Airstrip Repairs

[Blueadventures]

12 hours ago, Moneybox said:

I really wanted to fly down to Perth yesterday. I needed a dentist quickly so I called Meekatharra on Thursday and got a recording saying they’d call when they are back, they never called. Friday I made an appointment for 8:30 this morning but the tooth was giving so much trouble I decided it might not be wise to fly. Mrs M offered me strong painkillers but that would only ad to the risk.

 

I left by car at 11am, got two hours down the road and had to sleep. The phone woke me ten minutes later so I set off again but only for another hour before stopping to put my head back for a bit. That time I slept for an hour and a half. By the time I was half way the sun had set and I was attacked by a huge kangaroo approaching from the right. I was sitting on cruise at 110, swerved the front around him but took it in the side. That was unlikely to happen at 4500’.

 

I stopped an hour from Perth and travelled the rest this morning. Now I’m parked again for the night with about 360km to go.
 

The idea was to get the plane to avoid all the long distance travel but it doesn’t always work out. Perhaps I can talk Mrs M into getting a pilot’s licence 😏.

 

Some times it’s meant to be; could have been a wedge tail bird strike midair than a kangaroo. Glad you’re ok. Cheers.

[facthunter]

Unless your are rested and healthy, don't fly yourself. Nev

[Moneybox]

We dropped into YPIX this afternoon.

 

 

Looks a little in need of maintenance although the airstrip is in perfect condition and unique in the way you could land in any direction you choose. The accommodation was quite limited, the tower was invisible and the only aircraft sounded like it was somewhere near 5000'.

[onetrack]

You'll be right, Moneybox. Just round up a pile of broombush, weave it into that framework, and you'll have a first-class gunyah for overnight stays! You could possibly even have your choice, of how you want your 'roo cooked!  😄 

[Moneybox]

We've ordered our hangar for YWOH but we're still bogged down in red tape. 

 

Today we replaced the canopy gas strut with the correct style of scissor strut that I made from a couple of steel tubes out of a gazebo.

 

 

Now we have easy entry and exit through the wide opening from either side. I sorted out the charging problem too so hopefully I get it in the air tomorrow because we have business to attend to in Wongan Hills, a 2.5hr flight or 5hr drive south.

 

 

Mrs M hasn't be up yet but she wants to get to get their as soon as possible. I really want to take her up on a very short flight first but she's ready to jump in and fly south. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

 

Edited June 5 by Moneybox

[BurnieM]

Thats a long way from Cue.

[Moneybox]

5 hours ago, BurnieM said:

Thats a long way from Cue.

We've bought property in Wongan Hills, it'll be our summer residence once we build. Summer in Cue is terribly hot and the older we get the hotter it seems to be, We're most likely to keep the plane there during the summer months. We could erect a hanger here but it would have zero realestate value, something we have to consider as non-pension retirees.

[BrendAn]

1 hour ago, Moneybox said:

We've bought property in Wongan Hills, it'll be our summer residence once we build. Summer in Cue is terribly hot and the older we get the hotter it seems to be, We're most likely to keep the plane there during the summer months. We could erect a hanger here but it would have zero realestate value, something we have to consider as non-pension retirees.

wongan hills in summer will only be 39 instead of 42 at cue😁

[BrendAn]

17 hours ago, Moneybox said:

We've ordered our hangar for YWOH but we're still bogged down in red tape. 

 

Today we replaced the canopy gas strut with the correct style of scissor strut that I made from a couple of steel tubes out of a gazebo.

 

 

Now we have easy entry and exit through the wide opening from either side. I sorted out the charging problem too so hopefully I get it in the air tomorrow because we have business to attend to in Wongan Hills, a 2.5hr flight or 5hr drive south.

 

 

Mrs M hasn't be up yet but she wants to get to get their as soon as possible. I really want to take her up on a very short flight first but she's ready to jump in and fly south. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

 

the zodiac is working well for you mb. nice aircraft. 

