A day for Flying

Last Sunday I had a great opportunity to meet up with an old sailing club friend from school who was in the area and currently in training at Navigation training school in the Air Force base out of florida. He offered to take me up for for a flight at the Hendersonville Airport just 45 min. from Asheville. Naturally I said "HELL YES" and I showed up there about a half hour before he did.

The plane they use down there is the Diamond DA20. It's a small 2 seater and a new one goes for a cool $169,000. The motorcycle of the air I heard one guy at the field say. The plane was fuel'd up and ready to go for us and after doing the preflight another friend and I waited on the ground while Andrew knocked out 3 takeoffs and landings just to warm up and get back up to date with his hours before taking anyone else up. Here is a video of us taking her up. One of the coolest things about the plane is the wonderfully clear and unobstructed canopy bubble.

After my flight, they went up for another flight to do some more navigational type stuff and I wandered over to the Western North Carolina Air Museum which was sitting right next to the strip. What luck! I talked with a guy named Jim Hammond who has been working there a guide and he showed me all the neat and unique planes they had in their hangar. From experimental replicas to aerobatic iniquities to models! If your ever near Hendersonville, the WNC Air Museum is worth a stop. Plus it's free!

Here are some other shots from the day.

Another project?

Well it's more of a present to me and I realized it would help with my current repair job so I decided to just go ahead and build my own vacuum press system. It's pretty simple and I am following some simple and detailed plans from JoeWoodworker.com for the layout. I'll post some pictures when I get a little farther along (I'm still collecting the parts). I got some of the important bits from VeneerSupplies.com and I am waiting on a pump that I bought off ebay. Here is the basic layout.

I had thought about just going with a cheap-o direct pump to bag bang on bang off design but with just a little more care you get some really nice features. This design incorporates some relatively inexpensive parts to accomplish automatic vacuum regulation using an adjustable vacuum sensor and relieves the strain on the pump at startup with a sub-reservoir and a "mac-valve" (basically solenoid valve) after startup to suck air from the main reservoir and vacuum bag. Although Joe Woodworker's "vacuum press" is aimed at woodworkers for laminating veneers and such, I'll be using it mainly for bagged composite projects. I'm interested in trying my hand at a technique called resin infusion. Oh and did I mention, I've ALWAYS wanted one of these.

New battery box

I spent most of the day (last thursday) building the new battery box for the bow. The new box is made of fiberglass molded over a plastic battery box I found in the garage which was previously used as a liner for the original battery box. I laid it up on a flat surface to give it a flange which will be glued under the floor panel to give the battery cover a lip to sit on so the panel sits flush with the floor.

New Stringers for an old boat

Two short days of work and the new main and secondary stringers are cut to shape and fitted in the hull. Also cut out are the plywood floor panel that supports the drivers seat and the bilge bulkhead. Today, I finally got that ski pole out with a lot of cursing and just a little help from a sledge hammer and a pry bar. I buttered up the hull for the stringers and got them bedded in some thickened epoxy but ran out of cabosil so i'll have to wait to do the filleting.

Floor panel with bilge bulkhead visible underneath

New stringers and floor panel dry fitted

Main stringer with relief for engine mount and limber hole

So what are you doing?

I have been getting asked this a lot lately by friends and family. I am currently living in beautiful Asheville, NC with my wonderful girlfriend Taylor and doing what else... working on a boat. No, not my boat this time but a friends boat for hire. I'm rebuilding the innards of a 78' Correct Craft ski boat. This isn't a how to since there are plenty of those out there. Just some pictures and comments of progress to give me something else to do. If all goes to plan, I will be moving out to Vandemere, NC in early November to... you guessed it, work on boats with boat designer Graham Brynes of B and B yacht designs. Until then I'm getting my fill of fiberglass.

Here are a couple of shots of the inside of the boat after a couple of days work. The engine and fuel tank were removed for a rebuild before I got started. This is after the fiberglass floor was cut away and much of the original insulation foam was removed. There was a lot of water retained in the old foam and the main stringers had suffered pretty severe water damage over their life. Ski boats (and many fiberglass boats with wood structures) built around this time all seem to suffer water damage or rot due to water intrusion through screw holes or poor factory fiberglass work. Many rotten spots were the result of single screw holes that penetrated the thick fiberglass.

