Hats!

Whereever I go flying, whether hang gliding or on duty with Lufthansa, I usually have this hat in my luggage. With my fair skin I am quite sensitive to the sun and we usually end up flying in summer conditions in sunny weather, so I was very pleased to have found the perfect travel hat - light weight and indestructable. I put it into the sail before take off and sometimes forgot to take it out before I packed the glider - it stayed in the glider for days, yet it came out perfect.
Since my hat has come of age and seen many countries and comps over the past six years, I decided to find a new one, as I can only buy them in Sydney. And with the pre worlds in Forbes coming up in January, finding the perfect equipment is part of my preparation for the comp.
I had always bought these hats at Paddington market, but as that market is only on on Saturdays, I went to the studio of Maya Neumann in Darlinghurst today.
With the natural dye, every hat comes out unique. And the secret is the material - water hyacinth, you can just spray the hat with water and change the shape to anything you like! A bit like felt hats in Bavaria, just not as thick and heavy, but very light and delicate, made for summer and hot places. I chose my favourite colour and Maya finished my new "Squash hat" off. She also loves to travel the world and we exchanged some good "on the road stories".

A Koala and a Moyes family dinner

Sometimes you get rewarded even if the wind direction seems wrong and you decide not to launch. The Koala in the tree was sitting just next to take off - the first Koala I ever saw! Then just a few steps away I found the skin of a large brown snake, one of the most poisonous guys in the world. Then there are cockattoos, lazy lizards (who do they remind me of???) and wild turkeys everywhere. I love this amazing country!
And I love the amazing hospitality of the Moyes family - it is always a special treat to join Molly´s Sunday family dinner at Bronte Beach - and they really embrace me as part of the family. So good to see Vicki and Greg, Molly, Bill, Jen and Steve, Gerolf and about a dozen kids I cant quite place, as well as pilots who just drop in. Have you felt lost and in jet lag and foreign in this huge city of Sydney, at Molly´s Sunday dinner you arrive in a safe and very welcoming haven. It has become an institution over the years and I feel privileged to participate.

NBN news and Volle Kanne!

You can find the NBN news story here, I was very flattered when I watched it - nice images and really positive for our sport, the guys did a great job!
This monday morning on Volle Kanne in ZDF, you can watch the full story about meeting Benjamin on our trip to Ghana. Have a look at the information about it here and pictures here.

NBN TV news 6pm tonight!

Yesterday I went up to Newcastle for an interview with NBN TV. Weatherman Gavin Morris, a paraglider pilot, organized that for me - and I think it is important to present our sport in the most positive way as possible, specially in the places where we fly a lot, so non-pilots understand a bit more and might even try a tandem or start a course!
It was raining heaps and we had to shift the place of the interview away from launch to a house. No flying possible, but luckily I had lots of film footage of Tegelberg on my computer.
Of course my story is tightly entwined with Australia, as I have always won the world champion title on a Moyes hang glider and had been living in Sydney with the Moyes family many months. I still regard the world record outback expedition to Hillston and Wilcannia with Tomas Suchanek and Bill Moyes as a turning point in my career, my flying confidence just sky rocketed after that!
I was told that Sydneysiders can watch the NBN news online, and I should be up just after 6pm NSW-time tonight for people from the central coast northwards. As soon as I find the news online, I will link it for you! My first interview on Australian TV, and I hope I could get the TV producers excited to come out and visit us in Forbes at the pre-worlds and worlds!

Abbey

I loved that dog, Abbey was a very special family member of the Durands - I will miss her. My thoughts are with Judy, Big Jon, Gemma, Jonny and Josh.

Sandblasted

Sometimes even low on the dunes at sealevel the wind is too strong for flying. When the seagulls barely move, you better look at windsurfing, kitesurfing or exploring different wing profiles with your jacket. We were sandblasted on the beach, I guess some sand will stay in my clothes for the rest of my journey.
After that really cold experience at the beach, it was fun to take a fire bath - Cris heated a fire under the big bath tub in their garden which heats the water while you soak in it. The views are great, it is a real treat to watch sunset over the mountains from a hot little pool.

Christchurch after the earthquake

Cristchurch is still far away from a full recovery after the earthquakes hit. Lots of areas are closed, even if the houses look ok, people are not allowed to access their properties, and downtown you see a lot of cranes trying to hold up crooked, leaning high rise buildings.
The Christchurch Cathedral is not visible anymore, as you can´t access that area at all. In the meantime, containers were set up, glass fronts put into them, and shops and cafes are now set in containers. It´s just an interim solution, but it does look quite hip and trendy, just making the best out of that tough situation for all the shops.
I always considered New Zealand one of the safest havens to be, without nuclear power, not interesting enough in terms of natural resources for bigger countries to fight over, not a lot of people living there, it always seemed paradise. But one of the major falts of the earth crust runs along just under Christchurch. No tremors at all while I was there, and I hope that a desaster like this won´t happen here too soon again.
Cris and Tish own a property about 30 minutes north of Christchurch, and their house, road or land had not been affected at all by the quake luckily. They turned it into home for quite a lot of their Christchurch friends who had lost their houses and belongings after the catastrophe.

