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Leg 18.02 Birdsville YBRD to Longreach YLRE


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True enough, after stumping up to the bar and asking the lady behind if her name was "Doris", she got me sorted and stowed in my room. I asked if I'd missed the fight tent or not and she said that I was just in time as they'd rolled in just before I did. Going to be an interesting night! :)

 

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Sure enough, once the sun went down, the lights came on and the call went out! Yes sir, you too can get some free denture work from these travelling professionals!

 

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Just another quite night in Birdsville! I think the big horse race is on tomorrow so good thing I'm clearing out tomorrow before the crowds arrive.

 

ANOTHER late night. ANOTHER early morning. ANOTHER pounding headache. I really hope the Dak is ready for our next little jaunt. I checked my duffle before leaving the pub and the batton was still securely stowed so we were good to go. I went looking for Jeff at the main hanger just round the back of the pub.

 

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O.o

 

"A full paint and spray in less a one day? Damn you work fast mate.", I said to Jeff.

"What? I thought you knew what was happenin'?"

"Nah, mate I just fly where they tell me to, was wondering why I had to drop in here on the way to Longy." as I scratched the top of my head.

"Yea we got the order through the other day that you were coming through and we had to repaint her for her new home. You're on to Longreach yea?"

"Yea..."

"Well she's gunna join the other birds they got out there for the QANTAS museum idn't she. Ha! She'll look great next to that big ol' 747 they got there".

"Yea I've seen it before.. passed through in a C-17", I said, hoping he'd be a little amazed

"Yea right ay. Painted one of them up for a bloke in NZ last week. Look, anyway you gotta get goin' but if you need a new coat a paint for your bird, you bring her to me right."

Apparently Jeff runs a roaring trade in Aircraft restoration. Who knew.

 

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Right so anyway, we (me and the baton) got lined up on the rwy and got on our way. Did see something strange though immediately after take off....

 

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Must've been the annual Grey Nomad convention....

 

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Anyway, that was Birdsville. Don't blink or you'll miss.

 

 

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And so I settled down for a lot more of the same really.

 

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I did get a little bit of green. Not much. Just a little.

 

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Came in a bit high so went for a go around. I'm not flying the C-17 so can't really do a tactical descent.

 

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Touchdown at YLRE.

 

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The marshal guided me around and got me to park right in from of the other two birds currently on display at YLRE and signalled me to shutdown and close up.

 

Got the Dak all cleared and cleaned, hopped out the back and was greeted by another bloke who looked mighty familiar. Said his name was Goeff.

 

"Ahh I see my brother did a great job with her."

"Who now?"

"Jeff in Birdsville. He's my brother. And before you asked, yes our parents were comedians", he said with a wry grin.

 

I opened my mouth to say something, left it hanging for a bit and then shut my pie hole. He'd probably heard it all before.

 

"Hope you don't mind, but we've got you doing a test flight tomorrow for us. We're looking at maybe getting some new regional jets. Should be a good little trip by all accounts and I'm sure you'll appreciate a couple of days on Hamilton Island before returning huh?"

 

New regional jets? Sure, why not.

 

Plane: Aeroworx MJ C-47 conversion for XP11

Livery: Personal conversion of (I think) @jankees QANTAS for the MJ C-47

Scenery: Ortho4XP and HiRes Mesh from JASA

Photo: Courtesy of one of my work collegues from a recent 4WD trek up the Birdsville track

 

P.S. I actually grew up in the bush (YNTN) and I remember the boxing tent making the rounds along with a few other carnies so we'd have our own town show cum fete. No, I don't miss it.

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Well done BeeJay. Loved the local color at the start, if not the local liter...but it may be more efficient? I wonder if shoveling up All the cans out of the gutter the next day is easier than picking up hundreds of strays that didn't make it into garbage cans.

 

Great angle on the landing shot, and the coinky-dink of a couple other Q-birds to park with was a nice bonus. Fencing company gets high marks for artfully sculpting the fence around the nose of the front plane...avoided moving the aircraft, brilliant.

Edited by Captain Coffee
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