ICS Australasian Tribe Spring Fly-In Airlie Beach September 6 to 8, 2024
Thanks to Marg Wettenhall for this write up of the Airlie Beach Fly-in.
Despite the record warmth of winter 2024, 12 Comanches and 31 members and guests of the Australasian Tribe escaped to Airlie Beach in tropical North Queensland to welcome spring. Our hosts for this fly-in were Tina and Chris Hayhoe from Bundaberg who did an excellent job organising their first Australasian Tribe event.
Comanches began to arrive at Whitsunday Airport Shute Harbour starting the week before the fly-in as some decided to attend the “last ever (?)” Whitsunday Airport Runway Dinner followed by a short vacation on the Barrier Reef. The rest of the group negotiated strong winds on the challenging approach to runway 14 at Shute Harbour. All landed successfully and our group enjoyed a leisurely afternoon at The Hangar airport café and bar. There we were joined by Jack and Mellory who flew their recently acquired 260C VH-SMJ down from Mareeba to spend the afternoon with the group.
After multiple bus and car transfers we finally arrived at Mantra Club Croc at Airlie Beach (an excellent choice by Tina and Chris) to check in, find the bar and then have a catchup over a leisurely dinner in the bistro.
Saturday morning saw “the intrepid 10” head off very early to investigate the bottom of Shute harbour from the glass bottomed boat. Despite the winds, no instances of sea-sickness were reported. The remainder of our group enjoyed a very relaxed and extended breakfast at the Mantra awaiting their return. We then piled into the bus and 3 cars for an excursion around the headland – starting at the Whitsunday Gold Coffee plantation (coffee, cakes, birds and a menagerie), then to the unspoiled Conway Beach for lunch at a 50s style diner. A short detour into the rainforest to see the spectacular Cedar Creek Waterfall (sans water) and then back to the Mantra. Finally, the group finished off the day with an excellent dinner and serious lubrication at Sorrento’s on the marina at Airlie Beach.
Sunday morning dawned windy and with low cloud and showers. However by midmorning it had cleared sufficiently for those who wished to leave to avoid the hills and safely depart.
An interesting aspect to this flyin was the number of attendees who stayed longer at Airlie Beach and/or continued with a longer flyaway. Planned destinations included far Western Qld and Lake Eyre; far North Qld and the Gulf, and Mount Hagen in PNG to welcome home Barry Payne (and Bob) from his 2nd Round the World Comanche flight. Once again, this shows what excellent travelling machines our Comanches are !
A big thank you to Chris and Tina Hayhoe for organising an excellent flyin with great food and a good balance of activities and camaraderie. Thanks too to those who attended their first ever Comanche flyin. We hope you had a good time and look forward to seeing you again.
Remember – there are no strangers in our club- just friends you haven’t yet met !