Christchurch

After a great time of meeting my friends Phil, Annelies, James, Mary and their families up in Auckland, I flew to Christchurch to stay with Tascha, Cris and Tali. The flight was scenic and revealed some of the beauty of the southern NZ alps. As the Air NZ flight was pretty booked out, I sat in the middle seat in a row of three. As it turned out, I was sitting next to a Kiwi pilot who had just returned from a work trip to Los Angeles. Always interesting to hear about working conditions of other airlines. It is sad that Air New Zealand does not seem to have a lot of airline partners for their staff travel conditions. I can fly on a standby Air New Zealand ticket, but their staff can´t fly Lufthansa!
In Christchurch, Tish and Cris took me to the beach to see if we can fly the dunes, but the wind was not on, so we just had a nice little picknick together with their little son Tali. The beach is beautiful - it is spring at the moment, and the sand dunes are covered in beautiful flowers!

NZ specials

Well the rainbow lorrikeets are actually Australian, but the Tuatara is an old kiwi favourite of mine. Needs one breath a minute, really cool guy that dragon!
Then of course the Kea, cheekiest bird alive! And could you spot the dog on the carpet? "Salty" is the Frankhams dog, and I wonder who was in the house first, the carpet or the dog?

Must be Halloween!

Despite the Qantas strike, I managed to fly from Brisbane to Auckland with Emirates. The flight was packed, but the crew was great - Brazilians, a Paraguayan, a Korean and a Maltese were working in economy where I was sitting. I like these international crews.
It only took 2.30 hrs to fly over, then I went to my friends James´s place and arrived just when they were preparing the Halloween costumes for the kids. Archie the ghost was scary, specially since he did not quite always manage to walk around all tables... and Annabelle as a bat was great too!
Rain over here today, spring just started - many friends to visit and catch up with, it has been 4 years since I saw them. New Zealand is just too far away!

Jonny the Legend!

Looks like Rohan won the day, but Jonny came in 3rd, and with 300 points ahead of the next pilot, he will clearly win this years Canungra Classic. What a legend! He really inspired me with his take off. Since he had his crucial ligement operated only 3 weeks ago, he hopped off one legged today from Tamborine mountain! In a place where other pilots have to do a really hard and long run today, he just graciously pretended to be a bird! Everybody was really impressed to see Jonny taking off like it was nothing special. My "young brother" has surely earned to win this comp.

More later, prize giving will start soon. I got 7 kms short of the 2nd turnpoint at Rathdowney and I think I didnt do too bad with that, might have made a few places back up. But the most important thing for me - I just had a fantastic time in the air, felt really good to be up with the eagles who joined my thermal every now and then! Canungra is a great place to fly, not just because of weather and flying conditions, it is mainly the great people of the club and of this comp who make it so special.

Big thanks to Tony and Michelle, best driver in the world. I had landed on a big field, but it was not easy to find the way to the property. And again, they did really well and got right to me on the paddock.

Canungra Day 7: cancelled

So apparently the guys didn´t drink enough last night at the Red Faces to improve the weather enough for a taskable day. yet the acts were classic. I was in the jury and it was well worth it - Big Jon offered me a Canungra Classic Mug as a bribe! I love those trophies, I think Jonny´s mugs are the nicest and most useful trophies of all the comps Ive flown so far. It just adds to the value that they are handmade by one of the greatest guys Ive met in hang gliding so far - but you only get them if you make the top ten. For me out of reach this year, as I had to pause a few days and be careful about my knee. Yet I got one mug today and Im the happiest girl in the comp!
We were keen and set up our gliders at beechmont, but the drizzle kept moving in and cloud base was superlow. Davo was keen anyway and went for a flight to show us the conditions. He climbed up to probably 80 m above launch and maintained. After a while of watching the dark clouds moving past us, no sun to be seen anywhere, the day was canned.
A few guys flew and toplanded, others went to the bombout and had a long retrieve. It looks like it will be flyable again tomorrow, on the last day of this years Canungra Classic, so let´s hope for a last epic flight to finish the comp with style!

