We test flew it at Kitty Hawk on Friday to be sure it was ready for the long flight to Cape Town. It is in exceptional condition and required no attention! Well done to the previous owner Llewellyn (Eggbeater on here) for looking after the machine so well. I believe his M24 is about to arrive and I am green with envy.
Paul's brother Gerrit has an M22 at Kitty Hawk and here they are proudly showing off their machines. Paul is at the back.
Coffee and a smoke break at New Tempe and then off to the Jabiru fly-in at Gariep for Karoo lamb on the spit and overnight. Paul has a Jabiru (and I know someone with a Jabiru - Paul) so we were accepted into the group and enjoyed the rugby and the banter before getting a good nights sleep for the trek the next day.
We were at the airfield at first light. Lone gyro with 26 Jabi's
before heading off for Beaufort West.The winds over the central Karoo were interesting to say the least. Never quite sure which direction it was coming from it made approaching every hill quite interesting since we didn't know whether to expect the downdraft/updraft and bumps before or after the hill. They were always there, lurking in the leeward side but without water or trees or quite literally anything to indicate the wind direction it became a guessing game and fun to be proven right occasionally. By this time Paul had already lost the fixed wing manner of flying high and loved flying low over the vast open expanses (Viva Gyro's!)
Joining and landing at Beaufort West we were pleasantly surprised by the hospitality and friendly reception we received from the owners and manager of the Karoo Gateway Airport guest house. This recently refurbished classic airfield with its quaint navigation tower is a real oasis in the arid Karoo. The guest house is situated in the terminal building right next to the runway.
Proud Gyronauts in Beaufort West. Notice the navigation/control tower in the background.
Flying through a beautiful valley between Barrydale and Swellendam (Suurbraak actually) ... suddenly everything turned lush and green with huge patches of yellow canola fields in between. We were back in the Fairest Cape!!
After refueling at Swellendam we tackled the last leg but had still not had enough flying so we decided to go coast-wise via Pearly Beach, Franskraal, Hermanus, Elgin, Over the beautiful Sir Lowries pass and back to Fisantekraal via Stellenbosch.
I'll leave it up to Paul to tell you about the throttle-chops and training along the way....
Both Paul and I agreed that we were truly fortunate to fly, but that we were doubly fortunate to fly in the Fairest Cape since the astounding beauty took even our breaths away at times!
We were glad to be home!
Len
GPI Aerosport
Fisantekraal
