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Victoria - Jan. 04  - Back to work !

 

From Yarram YYRM to Mt Hotham YHOT

 

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The end of year celebrations are over and the mind is clear again, I go back to Yarram !  I left the C 185F after returning from Tasmania and I pick up the C 172 RG I had left there. I'm going to leave the coast to go see the mountains ! The weather is beautiful, so I take off in the morning.

 

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At first I follow the coast and the lagoons. I climbed direct to 7500 ft as my arrival airport lies around 4500 ft.

 

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I get to my first waypoint in Bairnsdale YBNS and head inside the country.

 

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I'm flying towards mountains, nature and forests.

 

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On finals at  Mt Hotham YHOT

 

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Another nice airport by OzX !

 

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Mount Hotham has a ski resort in winter. It is known as " powder capital of Australia " as it holds the record of snow fall in Victoria state.

 


 

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I find a place with a nice view to stay over a couple of nights. I have decided to make a tour around tomorrow, following a conversation I had with someone I met at the aeroclub.

 

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Thks for your comments, Graeme.  Fortunately, getting old has a few positive points, like having a lot more free time.    I read somewhere that you really get old when you stop learning, so after o

Haha !  As you know english is not my native language ( although I have a US High School diploma, a University Master and a British Chamber of Commerce    ) and besides this you are right I spent a lo

Yep, went for a little Alaska flight for my Air Hauler company. They were surprised to see me around ! 

Nice set Loic. Glad you got a break in the weather.

 

I hear my Australian Facebook friends mention snow down there occasional...but they usually whine and whinge about it during the middle of summer, so I chalk it up to odd FB friends :D

 

Now...weather on the other hand they got, almost as much as they got spiders and snakes...(I've seen pictures on FB of some of those in my odd friends posts...in their aus homes). I have flown in lots of stink in Australia in the sim/Airhauling. This weekend for example I was ferrying 6 trips worth of cargo between Snake Bay and Darwin in the N. Territories and it was all Thunder and Lightning...so exciting. (I will be posting a short vid later landing at dusk at Snake Bay in the middle of some of that rukus...cuz trying to catch those bolts in a screenshot is very very hard.)

 

 

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Victoria - Jan 05 - A short tour around Mt Hotham

 

So in the club bar yesterday I met an amateur builder who offered me to use his Corby Starlet for a few hours and have a tour around. Of course I said yes, thank you !  I'm lucky, the weather is beautiful with almost no wind this morning when I take off from Mount Hotham.

 

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Heading north for a barbecue stop at the small airfield in the valley at Mount Beauty. There are no flaps or speed brakes, so like on my beloved World War 1 airplanes, you need to cross ailerons and rudder and throw your plane across the flight path to brake with the plane body. I love it !  :)

 

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As I taxi for leaving, I'm happy to see the sheep are well looked after and won't come eat the grass on the runway ! 

 

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In the next valley is a small strip called Wombat Gully where I will only make a "touch and go".

 

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After this I head east to the Dartmouth dam and lake.

 

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Middle of the afternoon I am back in Mount Hotham to hand the little plane back to its owner. A nice experience ! 

 

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Tomorrow I'll be on my way out of the mountains towards the plains.

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Victoria - Jan 06 - Back to the plains

 

From Mount Hotham YHOT to Mangalore YMNG via Wangaratta YWGT and Shepparton YSHT

 

Today we go back to the plains on our way down to Melbourne and the coast, for a one hour flight.

 

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The weather has changed and I leave Mt Hotham under the rain !

 

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I fly again by the Mount Beauty with a different plane and a different weather !

 

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After leaving the mountains, I fly over my first waypoint in Wangaratta ...

 

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... and another visual mark, Lake Mokoan.

 

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At the next waypoint, Shepparton. The landscape has been rather flat and monotonous, it's good to see a river and some trees !

 

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The rain has stopped as I am arriving at Mangalore.

 

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Real aerial view :

 

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I will spend the night in town at the Mangalore Hotel :

 

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Victoria - Jan 07 - To the sea !

 

From Mangalore YMNG to Tyabb YTYA via Lilydale YLIL

 

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Today we keep on going south to the sea and the Melbourne region. A short flight around 50 minutes with a hook over the airfield in Lilydale east of the big city to avoid entering the controlled airspace around the international airport.

 

The rain is gone since yesterday and I leave Mangalore on mid morning with a fair weather.

 

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In the first part of the leg, I fly over hills covered with forests. Locals call this "tiger country" !

