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So I'm back in Sydney, but I've had a few fun days before I got here.
On Sunday I went flying with the Lake Keepit Soaring Club. The previous day the forecast had not been great, but the thermals kicked off about midday and folk had flown nearly 300km in the afternoon. The forecast for Sunday was similarly downbeat, and similarly wrong. I helped out in my clumsy ill-informed way for the first few hours pulling out gliders, checking equipment, ferrying folk up and down the runway in my van, etc. Part of this included dashing around the airfield on a quadbike to help tow gliders from their landing spot back to the start of the runway. (Messing about on a quad is something you would have to pay for at other venues, and I got it for free!)
The theory is that the sun shine heats the ground, with darker areas heating up slightly more than lighter areas. This temperature difference is transferred to the air above the ground and since hot air rises, the darker patches of ground generate rising air. As the air rises it expands and cools and eventually it's water vapour condenses into nice fluffy white cumulus clouds. Glider pilots look for these clouds to indicate where the rising air is. If they can find it, and if the air is rising faster than the glider is falling, then the net effect is for the glider to climb. It also seems so simple - in theory.
Several folk flew before me, but no-one was able to catch any lift so they all came back in to land with flights of 20-30minutes. I few with Gary, the Duty Instructor, taking-off about 1pm with this sun at its highest. There were a few wisps of cumulus cloud, nothing very convincing, but it was our turn to try and find the lift. We had a aerotow up to 4,000ft Above Sea Level (ASL) (the airfield is ~1,000ft ASL) when we released and started searching. I had been told that Gary could thermal a fart (pardon my French), and so he proved. He found the merest hint of some lift after we had fallen to about 3,500ft ASL and started turning. After a couple of minutes of work he had climbed only about 50ft, but he kept at it and eventually got us back to the 4,000ft release hight. And that was the start of a 1.5 hour flight were we kept looking for lift and scratching about. For some reason, the theory had gone out of the window with blue skies giving lift, and the clouds giving sink! Nevertheless, we did eventually get up to 7,000ft ASL. After getting us started Gary gave me plenty of chances to do the flying. I was Very rusty to start with, but gradually got better until I started getting tired and ragged. My main mistake was not using enough rudder; something I but down partly to my start in flying with hang gliders which don't have rudders. I also flew almost all the pattern down to the landing with Gary taking over about 20ft above the landing field. On landing we found out that only one other person had had any luck flying that day, so I think we did get the best of what was available. I want to pass on a big thank you to Gary and all the folks at Lake Keepit Soaring club for a great day. I haven't flown in such a long time, but I think it is something I would like to look in to again after my holiday.
After the flight, I jumped in the van and dashed down to the Hunter Valley, a big wine producing part of Australia. (I had a little difficulty finding a camping site since Dolly Parton was in town, but I eventually found something.) The next day I did a tour around a few of the Vineyard including the Wyndham Estate, Audrey Wilkinson Vineyard, McGuigan Cellars and Piggs Peake Winery. The McGuigan Cellars was particularly good since it has an associated cheese factory and tasting opportunity; this is such an excellent combination like the book store with a coffee shop - natural partners. In the end I bought some mature Cheddar cheese from McGuigan Cellars, but went back to the Audrey Wilkinson Vineyard for a bottle of my favourite Shiraz (Winemakers Selection 2009).
One aspect of this part of my travels was to drive on some of Australia's dirt roads. The main roads around the east coast have a sealed surface (i.e. tarmac), but as you head inland, the roads become rougher and rougher. The van hire rules limit how far I could travel inland to ~190miles. It was quite good fun to bump along for a little while, but it was also much more comfortable to get back on to nice black tarmac.
On my last day of travel before Sydney, I had hoped to get a chance to see the Blue Mountains, but the weather has turned unseasonably wet and with lots of mist and rain and so I can't say that I really did them justice. Oh well, I'll just have to add them back on to the list of things to do next time. (The list is growing - I'll have to do another round-the-world trip to cover them all.)
