Starting this blog while flying to Darwin - heading for a 2 week Locum in Wadeye. By myself!
Tim is staying home to keep things ticking over at work in Leongatha. (and I'm hoping he has time for some bike rides - we're going on the Great Victorian Bike Ride a week after I get home)
It feels quite strange going to Wadeye alone, and I know I'll miss Tim a lot. There is always the phone, and Skype...
We've just had a great week off. We had a flying holiday! In both senses of the word. We went with our good friends from Warrnambool, Phil & Lynne Carter. What an adventure! We flew with Andy Kube in a Cessna 210. Andy is Tim's cousin, and it was great to spend time together. Andy did such a great job with the plane and the trip.
We flew from Essendon, to Flinders Ranges the first night. Such great views of Wilpena Pound.
The next day we got to Birdsville, and stayed in the iconic Birdsville Hotel. An amazing sunset tour to the edge of the desert. So hot there!
The "waddi" trees are a type of wattle & can live to 1,000 years old.
On the way to Coober Pedy the next day we flew over Lake Ayre, and stopped at William Creek - a very small town, a long way from anywhere, with a hotel! There's a flying business based there, and the senior pilot made us espresso coffees and then told stories about dingo baiting flights.
Coober Pedy was so interesting. 80% of the people live underground! Our hotel was underground too. We had a great tour, just our group and the guide, exploring, visiting underground churches, a museum-home, opal mines. They say there are a million mine holes in Coober Pedy!
Beautiful desert colours at the Breakaways, near Coober Pedy.
Our last night was on Kangaroo Island, at a lovely B&B with its own airstrip. And the use of a car for exploring! We were too late for Granny Stirling's Devonshire tea at Penneshaw, but the Thai takeaway was great. That night we watched ". ". So good to hear of real examples from Northern Ireland, Israel-Palestine, Rwanda. Real people struggling with such tough issues. Perhaps there is hope for the world after all.
Pink lakes on the way to Kangaroo Island
We stayed near American River
Lovely beach - not sure it's the best in the world though
We flew back to Essendon along the Coorong, and the south Coast of Victoria. Great views of
Warrnambool, The Twelve Apostles, Wye River, the Heads, Melbourne!
Taxiing off - our hosts watching the plane leave
Wye River
Such a fabulous trip. It was great to fly low. As I write I'm at 30,000 feet or so. Not easy to see much below! We so enjoyed the desert patterns and the paddock art; pink lakes and the coastline; wind farms and airstrips. Andy's business is A Kube Aviation - check out the website.
So Wadeye is next. I'll be there at 9am tomorrow, which is great, because initially I couldn't get a flight till Tuesday. I was going to have to work in the Darwin office of the Department of Health, supporting Wadeye by phone. Not ideal!
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Have now arrived, eaten, shopped for starting groceries - all ready for tomorrow. During dinner, I saw "Muryil", the pied imperial pigeon - Muryil is the name my Yolgnu sister gave to Tim. So that was special.
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