Wednesday, 5 September 2007

Delungra to Manilla Day 5




The Day started with a shuffle from the room next to me. I figured Ed was on task. I was reluctant to get up too early as I knew the forecast was for further strong winds so I was pessimistic about a morning flight... I felt my $50 was safe.

Ed like a champ was out looking for take offs while I got into breakfast in the hotel. I was in touch on the radio as I wanted to keep Eddie from pushing the point for the $50 bet!

I was soon joined by the boys as the wind increased with a vengeance. We had an appointment with the Warialda Relay for Life crew and I wanted to get on the road. The traffic was not too intense and the tail wind run went like a dream. The only disappointment was the intermittent communication.

We made Warialda in little time and camped at the local servo talking to people about the machines and our cause. A journo from the Warrialder rag came for a shot and we mixed up some fuel. As communications are important we did a workshop on my head set. A few calls to John Reynoldson from Raptor designs in Melbourne and we had some ideas of how to fix the problem, it’s nice to have good over the phone support while on the road.

Bingara was our next mission on route to Barrabra and our next meeting with another Relay for Life Crew. We made Bingara in good time and Eddie cooked up the first batch of fish, Traglin. It was the best fish I’ve eaten in memory, yum. Great flyke food. I plucked out some GPS co ordinates from our VNC and caught up with some personal phone calls... The rest of life still goes on. The trip is wonderful however the rest of our lives are sort of on hold. Off to Barrabra.
On route to Barrabra we froze. The southerly although dry was icy. We stopped along the way and I put on my lucky pants under my flight suit. Ed had a polar fleece face mask he had made for the trip in green and yellow. It’s looked funny however it was a must to have something on. My feet were frozen and I was contemplating putting on my Crispi flying boots, riding shoes are great but lack insulation for cold times.
The Barrabra Relay crew have the best per capita money raised in NSW, we found out. We met Sue the coordinator and a few of the committee members with a journalist for a picture at a sports oval for a snap. It was great to network with the guys and bring back some ideas to Mullumbimby.
The trip from Barrabra to Manila was eventful to say the least. We were freezing by now and light was dropping. We had our lights on and were not mucking around. Just over the crest of a hill Thomas came out on the radio and alerted us of the local boys..We were pulled over by 3 of Manilla’s finest Boys in blue who were very interested in what we were up to. They were very inquisitive of the Flykes and supportive of our mission. We had no idea of their response, we had rehearsed the scenario many times however we remained rather natural and things were fine. They were supportive of our endeavor and offered helpful advice. For which we gratefully thank them.

The remainder of the day is still unwinding. We have open arms at the Royal Hotel from Vic and Tom as normal. They are putting us up for the night which is terrific. The meal they just made us eat was the highlight of my day!,, the other boys concur



Our next Relay meeting will be in Gunnadah. The Relay committee are excited to meet us and we are too. The Relay for life wing I ordered that failed to get to Mullumbimby in time for us leaving has been sent to the post office and we plan to get it from there

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