge of the Tablelands and we could get around behind it.  It was a tense 20 mins or so as we tracked NW at 500 – 700’ above the ground under an overcast with misty forward visibility.  Bruce and Rob said after we landed that it got very quiet.

A couple of pilots leaving Mareeba confirmed the conditions there were good and, although it seemed like an eternity it wasn’t long before we could make a large sweeping turn N and NE to find Mareeba airport.

We’ve picked up our rental car, made our way to our very nice accommodation at Trinity Beach.  Coincidentally good friends Val Kennedy & Graeme Boatman who introduced me to flying in Australia were in Cairns so we caught up for dinner with them and swapped flying stories.

Leg Summary
Shute Harbour (YSHR) - Townsville (YBTL)
Distance: 183nm (338km)
Time: 1.5hrs
Alt: 2,000 - 4500ft

Townsville (YBTL) - Mareeba  (YMBA)
Planned distance: 155nm (287km)
Time: 1.4hrs
Alt: 4,500ft

Pre-flighting VH-DXJ on the manicured grounds of Shute Harbour Airpark

Northern end of Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Islands

Chinook Helicopter, Townsville Airport

Weather en-route to Mareeba

I've found where I want to live

 

Birthday cake!

After a pleasant breakfast at a local cafe where I was served a (small) birthday cake while on the phone to Sharon (thanks Bruce), we were on our way to the airport for our flight to the Whitsunday's.

Agnes Waters airstrip Rwy 14 slopes uphill with rising ground to the south of the airfield.  Conversely, a departure off Rwy 32 passes over a lagoon.  With a 10 - 15 kt wind from the south this morning I was presented with a classic pilot dilemma. Take-off into wind uphill toward rising ground or downhill with a moderate tail wind.  As we were light(er) I opted for a departure off Rwy 14 with a careful decision of an abort point if I hadn't achieved 80% of my take-off speed.  With sweaty palms I pushed the throttle in while standing on the brakes and then we were off.  As I'm here to type this, my decision proved to be the correct one and we were airborne easily by halfway down the 950m strip.  Keeping the nose down to accelerate quickly we then climbed away easily turning left on our way to Gladstone.

Gladstone is a large regional airport that serves a 35,000 population largely engaged in mining related industries.  It was an easy 30 min flight there for re-fuelling.  Finding the Avgas bowser was a challenge.  Fortunately there was a guy on a ride-on mower who said "follow me"!

My planned track from Gladstone to Shute Harbour airport took us right through restricted airspace that had been activated for the Talisman Sabre military exercises.  That required some re-planning and a diversion through Rockhampton's controlled airspace.  With a call to Brisbane Centre for an Airways Clearance, I was handed off to Coral Approach and controlled through the airspace and out the other side.

Shute Harbour airport is a private airpark nestled in a valley that serves the Whitsunday Islands.  The winds funnel through the valley and it can be turbulent and difficult for visiting pilots unfamiliar with the area and the way the wind is influenced by the terrain.  Today the conditions were good and although there were some lumps and bumps, our approach onto Rwy 14 was straight-forward.  Our approach is shown below.  The landing wasn't near as bad as the video shows - the camera man wasn't holding his iPhone firmly:

 

 

Shute Harbour airpark is beautiful.  It's a busy field with helicopters, Cessna Caravan's and everything in between.  The grounds are just like a golf course and the runway and taxiways are as smooth as a billiard table.  Beautiful hangar homes surround the runway with high-end general aviation aircraft and helicopters visible in hangars that are as pristine as operating theatres.  They've just released another 39 lots for sale and, the good news is, some are still available at AU$198,000ea.  I could have one.  Building a home compatible with those already there and buying an aircraft to "keep up with the Joneses" might be a bot more.  Dreams are free.

 

We're staying at Airlie beach tonight and enjoyed an afternoon walk exploring the place.  Lovely spot.

Leg Summary
Agnes Waters (YAWT) - Gladstone (YGLA)
Distance: 42nm (78km)
Time: 0.5hrs
Alt: 2,000ft

Gladstone (YGLA) - Shute Harbour (YSHR)
Distance: 267nm (494km)
Time: 2.2hrs
Alt: 4,500ft

 

Agnes Waters: Morning walk along the beach for breakfast

Gladstone Airport

Cannonvale on approach to Shute Harbour airstrip

Airlie Beach

And We're Off

 

Strapped in & ready to go, Pilot Pete & Co-Pilot Rob

We were at the Redcliffe airport (YRED) at 9:45am this morning and set about weighing everything and packing the aircraft.  After a thorough pre-flight and a first brief for my pax, we set off on our trip at 11:00am.

