Life is sweet

David certainly hasn't had much to complain about lately.  Violin in the morning, flying in the afternoon, Jen's charming company in the evening, every day this week so far.  There is scarcely time left for blogging!

Here, mainly for the interest of any pilots that might be reading this, is a summary of the last 6 days' flying:

Sunday (20 February):  first flight at Spring Hill, mentioned in the previous post.  [track log]

Monday:  first (ridge-assisted) thermalling flight in the Litesport, at Spring Hill.  [track log]

Tuesday:  ridge-assisted thermalling at Collector in the afternoon, and ridge soaring at Geary's in the evening sea breeze.  [track log]

Wednesday:  sled run at Geary's in the evening, followed by a barbecue at the home of a pilot (the one from whom I had borrowed the Moyes Mission previously) and his fiancée.  Nic is quite a character, and has built several "tall bikes" by welding frames together and in one case constructing a very special hexagonal frame.

Thursday:  two great hours at Spring Hill in the afternoon.  [track log]

Friday:  short flight at Spring Hill in the early evening.

Things are looking promising for today (Saturday, 26 February) too!

Fun in the Litesport

Saturday (19 February) was an early shopping day, and a rainy afternoon during which Jen did some school prep work.  We had a beautiful walk in the evening after the rain cleared.

Sunday was windy, but Jen was keen to see a bit more of the countryside, so we packed sandwiches and a glider and headed up to Spring Hill.  Even windier there, so we stopped in at a place called Poacher's Pantry just across the road from the flying site, where Jen did a bit of wine-tasting and we each had a tiny lunch on a huge plate.  Lovely spot, and very good food, but rather pricey.

Colours not quite as bright as dB usually
likes, but a great glider all the same.

The wind was by then hinting at diminishing a bit, so we went up the hill.  And after getting set up and doing a lot of hang-waiting, David was finally able to launch in suitably mellow conditions for a soaring flight that could have gone on a lot longer but was terminated before dark in an unusual spasm of prudence on the part of the pilot in ostensible command.

David gets his new glider

On Thursday (17 February), David picked up the long-awaited Litesport 4 from Phil Robinson, who was kind enough to transport it from Stanwell Park, a popular coastal soaring site near Sydney, where none other than Steve Moyes (of Moyes Gliders) had brought it.  Phil owns the top (launch) and landing field at Spring Hill, where he shares a house with his wife Marian and currently their 25-year-old son (their other two kids are in their mid-thirties and have moved out).  Spring Hill is a great flying site, but a bit tricky for doing a first flight in a relatively unfamiliar glider (David only once flew a Litesport before, and that was many years ago in Florida), so observation rather than participation was the watchword (pardon the pun) on Thursday evening.

But then Friday (18 February) turned out to be perfect at Geary's, where the launch is easy and the landing "paddock" is the vast Lake George bed.  The glider immediately inspired confidence, and David flew many miles along the ridge to the north (just past the Collector launch) and back.  Track picked up as usual by http://aprs.fi/?call=va7ina and recorded in altitude-colourized detail for Google Earth viewing here.  No pictures of the glider yet...perhaps today!

Oz

Gorgeous smell of eucalyptus (gum) trees in the air this morning after all the rain.  One certainly feels one is in a very different place, here Down Under, with all the unfamiliar bird calls, the kangaroos hopping around (we see them every day now, especially on our evening walks where the nearby nature reserve has become our favourite haunt), and all the wonderful place names such as Bungendore, Jerrabomberra, Gundaroo, and Tuggeranong sprinkled amongst the British and Irish names.

Quiet days

Sled run (quick trip from top to bottom) at Geary's on Tuesday (15 February).  Rain was predicted for later but didn't arrive until mid-Wednesday.  Giving us a good soak now.

Valentine's Day

Australians don't make much fuss over Valentine's Day (they just get on with it), and Jen had her flowers already and was working late at school at a "meet the teacher" evening for the parents, so David went off to chase the merry winds again, and was rewarded with an hour's soaring at Collector.  One pair of the parents that went to meet Jen turned out to have seen him in the air the evening before as they were driving home along the Federal Highway (which runs along the base of the ridge overlooking Lake George).

Fish and chips for supper again...righteous!

Soaring at Lake George

Saturday (12 February) was mainly spent shopping, and in the evening David mostly finished building his roof rack.  On Sunday morning he put the final touches to it.

David's Subaru with roof rack and roo bar

And lo and behold, the wind was perfect on Sunday for flying at "Geary's" overlooking Lake George.  Lake George is usually dry, but this year it is partly covered with water (visible in the distance in this picture).  To foot-launching aviators, it is a huge, ideal landing field, or "paddock" as the Aussies say.

Some horrid creature setting up David's borrowed glider at Geary's launch

The sweet place