10-4 Charleville



Jabiru boys work some magic

 Right now we’re in Charleville dear reader. That means that yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) the test flight went well and the boys at the Jabiru factory did some final magic and before you know we were in the air on our maiden voyage for a late afternoon flight from Bundaberg to Hervey Bay and Fraser Island.



Ready to go!



Instruments OK!

But of course the real adventure started to today when we took charge of the Jabi 24-7821. We took off from Bundy at 10.30 am and made our way across vast Queensland via Eidsvold, Taroom and Mitchell to touch down on the red earth of Charleville at 1.45 pm.

Touch down Charleville



A leisurely walk around Charleville, then to the Bilby sanctuary followed by dinner and prep for ourflight to Birdsville tomorrow.

Weather is looking good.

The Travelling Nabateans

Relax, it's Queensland

   Greetings dear reader,

We arrived safely in Bundy airport yesterday (Monday) and walked with great anticipation to the Jabiru factory. Let's put this in perspective - the factory is actually right beside the Bundy airport runway. What did we see? A fully exposed Jabi getting lots of hands-on attention from factory staff. Will Jabi be ready for us to go to Charleville on Wednesday was our immediate question? Relax, it's Queensland.

 

We had a very interesting day at the Jabiru factory - no assembly line here. Each Jabi is carefully constructed, piece by piece, by skilfull and clearly interested craftsman.  We had an inspiring and insightful conversation with Rodney Stiff, the founder and one might say "father of Jabiru."



The birth of Jabis



Jabi relaxing under a coolabah
tree after a successful test flight

We did consider a liquid lunch

Just to pretend life is not ALL about Jabi, we stopped in at the Bundy rum factory and took a drive out to Bargara for a Bundy ginger beer on the beach. And topped the day off with dinner at the Bundy RSL...now that was a local experience.

 

So how are things going mate?

 Today, is test day. A few orientation flights for Vasant and if the Jabi boys get it together on time, possibly an inaugural flight to Fraser Island and Hervey Bay for Vasant and me. But it's all Insha'Allah on this trip.

Until the next post

The Travelling Nabateans

Our next adventure...

Well dear reader, it's been some time since our last adventure and you may have heard our story. Now come Jabi with us.

Vasant and Bernadette
The Flying Nabateans

Here's our trip map, you can tap or click to enlarge:

And here are the stats:

Day	Date	Location	Distance		Time	Weather we fly, or weather we don't...
			nautical miles	kms	hh:mm
Mon/Tues	11/07/2011	Bundaberg, QLD				Bundaberg
Wednesday	13/07/2011	Charleville, QLD	340	612	3:05	Charleville
Thursday	14/07/2011	Birdsville, QLD	374	673	3:24	Birdsville
Friday	15/07/2011	William Creek, SA (Lake Eyre)	241	434	2:12	Marree (near William Creek)
Friday	15/07/2011	Coober Pedy, SA	85	153	0:47	Coober Pedy
Saturday	16/07/2011	William Creek, SA (Lake Eyre)	85	153	0:47
Sunday	17/07/2011	Rawnsley Park, SA  (Flinders Ranges)	202	364	1:50	Hawker (near Rawnsley Park)
Mon/Tues	18/07/2011	Broken Hill, NSW	147	265	1:20	Broken Hill
Wednesday	20/07/2011	Parkes, NSW (The Dish)	349	628	3:10	Parkes
Thursday	21/07/2011	Cowra, NSW	47	85	0:26	Cowra
Thursday	21/07/2011	Wollongong , NSW (home)	115	207	1:02	Sydney
		TOTAL	1986	3574	18:03
Air Speed
110 knots	198km/hour	125mph

Thanks for your comments