This picture is after about 5 easy days of work and a lot of grinding and sanding of the old fiberglass structure surrounding the original stringers. The leftover "walls" of glass were just sanded and ramped to accept the new stringers which will also make locating where they should go very easy. The pole in the middle is the ski pole which has been stubborn to remove thus far. The other floor bumps in the bottom left are the water intake and the prop shaft tube.

Today I got a bunch of epoxy, wood and fiberglass so tomorrow I will begin shaping the replacement stringers that will be glassed in soon enough. I'll also be pouring in new polyethylene expanding foam and laying down a new fiberglass floor before this project is over. I'm told that the engine is getting the "full treatment" so when this boat is all done, she should be ready for another 32 years of water-skiing.

Home sweet home

We're back. With our Australian adventure over it's quite a shock being back at home. Being in Chapel Hill at my house is pretty surreal.

I last left you in Brisbane with a flat tire so here are the highlights. We fixed the flat with the spare which was also nearly bald but it made it to Sydney. We got the hell out of Dodge (Brisbane) that afternoon with plans to either just drive through the night to Sydney or find somewhere to camp. Around 1am we pulled off at a rest stop that our ozcamp source claimed offered free "camping." We didn't see any signs opposed so we thew down the tent and got some rest. It was our last night in the tent. In the morning we packed up and finally got around to something we had been planning for a while. The burying of our "time machine" which is really just a time capsule that we made with junk from the boat and our respective piles of shit from moving off the boat. Pamphlets, score cards, maps, change, bottle caps, and tons of other odds and ends are now 6 feet under in the middle of nowhere in a plastic container for us to go dig up in 30 years. Will took down the GPS coordinates with his i-phone. Good luck little time machine.

We made it to Sydney around 11am WOOHOO we made it. We thanked the car and told it that it was free to break down, fall apart, or seize up now that it has performed it's duty. We found our hostel and got checked in and even managed to find parking for an hour or so. The hostel was nice but the first order of business was to get rid of our car. Don't get me wrong, I can't say enough about how great she was but with 1 day left in Australia I was more than ready to wash my hands of the old clunker.

The saga of THE CAR with all the licensing, rego, and ownership baloney is quite a story in itself so i'll keep it to the short version.... That evening we sold the car to a guy named Steve from Sydney for his little brother Adam to learn stick on.We did our absolute best not to seem desperate to sell, but he pretty much stole it from us. We got $325.00 AUD for the car all told. Considering that we put in 700 for the car, 20 for oil, and about 275 in gas all said and done we made out pretty damn well i'd say especially since we freed ourselves of the car the day we arrived leaving us all of tomorrow to explore the city. Thanks car.

Tuesday. Our last day in Australia. So what do two sailors do when they only have 1 day in Sydney, Australia you might ask? Go to the Maritime Museum of course!

The Australian National Maritime Museum is so far the best I have ever been to. My favorite exhibit would have to be the HMB Endeavor. This flawless replica of Captain Jame Cook's famous ship was parked center stage on the warf. I tried to soak it in as much as possible. We also got to talk to one of the full time crew members who is getting ready for the upcoming circumnavigation of Australia on the famous ship.

We were also just in time to see Plastiki tied up at the museum. This catamaran made entirely of plastic bottles and recycled plastic (except for the masts) was on display after having just ended its 130 day crossing of the pacific via Hawaii around the same time as us.

With our day coming to a close, we hopped on the harbor ferry and got a ride out to see the opera house. I was quite impressed by the speed and efficiency of the Sydney harbor ferries which are all catamarans. Our last stop was in honor of the sailors who came before us. A trip out to "the Rocks" to the first pub to be given a license to sell alcohol in Sydney in 1828 and the ONLY pub of the original few to attain this license that is still in business, Fortune of War. Quite a bit of sailing history in there.

That night we made the most of our last hours in Australia by heading out with some others from the hostel to "Pirate Night" at a local pub with free drinks for those who dressed like pirates and free champagne for girls or guys who dressed like girls. We chose pirates, ARGHHH.