 

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Then it's again a flat landscape until I get to my waypoint between Lilydale YLIL on my right and the small strip of Healsville YHSV under my left wing. We are now directly east of Melbourne

 

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From then on I fly over the eastern suburbs: Lilydale,  Montrose, Belgrave.

 

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And well on time for lunch it's finals on runway 17 at Tyabb YTYA.

 

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I taxi to the GA parking after a quiet little flight ...

 

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Real aerial view of the airfield :

 

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I will stay at the Harbour View Motor Inn. From there I have a view on the sea !

 

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Victoria - Jan 09 - Tour of the Melbourne bay  (Part 1)

 

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Weather is beautiful, temperature in the 30° C and the wind is down to 5 knots from the west. A great time to go for an ultralight tour of the Melbourne bay, specially with a good looking girl in the back seat !

 

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We head to the bay, flying over the Mornington houses near Mt Martha

 

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On the way to the entrance of the bay we overtake a Cosco container carrier.

 

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Arriving on the narrow entrance at Pt Nepean where you can see a small airstrip.

 

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We cross on the other side and fly over  Portarlington

 

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Victoria - Jan 09  - Tour of the Melbourne bay  (Part 2)

 

We meet a cruising ship also making a tour of the bay, but the other way around...

 

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Heading north, we soon come over the airfield at Point Cook YMPC

 

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From there it's heading east for another crossing of the bay, with in the far the skyscrapers of downtown Melbourne

 

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Next waypoint is Pt Philip Bay where you can find the seaplane base ZMMB

 

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And finally back home in Tyabb

 


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A nice flight with ideal weather conditions, my passenger enjoyed the ride !


 

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Nice one for sightseeing ..you may have already posted but I couldnt see..what scenery are you using? Never flown inOz but may have to now..

 

Wain, it is in the first post :

 

" Further to the Christmas sale at Orbx, I installed FTX Australia SP4 and Holgermesh AU, and all their freeware airports. I added all the Ants freeware airports, and the OzX scenery and libraries adding a lot of bush and farm strips, as well as many points of interest. "

 

The Ultralight is Ant's Drifter.

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Victoria - Jan 11 - A trip in the past, first step !
 
Tyabb YTYA to Warrnambool YWBL
 
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I need to go to Warrnambool YWBL on the other side of the bay, where is the next plane I will use for touring the western part of Victoria. I first had planned to travel by road but Jane, the nice girl I took for a ride on Saturday, found one of her friends who is willing to take me there with his plane.
 
He is a great guy and lets me take the yoke of his Cessna 195 for a trip back into the 50s ! It doesn't take long to get familiar with the office, the adaptation to the modern world is mainly the central stack with radios, nav, DME and transceiver. There is no VOR or ILS in our flight plan, so we will not use them and will navigate with the good old compass. As it will mostly be following the coastline, there is little risk to get lost anyway.
 
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The wind blows at 7 knots from the west, we have already 35° C at 11:00, the sky is clear and the visibility is good. This looks like a great day, with the music of the radial engine !  Without flaps, the plane takes off quickly and tends to climb steep, and I need to counter it right away.
 
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We fly again by the entrance of the Melbourne bay we already visited on Saturday with the Drifter. I notice that on this plane, I need to put a lot of forward trim to stabilize the flight altitude at 2500 ft.
 
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On the other side, we fly by Torquay, which is well known for its "Tiger Moth World". There is an adventure park for kids and flights along the coast, aerobatics flights and skydive for the grown ups.
 
 
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After passing by Apollo Bay we come to the southern tip, Cape Otway with its lighthouse and helipad.
 
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Flying west along the coast, we reach the famous 12 Apostles, sculpted by the ocean.
 
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From there it is a direct heading to our destination and soon we spot the town of  Warrnambool.
 
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The wind allows us a direct approach on runway 35 ( 1372 m asphalt ).
 
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And here we are,  I only need to say a big thank you to the owner in the right seat ( looks like he wasn't scared by my flying...) and give him the left seat for his flight back to Tyabb, of course after inviting him for a lunch at the aeroclub.
 
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For me, I will go in the afternoon see if my new plane is ready for a long ride !
 
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Warrnambool is a regional centre and former port city, with an urban population of around 30.000. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool marks the western end of the Great Ocean Road and the southern end of the Hopkins Highway.
 
Warrnambool attracts approximately 715,000 visitors per year, and is a comprehensive regional service centre. The town's tourism benefits from the views from the Great Ocean Road, and its nearby beaches, some of which are used for surfing. In the winter months, southern right whales can be seen in the waters near the city at the Logan's Beach nursery, and boats make whale-watching tours.
 
