Hervey Bay Photos in a few hours.
26th August - 2nd September
After surveying a few camp-sites in Hervey Bay we found a really nice one. This was the first time we’d put up the tent I’d bought in England at Christmas. It was ok but not really big enough for us and all the bike jackets & helmets/boots etc.
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'Skippy' gets labelled !
We got a reasonable nights sleep and had arranged to go whale watching in the afternoon. I wasn’t sure how this would work, and at $AU99 each it needed to be good. It was in fact ! We had two Whales playing around our boat for 1.5 hrs, we never got the breach I’d been hoping to capture since we started our trip in Alaska but I did get some nice shots. One of the slightly odd but amusing things the crew got us doing was to make a lot of noise and wave as apparently it kept the whales interested. I had to laugh but it did seem to work. I reckon the whales actually stayed looking at us just to have a good laugh at us !!
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A few shots that speak for themselves !
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A few more shots that also speak for themselves !!!
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Back to the main attraction !!
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After these two finally left us another whale was spotted frolicking a km ahead of us-It was really funny as it kept throwing itself around and splashing its tail almost quicker than you would believe possible. Our guide on the boat wasn’t completely sure why it was doing it but thought it might be trying to attract attention from any other whales in the neighbourhood. It amused us but didn’t seem to attract any further attention.
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Is there anybody out there ?? Our 'dancing' whale.
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Seen from the boat on the return trip to the harbour.
When we left Brisbane it had been raining which was ‘fortunate’ as we had no where left to put the wet suits on the bike anyway ! Now we were further North we were expecting a lot more and consistent amount of sunshine and needed to find somewhere to store the suits and a few other bits without making the bike look like a travelling zoo.
I’d decided that the best way we could carry any more luggage was with Ortlieb-type compression sacks strapped onto the top of the pannier lids. We spent the best part of a whole day looking for the type of tie-on point that you can see on the top of Touratech’s panniers and found too-many too-small or too-large or just plain ugly stainless steel fittings for boats. Eventually I found the perfect size and design of fitting albeit in plastic. I had a good look and the plastic looked like it would be sturdy enough so I bought 8 and fitted them to the panniers. Offering the drill to the pannier lid for the first time was awful-I felt more like a surgeon making their first incision on a child!! When buying the screws I realised they were too long by about 10mm so I bought 8 dust caps used for lorry tyres and sealed them on with a water-resistant sealant. I finished the job off by sticking silver tape of a similar colour to the pannier lids to protect them from getting scuffed. When we got the compression sacks we only put items in there we didn’t expect to use much so they could basically just sit there. I lashed them on canoe-deck style with some elastic cord. They looked quite good when I’d finished.
The camp site had been very welcoming from the start and attracted more than its fair share of Grey-Nomads(a term used for the retired who consistently travel around Australia to keep in a warm climate through the varying seasons around the Australian States). This attraction was mainly from the combination of an excellent camp-site and a very local bowling green !! We enjoyed our time here chatting to both the Nomads and other travellers alike, including 2 German guys, Florien and Johannes who were on a working visa.
I’d had a few conversations with Peter, the campsite owner about a few things and on one occasion we got to talking about flying which is one of his hobbies. I happened to mention that I intended to take a trial flying lesson at some point on my trip as it was something I’d wanted to try for years and he recommended a local company.
I booked the trial flight which allowed me to bring Sylvia along on the auspicies that it was a pleasure flight as we were going to fly to the edge of Fraser island. I was a little nervous when I got up as I hadn’t slept very well and I really wanted to be on form today. We rode out to the airport and met Alistair my training pilot. He was very relaxed and explained the aerodynamics and the effect of the airplanes controls on the aircrafts handling. I remembered some of the theory from my engineering degree which was quite nice and comforting.
We walked out to the plane and he explained again what forces were acting where and gave me a run-down of the controls and how to use them.
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Even before the end of the flight briefing Alistair had had enough !!!
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Yes, there's room for me and my stomach in a Cessna !
We taxied to the runway, started to build up a bit of speed and before we could even think about anything else we were gently being lifted off the ground. Pretty well as soon as we were in the air I was given the controls and flew the plane for the duration of the flight with the exception of the last 15-20 secs at landing where I ‘ghosted’ the pilot by feeling through my controls what he was doing. Before the lesson I’d thought a little about my main concerns and the main one was handling the plane when blown by ‘stray’ winds so I was pleased to get blown a little, enough to see/feel how to control/compensate for the changes incurred and not enough to frighten me off.
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Alistair explaining a few more details at the end of taxiing to the runway and just before take-off
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Up, up and away !!!
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Are you sure you know what you're doing ?? ... letting me fly this !!
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Airbourne.
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Fraser Island
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A nice opportunity to turn the plane....
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...sadly back to the mainland.
As we were returning back to the landing strip I was surprised to find myself still in control of the plane as we lined up for the landing, lower and lower and closer and closer we got and I was still in control-there must be some mistake, knowing there wasn’t-pilots like Alistair don’t make these sorts of mistakes. Soon we were very close to landing and Alistair altered the throttle setting and the flaps whilst I basically held us in a straight line until the last 100ft or so where he effectively took over. The flight was over so quickly and we were back on the ground. A good experience leaving me with the thought do I wish to progress this interest further….particularly as I currently don’t have an income !! Hmm, I’ll think about that for another day.
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Coming back into line for the runway.
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Touch-down !!
We'd initially only intended to stay at Hervey Bay for a few days, enough to get the 'additional' luggage secured and to hopefully see some whales. Each day we were asked when we were leaving and for a few days it was always tomorrow. With the flight done we'd now been there for a week and didn't really want to move on, however we committed to leaving the following morning and stood defiant against the doubtful sniggles we could hear from the long termers !!
