It seems that our "Jaunty Side of Greens" has morphed into a Dish of Greens and Red Sauce....

Once Team Fenric makes it to Daru, we'll drop off Ye Olde Pothole Digger and take the F1 C172 down to Mt. Isa, over to Tennant Creek and around the top side to Darwin. There's a hard-and-fast deadline to make it there by 24-Dec as we have to load the Skyhawk onto the Sweet and Sour-booked freighter as it stops there, and pick up a C208 amphibian loaded with presents and toys and distribute them down the coast towards Kununurra by 25-Dec where we hope to do a little bit of airport enhancing.

Thereafter, it's a hop over to El Tari where we'll rejoin the tour for phase 2 in the new year.

Since we traded off our trusty old GPS 500 in that deal for the G1000 panel, our trip through the Greens will be radio-navigation only, so we've started listing the nav points along the way.  We're not sure if the Caravan has a working GPS, so we'll plan to maintain radio tracking with it as well.

Finally, this jaunt is totally unofficial so any scoring will be for our own amusement - if we can provide the same for you, so much the better.  We'll take snapshots along the way of anything interesting that we come across, but if you've seen our camera work to date you know to not expect too much in that regard.  Smitty's relayed fables of herds of rampaging kanagaroos out west, so the missus will take point as official 'roo spotter.

This line added to avoid the dreaded "The board administrator has requested that you must provide some message content within your post. You cannot post only HTML, Images, EmotIcons or IFCode." message.

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FS² v3.0 w/172 Detail - FSX SP2 - CH yoke & pedals - GoFlight / Saitek / MPanel - TrackIR 3 w/VE

i7-920 airclocked to 166, Vista 64 Prem, GTX 260, 9GB 1300 DRAM, 1TB OS / 200GB s/s FSX drive

"Geronimo"

Like your style. Charts all drawn. Compass at the ready. Stop watch to hand. GP#/=&S a distant memory

Might make the odd detour to visit sheila's at the OZx strips on the way. As long as they have a warm welcome & a case of cold Guinness

I've even found my old aeronautical charts to take on the trip

Right now, if my thumb is pointing straight up and my index finger is to the sun, my second finger is..... damn I'm sure South was at the top of the map.

Perhaps if I turned it round a bit??

Biggles

Got bored so I started on your Greens with Red Sauce. Rechristened it as I hope to take in some of the uncharted Ant Airfields enroute. I'll put in a good word for you on the way & try not to eat all the crisps & peanuts.

Enjoy the pics

Biggles

Well it was a wonderful few days off in Daru.  After the awe-inspiring S&S Phase 1 get-together and awards ceremony, I departed the party shack to turn over the keys and papers for our 172s to the Sweet & Sour Tour chartered freighter (why does the name SS Minnow ring a bell?).  On the way back to the hotel, a few burly chaps from the local customs office intercepted the cab that Smitty and I had hired and whisked me into an overcrowded office for 3 hours of red tape paperwork.  As I was being dragged off though, Smitty shouted that when I was finished, to meet up at a hangout by the airport that he called "the Daru Applebees" for a little surprise.

"Little" and "Surprise" being quite operative, I was gobsmacked upon arrival with my wife's purchase - a "gently used" Liberty Aerospace XL2!  As you can see in this rare photograph, Smitty was waiting in the co-pilot's seat waiting for me to pack his bag for an "acclimation flight"... over to the Port Moresby Golf Club for a round.

All caddying aside, when we landed back in Daru we picked up our rental for the Greens/Red Sauce, a Siai Marchetti SF260... and before we could make our first landing at Scherger, I almost lost Smitty.

Not pretty perhaps, but most fun - the Siai is a wonderfully aerobatic plane.  End result - after cleaning up the mess on the pleather interior as we came to a halt, Smitty stated his "utter and complete" refusal to fly with me in the Siai.  That, and the Colonel at the base invoked some type of Commonwealth reserve clause and "borrowed" Smitty for a week for an exercise.  Quite a sight - 12 armed guards stopped us on the taxiway, pulled Smitty from the cockpit, and departed in one of those big military helicopters like you see in a Bruckheimer movie.

As Smitty was being led away - waving with both arms (?) - we agreed that Team Fenric will make a stop at Tindal after Xmas to pick him up in the Caravan.  In the utterly safe, no-flying-upside-down, Caravan.

Ok, so footloose and fancy free with the missus trailing along in the Liberty, we set out for Kowanyama. After an hour flying over what must be Austrailia's answer to The Great Dismal Swamp, a patch of honest-to-goodness dirt caught my eye off the port quarter.

"Hang on, isn't that one of the strips that Bruce wrote about?  I think we could both use a stretch and a bite."  We landed and parked, but after knocking on a few doors and getting to know the pup left guarding the place, we sadly concluded that no one was home.  So I pulled a couple of beer out of the ice chest and sat them on the hood of the pickup with a hastily scratched note, Hope the rabbit doesn't die.  Love, Biggles.

On to Kowanyama....