Canungra Day 6: cancelled

Today we were again hang waiting on Beechmont launch. The wind was howling, seemed like 50 km/h in gusts. A task was set, but the safety committee decided to can the day. Only Jonny flew, and it did not look too inspiring. Quite turbulent air and really low cloud base. Not appealing if the first thing you have to do is dive over the back and cross a few no landing valleys...
Yesterday I had gone to the Gold Coast and saw a physiotherapist and chiropractor who did Atlas Therapy. Have a look at Dr Darren Scheuners
link, it really helped me immediately to straighten up my spine and my walk! It also seems to make my knee feel a lot better. I can warmly recommend that practice.
Tonight we will have the famous Red Faces Night in Canungra, and a lot of acts are lined up, as there will be a prize money of 750 $! Jonas and Wolfi are very keen to win it... I will have my camera ready ;)

Canungra Day 4: 88 km, day 5 cancelled

88 km around 3 turnpoints yesterday with about 10 people in goal, Jonny won it with a big lead of 7 minutes on Rohan. Pilots experienced quite a lot of aggressive eagles in the area of the first turnpoint and had to fix their torn sails today. Both Jonas and his father Hagen had severe cuts in the upper surface of their gliders.
Wolfi Siess is here and really likes the fun atmosphere of the comp. Until yesterday, he only had an internet stick to call retrieve via skype, but it dit not have reception yesterday, so he ended up with the police - they were trying to help him get to his driver. He borrowed some money, called the driver, went to the pub, got some beer, was told by the police guys that he can´t drink it on the road, so he had it in their car ;) Now he´s got a phone card as well. Wolfi is ranked 10th at the moment.
Some Red Bull sampling girls were up on the mountain yesterday and provided the pilots with wings, thanks to Jonny.
Today we went up to Beechmont launch, but the sky is overcast, the prediction is for rain and storms, as a trough moves through today and tomorrow. The day was cancelled at 11am. Looks like we will get two more good days on Friday and Saturday though.
Jonny is still in first place, followed by Blenky and Dave May. Amazing result for Jonny who had a severe knee operation (replacement of his crucial legaments) just three weeks ago and is now flying with wheels on his speedbar! David Newton in 9th is the top ranked guy of the large group of Kiwis who compete in Canungra this year. Results here.

Canungra Day 3: Tambo - no, Flying Fox!

Today we were asked to be on Beechmont launch at 8, but it was changed to briefing at the pub at 8.30 with short notice, as the wind direction has swung north. We went up to Tamborine launch, but it was not coming in. So we went to Flying Fox instead.
I decided not to fly, as the bomb out there is a quite dodgy slope landing, and I want to take it easy over here. I survived a tick attack on launch - hey and those creepy blood sucking things are way larger than in Europe, they are called paralysis ticks because the venom can paralise the muscles... I freaked out when I felt something crawling up my neck and jumped and asked my team mate Tony if it was a tick - and so it was! He took it off, it had just started to bite so it was easy to get out, but I had goosebumps for about an hour... what do you do when they bite you and you are in the air? It is really a plague here at the moment. I guess Queenslanders are used to that problem, but for a naive European it is a horror to see a tick of 5 mm in diameter before it even started feeding on blood...
It was dogleg task with the goal at Boonah T along Rathdowney. Quite a few pilots had to land in the bombout, even top pilots like Scott Barrett and Adam Parer had to come up again for a relaunch.
Curt Warren was first in goal, followed by Nick Purcell (he is having his best comp up here ever as far as I remember, doing really well) and Glen McFarlane, but Rohan Holtkamp might have won the day, having had the fastest time to goal.
The days are really starting superearly here and we have long retrieves, because the seabreeze doesnt allow an out and return back to Canungra, so Im happy that I had a rest today and could catch up with photos and reports on the comp. It might stay north tomorrow, so if it is Flying Fox launch again, I will take another day off and just enjoy the wonderful climate and nature up here in Canungra, centre of the universe, according to Davo. "It´s pumpiiiiiing", as he puts it ;)
There is a great bunch of Kiwi pilots over here as well, and it is nice to see Hagen Brueggemann flying with his son Jonas, Matt Barlow is the top Kiwi pilot at the moment, just Conrad is missing. I´ve always admired John Smith´s flying skills - he looks healthier than ever! But he had to borrow a glider for the comp - he tried to ship his glider over to Oz, but very unfortunately it ended up on the ship that is stuck on a reef in front of the north island of NZ, creating an oil spill and catastrophe for the nature of that area... and apparently the container with his glider already went overboard. Lucky he hasn´t lost his humour and enjoys the flying anyway!
Results here!

