Newcastle Hang Gliding Club

OK, so I couldn't make the comp round on the Saturday because of a 50th birthday party so I figured I'd ring around that evening and see who was interested in flying Sunday. Read more . . .

link.

Ebbs was optimistic and Vic was, as always, full of vim and vigour.

By Sunday morning I was far from that. In fact I was a little seedy and was thinking up excuses not to go. I rang Ebbs hoping he would say the weather was not looking good but he didn't. Vic was sitting on the fence until I told him Ebbs had given the thumbs up so I had no option but to head out to Freeos. Camo, Harry, Glenn and his lovely driver, Sonia, joined us.

While the usual dithering about vehicles was taking place I headed towards a distant tree to make room for more hydration and stopped, mid stride, with my right foot above the head of a very long red belly black snake. Suddenly I didn't need to go and my seediness was replaced with fear. After a split second of balancing on my left foot, enough to look into the snake's eyes, I launched myself backwards in the air, doing a 180 degree turn at the same time, and ran back to my mates.

What kind of omen was this?

We headed for Brokenback and the beautiful Hunter Valley did not fail to deliver it's characteristic view of a dense inversion with not a cloud to be seen. No one rushed to setup.

Camo was keen to team fly and was first off the hill. Vic was right behind him and together they started to circle up, the mentor and the mentored.

Glenn waited for a cycle and got one. It took a few passes but I found the house thermal over the wires and started circling up over the towers trying to catch the rest of the team who were heading over the back. Soon Ebbs and Harry were also going over the back and, somehow, I found myself being the last to go. Hey, wait up guys!

Glenn got another thermal near the SE launch and continued on toward Ellalong behind Camo and Vic who were already there. Ebbs and I found nothing at the SE launch or Mt View, with all it's nice big rocks. Ebbs called that he was going to put his REV down at Lindamen's and I watched his final approach and nice landing. I was about to follow him in, I unzipped and let off the rope, but found some light bubbles just upwind of the rebuilt Drayton's winery. This slowly firmed up and started being fed from the gully that rises up to meet Oakey Creek road where it corners the paddock.

It was a very slow climb out, Enough time for Ebbs to pack up and retrieve Vic's car but eventually I was taking the long and more scenic way to Ellalong, flying SE through a hilltop valley to Millfield. Conditions started to improve. The thermals became more regular. This allowed me to punch through the inversion a little higher each time and my flight went from; "Where do I land?" to "Where do I go"?. Having had a nice visit at Milfield I headed to Paxton and enjoyed the view into the surrounding valleys that my elevation afforded me.

Meanwhile Harry landed at Bellbird bollo. Little did I know that during the drive out that morning I had jinxed Harry by pointing out to Vic the fact that you could land at this place.

As I was pulling the bar in to overfly Ellalong and join the others at Hunter I heard Vic say; "Have a beer on me guys, I'm going to edge round this hill and land at Carmel's". The little Grasshopper had listened well to the wise Po but only enough to achieve the maximum distance. He is yet to learn that to truly succeed in the art of flying he must also drink from the amber fountain. For it is at the amber fountain that he can best absorb the teachings of "No shit, there I was".

Shortly afterwards I was at my highest, 5000ft, and soaking up the "Serenity", determined not to succumb to the dreaded "Pub Suck" which I could see had become the fate of Glenn and Camo as they were straight lining below me in the opposite direction.

Looking around it was still very inverted, although there were some small CUs over the Barrington Tops now. I pushed on with the ridiculous thought of joining Vic in the sobriety of Carmels but luckily the sea breeze was making itself evident in the twitching of the air and I was FORCED to turn around. What was I thinking?

This meant that I had very little chance of resisting the vacuum that was now forming around the second best landing field in the world, the Ellalong Pub. Home of the Amber Fountain.