Pretty hot first off today, wind out of the north blowing as usual, putting a few cows together and notice GPS groundspeed at 40 kilometers an hour! not nice ....another check a bit later shows GPS 30 kilometers an hour, it got down to 17 kilometers.....really no joke now as turning downwind at 100 ft AGL has to be done on tip toes!!!!! turbulence low level was really bad and getting towards midday saw some great whirly winds raise their ugly head. Its hot as a furnace now and for the first time I see the oil pressure drop a little so I'm now watching that gauge carefully although the water is cool and everything else says all is well behind me !!!!!Dehydration and cool water was a thought after the first hour and at the end of 3 hours 40 minutes I had Sahara desert pictures in my mind but even after refuelling and drinking cool water and splashing plenty of cool stuff over me ,I'm still thirsty by the time I'm airborne....probably helped by the exciting X wind takeoff although I reckon I did okay. The cattle arent travelling too well, the calves are knocking up making more flying necessary and well, down wind turns are now a big no no unless I had 300 feet to play with and even that height was only just. All it needed now was thunderstorms on the horizon but thankfully none have appeared. It was one relieved pilot when the last of the mob was into the bore and back home [slowly] I went to cold water and a cool down.What a fun day !!![
]Brian

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