Border Village to Jandakot

SA/WA Border Village - Esperance, 18/4/97.

After some well needed rest we were off again the next morning to Caiguna for lunch and some fuel. The AOPA Airfield directory tells you to taxi off the strip and along the road to find the fuel. None of use expected it to be as far as it was. The road we took must have been nearly as long as the strip, we even went through the stop sign. (We didnt see it!) We were greated by a sign saying Caiguna International Airport... they wish!

Afterwards we flew direct to Esperance and some civilisation, we had been in the air for 16 hours over the last 4 days and we were all feeling tired. We caught a taxi into Esperance organised our accomodation and looked forward to a rest. As it turned out most of us stayed out late that night and we all slept in the next morning, delaying our departure another day. While we were at Esperance we took the opertunity to do some clothes washing as well.

Even though two of use were able to fly the plane, the planing, organising accomodation, packing/unpacking the plane, refueling and whatever else took alot out of us. We shared the load wherever possible, with the two in the front Flying/Navigating and the third person in the back resting/taking photo's etc.

If we didnt share the load like this the trip certainly would have to have been a longer one, as more rest would have been required. At this point we also realised the large expense taxi's were going to be on the trip, something we hadnt really accounted for to date.

Esperance - Alabany, 20/4/97.

After a goods night's rest and a big breakfast we finally got to the airport and saw the back of Esperance. The weather was fine and we tracked coastal to Bremer Bay. As we approached Albany we could see the the cloud cover increasing but it looked as though we would be able to go under it safely. The closer we got the worse the cloud looked but it wasnt until it was almost on top of us that we realised we werent going to get through. It was dissapointing as we were 30-40 miles to the east of Albany when we descided to divert to Katanning. Tony turned the aircraft North as Darren hastily made up the plan for the diversion.

A short time later we all realised the weather was just closing in too fast and we turned our attention to looking for somewhere to land. At the same time we found a farm airstrip almost right below us, we done a precautionary search and landed on the strip. We taxi'ed to the northern end, turned the aeroplane into the wind and tied her down. For the next hour we all sat in the aircraft as the rain came down and the wind blew hard. We had made the right descision!

When the rain stopped we went for walk to attempt to find the landonwer, thinking it was the right thing to do under the circumstances. We couldnt find a building anywhere so we abandoned the search and returned to the aircraft. We had a look at and walked down the strip, Tony decided it was not too soft and more than long enough. After a preflight we got into the air again and headed for Albany at a reduced altitude so as to remain under cloud. None of us expected to be experienceing the sort of weather we did and we certainly didnt think it would turn so bad so quick. We all learnt a big lesson that day and as a result we were out late, delaying our departure from Albany another day. The next day we had a look around Albany and enjoyed the rest.