“This is not flying Jack, this is wafting about in the sky” was a comment levelled at me by my instructor sometime during my CPL training. I have never forgotten the comment, the instructor or his sarcastic demeanour, the effect of which could turn me into a nervous wreck before we even got off the taxiway.

I level the “wafting” term at my 172 whenever I try to fly it at low power settings. At low power it mushes along in a vague sort of way with sloppy controls and uninspiring handling. But today I have wafted along, 2200 RPM, 80 knots IAS and 24 litres per hour just for the heck of it. The groundspeed was somewhere in the vicinity of 110 and I was practicing a bit of economical flight. More correctly the autopilot handled the economical flight because it handles “wafting along” far better than me.

I just sat back, slightly gobsmacked, staring at the jungle that covers a good part of the east side of Cape York as we flew towards Australia’s most northern mainland airport, Bamaga, Injinoo or Northern Peninsula, depending on who you are talking to. ERSA says “Northern Peninsula”. We were at 2500 feet, below an inversion layer in moderate thermal induced turbulence, I tried climbing above the inversion for some smooth flying but the tailwind totally disappeared and besides, the view from 2500 feet was better. There was no hurry so we wafted along, autopilot engaged. Somewhere in amongst wafting along we stopped at Lockhart River for some gas and lunch. Lockhart, like most of the Cape’s airstrips is an old WW2 base. Avgas is pricy in this part of the world, at Lockhart it was $2.90 per litre. Just as well we had a tailwind!

Since leaving Lark Quarry we have visited Cobbold Gorge, Cooktown and Lizard Island. Cobbold Gorge is pretty neat, we spent two nights there, did a Gorge tour and went bushwalking. The folk were great, the camp excellent and cheap and the food was good. The airstrip is about 15 kilometres away but true to their word, someone was there to meet us, it was a lady with a high powered rifle but thankfully she was good natured ... This airstrip is about 1000 metres in length but at an elevation of just over 1000 feet the midday 35 degree takeoff (when we left) was bordering on marginal. An old 172 will always get airborne at any weight shy of gross in 400 metres, we used less, but the 6 cylinder Continental engine is gutless in the heat and the climb out is always the scary part. The trees looked awful close here for quite a while.

Cooktown was OK for a night and a supermarket shop up and Lizard Island is a paradise that I recommend to any passing pilot with some camping gear or a huge budget, try around $2000 per person per night, minimum 3 nights, if you choose the Lizard Island Resort. We chose camping. The resort folk meet you at the airstrip; you need to book 24 hours in advance for the privilege of landing here. The only reason I think they meet you is to steer you from wandering into the resort and disturbing the guests.   The young lad that met us was a nice bloke; slightly homesick and wishing we had brought him some Kentucky Fried Chicken! Life as a Lizard Island resort staff is apparently not that exciting.

The one hard bit to take on Lizard Island is the $150.00 landing fee and the $90.00 per night tie down charge ... probably to keep the riffraff out, but it is all worth it as you can book a campsite online in the Lizard Island National Park for eleven bucks per night which it very reasonable. The maximum 6 tents campsite was empty but for a couple with young kids from (where else would I expect) Tasmania. They had paid $300.00 per seat for a trip here from Cairns. The camp ground is a 1.2 kilometre hike along a good walking track and has dunnies, cooking facilities, seats, tables and shade. There is excellent snorkel diving and swimming everywhere and some great walks including “Cooks Look”, a climb in the footsteps of Captain Cook who ventured up here back in 1770 only to stare in dismay at the surrounding reefs that were impeding his travels and he was trying to avoid. I thoroughly recommend Lizard island even with the landing fees.

I am writing this article at the Bamaga resort, I have reached as far as I can fly north and it is time to head south! I am planning a brief fly around “The Tip”, then perhaps on to Mt Isa ...

Footnote: I am now at Birdsville after time and internet access slowed this post. After leaving Northern Peninsula we did a long day flying with a bit of night VFR thrown in at the end through to Mt Isa with. After a night at “The Isa”, we arrived here this afternoon.

Birdsville is an Australian Icon, a must see town for any touring pilot and a really neat place in any event although it only takes a few hours to see the whole town. It is unique in that the aircraft parking is actually smack in the centre of town, like right in the middle, out the front of the pub where we are staying. In some ways it is unfortunate that there is now a security fence but fence notwithstanding it is still a bit surreal to be here, especially as I have wanted to visit this place since a childhood school viewing of a classic Australian doco: “The Birdsville Track”.

Tomorrow we are off to Arkaroola then home, that will be another post!

Long final: Lizard Island