11 - 12 - 13 JUNE 2005

8 AIRCRAFT PARTICIPATED - CLUB ATTENDEES WERE:

GREG AND ANNE GOULDING - VH-SYD

VIC AND DIANNE LAYBUTT - VH-RPO

BOB SPROULE & ROSLYN

GREG ACKMANN, ANNETTE & BEAU - VH-IFT

NASH PILLING - 3487

DAVE THOMAS

DOUG & JACKIE MONTAGUE - VH-DCM

DAVE RITTIE - 3888

PETER & JUNE HODGENS - VH-PWH

KEVIN HAYDEN

ROBERT GREIG & KIM GATHERER - 4133

LINDSAY & MAREE SINCLAIR - VH-XSU

For the club members who did not attend - sorry, you missed out on yet another terrific weekend away.

Great to see some new members join in and come along.

Saturday morning - a bit foggy to start, with rain being promised for later on in the day but we all got away at staggered times. Most of our aircraft I believe, flew up the light aircraft lane and then followed the coast from Brooklyn Bridge all the way up to Port Macquarie. Some stopped along the way at Old Bar for morning tea. Everyone was keeping a eye out for whales but with little success. We saw a few spouts of water way out to sea but nothing close to shore. A pretty smooth flight - various knots of headwind were experienced. Took Lindsay and me about 2 hours to get there.

Arrival at Port Macquarie - clouds were looming, luckily the rain held off. All our group pretty much arrived within about a hour of the first and last aircraft. Greg Ackmann was tail end charlie, arriving later in the afternoon due to prior morning commitments but he got there and that was the main thing. Good one Greg.

Our club members were given the opportunity to have a jet flight in a Strikemaster at very reasonable rates by Rod Hall. Three of our party were brave enough to try it out. So Dave Rittie, Robert Greig and Bob Sproule were given a taste of what speed it all about. Hey Dave R - would you say there is just a few knots difference in speed between a Jabiru and a Strikemaster?. All three had a great time and the rest of us that stayed on terra-firma certainly enjoyed the little airshow display that was put on for us.

During mid afternoon to late afternoon our group made their way into town and checked into our Motel. Talk about location, location, location. The motel was right in the middle of town, on the water, with great views of the boats going by. Afternoon was free to do as one pleased.

Rod Hall invited us all for a sunset cruise on his party barge. So priority during the afternoon was to get prepared with some nibbles and drinks. Thanks go to June and Peter for picking up the nibbles. Everyone managed to get their own liquid refreshments and then it was off to the Marina to find Rods boat. Found what we thought was his boat, no one was at home so we climbed on board and seriously got down to enjoying ourselves. Rod and Bronwyn eventually tore themselves away from the jets and joined us. Luckily for us, we had settled on the right boat. Imagine some poor owner coming down to his boat and finding a hoard of 20 odd people having a party on his boat. !!

Well jet jockey soon became boat captain along with some dozen pilots all trying to fly the boat. We manoeuvred out of the Marina and started cruising the waterways. The sun was set and the city lights were sparkling. A very pleasant evening cruise followed.

Well they say all great plans are meant to be changed. Our plan for tonight was to have a meal at Panthers Club, but that sort of fell overboard. It was getting on a bit and by the time we did our cruise and returned to the Marina and wandered over to Panthers it would be getting a bit late. So decision time. Our captain made a stop at the dock, some 20 odd people clambered off in search of some take away food and obtain a top up of liquid refreshments. All were successful in their hunt and made it back to the boat where we tucked into a variety of fish & chips & seafood, pizza and whatever else people got.

Then it was back on the high seas and a further cruise up and around some of the waterways of Port Macquarie. Everyone having a chatting time and a relaxing time. On the return, we dropped some of the group off at the dock and the rest of us went back with the boat to the Marina, helped tidy up - well June did the majority of cleaning up - thank you once again for your help June. From there we thanked and bid goodnight to Rod & Bronwyn for their hospitality and then we slowly walked back to town. A very mild and pleasant evening. The night was finished off with dessert and coffee at the Hogs Breath Cafe next to our motel.

Sunday - down to the docks by 9.30 a.m. - our cruise boat was departing at 10 a.m. to take us up the Hastings river, past some very lovely houses on the riverbanks, the oyster leases and farms, beautiful old trees bordering the banks, where we saw quite a bit of birdlife. On up to Wauchope where we had a mini bus awaiting to drive us over to Timbertown. Morning Devonshire tea was put on for us then we have a couple of hours to roam around Timbertown. A ride on the old steam train gave us an overall view of the place.

Timbertown was very interesting - plenty of old worlde shops to look through, old machinery and the log sawing mill. While we were there they had the chain saw cutting comps - can they whip those chain saws through the logs. Came across some new style bush toilets. Not sure if it will catch on at Wedderburn. See the photo below. Tried to get three people to demonstrate the cosiness of them but no takers came forth.

Back to the bus and off into Wauchope for lunch at the RSL. Then a short stroll back to our cruise boat and a lovely trip back to Port via the residential canals to get a look at how the other half live. Very nice and very expensive too.

Our cruise got back at about 3 p.m. - a general chat to try and plan what everyone wanted to do tonight for dinner. General decision was all meet down at the pool and BBQ area of the motel at about 4.30 p.m. for happy hour and nibbles and final decisions would be made then.

Happy hour and a few drinks later and hunger pains abated by the nibbles no decision was made. So more time was needed to think about this.

Greg Ackmann came forth and advised us of a great buffet on at the Bowling Club, so that decided it, the majority of us trekked to the Bowling Club - well it was just up the road, round the bend and take the street on the right. Easy. Some of our group stayed in town and ate. By the time we trekked to the Club we had certainly worked up an appetite. Buffet and all you could eat. So I for one, admit, I pigged out on the prawns, b..b..but, I wasn’t the only one that went back for seconds and thirds. It was certainly good tucker. It was maxi taxi back to the motel after that.

Monday - dawned foggy. Locals reckon it was the best fog they have seen in years. A real pea souper. So no early getaways for anyone. Started lifting by about 9.30 a.m. so everyone started making their way to the airfield. By the time we readied our aircraft, fuelled and chatted, swapped plans for the return flight, it had cleared and we headed out into the wild blue yonder. The lighter aircraft of Dave R, Nash, Robert, Doug, and Vic planned to stop off at Old Bar for coffee. We did an airfield inspection on the way past but decided to continue on. The inland route to Maitland was not feasible as fog was still lurking around the valleys - so it was coastal. And what a surprise, we got to see 4 whales frolicking just off the Stockton beach at Williamtown. So that made our day. Tail wind got us back to Wedderburn in good time around lunchtime with the others that stopped off at Old Bar getting back mid afternoon.

Thanks go to Greg & Anne for taking along in their aircraft Bob and Roslyn - great that we are getting some new members to join in the fun. Also thanks to Vic & Dianne for giving Dave Thomas a lift, word has it his aircraft will soon be back in the air.

And once again thanks to all who attended. We really appreciate the regular members who come along on these trips and support us.

Photos - need some evidence from our attendees. Send them through to Jay and if you can advise him what they are and "to add them to the Events Results for Port Macquarie" so he knows where to place them on the website, it would be appreciated.

Till next time - happy flying.

Maree & Lindsay