Warrnambool is home to the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, a race which attracts Australian and international drivers on the Australia Day long weekend.
 
The city is also the finishing point of the Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic cycle race. It is the longest one-day bicycle endurance race in the world, held every October since 1895 to be the world’s second oldest bike race.

 

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Victoria - Jan 12  - A trip in the past, second step  !
 
Warnaambool YWBL to Bendigo YBDG - via Ararat YARA and Maryborough YMBU
 
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Today we fly inland, and after the 50s yesterday, we now go back to the 30s. I meet again an old acquaintance, the Beechcraft D17 Staggerwing with which I already flew Buenos Aires - La Paz going over the Andes during my Aéropostale adventure in 2014.  
The office is simple, the only touch of modern times is the radio/nav. There are not many VORs in this corner of the woods, but it can still be useful from time to time. No GPS, so we continue with good old time navigation, compass, watch and Mk1 eyeballs.
 
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Weather at start (10:30 to avoid the hotest hours) : Wind 7 knts at 160° - Ground temp.  22° C - Pressure 1014 hPa / 29.95 in - Few clouds at 1700 ft - Visibility 22 km.
 
Take off with one stage of flaps, and don't forget to lock the tail wheel !
 
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First waypoint at Ararat YARA, a few hills make a welcome change to the otherwise flat landscape
 
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Flying over these hills and some "tiger country"
 
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From there I reach my second waypoint, Maryborough YMBU and its airfield in the woods.
 
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Bendigo is on the 272 radial of the Mangalore VOR, so I set my Nav receiver on that frequency. Ten minutes later I reach the first houses of the town.
 
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The wind is still blowing south, and I enter the circuit backwind right hand to come around and land on runway 17  ( 1137 m asphalt ).
 
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A first leg without any navigation problem, and I taxi to the parking and fuel pump.
 
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The discovery of gold in the soils of Bendigo during the 1850s made it one of the most significant Victorian era boomtowns in Australia. News of the finds intensified the Victorian gold rush bringing an influx of migrants to the city from around the world within a year and transforming it from a sheep station to a major settlement in the newly proclaimed Colony of Victoria. Once the alluvial gold had been mined out, mining companies were formed to exploit the rich underground quartz reef gold. Since 1851 about 25 million ounces of gold (777 tonnes) have been extracted from Bendigo's goldmines, making it the highest producing goldfield in Australia in the 19th century and the largest gold mining economy in eastern Australia. It is also notable for its Victorian architectural heritage. The city took its name from the Bendigo Creek and its residents from the earliest days of the goldrush have been called "Bendigonians".
 
As a legacy of the gold boom Bendigo has many ornate buildings built in a late Victorian colonial style. Many buildings are on the Victorian Heritage Register and registered by the National Trust of Australia. Prominent buildings include the Bendigo Town Hall (1859, 1883–85), the Old Post Office, the Bendigo Law Courts (1892–96), the Shamrock Hotel (1897), the Institute of Technology and the Memorial Military Museum (1921) all in the Second Empire-style.
 
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Bendigo's Sacred Heart Cathedral, a large sandstone church, is the third largest cathedral in Australia and one of the largest cathedrals in the Southern Hemisphere. The main building was completed between 1896 and 1908 and the spire between 1954 and 1977.
 
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Victoria - Jan 13  - To the Murray River

 

Bendigo YBDG - Kerang YKER via Echuca YCEH

 

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A short leg towards the Murray River which makes the border with New South Wales in the north. ( a short report as well, I lost part of my screenshots by mistake  :( )

 

Weather :  Wind17 knts WSW from 252° - Temperature 30° C - Pressure. 1008 hPa 29.97 in. - Sky clear - visibility 57 km

 

Flying over my first waypoint : Echuca YCEH

 

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A left turn to the NW and second landmark : the unlisted airstrip near Cohuna. On the right we can see the Murray River which also makes a good landmark.

 

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On the way the wind turned south and I must fly around the town of Kerang to land on runway 14 ( 1068 m asphalt )

 

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A quiet short leg, only need now to fill up the tanks for tomorrow.

 

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Kerang is a rural town of around 4000 people on the Loddon River in northern Victoria. It is the commercial centre to an irrigation district based on livestock, horticulture, lucerne and grain. It is located 279 kilometres (173 mi) north-west of Melbourne on the Murray Valley Highway.

 

The Wemba-Wemba Aborigines are thought to have been the area's first occupants. Thomas Mitchell was the first European to visit the area, in 1836.