Canungra Classic day 2

Another early day at Beechmont, with a really early briefing and take off. Cloud base was higher than the day before, but it was difficult to get up fast, as there were long breaks between the cycles. When I finally started out on course, I was with about 5 other pilots and we managed to stay together nearly the whole course.
From the hills we went out to the flats up to Beaudesert, and just after the first turnpoint I got one of the real Aussie experiences - big bush fire, and the related really strong, smokey thermal. Smoked turkey ;)
Then back into the hills and towads the higher mountains along the border to NSW. Very scenic and great flying. About 20 guys made goal. Jonny, Dave May and Big Jon in the lead overall now.
I made it in as well and could move up 10 places in the overall rankings!

Canungra Classic Day 1: 92kms around

Today we had a south easter and went up to Beechmont launch - and had briefing at 8.30 in the morning. Task Briefing and all!!! Probably the earliest competition in the world ;) The Queenslanders don´t have daylight saving, so the sun rises at around 5 am.
We had to go around 2 turnpoints and then back to goal in Laravale. 62 pilots are in the comp, and quite a few chose the alternate early launch window before ordered launch started. Not too many pilots climbed out and could take the first window - the clouds covered most of the valley and it even started raining a few times...
Anyway, eventually we got up and going. I managed to cross the flying fox and Canungra valley, but got low in the Kerry and landed. Yet I was happy to be up in the air again! It felt wonderful, and the Moyes Mojo prototype has a sweet handling, it was easy on take off and landing, so perfect for a first flight after a long break.
The hard training paid off now, I could do a strong, hard run on take off. Thanks to the guys from Sportschule Puch, you have done a great job looking after my recovery!
I had to walk out a fair way from where I landed to get to the road - it was a huge property. Luckily the farmer came over on a motorbike and took me up to the road. Very rarely Ive found such a helpful and friendly farmer like Rob - apparently he is used to people landing on his fields because they are so big and inviting. It is a dairy farm with a beautiful landscape that totally reminded me of the movie "Australia". Joel, a young local pilot, landed with me and he was stoked when I returned just half an hour later with our driver Michelle! She had already anticipated where I might be before the farmer gave her directions on the phone...
Our team mate Tony got to goal and was one of about 12 happy pilots there. First in was Jonny Durand, followed by Dave May and Big Jon.
It took quite a while to set up the scoring program, so no results are up yet, but I will post the link as soon as they are.
The farmer and also people on launch warned us about the tick plague here - they have paralysis ticks that put a venom into their victim that numbs the muscles... Im paranoied about these little critters anyway. So far I was lucky, but I will watch out for that stuff.
Tomorrow it looks like we will go up to Beechmont again, another really early day. It was quite humid today with a base of barely 1000 m, but the lift in the flatlands turned on well I heard.

Canungra Classic

After a short work stop in Caracas, I took off for the big journey to Sydney. I arrived at the Moyes Factory in Botany early in the morning, catching up with Vicky and Steve, Jen and Matt. Then Vicky took me to the Central train station and I went north to Woy Woy to meet Glen McFarlane and drive up to Canungra with him the next day.
A long 9 hour trip later, and we arrived at the Gold Coast. Feels like coming home in a way. Today at take off, I met many good old friends - Both Jonny´s were there, Curt and Scott, Kathryn and Curtis, Matt and even Wolfi from Tyrol! A great bunch of pilots, so it is going to be a good comp this year! The weather looks promising. Im off to registration now, tomorrow will be the first comp day. more pics later!

October 19

"Come, gentle night.
Come loving, black-browed night.
Give me my Romeo.
And when he shall die,
Take him, and cut him out
in little stars,
And he will make the face
of heaven so fine
That all the world
will be in love
with night
And pay no worship
to the garish sun."

You touched many people´s lives, Nick, and we will never forget you.

Abu Dhabi

For the first time, I flew into Abu Dhabi in the morning and I could see the vast desert. For some reason I always think of Hannes Arch when Im here - he had a nice "Abu Dhabi" logo on his Red Bull Air Race plane ;)
While on other flights you hear babies screaming or dogs barking, on this Airbus 330 we kept hearing the car alarm of a Ferrari in the cargo department. A flight attendant kept turning it off with a key, but it started over and over again.
The new airport here is huge, just imagine you land at gate A42 in Frankfurt and you have to transfer to B30... it is a good workout of more than a mile and might end in airport jogging. I had enough time to catch the connection to Sydney, but unlike before, now the stand-bys have to sit and wait in front of the transfer desk. No cafe, no water. At least a few seats and internet for the waiting time. It used to be a really nice mosque like waiting lounge in the old airport here.
At least they show a movie on the overhead monitor. An old film where a passenger jet got in trouble with a bomb on board... they have a good humour here, I hope my fellow travellers can also appreciate that ;)
More when I get to the Moyes factory in Botany in about 18 hours. Long day.