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Bout time i said my blab bout the nats i recon. It was anather top weekend, and my condolences to those who couldnt make it, coz you definatly missed out.After 18 hours pushn into a head wind for 1400km, withground speed varying from 65 to 120kmh, flyn over sum of the driest dirt iv seen........ since i left ere, i got to Lammeroo.It was only thursdy afternoon and there was already a good number of machines there and alot of people .Recognised a few ugly faces, and sum i didnt recognise that reconed they knew me, and caught up with Rob Cook. Rob [ thankfully he"s no relation to my bestest friend the croc humper] had been down south for weeks buildn his machine with rosco and learn to fly with the very capable Kevi Treager.He was itchn to get into the air but his new 912 machine that rossco was trailern down still hadnt turned up yet. It finaly turned up after dark, so theres was nuthn we could do with it but imagine how this sparkling new rocket was go"n to perform.After an early nite we threw the rotors together first thing and arked her up. It sounded like it was ready to boogy, so Kev took it out for a gentle blap. After a few minor adjustments we were happy and Rob was off.And for the record, if you think your go"n to the next nats with plans of clean"n up, id advise you start practicing now, hard, coz this bloke isa natural, and noone over the weekend saw him do anythn but pure greasing it on, and off the deck. He"s a credit to his mental att and his phisical abilities [ bull riden mite have sum bearn on it too] and Kevins instruction methods, coz he was putn alot of high hour blokes to shame.Friday nite, or should i say saterdy mor"n didnt do much for my eyelids, but i had no trouble keepn awake watchn everyone haven a ball compeatn in the comps. Sundy i had a few passengers in the wasa including the bloke i bort her off years ago, Glen Saxby, Llewella and sumother bloke i cant remember. Hada blap in one of the magnis [ recon ill hafta start another thread if you want to know bout that episode] Mitch"s butter fly, talk bout from chalk to cheese.But by far the highlite of my weekend, and my flyn life so far, was to go for a fly with Owen Dull in the sweetest, best finised, most thouroughly thought out and power efficiant gyro bar nun. These machines are a credit to the blokes ability, they are as solid as a rock in S/L [ or like a magni] and as light and nimble as a butterfly. I am very envious of anyone who owns one, coz youv got the best.The trip back home started out on a bad note, with stinkn ol mum nature haven the wind in me face agin. but this time at least i had company. Rob Cook was flyn his new machine home to Supplejack stn [west of tennant creek], so he was follown me home. Jon Downing, from Jamestown, was also flyn home, and Jamestown was our fist stop, so we all traveled together. But with the head wind holdn us up, and the other two in open machines feeln the pintch, we needed a coupla pisstops, and by the time Jamestown came into view, i foundout by gps that me n Rob werent go"n to get to our next fuel stop till an hour after dark. Naturaly we opted to stay the nite in Jtown, and many thanks to Jon and his sweet missus, we were very well looked after.Sparrows tuedy morn we were off agin, and yes, still a strong head wind.Once we got past the ranges i figured we"d better have a pitstop, coz once we were out in the sandhills and skirtn lake torrens, there was little chance of a rest stop.But after bout 2 1/2 hours Rob reconed his neck was crampn up from the constant wind, so i decided to try the salt lake. I told Rob to fly round behind me and watch me tracks as i draged the tail wheel on the lake to see if it was soft. As i washed off AS and held the wasa just off the deck, the tail wheel touched the MUD and felt like an ancher. SH!T, im in the hot seat now!!!! Riped the throttle open and tryed to climb off but it was on the curve, and everywhere i went was in a down draft. The ground speed was still bout 40mph but the downer kept me pinned down, and at that speed a landing would have been a misstake coz it was so boggy and i still had alot of weight on. Wringn the wasa"s neck and tryn every trick in the book to get up had me in a cold sweat, coz lake torrens aint a good place to spend anytime, espacialy with a bogged machine. I lined up every tufft of salt bush tryn to bounce the machine into sum sort of respectable alt, even lined up a gully and bounced it off the edge, tryn to get up and regain sum AS, all the time thinkn i gotta tell Rob NOT to land ere.Finaly, after the best part of a km, i found a little relief from the downer and climed back to 100", and promptly told Rob he"s go"n to have to suffer, coz we aint landn on that.After our miday fuel stop it was on to William Creek, a half horse pub in the middle of nowhere. But we was celebrities, as we wheeled our machines round to the fuel bowzer after sundown, youd could have been mistaken for thinkn there was a thunderstorm cumn, coz of all the flashs from the rubberneck"s cameras.Next day was much better coz the wind had died off and 110kmh GS was easy go"n. We did the last 400 odd km in under 3 1/2 hours to Andado, and we were now on the rite side of the border. 
Iv run out time, so you"ll have to wait for the pix. Nite all. 
Iv run out time, so you"ll have to wait for the pix. Nite all. 
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