09 May 2007 - The trip begins

Stuck my hand up for a 3 day trip last night. Someone from Opps reminded me that "...you said you wanted to go as many different places as possible" - which I did - so thay came to me first.

The client does IT support for NT schools, so the destinations are remote communities, with small schools, that have dire computer problems, that need fixing. Not a standard support trip, but they decided because of the locations, and needs, that a charter flight was required.

The itinnery (provided by Opps) is:

• Darwin
• Bulman (aka Dalara, for an overnight stop)
• Numbulwar
• Urapunga (charming sounding ?)
• Ngukurr (for fuel)
• Beswick

Well, that was the planned itinery. Already, I've found that I'm not stopping at Bulman for the night, but Numbulwar. So the first thing I tell Phillippe, the you guy who I'm flying about, is that it's his itinery, and I'll just go where he says - within reason. I figure flexibility is the key.

And it turns out that not having a plan is the best plan, because already on the first leg, we have a couple of setbacks. Firstly strong headwinds, and Phillippe being late to the airport, combine to make us a little late into Bulman. The teacher meeting us there then decides that, since we are late, he will go back to his class, and come fetch us later. Could have left a note, or carved something into the tree.... though historically that didn't seem to help anyone anyway....

So when we land, there's nobody there to give us a ride into town. And there's no mobile coverage. And we don't know where the town is! We chat for a while, but after waiting 30 minutes for our ride town, with no sign of anybody about, Phillippe wants to walk into town - not even knowing which way it is. So as the pilot I make the 'command decision', persuade him to climb back on board, and we go for a quick flight to:

1. Find the town, so we;
2. can buzz it, and let them know someone needs to be picked up, and;
3. know which way to walk - or for him to walk, cause I ain't going anywhere in this heat!

So we set off. Quickly we find the town, on the opposite side of the airport to which we come in. I make a circle or two, take a picture or two, return for a landing. About 5 minutes air time. I don't log it - not worth the paperwork.

Down on the ground again, Phillipe wants to set off anyway. Fine by me, at least he knows which way it is. I have to stay with the plane, you know, just in case.... I figure it'll take him 2hrs to get to town. Do I seem to have poor customer service, leaving him to walk all that way in the heat of the day, or common sense?

Anyway, he's back in 15 minutes. Found some other car, in the middle of nowhere, and the driver was kind enough to return to the airport and give us both a lift into town. We're barely away from the airfield when our real lift arrives.... it never rains but it poors.

Eventually we get to the school, and Phil (easier to spell and type...) gets to work. I'm given shelter in the principles residence a short distance away, and told to make myself at home. I sit myself down in front of the 42" plasma and watch an eppesode of 'Magnum, PI', on DVD, in front of the airconditioner... The said they'd be a couple of hours, so after that, I watch the movie 'Babel' as well. It's a 3hr+ movie, but it's all subtitled, so goes better on 2x speed, and I finish it with time to spare.

The whole community is powered by solar, with generator backup. Interesting. The do occasionally suffer from 'brown outs', but overall I hear it works ok. One advantage is they just leave the A/C running all the time, cause it's not costing them anything in fuel, like at other communities. But having it running all the time possibly explains all the brownouts... dunno, but interesting.

Phil is finished a little later than expected, but the school principle seems happy enough, and takes us back to the airport. A short but bumpy flight later we arrive at Numbulwar, which is (from the air) an attractive little town, set hard on the coast where the Rose river meets the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Phil gets mobile phone coverage here - I don't get it anywhere outside of Darwin because I'm with '3' - so Brian, our lift into town and hoast for the evening, arrives promptly. Numbulwar is a standard community - as communities go up here - of about 1000 people. Perhaps the odd thing is there appears to be very little demarkation of territory - the town appears to have just grown out of the countryside. Start off with a road, and build some houses either side. Few fences to speak of. Whatever is on the other side of the houses is whatever was there before. Anywhere else, and the line between town and countryside would be clear, with either fences, or mown grass stopping ubruply, or trees growing up to but not over some invisible boundry. But here, country and town blend in together in a beautiful way.

We stay the night at the Principles residnece which is, of course, comfortable but smaller and lighter than that provided for the 'locals'. We have a chat, settle in, then before it gets dark I decide to go for a wander to see the town. Mistake number one was proceeding beyond the end of the street. Mistake number two was not carrying a stick. It turns out the 'town hounds' are less friendly than in other communities, and I get a couple of grows and an escort for a while. Never close enough to bite, but I reacon if I took a fall they'd be feasting on my carcus before I hit the ground. When I get back 'home', not by the same road I left but in a round-about way through the scrub, I notice Brian has a couple of well worn 'walking sticks' next to the back door. One has even been fitted with a bike handle for extra grip. In light of the local hounds, the sticks take on a new meaning. I make a mental note, in case I need to venture out tomorrow.

I use Phils phone to make a quick call home to my loved one - then stuff in some earplugs, and hit the bed. More adventure tomorrow, no doubt.