The following morning we successfully made it (with our bags, passports and wallets) onto the airport shuttle to the Sydney airport. Shortly thereafter, I began a 36 hour blurr of airport terminals, cramped seats, airplane blankets, and bags of pretzels which included missing my connection flight in LA and having to wait around in a jet lagged haze for 8 hours to catch the next one. At that point, any flight was a red-eye. But I made it mostly unscathed and with all my belongings to RDU airport Thursday morning to be greeted by my parents.

What a ride.

Sydney or Bust...

We have made it to the Gold Coast but with just three days left including today were going to start booking it down to Sydney so we are sure to see the city a little. This morning I lightened the load a little also by selling my scuba tanks and scuba gear that I had been lugging around to a guy here. Also, for a little excitement, this morning we noticed we have a flat tire which we have to change out before leaving. Yesterday we thought we heard a little bump bump bump in our ride and this morning revealed that the back tire was totally bald and wore right through leaking out completely overnight. The adventure continues. For brevity's sake, here are some of the highlights of the last six days....

On Monday, realizing at 2pm that there was a red dress hash run on the Sunshine coast that started at 6:15. We ran to the salvation army, bought some red dresses and drove 4 hours straight there to participate. We were fortunate to meet Dave there 'Skunk' who graciously offered to put us up for the night at his apartment AND in the morning gave us a grand tour of Moloolaba beach and pretty much the entire sunshine coast. Afterwards, he helped us break into the car to retrieve the car keys that were left on the passenger seat. oops. We had a great time enjoying the company of the Noosa and Sunshine Coast hash groups and raising money for a local cancer hospital to boot! The photo at left is courtesy of the Noosa hash group website.

Tuesday, afternoon we picked up some fish and chips form a fresh fish market on the water in Maloolaba (delicious) and later stopped into an info booth where we found a pamphlet with 2 free camping spots we weren't aware of. Did I mention it was raining. Yes, our stay with Dave coincided wonderfully with the first rain we have had while camping. But Tuesday night we were on our own and heading out of town we stopped to check out the free camping rest stop. We arrived in drizzle and found a picnic table shelter which our tent just perfectly fit under. Around midnight i awoke to hear someone blowing up an air mattress and they set up right beside our tent and we were happy to share the shelter.

In the morning we met Murray, a local Brisbanian who has been travelling recently out of his car (like us) and is planning a trip to the US and asked us many questions about hiking trails such as the Appalachian trail and places out west generally revealing how badly we know the geography of our own country. Hope to work on that when i get back some time. He gave us some great tips on what to see in Brisbane as well as some places to camp. He told us about the Ekka, a huge state fair that was going on this week, and recommended we drive out to Mt. Glorious.

Wednesday we had a day at the Australia Zoo. Founded by Steve Irwin's dad in 1972, the zoo was celebrating its 40th year and Steve Irwin and the Irwin family is a big deal in the zoo to put it lightly. Posters of Steve, Bindi, Terry and even a bronze statue of the family adorn the park. We really enjoyed the Koalas, the Tiger show, feeding the elephants, petting Kangaroos, and watching a huge crocodile get fed by a very scared looking "trainer" in a giant fenced in ring called the Crocoseum. After the zoo we picked up some chow in Beerwah, Steve Irwin's home town, before returning to the same free camp spot and another night in the dry shelter with Murray.

In the morning, Murray suggested that we climb Mt. Tibrogargan and offered to be our guide so to speak as he has climbed it dozens of times. We got there early and climbed to the top which looks daunting on the way up but in the end wasn't all that bad despite a few bouldering sessions and rock faces along the way. The view of the Glass House Mountains (named by none other than Captain Cook) from the top was well worth it.

After the climb we parted ways but not before we tasted some Vegemite that Murray had in his car. We had been wanting to try it but didn't want to to spring for a whole jar. We drove down into Brisbane and found ourselves getting chewed up by one way streets, traffic light, and bustling city centers. Finally we pulled into a parking spot and took some deep breaths. We payed for an hour and walked around the botanical gardens (really more of a large park) and decided to try and make the Brisbane Thirsty Hash run that evening at 6pm. For 17 dollars we got to run with the hash (about 5k on the road) and enjoy some good company around a campfire in the hosts backyard as well as all the lamb curry and rice we could eat. They even sent us home with 3 trays of it.