 

Kerang's symbol is a flying ibis. The area around Kerang is dotted with lagoons and lakes (including Lake Tutchewop) and is believed to have the most populous ibis rookeries in the world with an estimated 200,000 ibis using the area for breeding each year, along with many other waterbirds. It is also a popular recreational destination. Many of the wetlands have been recognised by inclusion in the North Victorian Wetlands Important Bird Area and as being of international significance.


 

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I find a hotel in town with a typical architecture :

 

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Victoria - Jan 15  - The great plains

 

Kerang YKER to Horsham YSHM - via Swan Hill YSWH - Sea Lake YSLK - Hopetoun YHPN - Warracknabeal YWKB

 

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The good weather is there to stay. Clear sky, visibility 32 km, high pressure and a southerly 8 knots wind. At 10:30 local, we have 19° C.

 

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It's on for a good navigation practice, as the plains only give as landmarks some roads, railroads, ponds and lakes. I divided the leg in small 10 to 15 mns parts so I can get regularly back on track.

As I approach Swan Hill, my first landmark is Lake Boga and the village with the same name.

 

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I then fly over the airfield in Swan Hill before turning left. We are leaving the Murray River!

 

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The large lake on the right is a good landmark as we close on Sea Lake

 

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I fly over the village south of the lake, the airfield is on the left outside of the picture.

 

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It's again near a small lake that I find the next airfield : Hopetoun YHPN

 

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Heading south following the road and the railroad I find easily Warracknabeal YWKB

 

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After landing on runway 08 in Horsham YSHM ( 1320m asphalt ), I turn around and taxi to the parking

 

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In the end, a flight which has been mainly interesting for navigation, as the landscapes were rather monotonous !

 


Horsham is a regional city located on the Wimmera River in the Wimmera region of Victoria and is approximately 300 kilometres (190 mi) north-west of the state capital Melbourne. Horsham has a population of around 15.000 people. It is the largest city by population in the Wimmera region.

 

Horsham was named by original settler James Monckton Darlot after the town of Horsham in his native England. It grew throughout the latter 19th and early 20th century as a centre of Western Victoria's wheat and wool industry. Horsham was declared a city in 1949 and was named Australia's Tidiest Town in 2001


 

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There is a Mercure hotel in town, a little piece of France in this corner of the plains ! 

 

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Victoria - Jan 18  - Back to the coast for the D17
 
Horsham YHSM to Portland YPOR - via Grampians YGMP and Hamilton YHML
 
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This is the last leg in the state of Victoria and we're flying back towards the sea. Summer is now here and weather conditions are outstanding : sky clear, 9 knts of wind from the NW, great visibility and 1006 hPa. At 11:00 local, we already have 28° C
 
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Today we're going to fly by the Mts Grampians, this will give us some visual clues from far away and a less boring landscape !
 
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Right under the left wing, we can see the first waypoint, the dirt airstrip of Grampians YGMP
 
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Then we fly by the Black Range State Park and the Grampians State Forest on our right
 
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Next waypoint is my safety airfield, Hamilton YHML
 
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We finally get to the coastal town of Portland
 
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I just have to land for the last time the D 17 VH-UXP on the 1608m runway 26.
 
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Portland is a city in Victoria, and is the oldest European settlement in the state. It's also the main urban centre in the Shire of Glenelg and is located on Portland Bay.
 
The bay was named in 1800 by the British navigator James Grant, who sailed in the Lady Nelson along the Victorian coast. "I also distinguished the Bay by the name of Portland Bay, in honour of His Grace the Duke of Portland," wrote Grant. The bay, the only deep sea port between Adelaide and Melbourne, offers a sheltered anchorage against the often wild weather of Bass Strait.
 
Through the 19th century Portland developed to become an important fishing port providing for the town and later, with the connection of the railway, to the region as far afield as Ballarat and eventually Melbourne. Barracouta, Australian salmon and crayfish (now southern rock lobster) were the main catches with many fishermen working the bay.
 
Portland harbour enabled the development of the woolgrowing industry of the Western District, but has eventually lost its primacy to facilities at Geelong. Even in western Victoria, Portland fell behind Warrnambool as the main commercial centre. In the 20th century Portland's role as a port revived, and its economy was also boosted by the tourism industry and an aluminium smelter.
 
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I managed to find again a hotel with a typical architecture.
 
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If the weather holds, we'll get into South Australia this week and head to Adelaide bay.
 
Looking at the map, I realize that since I started in September I have only explored the south east quarter of the country ! We still have some flight hours ahead ...
 
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