September 29, Day 8 Kingscote - Parafield - Clare Valley
We split up and took different routes today for the first time. We needed a bus for the Clare Valley and we had to pick it up in Adelaide so at least one of us had to go into the busy Parafield strip. No need for everyone to go so we decided to put two pilots in the Emerald Hippie and send it on its lonesome. The bus had to be collected before midday because it was a Saturday and so RCN left early. ISB and JCU followed about an hour and a half later. They flew to Goolwa for gas and then direct to the Clare Valley. We hoped to time it all so that we could pick them up from the airport north of Clare without them having to wait around too long.
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| KI |
It was an indifferent day down on the island with broken low cloud tending to overcast in the direction of the mainland and scattered rain squalls moving about in the area. I strapped some of the Walker's bags in JCU before we left. The careful discipline in packing RCN that was a feature of Walker travel when Bill and Helen were on board had been completely thrown out the window. Don't worry Bill. Don't worry Helen. You tried I know. It is not your fault. Anyways we found enough room for Nat in the back and Andrew and I up front and we were ready to let loose the dogs of flight. Well you know what I mean. I hadn't been in the Hippie since ... well before it was a Hippie. Dustin and I flew it to Airlie Beach for a wedding in 2011. It was good to see it all spruced up with a nice new leather interior and I've already mentioned the psychedelic paint.
So we blasted off with our PFDs on and climbed out looking for a way through the weather. We couldn't get much higher than about 2000 feet and we were skirting some squalls when Melbourne Centre called up and advised us of some screwball coming the other way at the same height. Andrew changed course to avoid rubbing our noses in it and after a few minutes and some vectoring by our mate with the radar we saw him scooting along below and about a mile to the south. He was a very naughty boy and ATC asked us for an identification but we couldn't make out his rego from that distance.
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| Murray meets the Sea |
We crossed the coast just east of Penneshaw and it didn't take us long to reach the mainland. We could see the ferries about to cross each other mid-channel and the weather ahead over Victor Harbor, Port Elliot and Goolwa looked much better. The low cloud was giving away to clear skies. We turned and tracked east for a while to have a look at the mouth of the Murray, Lake Alexandrina and the wonderful Coorong. Hindmarsh Island, famous for the bridge or not to bridge dispute, passed under us and we all searched for a sight of Mr Percival in the Coorong. There he is there he is! And there indeed he was: Mr Percival. Love pelicans and I enjoyed that little jaunt along the coast.
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| Aldinga |
Andrew and I decided to have a crack at the coastal route past Adelaide International Airport into Parafield. It wasn't a preferred or recommended route but Andrew heard it was possible and so we decided to ring ATC and put it on them. Our flight plan declared it and we were flying without fear. He can only say no. Not like they can shoot us down or anything. So we turned across the lake and tracked west across the Adelaide Hills over Aldinga and onto the coast. The controller was a great guy and when we rang him up he said no worries mate, cleared coastal 1000 north to Outer Harbor, the western VFR entry point for Parafield. Hoorah... this was going to be fun.
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| Hunt Field |
The views of Adelaide flying up the coast were excellent and I got a few pictures of Ivor Paech's small private strip, Hunt Field, tucked away beside a small river a mile or so inland. Ivor restored my Yak 52 at Hunt in the early 2000s and I'd texted him earlier that morning to say we were overflying today. Looked all closed up. We could see schools, quarries, harbours, the waterfront, car factories, universities ... lots and lots of stuff. Then our old mate called back to say clearance restricted to Brighton Jetty. You know where that is? Nope. Hang on got it here on the map yep there she blows. No worries mate: pull her over at the jetty. Too easy. When the jetty arrived Andrew put the Hippie in a turn but our old mate was back on the blower again. OK guys cleared to Outer Harbor. A Dash 8 passed through but she was on her way now and we were good to go.
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| Adelaide International |
We got a great look at Adelaide International which sits right on the coast. Flew straight past the threshold of the main runway 05. 'Engine fails now Andrew where would you go?' 'Adelaide?' 'Good decision'. But alas the big fan up front kept spinning and we kept flying on our way. When we got to Outer Harbor ATC approved our frequency change and we switched our transponder to 3000. Andrew gave the Parafield crew a ring and they told to us to climb to 1500 to avoid all outbound traffic then come right on in.
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| Parafield 21R |
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| CJ holds short |
Parafield is one of Australia's busiest GA airports. It is sandwiched between Edinburgh Airforce Base and Adelaide C class airspace. The route in and out is through a narrow corridor. But the landmarks were clear, the weather had fined up and we were having a ball. The airfield has 2 pairs of parallel cross strips and there was a constant circle of aircraft in different stages of the circuit on both the active runways. One seems to be used for training circuits for a number of the flight training colleges on the airfield and the other services inbound and outbound traffic. We had one guy scoot pass us on the way out and then the Tower called us up to alert us to another guy joining downwind who we needed to follow around in the circuit on 21R. Andrew was concentrating hard now, Nat was taking lots of pictures and I wound down the window and stuck my head out so I could go: 'WHHEEEEEEE!" It really is such an advantage having two pilots. Allows one of them to be a complete idiot.
