November 2 2009    Tocumwal Tourist Information Centre

It is Melbourne Cup weekend  and a lot of Victorians have a long weekend which means it is pretty busy in town here and on the river. I even had to wait to cross the road today , …for a moment I thought I was back in Holland.
As I told you Sportaviation’s  Caravan park is open now and a nice bunch of friends from Eddie and Sheryl had some bubbles and good steak on the BBQ last Saturday evening. A big job was done first by Bracey and Laurel, getting/lifting  all the “left-overs” from the builders as wood and plastic , tiles and more,  from the concrete where the BBQ was on. Margie and I swept the floor after [ it was 36 dgr.!!!]and we all felt well to have contributed a bit . Other people have done much more and as Eddie said,” many hands make the work lighter”. Compliments and congratulations to Ed and Sheryl!
Rolf the instructor joined in as well, but young Jake had to babysit. I found out that Jake is Neville’s son and I baby sitted him, when his dad was flying about 10 years ago. He was 4 then and  walking around with as it seemed at that time an “always running nose”.He is a good looking 14 year old young lad now and his goal in life at this moment it to take over Eddie’s business when Ed is old and he ready to go for it!! Atleast het gets the best instruction now and is eager to do some gliding when hew turns 15!

Some friends from Horsham  flew and drove in and it was nice to meet them. Got some info from Tony Brand the Chief engineer and managing director from Horsham Aviation Services, agents for Eurofox. Eddie bought his EUROFOX from him.  Bracey has his Mooney with them for maintenance.
A nice little “toy” this Eurofox is. Eddie uses it for towing and lessons. It has a large cabin I noticed when Terry {PC} came out after a flight before the 2 men flew it back to Horsham [about 2 hours] and the girls drove back.[about 5 to 6 hours!]
I was amazed to read that the wings can be folded in less then 10 minutes by one person.It also has a very short take off as I noticed myself, as well as a landing ground roll.It has a FITI Competition propeller and a 912 ULS Rotax 100 HP or 912 S Rotax 80 HP.
A beaut plane! [www.horshamaviation.com.au]

First caravans found their spot in the parc  and Ray and Tim and Laurel were the very first. Swiss Chriss and Dundee will follow soon. Prices are OK, though I found prices for young backpackers travelling around with their back pack, passing by the MECCA of Tocumwal gliding and willing to try it, a bit high , so I will try to convince the owners for a special price for them and their little tents!

In between the Sportaviation guests are happily flying. As said 3 pilots from China who also do some powerhours with Don and 3 from New Zealand. David flew , so did  Terry and the weather was great with some lenties in the morning and 39 dgr. later in the day! A “bloody hot day”, best was to stay inside in a cool room.

Waterrestictions will have stage 4  the next 3 days. That is pretty bad. With the heat here , even these high temperatures in spring, it is difficult with water here. Stage 4 means that ALL outside watering is banned during those days. The reason for that is that the council has engaged a contractor to replace the clear and back-wash tanks at the Toc. water treatment plant. Next week another 3 days will have stage 4.

The BUSH MARKET on Saturday was great and as busy as in the past. A place to meet lot’s of people so it took us some time to walk around there. Some of you surely remember the olive-oil business at the airport. They are doing well, I had a talk with the owner. Though he does n’t know any of the names of the planes flying above his estate, he knows all the colours and even told me that the DOVE has flown out just a few weeks ago.Talking about the “past” it seems that the old WW2 hangar will be used again. NOT the hangar itself but the briefing room and sunroom. Abour 30 “to-be-pilots from Malaysia and India are going to have lessons here. They come from Bankstown [Sydney] with their instructors. So a bit more action here at the airfield of Tocumwal.

Not more time as the hour has “gone”. See you later, still not sure if NZ will happen on November 5-6-7-and 8. Greetings Ritz