Flying Mystic in Bright, Victoria March 23-April 2

Guess what?  It’s fall down here.  When we arrived at the Backpacker’s Inn on Friday, Terry was busy sweeping leaves away from the front of our cabin.  The nights are cold.  Two blankets and one of our sleeping bags were necessary to stay warm in the unheated cabins.  It’s been a while since we both have been in bed fighting for covers.  It took a few days but we finally worked out a system that keeps us warm through the night.  The only issue left is getting up the courage to come out from under those covers in the morning or even worse when nature calls in the middle of the night and you have to make a bathroom run.

Backpackers Outdoor Inn-Camp Krusty

On a side note, this may be our last chance to stay at the Backpacker’s.  Terry is hoping to retire and we’ve heard the place is for sale.  It’s prime real estate and unlikely anyone will take it over and run it with the dedication and low costs that Terry has for all these years.  He’s going to be missed.

Mystic has a beautiful AstroTurf launch with the perfect rounded shape for paragliders.  You have to join the Northeast Victoria Hang Gliding club and pay a $25 fee to use the site for two weeks.  It’s worth it.  http://www.nevhgc.net/   All you need to do, generally is turn left from launch and catch the house thermal to begin your climb out. 

I’ve only had a two XC’s.  I’ve had one 6k north (hardly an XC) and the other 18k south to Harrietville.  I had been hoping to go north to Myrtleford on the day I went south to Harrietville and called Mary Beth on the radio and told her I was headed to Myrtleford.  Oops.  When I landed at the Cricket pitch in Harrietville and sent her my position it was clear that I had made mental error in what I told her.  So she had a good excuse for not providing her usual retrieve service and being there to pick me up before I get my glider packed up.  I’m hoping to improve on that but I need some better weather to accomplish it.

Setting up to land at the cricket pitch

Two days after I arrived I got an E-mail from Godfrey in Manilla.  They had an epic day and even the village idiot flew more than 100k.  Ugh. 

The Ford Explorer has been running OK.  We did manage to find another problem with it.  The headlights must have been modified at some point and the high beams seem to function more like weak low beams.  It’s generally OK since we don’t want to drive at night for fear of hitting a kangaroo.

We have spent a few evenings in front of the fireplace in the rec. hall at Krusty’s.  There never seems to be a shortage of things to talk about.  The press here provides a lot of coverage on U.S. current events , president Obama, and the Supreme court arguments for “Obamacare” lately.  Mary Beth is always happy to provide her insight.  Too bad there are no conservatives to provide a counterpoint. 

On an “it’s a small world note” when we were talking one of the pilots training here told me he was an automotive engineer and as we talked further he told me he worked for Johnson Controls.  Turns out he knows one of my engineering friends who worked with me at Volvo Truck in Greensboro back in the early 80’s.  Pretty amazing really.

Not as much Flying as I would have liked but Mary Beth got a couple of “no fly day” trips.  One was to Beechworth and a tour through the historic area.  We took a tour around the city and the guide told us all we ever wanted to know about Ned Kelly (legendary bush ranger once played in the movies by both Heath Ledger and Mick Jager).  We got the real story.  Ned was tried and hanged in Melbourne but spent some time in the Beechworth jail.  The guide did a great job telling the complete story of the Kelly family and Ned's gang.

We also drove up to Mt. Hotham one day.  It’s a very winding road up to 6100 feet.  Great views of the  valleys with lots of silver ash skeleton trees from the big fire in 2003.  

One nice thing about Bright is the restaurants.  There are plenty of great places to have coffee in the morning, a sandwich at lunch, and dinners.  We liked the El Centro for great pizza and other low cost meals and the AmBar for great food even if it was a little on the pricey side

Controlled burns  in the valley  with the associated smoke plus some unfavorable winds  led us to the conclusion it was time to leave Bright.  The original plan to fly  Melbourne and the south coast was abandoned to go back to Manilla and hope to get some  more XC flights.

Statistics for Bright.  6.6 hours of air time.  Longest XC 18K.  Only 5 of 10 days there were flown due to weather.

More pictures at this link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/100100812428273095003/BrightMarch23April22012#