Mike
26th August - 2nd September
After surveying a few camp-sites in Hervey Bay we found a really nice one. This was the first time we’d put up the tent I’d bought in England at Christmas. It was ok but not really big enough for us and all the bike jackets & helmets/boots etc.
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'Skippy' gets labelled !
We got a reasonable nights sleep and had arranged to go whale watching in the afternoon. I wasn’t sure how this would work, and at $AU99 each it needed to be good. It was in fact ! We had two Whales playing around our boat for 1.5 hrs, we never got the breach I’d been hoping to capture since we started our trip in Alaska but I did get some nice shots. One of the slightly odd but amusing things the crew got us doing was to make a lot of noise and wave as apparently it kept the whales interested. I had to laugh but it did seem to work. I reckon the whales actually stayed looking at us just to have a good laugh at us !!
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A few shots that speak for themselves !
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A few more shots that also speak for themselves !!!
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Back to the main attraction !!
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After these two finally left us another whale was spotted frolicking a km ahead of us-It was really funny as it kept throwing itself around and splashing its tail almost quicker than you would believe possible. Our guide on the boat wasn’t completely sure why it was doing it but thought it might be trying to attract attention from any other whales in the neighbourhood. It amused us but didn’t seem to attract any further attention.
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Is there anybody out there ?? Our 'dancing' whale.
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Seen from the boat on the return trip to the harbour.
When we left Brisbane it had been raining which was ‘fortunate’ as we had no where left to put the wet suits on the bike anyway ! Now we were further North we were expecting a lot more and consistent amount of sunshine and needed to find somewhere to store the suits and a few other bits without making the bike look like a travelling zoo.
I’d decided that the best way we could carry any more luggage was with Ortlieb-type compression sacks strapped onto the top of the pannier lids. We spent the best part of a whole day looking for the type of tie-on point that you can see on the top of Touratech’s panniers and found too-many too-small or too-large or just plain ugly stainless steel fittings for boats. Eventually I found the perfect size and design of fitting albeit in plastic. I had a good look and the plastic looked like it would be sturdy enough so I bought 8 and fitted them to the panniers. Offering the drill to the pannier lid for the first time was awful-I felt more like a surgeon making their first incision on a child!! When buying the screws I realised they were too long by about 10mm so I bought 8 dust caps used for lorry tyres and sealed them on with a water-resistant sealant. I finished the job off by sticking silver tape of a similar colour to the pannier lids to protect them from getting scuffed. When we got the compression sacks we only put items in there we didn’t expect to use much so they could basically just sit there. I lashed them on canoe-deck style with some elastic cord. They looked quite good when I’d finished.
The camp site had been very welcoming from the start and attracted more than its fair share of Grey-Nomads(a term used for the retired who consistently travel around Australia to keep in a warm climate through the varying seasons around the Australian States). This attraction was mainly from the combination of an excellent camp-site and a very local bowling green !! We enjoyed our time here chatting to both the Nomads and other travellers alike, including 2 German guys, Florien and Johannes who were on a working visa.
I’d had a few conversations with Peter, the campsite owner about a few things and on one occasion we got to talking about flying which is one of his hobbies. I happened to mention that I intended to take a trial flying lesson at some point on my trip as it was something I’d wanted to try for years and he recommended a local company.
I booked the trial flight which allowed me to bring Sylvia along on the auspicies that it was a pleasure flight as we were going to fly to the edge of Fraser island. I was a little nervous when I got up as I hadn’t slept very well and I really wanted to be on form today. We rode out to the airport and met Alistair my training pilot. He was very relaxed and explained the aerodynamics and the effect of the airplanes controls on the aircrafts handling. I remembered some of the theory from my engineering degree which was quite nice and comforting.
We walked out to the plane and he explained again what forces were acting where and gave me a run-down of the controls and how to use them.
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Even before the end of the flight briefing Alistair had had enough !!!
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Yes, there's room for me and my stomach in a Cessna !
We taxied to the runway, started to build up a bit of speed and before we could even think about anything else we were gently being lifted off the ground. Pretty well as soon as we were in the air I was given the controls and flew the plane for the duration of the flight with the exception of the last 15-20 secs at landing where I ‘ghosted’ the pilot by feeling through my controls what he was doing. Before the lesson I’d thought a little about my main concerns and the main one was handling the plane when blown by ‘stray’ winds so I was pleased to get blown a little, enough to see/feel how to control/compensate for the changes incurred and not enough to frighten me off.
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Alistair explaining a few more details at the end of taxiing to the runway and just before take-off
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Up, up and away !!!
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Are you sure you know what you're doing ?? ... letting me fly this !!
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Airbourne.
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Fraser Island
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A nice opportunity to turn the plane....
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...sadly back to the mainland.
As we were returning back to the landing strip I was surprised to find myself still in control of the plane as we lined up for the landing, lower and lower and closer and closer we got and I was still in control-there must be some mistake, knowing there wasn’t-pilots like Alistair don’t make these sorts of mistakes. Soon we were very close to landing and Alistair altered the throttle setting and the flaps whilst I basically held us in a straight line until the last 100ft or so where he effectively took over. The flight was over so quickly and we were back on the ground. A good experience leaving me with the thought do I wish to progress this interest further….particularly as I currently don’t have an income !! Hmm, I’ll think about that for another day.
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Coming back into line for the runway.
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Touch-down !!
We'd initially only intended to stay at Hervey Bay for a few days, enough to get the 'additional' luggage secured and to hopefully see some whales. Each day we were asked when we were leaving and for a few days it was always tomorrow. With the flight done we'd now been there for a week and didn't really want to move on, however we committed to leaving the following morning and stood defiant against the doubtful sniggles we could hear from the long termers !!
Mike