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FS² v3.0 w/172 Detail - FSX SP2 - CH yoke & pedals - GoFlight / Saitek / MPanel - TrackIR 3 w/VE

i7-920 airclocked to 166, Vista 64 Prem, GTX 260, 9GB 1300 DRAM, 1TB OS / 200GB s/s FSX drive

"Geronimo"

With Smitty seconded to the RAAF for a few more days, Ms Aviatrix has kindly consented to give yours truly instruction in the Siai for a few days.  Flying the Siai has only started to become second nature - landing the beast is a different story altogether.  Now that the lesson of "announce landing intention before lowering gear" has penetrated our thick skulls, it's only a matter of maintaining the right speed / rate of decent and not wobbling all over the place like a drunken git.

Your correspondant - not one noted for overly cautious actions - has kept busy dodging the influx showers of Laurence, making stops at Normanton (lovely little airfield), Mt. Isa, Tennant Creek, Booraloola, and just yesterday popped over the western Gulf of Carpenteria for a Groot view to rest a day at Gove. (Where they have either magic cars and trucks, or magic buildings, I can't tell which....)

I'm sure we all know the lackings of FSX weather in regards to cloud / precip, which is forcing the team towards a decision to opt for REX or ActiveSky Advanced.  This line of smudgy clouds on the way to Tennant Creek was the representation of a line of late afternoon thundershowers - not nearly the cause for concern as they should have been.

Scenery is still second to none however.  Small touches such as the Nobel Nob mine on approach to Tennant appear clearly and are most useful for visual fixes.

Vector scenery is well included too - getting your kicks over Austrailian Route 66 is possible, if a trifle difficult to spot amidst the waterless, Martian-like landscape.

p.s. Got a late note from Smitty who sends his regards and seems most anxious to join back up.  We're to pick him up at "the Katherine end of Tindal - a beautiful spot" on Xmas.  He also asked if Ms Aviatrix could accompany us through to El Tari.  I think he may propose, since he muttered something about a "48 karat new year."

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FS² v3.0 w/172 Detail - FSX SP2 - CH yoke & pedals - GoFlight / Saitek / MPanel - TrackIR 3 w/VE

i7-920 airclocked to 166, Vista 64 Prem, GTX 260, 9GB 1300 DRAM, 1TB OS / 200GB s/s FSX drive

"Geronimo"

Wow. Yet another mine located within a few miles from a rural airstrip.  What are the odds that Aussie golddiggers (etc.) would strike a lode near so many of these wild western fields.  Hmmmmmmm.

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FS² v3.0 w/172 Detail - FSX SP2 - CH yoke & pedals - GoFlight / Saitek / MPanel - TrackIR 3 w/VE

i7-920 airclocked to 166, Vista 64 Prem, GTX 260, 9GB 1300 DRAM, 1TB OS / 200GB s/s FSX drive

"Geronimo"

You seem to be getting through co-pilots at a great rate of knots? Just a reminder not to forget to clear customs before you leave the fair land of Oz  (thinking about the odd stray nugget that may have found it's way into your tucker bag)

Biggles

Rgr that, Biggles; I'm so square, my corners would cut glass.

Well then, we just made an arguably fine landing at Darwin ILS 29.  Argue that is, with Ms. Aviatrix - handing me only 45 points for being a gnat's width off of the centreline.  Otherwise, picture perfect.  Bloom's off the rose, I guess.  Smitty, where are ye?...

I've turned in the Siai, and am off to check in at the Evolution 6 Motel Downtown for a bit of rest.  The 208 that I'll be in over the next few days hasn't shown up yet.  Hope that I don't have to grab a commercial flight and scrub the rest of the trip.  Then too, I need to remember to set up my TiVo HD and videocaster back at home for some can't-miss holiday programming.

I wonder how's life back in the States... politics all sorted out by now I'll bet....

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FS² v3.0 w/172 Detail - FSX SP2 - CH yoke & pedals - GoFlight / Saitek / MPanel - TrackIR 3 w/VE

i7-920 airclocked to 166, Vista 64 Prem, GTX 260, 9GB 1300 DRAM, 1TB OS / 200GB s/s FSX drive

"Geronimo"

First stop, Darwin River Dam--

Then over to Coomalie Creek - a little field that appeared to be doubling as a campsite--

Then onto the banks of the Adelaide River, near Stapleton--

Approaching Pine Creek with the last load, of what looked like lots of toy trains--

Then it was time to lob in to Katherine, via Tindal.  Had a note waiting for me from Smitty, who wishes everyone a happy and safe Xmas. (Too, he wants to add an extra stop to our jaunt, something about there being an unlucky number of legs already.)

The last photo taken by my new Ozzie friend, Bob.

Cheers all, from Team Fenric.

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FS² v3.0 w/172 Detail - FSX SP2 - CH yoke & pedals - GoFlight / Saitek / MPanel - TrackIR 3 w/VE

i7-920 airclocked to 166, Vista 64 Prem, GTX 260, 9GB 1300 DRAM, 1TB OS / 200GB s/s FSX drive

"Geronimo"

Biggles