This is the aircraft I'll be using this time.
All my own design and construction.
Enormously strong pilot protection, rugged off-field landing gear, 503 Rotax.
Wing skins from a Drifter on my strut-braced frames, tail from a deceased Spectrum Beaver.
Performs well and flies great. Remains stable and in trim, hands-off.
Great visibility.
Really does feel like a 'High Clearance Trail Bike',
so that's what I call it..
This time travelling with a comfortable bed and facilities....
Loading up to hit the road, May 2018.
First day wanted to stop at Glen Innes to fly around the new wind farms there.
Got there just in time to unload and set up and fly before sundown,
but the gate to the airfield locked and no phone number to call.....
Too far from town and too late to expect to get someone out to unlock today, so kept going....
2000km one way Kilcoy to Pt Augusta.
Three long days on that very boring road through central/western NSW.
Bush alongside much of the road so can't see much scenery,
which is very bleak right now anyhow due to severe drought....
Just watch those white lines and the oncoming big truck bullbars and the roadkill.
So much roadkill, sometimes can see three fresh carcasses at once.
A large population of roos but no food, so they're on the move searching for some.
Roos have no sense at all of traffic, and will watch a vehicle coming at speed
then last instant decide to cross the road and leap out in front.....
Thousands of crows enjoying the fresh meat smorgasbord.....
No dead crows, they all get out of the way just in time.....
On to Pererborough, SA.
No hangars at all at the airfield, but gate locked.....
Late Saturday afternoon so not much chance of stirring up someone with the key....
Rang ahead to Jamestown airfield, and assured there will be someone there tomorrow morning.
First day wanted to stop at Glen Innes to fly around the new wind farms there.
Got there just in time to unload and set up and fly before sundown,
but the gate to the airfield locked and no phone number to call.....
Too far from town and too late to expect to get someone out to unlock today, so kept going....
2000km one way Kilcoy to Pt Augusta.
Three long days on that very boring road through central/western NSW.
Bush alongside much of the road so can't see much scenery,
which is very bleak right now anyhow due to severe drought....
Just watch those white lines and the oncoming big truck bullbars and the roadkill.
So much roadkill, sometimes can see three fresh carcasses at once.
A large population of roos but no food, so they're on the move searching for some.
Roos have no sense at all of traffic, and will watch a vehicle coming at speed
then last instant decide to cross the road and leap out in front.....
Thousands of crows enjoying the fresh meat smorgasbord.....
No dead crows, they all get out of the way just in time.....
On to Pererborough, SA.
No hangars at all at the airfield, but gate locked.....
Late Saturday afternoon so not much chance of stirring up someone with the key....
Rang ahead to Jamestown airfield, and assured there will be someone there tomorrow morning.
Flying from Jamestown, SA.
The white building is the fabled Tesla battery.
Wind turbines all round supply the power to charge it.
- - Followup Dec 2018 - -
In the first full year of operation the battery has returned revenue of $24 million,
on an investment of $91 million, so that's more than 20% after costs!
Details in this article.
That's a remarkable return on investment!
Sad that it's a French company rather than Australian, so another missed opportunity....
- - Followup Dec 2018 - -
In the first full year of operation the battery has returned revenue of $24 million,
on an investment of $91 million, so that's more than 20% after costs!
Details in this article.
That's a remarkable return on investment!
Sad that it's a French company rather than Australian, so another missed opportunity....
Driving along the highway to Pt Augusta,
suddenly this glowing tower appears above the flat scrub country.
It's like nothing you've seen before......
This is what it's all about! Looks like science fiction.....
It's the Sundrop Farms complex.
And it really is complex.
The area to the left is a field of mirrors, focused to direct sunlight toward the top of the tower.
Seawater from the nearby Spencer Gulf is turned into high pressure steam,
which is then used to drive a power turbine, then heat the greenhouse, then is distilled to provide
fresh water to feed the crops being grown in the 20ha. hydroponic greenhouse in the background.
In this greenhouse they produce 15,000 tonnes of tomatoes every year, all year long, even in winter.
Now that's truly impressive!
Using sunlight and seawater, which we have plenty of.
In that first photo you can see the chimney of the abandoned coal-fired power station.
Sundrop doesn't need such power, they make their own.
Just visible in the scrub in the foreground in that photo is the pipeline carrying water
all the way from the Murray River to Pt Augusta and Whyalla.
Sundrop doesn't need any of that precious water, they make their own.
I've tasted those greenhouse gourmet truss tomatoes that have been grown there,
and they are excellent, almost as good as home-grown.
Far better than the tasteless red 'rocks' that we've been used to.....
High concentration solar energy has big possibilities.
There are also plans for a concentrated solar thermal power plant just north of Port Augusta.
And lots more very impressive plans elsewhere in South Australia.
The industrialist Sanjeev Gupta has bought the disused Whyalla steel works
and intends to power it with renewable energy,
solar and pumped hydro using the old mine pits in the Whaleback Range.
(I now wish that I'd made time to fly over that old mine site.)
He intends to produce twice as much power as he needs,
and make the excess available to encourage other industries to Whyalla.
