Last few weeks in Australia

It's getting close to spring time in Canada, so I'm soon returning. This includes starting work again, which I'm surprisingly looking forward to.

A couple of the apostles on the south coast of Australia

I spent several days exploring Melbourne and the areas around it. Most spectacular were the Twelve Apostles, rock formations resulting from the continual dissolution of the coast line by the ocean (a couple cm a year gets eaten!). The chunks of harder rock last longer until they eventually get surrounded by water then finally undercut and washed away.

Mt. Elliot launch in Corryong

I spent last week flying in Corryong, Victoria. Corryong is right in the middle of Snowy River country and the town claims that their own Jack Riley was The Man from Snowy River, made famous by the poem by Banjo Paterson (for the rest of the world by the movie). So fundamental is this to the area that during the Corryong Open paragliding competition there was a sub-competition where the flying teams performed (and I use that word loosely!) verses of the poem. As a result I now have a verse memorized, but our team did not win the performance despite our brilliant last minute choreography.

The competition, as with most flying this Australian season, suffered from some marginal weather. Cloudbase was low and winds were high making tasks epic slogs. I spent a lot of time at tree top height scratching up while the competition and top serial wings flew above me to the trigger point I wanted. One day I repeated the cycle of thermal up, glide forward, only to find myself in roughly the same spot enough that I decided to land purely out of frustration. Definitely not a proper competition mindset as it wasn't that much easier for the competition wings. I did not make it even close to goal on any task. Still, fun flying and I got to explore a small part of the area by air. I did get a pretty trophy for 2nd place in the Sports Class to take home to add to my small collection. I had a retrieve team during the competition which made everything easy --- not sure how I'll fly XC without one now!

Cook's Terrace, Northern Beaches, Sydney

My last bit of time here in Australia is being spent trying to sell my car back in Sydney. I had a short flight on the coast at Cook's Terrace to break things up a bit this morning and now I'm cafe-hopping waiting for someone to buy my car.

Goodbye Australia! I'll be back!