work progress and weekend plans

The work on the new runway is progressing fast. They put a layer of kind of a gravel and compressed it. It's already pretty hard. I would say hard enough for gliders and GA. There are more layers to come though. They also already marked the positions of runway lights, which will be fitted in electrical "boxes" and mounted even with the ground level.

RWY is already "good enough for who it's for" ;-)

box for runway lights

all boxes in positions along the new RWY

Coming weekend is going to be a busy one ... again. This time we're heading to Bacchus Marsh for Victorian Gliding Coaches meeting. Weather forecast looks pretty good for Saturday and since I finally got my ticket we can go there by air. I've already had enough driving back and forth the same highway. It's about time to see how it looks like from the air. Hopefully there won't be to many people wanting to fly the Jabiru on Saturday and we can steal one for the day.

more post from the RAA

It's here finally. My RAA (Recreational Aviation Australia) Pilot Certificate. And this is how it looks like:

All the endorsements I have from my GA flying also got recognized, which is nice:

• AP - In-Flight Adjustable Propeller
• HF - Human Factors (had to pass an exam on this one)
• HP - High Performance
• NW - Nose Wheel
• PAX - Passenger Carrying
• R - RAA Flight Radio
• RU - Retractable Gear
• TW - Tailwheel
• X - X Country

So I'm all good and legal now. No to bad for a very short training ;-)

Who's up for a ride?

The wedding of the Year!

As I mentioned before we were invited for a wedding. The famous Dimboola Wedding Play. Back in the 60's. The venue couldn't be any better and we really felt like brought back in time.

"wedding permit" & menu

ready to go in my rental outfit

the venue and some of the guests

There were a few things not quite matching the time - ice boxes with BYO drinks, cell phones on the tables. Some of the guests didn't take the 60's dress advice to seriously either. All in all it was all pretty authentic though.

The Venue - Antwerp Hall

ready to walk in

The actors were mixed up with the guests and at the beginning it was hard to figure out who was playing and who was just a guest like us.

Father trying to stand up for a speech

the wedding crowd

Although we thought we didn't know anybody there it turned out that half of the cast and guests were either Ziggy's patients or even coworkers. He truly enjoyed seeing the other side of them.

soap bubbles

I've been to quite a few real weddings and have to admit that they all look more less the same. Similar characters here and there and it doesn't matter if it happens 50 years back or now. The smartest mother in law, groom's father more or less unhappy with his son's choice, an aunt trying to prevent emotions escalation and to keep everything under control and so on. We all have seen it before and I think that's what makes Dimboola Wedding Play so special. It's just sooooo real ...

I hope they will be able to keep the play up for years to come. If so, we'll be there to see it again.

Koala trip

Driving down the roads you can see "koala-warning" signs in various places. Unfortunately it's really hard, if not almost impossible, to spot a koala in the wildness. The big fires that destroyed huge areas just a few years back also got most of the koalas population in the area. Sad but true. I've always been dreaming of hugging a koala. They just look so sweet, innocent and fluffy. Cute as they can be.

There is a place that has two live koalas on display not to far away from Horsham and there we went ...

what a wonder ... they are not asleep

I read somewhere that koalas are asleep up to 20 hours a day. They wake up to feed some eucalyptus leaves and go back to sleep.

time for a snack

"I'm cute!"

There were not to many people visiting the place at that time and we started a chat with the owner. He told us a lot about the koalas, especially these particular ones. They are very active and sleep only 10 hours a day. 

The problem was that they were behind a fence and I wanted to pet them so badly. The owner was pretty smart, figured that out and invited us to go with him behind the fence. I couldn't believe my luck.

unbelievable soft

dreams do come true

There were also some more animals on display. A 35 years old cockatoo named Cocky was one of them. He yelled at us when we walked near by and said: "Hello Cocky". We stopped and started talking to him. He was repeating everything and it was clearly understandable. Then Ziggy started whistling and ... Cocky started dancing and singing. I've never seen something like this before. The best part though was when I laughed out loud and the bloody bird laughed back exactly repeating the sound. Unbelievable!

Hello Cocky

The owners warned us that Cocky will call us back as soon as we'll try to leave him. And so it was: "Come back!" - he said. He went nuts when he saw us back at the parking lot boarding the car. He's not that nice to everyone and also showing the rude finger if he doesn't like somebody. We haven't experienced that though.

We have to go back one day to visit Cocky and the Koalas.