 

[Moneybox]

1 hour ago, BrendAn said:

wongan hills in summer will only be 39 instead of 42 at cue😁

True BrendAn but the term of hot weather is usually much shorter. Cue can hit over 40 for a good four to five months of the year. We can handle a couple of months and then it seems we're wasting away a lot of time sheltering inside from 10am until sunset. Our electric hot water system is rarely turned on and sometimes the cold is too hot for a comfortable shower.

Edited June 6 by Moneybox

[Moneybox]

1 hour ago, BrendAn said:

the zodiac is working well for you mb. nice aircraft. 

 

Yes the Zodiac does work well. I'm not fully confident in it yet. I was practising stalls this morning at 4000'. My airspeed was dropping to 27Kt, the lowest reading on the MGL Lite,  and then Zero before it dropped a left wing. It just seems to sit in the air doing nothing before the stall. I miss the steam gauges of the Sportstar.

[BrendAn]

4 minutes ago, Moneybox said:

True BrendAn but the term of hot weather is usually much shorter. Cue can hit over 40 for a good four to five months of the year. We can handle a couple of months and then it seems we're wasting away a lot of time sheltering inside from 10am until sunset. Our electric hot water system is rarely turned on and sometimes the cold is too hot for a comfortable shower.

Yes. Worked at st Barbara's meeka and plutonic between meeka and Newman. Bloody hot in the summer.

Years ago when I was at daveyhurst there was a couple who worked their mine all winter and went home to  Mandurah for the summer. Great lifestyle.

[Moneybox]

2 minutes ago, BrendAn said:

Yes. Worked at st Barbara's meeka and plutonic between meeka and Newman. Bloody hot in the summer.

Years ago when I was at daveyhurst there was a couple who worked their mine all winter and went home to  Mandurah for the summer. Great lifestyle.

 

That's the sort of thing we want to do. There's no good reason the be here in the summer. We just sold the old 1910 stone cottage along with the mining lease M20/522 that runs through our back yard and the prospecting lease P20/2405 100m further away. That's the last of our Cue mining interests for now.

[onetrack]

Moneybox, what area of land did you buy in Wongan Hills? I have an industrial block of 2000 sq m. in Calingiri, just 40 kays down the road. Far cheaper than anything in Perth, and I enjoy the peacefulness of Calingiri.

No cops, no crime, no sirens, no traffic lights, and a great highway between Perth and Calingiri. It only takes me 1hr 20mins to get there from the city, people in the city spend 2 hrs trying to get from one side of the city to the other side.

No-one in Calingiri locks anything up, it's like stepping back into the 50's.

[Moneybox]

4 hours ago, onetrack said:

Moneybox, what area of land did you buy in Wongan Hills? I have an industrial block of 2000 sq m. in Calingiri, just 40 kays down the road. Far cheaper than anything in Perth, and I enjoy the peacefulness of Calingiri.

No cops, no crime, no sirens, no traffic lights, and a great highway between Perth and Calingiri. It only takes me 1hr 20mins to get there from the city, people in the city spend 2 hrs trying to get from one side of the city to the other side.

No-one in Calingiri locks anything up, it's like stepping back into the 50's.

We bought 2698 sq m of industrial on Wongan Rd and 10,000 sq m of residential in Stonestreet Way. We've ordered a shed for the industrial block and the hangar but nothing yet for the 2.5 acre block. We wanted somewhere with a few more services than Cue.

[onetrack]

Yeah, Wongan Hills is quite the decent-size town, and has a lot of industry, and a decent big pub. The price of land in the wheatbelt and wheatbelt towns has skyrocketed in the last few years, though.

It was only 5-6 years ago they were struggling to sell those 10,000-20,000 sq m blocks in Wongan, they were going for under $50K, and a good brick/tile house there was $150K to $250K.