North of Redcliffe we threaded our way past Caboolture and Caloundra airfields both of which are busy general aviation fields.  Then we flew a VFR route to the west of Sunshine Coast airport.  It was a busy first 30mins of our trip watching for other traffic and staying clear of airspace.

We enjoyed a good tailwind of 15 - 20 kts over our whole route to Agnes Waters and comfortably cruised at 1500 - 2000' under cloud inland of the coast.  There were isolated showers over much of the first half of our leg - we dodged a few and flew through a few without difficulty.

At the base of Fraser Island we diverted from our planned track and flew 30nm up the east coast of Fraser Island - the largest sand island in the world at 1,840 km².  Bruce was keen to see the wreck of the SS Maheno.  His Grandfather was repatriated to New Zealand when it was a hospital ship in the first World War.  In 1935 the ship was under tow to a ship breakers in Japan when the tow line snapped in a storm and The SS Maheno foundered on the coast of Fraser Island.

Leaving Fraser Island we crossed Hervey Bay and flew up a very pleasant coastline past Bundaberg and its sugar plantations before arriving overhead at Agnes Waters for our first overnight stop.

The Agnes Waters airstrip is a gently sloping airstrip cut from bush.  Landings need to be made on Rwy 14 and takeoffs on Rwy 32 on account of the slope and rising terrain to the south.

Agnes Waters is a peaceful resort town with a lovely beach.  Interestingly prior to COVID it had a population of ~2500.  It's now swollen to >7,000 as people have fled the larger cities in search of less dense living a lifestyle built around remote working.

Leg Summary
Route: Redcliffe (YRED) - Agnes Waters (YAWT)
Planned distance: 202nm (374km)
Time: 2.1hrs
Alt: 1,500 - 2,000ft

Isolated showers were a feature of the first half of this sector

Wreck of the SS Maheno, Fraser Island

Picturesque flying in the vicinity of Bagara (NE Bundaberg)

Agnes Waters Airstrip

Finishing the day watching the sunset

 

Our aircraft - Cessna 182L, VH-DXJ

Cessna 182's (C182) are the "station wagon" of the sky.  Bigger than the ubiquitous Cessna 172, they are ideal for touring as they have a good payload (can carry a good load), are rugged and their cruise speed is respectable.

I've logged 117hrs in C182s over the years and have fond memories of flying the type on a tour in South Africa in 2011.  Since purchasing my own Vans RV-6 aircraft, I haven't done much C182 flying but recently completed my Biennial Flight Review in ZK-NML operated by the Kapiti Aero Club in preparation for this trip.

VH-DXJ is a 1968 Cessna 182L that is privately owned.  I originally booked it through Aircraft Australia and was horrified to hear a few weeks ago they had gone into liquidation.  Fortunately the owner, Douglas, has allowed me to hire it directly for him for this trip.

Some facts about the aircraft:

• Empty weight: 1270 lbs / 576 kg
  
• Maximum All Up Weight (MAUW): 2800 lbs / 1270 kg
  
• Cruise speed:  130kts
• Total fuel capacity:  310ltrs
• Planned fuel consumption:  55lts/hr

We're dry-hiring VH-DXJ at AUD$294/hr, which means we pay for our own fuel as we fly and have to return the aircraft with the same amount of fuel as it had when we departed.  Just like a rental car.

Unfortunately VH-DXJ doesn't have an ADSB transponder installed so my flying friends will be unable to track our progress on FlightAware or FlightRadar24.

VH-DXJ is a 55yr old aircraft and has been well loved.  My initial impression when introduced to her was that she was a bit tatty.  However, that impression was quickly overcome when I flew her.  Her engine is smooth with plenty of power.  Although the control forces necessary to guide her around the sky are much heavier than my aircraft and what I'm used to, she flies straight and true and is easy to trim.  When setup in straight and level flight she obediently cruises along nicely.

VH-DXJ, our friend for the next 2 weeks

Flight deck with dated but dependable instruments

Check flight

I hold an Australian Private Pilots Licence which allows me to fly Australian-registered light aircraft, but when hiring an aircraft, it's normal to be checked out by an instructor before you can fly it solo.  This is often also an insurance requirement.  Since booking VH-DXJ I've been liaising with Marcus and this morning he took me on my check flight.

The conditions were great for our flight.  Warm and clear skies and not much apparent wind.  Departing from Redcliffe airport north of Brisbane, we flew the short distance to the east coast of Bribie Island where we did four stalls in various configurations, a couple of steep turns, and the beginning of a forced landing drill to ensure I could set the aircraft in a glide approach and demonstrate trouble checks.  We  then requested clearance into the Sunshine Coast airport for a touch and go.

Departing Sunshine Coast airfield, we turned on a southerly heading back to Redcliffe and then we were done.