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Perth to Busselton, YPPH -
YBLN
Perth Flight Centre sends a car
and driver for us so as to leave the Hyatt at 7:30 a.m. The
nice Mercedes sedan is driven by "Rod," another friendly and
articulate Aussie who has worked in the U.S. for many years
but is now back in Perth and enjoying it. The day is again
lovely. Wow! These "Perthians" sure have it nice!
Ian, the manager, is waiting
for us. The things we requested - wash job, interior cleaning,
adjusting landing gear strut and tire pressures, servicing
the air conditioning system - have all been taken care of
and the airplane looks good. We load up and preflight the
airplane, then discuss with Ian the technicalities of making
the short, 108 nm hop to Busselton at low altitude, VFR, instead
of the planned IFR flight at 16,000. He says there is no problem,
and we decide to ask clearance delivery to change our plan
if the weather remains good over the next hour or so.
Such is the case, so when Pat
and Ashley arrive - Rod had returned to the Hyatt and driven
them out, also - we are on our way quickly and given a transponder
code for flight following out of the Perth area, with an initial
altitude assignment of only 2,000 feet.
Although it is bumpy under the
scattered clouds, we happily take the bumps for the sight
seeing opportunity provided and never get above 4,500 feet.
The direct route takes us south southwest and we soon hit
the sandy shoreline and fly most of the distance slightly
offshore. The ocean is beautiful, not many whitecaps and with
a clear view of the white sand and sea weed beds beneath the
water. We pass abeam the little town of Bunbury and soon are
on final approach to the one-runway airport at Busselton.
It is a non-controlled field, so we do in-the-blind position
reporting.
I am flying this leg and when
I turn off the runway to the ramp area, I see no parking slots
nor posted signs. Instead, there appear to be commuter airline-style
yellow parking lines and stands on the ramp by the small,
nice-looking terminal building. Although it surprises me that
this little place would be served by airlines - and I find
that it is not! - I don't want to block their access to the
parking stands. I see a Piper Cherokee Six parked in an obvious
parking slot beside the paved ramp in a large grassy area,
and the soil appears dry and level to my eyes.
Okay, we'll just park on the
grass, I announce to Pam, Pat, and Ashley. All goes well until
I start the 180-degree turn to line up beside the Piper. The
airplane stops rolling. I know we have bogged down in the
soil. I decide to add power and see what happens, with the
plan to not use anywhere near all the available power. If
it won't break free at about 1,600 ft-lbs of torque, I'll
shut down and visually assess the situation before deciding
what else to do. Thank goodness, 982GA starts moving again
with the extra power, and two more bog-downs are handled in
the same manner before we stop beside the Piper. I allow the
engines to idle for a minute to cool them down properly before
shutting off the fuel.
No one is around. The cute little
airport appears deader than dead. As I step off the plane,
I see the ruts that I've made in the soil and go take a closer
look. Although smooth and dry, the ground is very sandy and
we had sunk in probably three or four inches as we turned.
Whew! Glad we didn't have to resort to shovels and planks
to get the plane unstuck! About this time a gent named Malcolm
shows up bringing our Hertz rental car, a nice Toyota Avalon.
We realize that even three of our four big bags won't fit
in the car, along with the four of us, so Pam volunteers to
download what she needs for the two-day stay and puts those
items into my bag. (Ashley had planned ahead well enough that
she only needed to take a small bag today and left her big
one onboard.)
We get some practice in proper
utilization of the Australian national salute - remember from
the prior journal entry? - as we clear the pesky flies away
while we get settled in the car. Peter, the assistant airport
manager, also shows up and gives us a welcome to Busselton.
He tells me that it would have been fine to park on the pavement.
Thanks, bloke! How about a sign next time?
Soon we are on our way, with
Pat driving. Courageous guy that he is, he does well remembering
to stay on the left side of the road and I sit in the (left
side) front passenger seat and do the simple navigating chores.
It is about a 30 or 40 minute drive to our accommodations
- Cape Lodge, a "Small Luxury Hotels of the World" member.
The countryside is very rural,
with sheep and cattle grazing in brown meadows - it's been
very dry this winter and spring - and green trees in abundance.