At the hash we met Waga Rod, (real name Rod). This guy was 65 years old, from Australia, and in September him and his wife are travelling to the US so that he can participate in the Double Decathalon (thats 20 track and field events in 2 days) at the 2010 Ultra Muli Events World Championship in Lynchburg, Virgina. Needless to say this guy was in shape and blew right past us on the hash run (before beer, in case you were wondering). After the run he got word that our plan that evening was to drive out toward Mt. Glorious and camp "somewhere". "THATS BULLSHIT!" Rod exclaimed. "Your coming home with me!", "Your in my country, you'll do what I say!". To which we replied, "yes SIR".

We stayed up Rod and his wife talking about our travels and Will was an endless source of information for them being a DC local. Their US tour will include, Washington DC, Lynchburg, VA (of course), New York, Niagara Falls, and Vegas. Will gave them the low down on the cheap air fare into DC and what to do in the city. We are so greatfull for their hospitality and wish Rod all the best in Virginia.

Friday Morning we drove up to Mt. Glorious and discovered not too surprisingly that that it is indeed appropriately named. Beautiful views, winding mountain roads and thick forest resembled a drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina except that they are only 20 minutes drive away from Brisbane City Center!

We went back into the heart of Brisbane and found a cheap hostel with free parking and a free shuttle to the train station. We got tickets for the Ekka and spent the rest of the day wandering around the maze of rides, food stands, cattle, sheep, and various judging events. The Ekka's is all about "bringing the bush to the city" and cattle, sheep, and horses are a large part of the event. Our favorites included the Wood chop competition, Monster Truck, Precision driving demonstration, dirt bike jumping in the arena, and the fireworks display. Also of note... a corndog in Australia is called a dagwood dog and tastes about the same...delicious! and cotton candy is called Fairy Floss. Whatever.

On Saturday, we checked out of the Hostel but were able to leave our car there and went to check out the Queensland Museum (which is FREE). The coolest exhibit, i had while camping. But Tuesdayloor almost hidden amongst other museumy things still boxed up waiting to be put on display. It's called the 'Investigator Tree' this tree (now just a trunk) is on display because of what is carved into it. Namely the words 'INVESTIGATOR' and 'BEAGLE 1841'. This Investigator was an Australian survey ship which, in 1801, traveled along the coast of Australia under the command of Matthew Flinders. He carved the ships name into this very trunk! But thats not all. The Beagle of course is the famous ship which carried Charles Darwin across the Pacific and to the Galapagos where his famed work on evolution has it's beginnings. In 1841 however, the Beagle had already done this and Captain Fitzroy was off governing New Zealand or something. Whickam and Stokes were in command for the survey mission of Australia on the Beagle for it's third trip out and they added their vessel's name to the great tree. Also on the tree were found..."a large number of other names, including some dating from A.C. Gregory's North Australian Expedition in 1856, and some from the Burke and Wills Search Expedition under William Landsborough in 1861". It is debatable if the carvings seen today are the original ones. Likely, they have been re-carved to preserve but it's still freaking cool nonetheless as far as I'm concerned. You can read more about it here: The Investigator Tree.

After the Museum we got our internet fix a the Brisbane Library before heading back to the hostel and getting out of dodge. We found lodging in a hostel on the Gold Coast at Surfers Paradise but were not staying here long as we still have about 900km to cover to get to Sydney. Time to go change a tire.

The Promised Land...for Campers

Aug. 8^th Sunday. We were on the road by 9am and filled up the tank in the morning. Our milage has been about 17.4 kilometers/Liter which works out to right around 40mph. Not too shabby. We detoured about 55k to Agnes Waters and the Town of 1770 situated on Round Hill just East of Miriam Vale.

