Into the Red Centre
Over the past few days, I’ve made my way through central Australia, spending a few days in Mount Isa before continuing on to overnight in Tennant Creek.
I’ve loved having the opportunity to explore parts of the places that I visit, and by having my flying all done in the morning, I usually get the chance in the afternoon. In Mount Isa, I visited a museum dedicated to the history of the town- mostly featuring the development of mining in the region. As a huge history nerd this was a fun way to spend a couple of hours (and it was air conditioned too, so I was happy to stay inside), and there’s a lot of interesting information specifically about aviation history too! One of first patients for the Royal Flying Doctor Service was a miner who had fractured his pelvis at work. It was also interesting to learn about the town during World War Two, and how industry and mining operations changed.
Further inland, storms are still a critical thing to think about, however there are many more challenges presented to me. Unlike the East Coast, where I was spoilt for choice with places to land, in remote Australia, there aren’t many airports which provide a guaranteed fuel source, so it’s necessary to call ahead to confirm fuel availability and calculate a point of no return. NCO has an endurance of just over 4 hours, which means that if a destination is 3 hours away (such as Tennant Creek from Mount Isa), for the last hour of the flight I will be totally committed to landing there as I no longer have the fuel to make it back.
This requires constant re-evaluation of weather, fuel consumption (which differs at different altitudes) and winds, as a headwind or tailwind can majorly impact flight times.
I navigate along major features- for these flights, my route essentially paralleled the Flinders then Barkly highways, accompanied by the occasional homestead or township connected to the highway by an unmarked dirt road. In this flying, I’m struck by both the beauty of the country and the sheer remoteness across such large stretches of land. It’s wonderful to take the time to watch the landscape change outside my window- the soil is so unbelievably red!
