Northern NSW Tour

[Pij]

The boys and I are safely home from our Northern Rivers trip, thoroughly exhausted but satisfied. Though we planned no more than a week away, due to opportunities in the weather we stayed a bit longer.

I'll post this as a day-by-day account, as it's too much to handle in one chunk. Other related threads are here:
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Day 1 The Trip Down

Started about 4am Qld time, and with the change to NSW time this gave us time to explore and maybe fly a little on the way down. Once over the border we headed to the coast. Lunch at Kingscliffe, then explored Cabarita. Good potential at the carpark and the headland.

The view back to the carpark from Cabarita headland.


Cabarita from the south. I faked the "nice-day" sky.

Then I did a little flying at Hastings Point. The dolphins and seagulls put on a show for us, but the flying was not any good.


Up the range on the highway from there, leaving Byron and Lennox for another day. It looked like this would be the last day of NE winds for our planned duration, so I took the opportunity to fly at Coolamon Scenic Drive (St Helena).

This was mind-blowing for me - the sheer size of the location, the tiny prime-movers down below, and a busy highway alongside.

Apparently I should have gone about 1km further down the off-road to fly, but right at the top end was still very good.


After this we got a bit of a move-on and drove to Coraki.

[Pij]

Day 2 Evans Head

Bought supplies at Woodburn and Evan's head, then went exploring.

The wind was from the S or thereabouts, so the lookout at Evan's (Razorback) was not flyable, but worth a look.


Next headland S is Goanna Head. Didn't take the gliders on the rather long walk, and found the wind was partly off the land anyway, but a good potential spot for approx SE to E, with some scary looking backside crevices. Though the walk is through heathland, the southern point is a grassed small headland. Great view S over Chinaman's Beach to Snapper Point and the Air Force bombing range.










2 great swimming holes on the way back from Evan's Head to the highway - Blue Pool, and Green Pool which we discovered days later.

[Pij]

Day 3 part 1 Skennars Head

Had arranged a rendezvous with Nige, so off we went. Saw Nigel unpacking his planes from his truck, so U-turned back to join him on the south side of Skennar's Head. He'd been having trouble with servos in his Ozprey, so flew 2 other planes (help me out here please Nigel, I can't remember what they were called). Later Aston joined us with his Moth and his Redback. I was very impressed with the Moth.


The lift was erratic, but at its best the flying was good fun.




Both my Duck and Monkey performed well, though due to re-gluing the tail onto the Monkey from travel damage, it was waaay out of trim until I whacked lots of lead on the nose and went up the back for test chucks.


Neither the Duck nor the Monkey would fly inverted due to limited down-travel on the elevators, which gave me something to work on in the afternoons.

I greatly enjoyed this flying, being only the 2nd time I've had other slopers to fly with.

When we flyers went our separate ways, I took the boys up to see Byron Bay. Aaaaggghhh! What a horrible place! Chock full of gridlocked trafic, no parking, no view, no attraction that I could see. Just revolting. And @#$% hard to find your way back out of if you aren't heading for Highway 1, due to pathetic signposting and roads that just stop.

Eventually finding the Byron-to-Bangalow road, we had great pleasure in leaving the coast and heading up into the hills again. Aston had mentioned a potential flying site marked by a dam with cabins, which I think we found.


Not only the southerly aspect (on private property) showed potential, but directly across the road (cross with care, no view of coming traffic, use your ears) was a spectacular view back to the coast.

[Pij]

Day 3 part 2 Broadwater Beach

This was a long day. Daylight savings means you have a long afternoon before it gets dark, so we just did a little detour on the way home, from Broadwater to the National Park, then from there to Evans Head again and back to Woodburn, then finally back to Coraki.

The problem with little detours happens when you find something you like.

We found the sand cliff at Broadwater Beach. We'd seen it from the lookout at Evan's, and Nigel had mentioned it, though he had not flown it. When we got there, the wind was pretty southerly, but the flying went well. So well, in fact, that I flew there on 5 different days during the trip.



I don't recommend playing/climbing on the sandcliff. The erosion situation is terrible, and there is a better way up and down, by heading through the bush to the N a little, then a path is clear to the top of the little sandblow, thence to the beach.

There had been a lookout platform here, but it is gone, and Nat Pks intends on only a fence to keep people off the edge. I fear it may be a high fence.

I was pulling some hard G's despite the Monkey's low weight, and then it went out of control into a bush. It turned out that the wing had lifted away from the fuse. Glued it back together on returning to base.



My youngest son had some brilliant buddy-cord training here with the Duck.

I succeeded twice in landing on the tiny sand area at the top, once with each plane, but over coming days that proved the exception rather than the rule. I need to improve my landings.

We played on the beach, and I think we swam again at Blue Pool, so it was well after 7 when we got home, but not dark yet.

[Pij]

Day 4 Broadwater Beach



More of the same at Broadwater Beach.

Self-sufficiency at all stops on the trip, even the major travelling days, saved heaps of money.


Back to Blue Pool again to end the day, and some fun 4wd'ing as we left.

[Pij]

Day 5 Broadwater again

The boys and I met up at Broadwater Beach with Nigel and Pete. And don't forget the eagle who took a dislike to Pete's glider.