The Town of 1770 is the historical site of Captain Cooks second landing in Australia and his first ever landing in Queensland. Bustard Bay, so named because Cook shot and ate a Bustard Bird there and claimed it the best meal he had had since leaving England, is a maze of sand bars with a large tidal range. We found a concrete and stone monument to Cook on Round Hill with a plaque. My parents gave me a book before leaving for the Pacific called “Blue Lattitudes,"by Tony Horwitz in which the author, a self proclaimed, Cook aficionado travels to many of the places that Cook made landfall across the pacific including in Australia and fills his chapters with personal accounts as well as interesting journal excerpts from Cooks personal journal while painting a picture of what a bad ass Cook really was. It was very interesting following the book as we sailed across stopping in many of the same islands (Tahiti, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, and now Australia) and being in many of the same places where Cook made landfall for the first time, sometimes as the first European ever to visit! Very mind blowing.

A sign indicating beach access drew us to the water and after checking out the surf (there wasn't much) Will was keen on getting out the recently aquired boogy board and taking it for a spin. The water was pretty cold and I wasn’t much interested in donning the wetsuit for some small fry waves but Will was gung ho. We’re looking forward to some bigger waves on the Sunshine Coast in a few days however.

It was a bumpy road to Bundaberg and entering the town the first thing we saw was none other than an AVIATION MUSEUM! What are the odds. The museum, called the “Hinkler Hall of Aviation”, is dedicated to Bert Hinkler who grew up in Bundaberg and is famous in Australia for his solo nonstop flights back in the early days of aviation. The museum is actually a state of the art facility just opened in 2008 with all manner of flight simulators, interactive touch screens and theatres. That’s what the nice lady at the counter told us at least. It was 25 bucks a person and they were closing in a half hour so we asked about campsites in the area instead. Oh well.

We were told about a great free campsite called “Sharon Gorge” just outside of Bundaberg on the way to Gin Gin. We were surprised when she said it was free with bathrooms and water. Maybe we’re missing something here. Hmmm

On the way out of town we got our pictures with Bundaberg’s Giant Barrel and Bundaberg Rum Bottle at the Bundaberg Rum Distillery (too late in the day for a rum tour). We filled up on gas and found FREE WIFI! at a shell station which kept us until dark checking email and downloading more maps. We planned to return in the morning to update the blog. Traveling in a “Land Boat” does not solve the internet problem it seems. Wifi is still something we have to hunt out and we never know where our next “fix” will come from.

We made it to Shannon Nature park and low and behold a wonderful sign greeted us “Free 24 hour Camping”…”Overnight Stays ONLY” we had found the promised land!!! Were there other places like this we wondered?

Another cold night followed…BUT…. Having only two fleece blankets and a pillow to my name for sleeping, this time I went all out. Fleece pants, jeans, long sleeve fleece shirt, t-shirt, fleece jacket, socks and shoes ON. Fleece hat check. I had wetsuit booties with me but they were a little damp. But I did have my foulie pants and jacket. They were thick and WARM and I slept in them all night. I wrapped my feet in a blanket and used the other over top of me. Success, no cold feet and a warm night. Australia seems to have almost no atmosphere since as soon as the sun goes down the temperature plummets and in the morning at soon as it comes up it’s back to a t-shirt, shorts and flip flops.

In the morning we rolled over to upload posts (like this one) and made a major leap in camping technology with the discovery of a website called OZcamp that has a downloadable GPS coordinate file of all the free campsites in Australia!!! We are now equipped with over 300 free campsites within our grasp. No more sketchy nights at highway pull offs for us we hope.

Crab Sangas?

Aug. 7^th Saturday. If your wondering why we haven’t been killed yet, well you’re not alone, we wonder the same thing on an almost hourly basis. Australia is so far the wildest and awesomest place I’ve been in my travels and what a great way to end my trip before coming home. The odds are certainly against us. The worlds top 10 deadly snakes, poisonous spiders, salt water crocs, driving on the wrong side of the road, highway roundabouts, kangaroo strikes, and nothing but our tiny car to get us across hundreds of miles of scorched grassland and dried out floodways.

