Yet another awesome site within a couple of hours drive from Canberra.
Dave, Nick and myself finally took up Adrian’s offer to fly Mt Wandera, a site that he and his brother have established near Moruya on the south coast. These guys have done a great job on the site clearing a perfectly shaped dirt ramp from the treed ridge
This site is ideally situated for some really fun flights over the Araluen valley and on towards Canberra.
The view from launch. It looks like a fair glide out to the bombout which may seem intimidating to less experienced pilots. This is partly due to the optical illusion that takes place with the treed ridge in the foreground. It is difficult to gauge depth perception on your height relative to the bombout. A similar thing happens to your perception at Tongara.
Worst case scenario, with out any lift you would make it in a Sting or better. Nic, in an older Sting was able to pick a nicer paddock beyond the usual bombout. Nice work dude!
Dave and I managed a nice climb out over launch and possibly over estimated the day a little. How good would it be to make Araluen the first time we fly the site and only a week before the start of Winter?
Too good apparently! After reaching base at around 3300ft we headed off along the ridge to the north, where, if we conected with a climb we would have had the airstrip within glide. Instead, we followed lines of buoyant air out into the Buckenbowra valley to the NE of launch.
The flight ended too soon but it was enough to get a taste for what will be possible from this site.
Even if the retrieve was a little eventful you can’t complain about the scenery.
The retrieve. A picture tells a thousand words.
A big thanks to Adrian and Craig for pioneering this fantastic site. We are really excited about the potential of this place. Thanks again to Craig for picking us up, without you we would have been stuffed.
Can’t wait for spring and the flights we will be having in this area.
