Oops

This morning, I got up at 0430 to go climbing with Tash.  It was another very early start due to my reserve starting at 0800, and after the inevitable coffee, I opened the garage door to reverse out my car ready for Tash’s arrival.

Then, I received a text saying she would be ten minutes late, so I went back into the house, leaving the garage door open.  Ten minutes later, I finished loading the car, hit the door switch to open the garage door, jumped into the car, and started reversing.

Except, apparently when you hit open twice, the garage door actually closes.

And my car always beeps frantically when I reverse in the garage due to C’s shelves being so close at the back.  

And when I suddenly realised, and the beeping went BEEEEEEP, and my slightly befuddled morning brain coordinated with my foot to hit the brakes, it was too late.

My poor house.  Or rather, my poor garage door (bent and bruised) and my poor car (scratched).

When I called D in a tizzy, and he came immediately over, he said he expected it to be FAR worse than it was - although I did explain I wasn’t moving very fast at the time!

The outside

The inside, with D trying to unbend it

Working hard some four hours later

He did a pretty awesome job.  Although the garage door will never be the same again, it is almost completely functional now.  That big steel T bar is the final hurdle as he wasn’t able to fully bend it back, so he has now gone in search of a new one - which apparently we are getting for free!  

I was going to go with him, but H wants me to go view a house with him, so when I get back from that, the garage should close again!  Luckily C is also home and can babysit the wide open door in the meantime...

Oh yes and I still went climbing, as D persuaded me I should

Most of the way up Tibro 

Anyway.  Today has been quite interesting so far...  let’s see how it ends up!

I haven’t mentioned on my blog yet, but C is moving out tomorrow, so that has been quite a shock and is the end of an era.  Shock is probably the wrong word as he has wanted his own house for two years, and has been actively looking for six months - but when he announced his moving, it was still unexpected!  

Tonight, we are having our Very Last Cheese Night As A Family Plus D (hehe) so that will be nice, at least!

Today, I was supposed to go to Caboolture Aerodrome and help do ground runs on a Mustang, and then we were supposed to put the engine back together on the Chipmunk.  I was very excited about this, but unfortunately being on reserve, I got called in and now I am going to Melbourne instead.  I have to say I am more than a little disappointed, which isn’t really fair as it is technically a work day.

I have also decided to start making the pork ramen I have planned for the last couple of months.  I bought the pork bones before Christmas and froze them, in preparation for having time to do it: and with three days off after today, it seems a good time to start the 36hour broth.

I just got off a 3 day trip last night, culminating in a very busy afternoon with widespread storms in the Sydney Canberra area which kept us very busy.  Here is a photo of our weather radar followed by a screenshot of the BOM radar!

We found a nice clear path through

This one was taken on the ground after the previous flight in which I took the photo 

Flying alongside said storms to try to find a gap

An anvil with some nice mammatus cloud beneath 

After today, I have three days off, and the plan was to go climbing first thing tomorrow, but after two long hikes up Mt Ainslie in Canberra (9.5k each) my shoulders and neck are feeling quite tight and sore so I must see how the day progresses before committing!

Other than that, the plans for these days off are a bit different: I have a guy coming on Monday morning to measure up my walk in robe for shelves and drawers etc (or Dad, you could come and do this for me), then I am babysitting Asher (3) and Rory (1) for the rest of the day.  Tuesday, I have my car service, so I’m not sure when I will be able to fit any climbs in!

Anyway, I am going to have breakfast now!

Merry Christmas!

Oh I wish it could be Christmas every day...

No.  No, I do not.

I am so very bloated.  I ate so very much and drank so very much I think once a year is quite enough Thank You Very Much.

But it was awesome.

Lily is a gift

We made gingerbread houses

Of course, once again, Christmas was celebrated on the 23rd because of work.  I ended up being on a 3 day trip from 24-26 Dec, but we had a nice crew BBQ up in Cairns on Christmas Day, and the Captain bought us each a bottle of Moët! 

D wanted an official photo of our first Christmas but this is the closest we got 

Despite working over Christmas, I still managed to decorate the aeroplane...

...Which gave me great pleasure! 

 Now that Christmas is over, I really should stop eating so much.  And start doing some more climbing.  Unfortunately, my roster hasn’t been very friendly towards climbing recently, but tomorrow morning we have an early East Beerwah planned.

In other news, we may make a trip to Ireland & the UK in September/October 2019!  Woo!!!

Six days’ work, followed by two days “off”, and I’m now back on day one of six, reeling slightly and wondering what happened to the last two weeks.

I flew to a lot of places, I overnighted a couple of times, I hung out with my New Favourite Person, I climbed a few mountains but Not So Many because the roster gods + weather frowned on me, I ate a LOT of food (my New Favourite Person can cook really well), and in between all of these activities I gasped for breath and napped occasionally.

A glorious sunrise taking off out of Cairns

My New Favourite Person climbing up Beerwah 

Us at the top of Beerwah before we foolishly decided to go straight on to Tibro

The face of Tibro from the shoulder where we sat awhile

Tonight, I have a Sunshine Coast overnight which is slightly weird because it is so close to home yet not home, but thankfully tomorrow I get almost twenty four hours at home before my next overnight (Cairns) and my NFP is away for a week so my plan is to watch a lot of Netflix and turn myself into a couch potato. 

There hasn’t been any more small aircraft flying yet due to crazy busyness but maybe after Christmas is out of the way I will get another chance!

😘

More flying

D took me flying two days in a row, and it was incredible.  On Saturday, we flew around the Glasshouses and then over to Bribie Island.