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| Danger?! |
Our approach on final brought us right past the magnificent Art Deco Tower. It was all happening. 'Expect a late clearance,' the Tower called, and Andrew kept the Hippie on descent. In the end the Diamond Twin in front of us fluffed around so long on the runway that the Tower called a go round. Andrew powered up and levelled out low. I was absolutely screaming: 'you bloody beauty ... Hooorrrahhh!! ... we get to buzz the tower Mav! we get to buzz Parafield F ...ing Tower!' It was just fabulous. Second circuit was good fun too and I got a good look at the Mawson Lakes Campus of UniSA, where funnily enough I had meetings for work in little more than a week. Before you knew it we were round again, and this time we had a CJ6A holding short for us. So Andrew pulled the power off the Hippie and settled us all on the runway. Parafield is sweet!
Well the rest is history. We tied RCN down, called a cab, picked up the bus and drove up into the beautiful Clare Valley. The bus was brand new and we enjoyed the trip through beautiful rolling countryside; especially the huge canola fields. Passed through Auburn where we were staying in a nice little set of cottages in the main street and then Clare itself and on about 14 clicks until we found our happy campers sitting by their aircraft on a lovely little strip plonked right in the middle of a canola field. The whole thing was timed to perfection.
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| Clare Valley ALA |
It was an indifferent day down on the island with broken low cloud tending to overcast in the direction of the mainland and scattered rain squalls moving about in the area. I strapped some of the Walker's bags in JCU before we left. The careful discipline in packing RCN that was a feature of Walker travel when Bill and Helen were on board had been completely thrown out the window. Don't worry Bill. Don't worry Helen. You tried I know. It is not your fault. Anyways we found enough room for Nat in the back and Andrew and I up front and we were ready to let loose the dogs of flight. Well you know what I mean. I hadn't been in the Hippie since ... well before it was a Hippie. Dustin and I flew it to Airlie Beach for a wedding in 2011. It was good to see it all spruced up with a nice new leather interior and I've already mentioned the psychedelic paint.
So we blasted off with our PFDs on and climbed out looking for a way through the weather. We couldn't get much higher than about 2000 feet and we were skirting some squalls when Melbourne Centre called up and advised us of some screwball coming the other way at the same height. Andrew changed course to avoid rubbing our noses in it and after a few minutes and some vectoring by our mate with the radar we saw him scooting along below and about a mile to the south. He was a very naughty boy and ATC asked us for an identification but we couldn't make out his rego from that distance.
Andrew and I decided to have a crack at the coastal route past Adelaide International Airport into Parafield. It wasn't a preferred or recommended route but Andrew heard it was possible and so we decided to ring ATC and put it on them. Our flight plan declared it and we were flying without fear. He can only say no. Not like they can shoot us down or anything. So we turned across the lake and tracked west across the Adelaide Hills over Aldinga and onto the coast. The controller was a great guy and when we rang him up he said no worries mate, cleared coastal 1000 north to Outer Harbor, the western VFR entry point for Parafield. Hoorah... this was going to be fun.
We got a great look at Adelaide International which sits right on the coast. Flew straight past the threshold of the main runway 05. 'Engine fails now Andrew where would you go?' 'Adelaide?' 'Good decision'. But alas the big fan up front kept spinning and we kept flying on our way. When we got to Outer Harbor ATC approved our frequency change and we switched our transponder to 3000. Andrew gave the Parafield crew a ring and they told to us to climb to 1500 to avoid all outbound traffic then come right on in.
Our approach on final brought us right past the magnificent Art Deco Tower. It was all happening. 'Expect a late clearance,' the Tower called, and Andrew kept the Hippie on descent. In the end the Diamond Twin in front of us fluffed around so long on the runway that the Tower called a go round. Andrew powered up and levelled out low. I was absolutely screaming: 'you bloody beauty ... Hooorrrahhh!! ... we get to buzz the tower Mav! we get to buzz Parafield F ...ing Tower!' It was just fabulous. Second circuit was good fun too and I got a good look at the Mawson Lakes Campus of UniSA, where funnily enough I had meetings for work in little more than a week. Before you knew it we were round again, and this time we had a CJ6A holding short for us. So Andrew pulled the power off the Hippie and settled us all on the runway. Parafield is sweet!
Well the rest is history. We tied RCN down, called a cab, picked up the bus and drove up into the beautiful Clare Valley. The bus was brand new and we enjoyed the trip through beautiful rolling countryside; especially the huge canola fields. Passed through Auburn where we were staying in a nice little set of cottages in the main street and then Clare itself and on about 14 clicks until we found our happy campers sitting by their aircraft on a lovely little strip plonked right in the middle of a canola field. The whole thing was timed to perfection.
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