When I arrived in Sydney, I sold the GPS that I'd had bought. In all, it cost me just ~£22, a lot less that the cost of hiring the GPS in New Zealand (~£43). I think that this is something I might want to consider again if I do some more road travelling. Also, the prepaid SIM card that I bought for ~£20 has allowed me calls and data (with a bit of care) for all my time in Australia. This is much less than the prices I have paid for hotel broadband elsewhere (except for the US where it is generally included in the price of the room). Nevertheless, my time in New Zealand and Australia has certainly been the most expensive so far, over running my budget by about 70%. However, I've had a great time and it seems a false economy to travel all this way and not take advantage of the opportunities in order to save some money.
Australia seems to be where all the important folk want to be, having recently been visited by Queen Elizabeth, President Obama and the Crown Prince Frederick and Princess Mary (an Ausie by birth), oh and me. Everyone wants to be friends of Australia, particular during the mining boom that is going on here and the strategic shift in world power towards China. It is certainly an interesting time to visit with all the developments that are going on. It is also a place that it very easy for Westerners to get around in. The cities are like American cities with wide roads and lots of shopping opportunities that you would recognise. One distinction in Australia is that the cities are separated by so much distance and apparently empty space. I have wondered whether I made a bad choice to try and drive down the east coast since the features are so wide apart. However, driving did give me a chance to see much more of the local towns and an appreciation of the distances involved - things you never get from an aircraft. I just don't know how I could have done so much stuff if I hadn't been able to drive.
Like other places I've visited on this trip, there seems to be far more space here than in the UK. I wondered if it was just my imagination, so compiled some statistics:
- UK has 62,262,000 people spread over 92,800 square mile = 671 heads per square mile;
- England has 51,446,000 people spread over 50,346 square mile = 1,022 heads per square mile;
- India has 1,210,193,422 people spread over 1,147,882 square mile = 1,054 heads per square mile;
- Philippines has 94,013,200 people spread over 115,124 square mile = 817 heads per square mile;
- Thailand has 66,720,153 people spread over 197,323 square mile = 338 heads per square mile;
- USA has 312,467,000 people spread over 3,537,620 square mile = 88 heads per square mile;
- California has 37,253,956 people spread over 156,002 square mile = 239 heads per square mile;
- Fiji has 849,000 people spread over 7,056 square mile = 120 heads per square mile;
- New Zealand has 4,027,947 people spread over 101,827 square mile = 40 heads per square mile;
- Australia has 19,855,288 people spread over 2,941,299 square mile = 7 heads per square mile;
- Queensland has 4,516,361 people spread over 668,207 square mile = 7 heads per square mile;
- New South Wales has 7,238,819 people spread over 312,528 square mile = 23 heads per square mile;
- Victoria has 5,547,527 people spread over 87,806 square mile = 63 heads per square mile;
There are many ways to cut these numbers, and there are "lies, damn lies and statistics", but I think this illustrates how densely we live in England compared to some of the other places I've visited.
This time tomorrow I will be well on my way to the Philippines, and now I am going through my usual inter-country "check-list" to get prepared. This includes:
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Cleaning my Laundry - I could leave this, but it is nice to have everything clean as I move from one country to the next. (It is also nicer for anyone who has to inspect my baggage.)
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Cleaning my Boots - some countries are very nervous about the spread of dirt and the risk of diseases/pests;
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Repacking my Bag - making sure I've got everything and that it is all in reasonable condition;
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Checking the Paperwork for the next country - for example, confirming any airport pick-up;
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Checking on the Finances - being self funded makes you aware of how much money you have and can afford to spend;
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Arrange Travel to the Airport in time for the flight out;
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Updating the blog.
Not thrilling stuff, but worth a little time to get right before moving on. If the weather gets better I hope to do the Sydney Harbour Bridge walk (across the top!) later today. In the meantime, I can start reading the Rough Guide to the Philippines.
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