As we get closer to the Lodge the terrain becomes more hilly
and we see many fields of grapes. Reminds me a lot of Napa
or Sonoma Valley in northern California, which makes sense
since this is one of the premier wine-making regions of Australia.
Pam spots the sign for Cape Lodge
before I do - she's even a good back seat navigator - and
we pull into the scenic grounds and wend our way down the
paved lane to the main building's check-in area. But we are
too early; rooms won't be ready until after 2:00 p.m. and
it is only noon. The helpful young lady at the desk, Michelle,
suggests a few restaurants at nearby wineries that serve good
lunches, and her suggestions agree with the ones from Wanda
and Ian in Perth. We leave our baggage in the hotel to make
some more room in the car and are soon on our way further
south to the Leeuwin Winery and their excellent on-site restaurant.
It really feels good being on
our own for a change, with no guide nor driver. We navigate
to the place easily enough, park the car, and follow the path
to the wine tasting room and restaurant. Very pretty, very
nice. All of our meals are delicious, and so is the accompanying
wine, made on the premises. On our way out we stop on the
porch to chat with Hobart Brown, an American artist who is
making his creations with wire and welding torch there at
the vineyard. His normal locale is Ferndale, California. Small
world!
Cape Lodge has a renowned restaurant
and they have booked us for dinner there at the only slot
available, 7:15 p.m. We were told this when we checked in
before driving off to lunch, so we were forewarned not to
fill up too much; must leave room for dinner. We spend the
rest of the afternoon relaxing and enjoying our lovely room.
We even watch a video Pam had selected from their supply.
It was an entertaining but rather forgettable English drama.
Our room is #18 of the 20 rooms
here, on the ground floor of a building that sits maybe a
hundred yards from the main building/restaurant/library. It
gives the impression of a small condo and the back door opens
onto a patio, then lawn and lake beyond. We hear lots of birds.
At times, it sounds like the soundtrack from an old Tarzan
movie.
7:15 comes much too quickly and
we are not as hungry as we would like to be, but we dress
up and walk to the restaurant in the dark, with a light rain
falling. The service and food are good, as we expected they
would be. P & A join us and we all share a table.
The next morning I put on my
workout clothes and head out for a good hour-long walk/run
along the same road we had driven to get here yesterday. The
sounds, smells, and sights are delightful. Although I have
enjoyed the cityscapes we have been seeing, there is still
something that touches my soul in being out alone in the country,
getting close to nature. A raucous white and black bird accompanies
me for a while, making periodic mock strafing runs toward
my head. Hey, sorry, fella! What was it I did that you didn't
like?
After returning to the room,
showering and cleaning up, Pam and I walk back to the dining
room for the complimentary buffet breakfast. We have decided
to have a late lunch at another winery's restaurant and forego
dinner. Again, not much activity, just a relaxing day back
in our room. We take the rental car and head off to "Flutes,"
the restaurant at Brooklands winery. Pat & Ashley decide to
wait and take the car for dinner while foregoing lunch.
This restaurant is located on
a lake, full of ducks and fish and with the lush fields full
of vines growing right down to the water's edge on the opposite
shore. We elect to sit outside and enjoy the view, but quickly
decide that it is a little too chilly for enjoyment and retreat
back inside. The place has only a few other diners at the
late lunch hour of 3:00 p.m. I order a duck, risotto, dish
and it's great, as is Pam's sweet potato, mushroom, and pine
nut ravioli.
After lunch we decide to make
the lengthy roundtrip drive back to Busselton airport so that
Pam can retrieve a couple of items she wants. I like the challenge
of left-side driving and we enjoy the drive, even though we
miss a turn and do a little unplanned back road exploring
before we get back to Cape Lodge and give the car keys to
Pat.
For the long flights tomorrow
to Cairns we have been hoping for good tailwinds, or else
we may have to plan a fuel stop in Kalgoorlie as well as the
one we are planning to make at Alice Springs. The preliminary
flight plan fax arrives (after we tell Universal that the
Cape Lodge fax closes at 8:00), and, wow, there are 50-knot
tailwinds forecast. Must be living right!
Australian Shore |
Busselton Runway 21 |
Pat at Busselton Terminal |
Leeuwin Winery Restaurant |
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