Our current hypothesis is that it is our combined experience and skills that have given us an above average “survivability rating” here in Australia’s unforgiving outback. Will is one of the most easily distracted and forgetful people I have ever met. However, with his I-phone (when he isn’t looking for it) he is nearly invincible in most normal places and combined with his friendly nature, he has been successful in communicating with the locals who have been very helpful and sociable. With my outdoor skills and mechanical know how I have been successful in keeping our old car running (knock on wood) and keeping Will on the right, that is…correct side of the road. Having been cooped up in a tiny boat for days on end with nothing to see but water we have had no trouble adapting to living out of our “Land Boat” for a couple of weeks. Driving down the road in Australia with new towns popping up in front of us every couple of hours is still a great novelty.

We passed through Mackay and continued along a coastal road to "The Caves" and a sign on the side of the road advertising Crab Sangas. Well, we had to figure out what that was and check out the caves if possible so we stopped. While Will went to unlock the crabby mystery I stood in awe at the worlds largest crab pot...until proven otherwise. It turns out that a Crab Sanga (pronounced Zanga, with an Aussy accent) is a crab sandwich with about a full kilo of fresh crab meat with just enough bread to keep it from falling apart. Delicious. While the pictures of the Capricorn Caves looked interesting, we decided we saw enough of them in the excellent cave history section and got back on the road headed for Rockhampton.

The town of Rockhampton or "Rocky" as it is called had tons to do. Luckily we stopped at an information office. There was an electric tram museum, a free zoo and botanical gardens, various historical sites, shopping malls, a huge swap meet going on at the fairgrounds, and OH YEAH the Tropic of Capricorn! We headed for the swap meet first. I thought we might find a cheap car stereo (which we were lacking) and Will was looking for possibly a flashlight. At the gate we learned that it was 4 dollars a person and I was ready to say forget it. We decided to flip a coin. Heads we go in. Heads it was. In we went. It was a good experience and we left with a FREE radio and...a boogy board. Yes thats right we have a boogy board now. Must be fate.

Afterward, we hit up the free zoo and managed to arrive in time to watch a trainer feed two chimpanzees (aged 38 and 40) a bowl of yogurt, which they ate with their spoons, and a juice box (which they call poppers here) which they drank WITH THE STRAW! very impressive. We saw kangaroos, an Emu, Dingos, Lorakeets, Alligators and Koalas. We even got to pet a Koala. Over the Bruce Highway they have installed what they call Fauna Bridges over the road that connect sections of forest specifically designed for tree dwelling animals to be able to cross the road without coming down from the trees! Now that's cool. There are rumors of large snakes hiding in the rope bridges waiting for an easy meal but we suspect cars do a lot more damage.

On our way out of town we stopped at the monument indicating the location of the intersection of the Tropic of Capricorn for a photo. Back on the road, we saw a sign for camping and pulled off at what looked like a regular gas station. To our surprise however, there was an RV camping area behind the building with toilets and shower facilities to boot. We went inside and got a key to the showers and paid 12 dollars for a place to set up the tent for the night. Is this the answer to the camping problem, seems like a pretty good deal...the saga continues. We cooked up some pasta for dinner and got some sleep.

Sign Sign, Everywhere a Sign…

One thing we can’t help but notice is the incredible Australian road signage. While Australians might have some of the most wild outback around, they certainly don’t beat around the bush when it comes to driver safety at least where signs are concerned. Signs like…”No seatbelt, No Chance”…”Pull over if sleepy”…”Tired Drivers Die”...”Pull over Mate, your eyes are shot”…and…”Driver Fatigue Crash Zone, next 15 kilometers” line the monotonous highway though dry grasslands and creek beds. Rest stops are designed for just that. We figured that any official who didn’t like us camping at a rest stop couldn’t argue with us too much if we told them we had stopped to sleep because we were too tired to drive.

Australians also seem to love to put up signs indicating warnings or things that you can’t do in an area. Warning, Crocodiles live in these waters. Caution, Cassowaries utilize this land. Keep out of water, Marine stingers present. One sign we saw warned about box jellyfish and gave simple instructions on what to do with a victim of a sting and reassuring you that most victims recover and that you should not stop resuscitation after calling for medical help. Well that’s reassuring!