Beerwah (L) and Coonowrin

The other side of Beerwah

Coonowrin (front L) with Tibrogargan directly behind it

Algae bloom and blue jellies off the coast of Bribie

There are many more pictures of the flight but these are all I have on my phone.  After flying, D reported to the CFI that the engine was popping a bit, so on Sunday we took out and cleaned all of the spark plugs and as our reward we were allowed to go for a free test flight, so off we went to Bribie again.  This time we took a passenger!

She wasn’t particularly appreciative of the steep turns

At some point I am going to learn to fly the aeroplane better - a Cessna 172RG.  So far I have taken off and done all of the things except for the landing - which it has been interesting to observe the steep profile and low flare height!  Sorry, Terry, they made me into a jet pilot... maybe next time...

We also climbed the Glasshouses again (obviously) which was a lot harder than simply flying around them!  But still exhilarating to get to the top.  

Tomorrow, I have my first recurrent sim, and in true Kate fashion have been procrastinating terribly when it comes to studying.  D has done his best to encourage me but things like baking H a burnt steak cake have got in the way.

Steak cake - we did blood red cake inside to look undercooked

The ensuing hilarity when he cut into its redness 

Now, I am sitting on the aircraft waiting to fly to Townsville and the captain keeps telling me my thumbs are going to fall off from typing so fast, and wants to know if he features on this blog.  Well, now he does.  You’re welcome.

In other news, I have my first recurrent sim tomorrow and that is slightly terrifying... watch this space...

PS did I mention I have a boyfriend?  And he is the best thing ever and it has only been two weeks☺️

Happenings

G’day folks 

My name is Kate, and very occasionally I post blogs of my adventures in Oz.  However, I am a terrible blogger and so these blogs are infrequent and usually rushed.

This month has included flying, hiking, flying, hiking, oh yes, and a new boyfriend.  Let’s not forget that!  So, I should probably add in getting fish and chips with him, wandering around the city, visiting Southbank, introducing him to my mountains, and much much more.

We went on an amazingly beautiful hike to Flinders Peak, which is near Ipswich, and because he is also an amazing photographer, got some rather more spectacular photographs than normal. 

The mountainside was covered with cacti, with their flame red flowers.

Credit must of course go to D for this photographs!

Even Lily got to come on this hike, and she enjoyed bounding up the rocks and only needed help a couple of times.

(I took this one...)

(And I took this one because D hasn’t yet worked out how to take a photograph without it looking like he took it... ha) 

D is a quick learner though. and worked out fast that the way to a girl’s heart is through her dog... and climbing... and flying aeroplanes (hence the Harvard...) and indeed tomorrow we are renting a Cessna to go for a spin.  (My request is to fly around the Glasshouses!)

Lil had to be carried back down the mountain as she was pretty exhausted after such a big hike.  She then slept the two hours home and the rest of the day at home!

Did I mention I have a new boyfriend?  He is lovely, and gentle, and kind, and the nicest person ever, and I do think I rather like him.  

Tomorrow, firstly we are going flying, secondly we are going climbing, thirdly, I am then going to abandon D to go Christmas shopping with Amanda, and fourthly we are doing a household raclette evening (plus D of course). 

Such fun 😍

PS: I have a boyfriend, and he is rather lovely.

Warbird

Wow.  October has gone already, and it went on an incredibly high note.  My new friend, D, works at Caboolture Airfield as the chief engineer, so he has Friends in High Places and so on, and he organised me a flight in a Harvard (SNJ).  I could not have imagined how much fun it would be!

I got to wear a flying suit and a helmet (apparently Insurance requires it anyway) and we flew out over the coast - I got to climb out and do an attempt at a steep turn.  The climb out was fine once I remembered what the rudder was for, but my steep turn was terrible!  I definitely need some practise in flying aeroplanes without instruments...  Then Brett (the pilot) did a much better steep turn, plus a loop and a couple of barrel rolls and did a low pass (500’) over Bribie beach all of which was absolutely incredible, and then we flew back to Caboolture.  He seemed to expect me to need sick bags but I was having a great time!  

D got some great photos of the experience 

To say I want to do it again is an understatement.  I absolutely loved it, and I can’t wait for my next aviating adventure (D has promised to take me up in the Chipmunk as soon as it is fixed) and maybe I will start doing some light aircraft flying... who knows.  It depends how I want to use my savings!

Me, with Brett, the pilot.

Ah it was fantastic.  None of this automation nonsense and glass screens and auto throttle etc etc that we have in the 717, but REAL flying, and ah the bug has hit me again...


Proof that we were upside down

And now I must ferry a 717 from Canberra to Sydney, so at least I do have SOME fun at work😬

Oh, and yesterday we got caught in storms going in to Canberra, and here is the map of what we flew:

Which I cannot identify, for obvious reasons, but first they made us hold at Razzi, and then they decided to change from 35 to 17 due to the wind swinging around with the squall line passing, so they got us to orbit twice at Razzi and then proceed along the star for the Vor 17 approach (re brief #1).  None of which was even remotely likely to work out as the prevailing wind was 330/20 and just because it had momentarily swung around to favour 17, did not mean it was going to stay that way!

Surprise, surprise, half way to the approach we were told the wind had swung back to 330, and we had to then break off to go south for the 35 approach (re brief #2) and then Approach forgot about us and by the time they gave us further descent the glide slope was full deflection below us and we had to discontinue and go all the way around again (re brief #3) ... so that all got very busy!  Especially as with the 717 you can’t just quickly brief the approach you have to program it all into the FMS which takes awhile.

Anyway, like I said, I now have to ferry an aeroplane to Sydney so I should probably go get dressed... the fun continues 😝