The eagle attack went on for about half an hour, during which we all remained airborne. Pete's plane escaped with just one cut, like a razor, about 3cm long through the wing skin. Not shown in the pics are the moments where the bird had wings folded, beak and talons outstretched.






Back to base. The chicks really love slope flyers

[chamm37]

looks like your are living the real life ae pij....i am so jealous

[Pij]

I'm usually jealous of you, Chris. The trip was great, but I'm back to the regular daily grind again now.

Day 6 Rest Day. Stayed on the farm, toured the sights of thriving Coraki township in the evening.

[Pij]

Day 7 Showed my sister the spot we'd found at Broadwater, and how slope gliding worked, then she showed us more of Evan's head. We forgot to use the camera this day. Found the other swimming hole, Green Pool, when we picked up a local hitchhiker who was happy to give us a guided tour.

Day 8 St Helena and Lennox Head

About 1km down from where I'd flown at Coolamon Scenic Drive, we found a wide section with easy access, and no major highway nearby, though the local road had a bit of traffic on it. There's a new gateway and driveway cut into the grassy slope that messes up the air, and conditions were very bumpy. Even so, I was able to test out the re-trimming on both gliders. Both now flew successfully inverted.

I had trouble getting the panorama software to work on the shots of this spot, so had to do some by hand. Sorry for the quality - it doesn't do justice to the beauty of the location.



While flying, we saw a batch of parachutists dropped from a plane near the coast, and were surprised by a powered-glider, full-size, suddenly appearing over our heads, riding the same slope lift we were flying. When it reached the end of the ridge, the motor started up, and it turned to a parallel leg further coastward.





We missed the turn to Byron Bay, and found ourselves heading to Brunswick Heads. Headed back down the highway, took the BB turnoff, then got ourselves stuck in the traffic and chaos of Byron Bay again. Finally got through, drove to Lennox Heads. From in front of the public toilets in town, we were able to see the hang-gliders flying at the headland. We could just barely see a smaller dot zipping left and right below the hang gliders, so we knew Nigel was already there.




Flying from a spot just ahead of their launching direction, and about 6m below, it was weird having the hang gliders launching over our heads, casting their big shadows onto us while we flew low and forward out of their way.




This shot was taken from our actual flying position. Launches like this happened over and over, as the hang-gliders were doing a roaring trade taking tourists up for tandem rides. The prices were reasonable too. We were solicited, kids and adults alike, while we were just unloading our gliders from the car.

[chamm37]

now that would be really kool to see pij.....You sure you havent invested in some bigger planes and not told us ;D

You must be doing good to land one plane and then fly the other bigger one.....lol hahahaha

[nige]

Hi again Paul.
It was good to fly with you and see the excitement on your face flying these new areas. Credit due to Byron for taking a lot of those pics they turned out really well. I am sure I will see you again knowing the wind you had.
You probably could have flown every day if you wanted to, would this be true?
Nothing like a bit of shameless promotion of the local area by myself asking Q's like that.

See ya,
Nigel.

[Pij]

Yes, the boys did some great work on the camera. Of course, there's hundreds I've omitted.

Yes, I loved the learning and discovery process on the slopes, being an area unfamiliar to me, and yes again, I could have flown every day, and very nearly did. But I had to vary the routine for the boys' sake.

Thanks again Nigel for showing me the locations, and for keeping me up to date on the weather. It was great to fly with you and to meet up with the others.

[Pij]

Day 9 Just Sightseeing

We forgot to take the camera this day, Friday. Went to see the museum at Lennox Head. Watched at the airport as 3 fire trucks were used in a relay to resupply 2 water-bombing planes to fight the fire at the bombing range. There's a bit of a story about this one - no, we didn't cause the fire - it's just that a day earlier my sister had organised with the CO of the base that we could tour, but in the end we couldn't because they discovered that the previous day's bombing practise had started a fire. Discovering a fire 24 hours late is not a good thing - thus the big effort to control it.

We swam at Green Pool (absolutely beautiful - sorry no pics) then went back to base to prepare for the trip home next morning.

[Pij]

Day 10 Departure, Shorncliffe, Home

The final night had storms all around us after a sweltering day, so we had the car under cover overnight, and lots of water being chilled for the trip. As it turned out, Saturday was cloudy, drizzly, not hot, but not much rain either.

Had a good trip up, starting with a lucky break to get through the roadworks at Ballina. A tail-ender happened behind us approaching the Gateway Bridge.

Took the Sandgate exit to see the slopes at Shorncliffe. Showed the boys where I used to live (Beatham St) and drove up and down the cliffs to get a feel for the flying spots. Had lunch and flew a bit up the top, near one rocky ledge, perhaps where the Xmas party was? It was pretty horrible there, and my footpath landing was flipped out onto the road by the wind.





Then we moved down near the park, where the Oxley monument is. Flying was much better there.











There was nobody to fly with, unfortunately, and we had to move on. Stopped for a rest and snack at Gympie, then squeezed between the storms back to Bundy.



On the way, we took a side-track to the top of the Gunalda Range, where the Mt Kanigan weather radar and repeater stations are.









That was, for me, a huge flying excursion, which I'd like to repeat some time, maybe in another area. I can highly recommend it for anyone who gets the chance.

[windsock]

An awesome Safari Paul. It will take some beating

Cheers,

Gerard