The Great Jabiru Expedition - Day 5

It's the big day. Time to head for home. Up very early because of uncertainty about the weather on track. But just like the air force its hurry up and wait. Firstly we got to the factory before anyone else so we had to wait around for the staff to arrive. Then a wait for some minor work to be done on the door lock on the passenger side of the plane. Then of course there was the call from the motel to let Mike Hogan know he'd left some things behind in the room. So a quick trip back to the motel and back to the factory. Jamie from Jabiru obtained the area forecasts and everyone sat down to plan the trip from Bundaberg to Narromine. Time was starting to drag an early departure time was looking doubtful.

Eventually PW and Mike Hogan were able to get the J230 out of the hangar and taxied around to the fuel bowser to fill up. Mean while Alan and Mike Sudholz prepared the little Jabs and taxied around to refuel. So with the mornings delays the party was not able to get underway to our first stop at Dalby till almost 11.00am. After a flight of around an hour and a half the three aircraft arrived within minutes of each other at Dalby to refuel. PW and Mike were the last to leave after Mike counted to a hundred and shouted “coming ready or not”. Well he may have actually said it in his head. The stop for refelling at Dalby also involved the pilots refelling themselves with cold toasted sandwiches from the Bundaberg Airport terminal.

The second leg of the trip was from Dalby to Moree took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The three aircraft again arrived within minutes of each other. This was a quick refelling stop as rain showers were approaching. By the time PW and Mike who were the last to leave the showers were moving across the track to Narromine. Only a few minutes out of Moree all three aircraft were out into the sunshine and on track to Narromine. After a flight of about two hours the three aircraft arrived at Narromine just on last light. The aircraft were tired down and Geoff from the Motel drove down to pick us up. Then after settling in at the motel it was off to the combined services club for a meal and a few drinks. Then back to motel to plan the next days flying to Griffith, Swan Hill and finally home to Horsham.