There are also big plans afoot to build a couple of solar/wind-powered hydrogen plants.
There's an unmentioned advantage of SA's presently high power prices.
It's encouraging many potential producers to get into the market,
thus the possibility of over-supply in the future and strong competition to drive prices lower,
along with the rapidly lowering cost of renewable and storage sources.
I reckon that South Australia is setting itself up really well,
for a bright future of abundant low cost power.
I'm looking forward to return in a couple of years and view the progress.
Finally out in the 'desert' at last.....
Away we go!
In the environment that this 'High Clearance Trail Bike' suits the best.
Now based at Hitaba Station.
This formerly over-grazed sheep property is now owned by the Nature Foundation SA
and they are working to regenerate it.
On that weekend there was a group of Aboriginal kids visiting
as part of a 'Kids on Country' Program.
They enjoyed watching the aircraft demo and each wanted one .....
Here they're studying an ancient traditional water hole.
On that weekend there was a group of Aboriginal kids visiting
as part of a 'Kids on Country' Program.
I went there to get a look at nearby Lake Acraman.
It's the scar caused by a giant meteorite collision about 590 million years ago.
Very much eroded down now but was about 40km wide.
Debris from the impact has been found 300km away in the Flinder Ranges.
This is a satellite view.
Unfortunately it was low overcast, and this is the best it got......
So I couldn't get high enough to really show the features,
but at least I got a look, after wanting to come here for many years.
Now moved way north to the Oodnadatta Track west of Marree.
That's the old abandoned Ghan Railway line thro the center of the picture,
and the quarters for a track maintenance crew.
Imagine living and working way out out here,
very hot in summer and miserably cold in winter.....
That Oodnadatta highway in the background was just a cattle droving track in those days.
There's three separate units in there.
Some very skilled stonework.
Camped here and flew off the entry track.
Now graffiti on all the walls......
Flew to 'Marree Man'
I'd heard that it had been restored with a grader and I wanted to land on it.
But it's all furrowed like this, so not a good landing site.....
With this little aircraft I could have landed on the terrain alongside,
but then I had the feeling that it would be sacrilege so didn't.....
Instead, flew over to this nearby mesa,
where I had landed the little Eager Beaver in 1998 and camped the night there.
Just a month before the Marree Man appeared.
This time just did a touch-and-go for old times sake......
This unusual sculpture is part of the Mutonia Collection beside the Oodnadatta Track.
Then moved to Witchelina Station, south of Marree.
Witchelina is now also owned by the Nature Foundation SA
At one million acres it's the largest property south of the dog fence.
Was also a worn-out over-grazed sheep property.
They're working hard to regenerate the place.
They've marked out several long nature drives, with information brochures.
These are the Willouran Ranges in the north of the property.
I'd glimpsed them years before from Marree and wanted to have a closer look.
Lots of powerful forces acting here in the long past......
These are the remains of the old town of Farina,
which once was the end of the railway from Pt Augusta.
Then the rail was extended to Marree and Farina faded.
Now there's a very enthusiastic group of volunteers working to restore much of it.
The white tent is the information centre and cafe,
right next to the underground bakery, which is baking once again.
Well worth a stopover if you're driving that highway to Marree.
Including this shady campground, which you don't often find in these parts.
Then over to Arkaroola on the east side of the Flinders Ranges.
This is the road into Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, hidden in those rugged mountains.
This is Arkaroola Resort.
Lots of interesting displays teaching about the varied geology and wildlife in this sanctuary,
and two powerful telescopes to view the stars from a very dark place.
and two powerful telescopes to view the stars from a very dark place.
And the owners are very friendly and interesting aviators.
Wouldn't want to go down in those ranges, even in my very rugged 'Trail Bike'.
Would need a helicopter to get out.....
Nearby is Lake Frome.
Also nearby is the Beverley Uranium Mine.
In this case they mine by pumping acid underground and dissolving the ore,
and then suck the mixture back up and process the uranium from it.....
Camped for the night on that long road home.....
Even more roadkill this time.....
Even more roadkill this time.....
Crossed the Barwon River here, before it becomes the Darling.
Some of that water will go to irrigate nearby cotton fields.
Some of what's left after cotton and environmental requirements upstream,
will end up 1000km away in this pipeline to Whyalla for household requirements.
Doesn't look very appetizing upstream, but vital for survival.
Lots of disputes are now going on about how to divvy up that precious water......
As the Americans say,
"...Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over..."
See some of the water situation in California from my flights there in 2015
http://jgflyingroadtrip2015.blogspot.com/2015/08/central-valley-water.html
See some of the water situation in Texas from my flights there in 2014
http://jgflyingroadtrip2014.blogspot.com/2014/10/muleshoe-texas.html
But all that's another story........
John Gilpin
June 2018
As the Americans say,
"...Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over..."
See some of the water situation in California from my flights there in 2015
http://jgflyingroadtrip2015.blogspot.com/2015/08/central-valley-water.html
See some of the water situation in Texas from my flights there in 2014
http://jgflyingroadtrip2014.blogspot.com/2014/10/muleshoe-texas.html
But all that's another story........
John Gilpin
June 2018