Now I see houses there going between $350K and $650K. I guess it's a spin-off from ballistic housing/property prices in the cities. I couldn't afford industrial land in the city, and industrial rents in the city are stupid money.

Watch out for the ripoffs from some of the businesses there, though. They're getting used to dealing with huge farming operations and miners, and think they can charge what they like.

Wongan also has a good aerodrome, too, only 2 kms out of town, and it recently received major upgrades. Plus, it's at a good altitude, less chance of getting fogged in.

 

Edited June 7 by onetrack

[Moneybox]

Going down today, not flying but driving. I haven't got over this problem of landing and then having no wheels. I have a vehicle parked at Northam airport but that's another 100km further. That doesn't work out so we'll take the motorhome because we'll need the diesel heater tonight.

[kiwiaviator]

Love following your adventures MB. I had my Jabiru at Northam for a while and just drove the 12 hrs down from Newman every few weeks to keep current. Had it in Newman for a while after that, then Geraldton before pointing the nose east towards the shaky isles aka Land of the Long White Cloud. I'm in the Pilbara every three months or so and sometimes I'll drive up the Great Northern. Be good to catch up and say gidday at some stage.

[Moneybox]

3 hours ago, kiwiaviator said:

Love following your adventures MB. I had my Jabiru at Northam for a while and just drove the 12 hrs down from Newman every few weeks to keep current. Had it in Newman for a while after that, then Geraldton before pointing the nose east towards the shaky isles aka Land of the Long White Cloud. I'm in the Pilbara every three months or so and sometimes I'll drive up the Great Northern. Be good to catch up and say gidday at some stage.

Surely you didn't fly the Jabiru to NZ?

 

I'm in the Pilbara right now. On my prospecting lease P46/2135 just east of Nullagine. I'd love to fly here but I think if I left the plane sit at the Nullagine airport overnight it'd be missing the wheels by morning. You're welcome to drop in the Cue sometime but you'd have to check our movements, we don't sit still for long.

 

Right now I'm trying to arrange freight from Perth for a pair of Excavator tracks. I walked it up a creak deep into the hills in the middle of the lease before the RH track came apart. Fortunately I was on the ground at the time. 😂

 

Phil

[BrendAn]

9 minutes ago, Moneybox said:

Surely you didn't fly the Jabiru to NZ?

 

I'm in the Pilbara right now. On my prospecting lease P46/2135 just east of Nullagine. I'd love to fly here but I think if I left the plane sit at the Nullagine airport overnight it'd be missing the wheels by morning. You're welcome to drop in the Cue sometime but you'd have to check our movements, we don't sit still for long.

 

Right now I'm trying to arrange freight from Perth for a pair of Excavator tracks. I walked it up a creak deep into the hills in the middle of the lease before the RH track came apart. Fortunately I was on the ground at the time. 😂

 

Phil

nice country around nullagine. i went through there a couple of times from newman then up the skull springs road to woodie woodie .

[kiwiaviator]

11 hours ago, Moneybox said:

Surely you didn't fly the Jabiru to NZ?

 

I'm in the Pilbara right now. On my prospecting lease P46/2135 just east of Nullagine. I'd love to fly here but I think if I left the plane sit at the Nullagine airport overnight it'd be missing the wheels by morning. You're welcome to drop in the Cue sometime but you'd have to check our movements, we don't sit still for long.

 

Right now I'm trying to arrange freight from Perth for a pair of Excavator tracks. I walked it up a creak deep into the hills in the middle of the lease before the RH track came apart. Fortunately I was on the ground at the time. 😂

 

Phil

Not all the way. I flew it to Jabiru in Bundaberg then containerised it for the rest of the journey. I had a plan to fly it across the ditch via Lord Howe and Norfolk islands (normal light aircraft route) however the CASA requirements re RAAus registered aircraft buggered that up.

I'll touch base next time I'm travelling through Cue. I have explored around the Nullagine/Marble Bar area. Great history there. All the best with the prospecting.

Kev