Morning Glory 2001

Subject: Gloria
 

From: Dieter Stuempfl <thermgard@noShunterlink.net.au>
Subject: glory 2001
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001
 

This late Sept/early Oct, I got there later than my usual "convoy" of zhimangos (a.k.a. Super Grob's) due to delays in fitting the newly majored engine back into ZAK. We (Liz & I) met part of the usual suspects at Hervey Bay on their way back, where we were told that this year would be a waste of time due to smoke haze, lack of bats, no dew on beerglasses etc....

Since my motto has always been that the journey is the adventure and the 'glory is a bonus, we carried on up via Emerald, Longreach, Mt. Isa and Lawn Hill (yes, all of these where overnights, 'cause Liz can't handle the thermals, so our flying was restricted to the smooth morning hours only). That way I got to experience some of the towns that we normally only see from the perspective of the refuelling bowser. Delightful interludes included a great botanic garden at Emerald, astronomy at Charleville (the historic pub there is not bad either), Undara lava tubes and some of the architecture of Lighting Ridge.

But I digress....
I got the feeling that Burketown wasn't going to be too inviting this year, what with Paul and Amanda closing down Savannah Lodge and Escott  and the pub being booked out, so we decided to stay at Sweers for a couple of nights instead. As it turned out, this strategy paid off handsomely in terms of accessibility to the 'glory.

We flew up to Sweers from Lawn Hill early on Saturday 29.Sept., after a day at Lawn Hill Nat. Park and a night at the camping ground at Adels Grove (highly recommended by the way, the new owners couldn't do enough to make the stay a pleasant one). We even spotted a great big croc during the obligatory canoe paddle up the gorge (photographic evidence can be provided!), just a few hundred metres from where we had just had a nice cool swim! However, having observed the utter cowardice of freshies last year on the Nicholson River, I felt reasonably relaxed, perhaps foolishly so. Liz had none of these macho hangups and firmly announced that she would never ever accompany me again for a swim in those waters.

But I digress....
After a more than successful fishing trip at Sweers (we were invited to share a boat with a couple of real fishing nutters and their Baron pilot from the Isa), we retired to our cabin after a magnificent barbeque. About 4 a.m. I sensed more than heard this faint whisper through the windows, got up and went outside to feel the moisture of dew underfoot and a now distinct rustle through the sparse bush of the island. Looking up into the moonlit sky, I could make out this gigantic and unmistakable shadow in the distance. A few minutes later, the 'glory arrived overhead with a great gust of wind, felt like 20 knots. It was the first time I had witnessed a 'glory from the ground, truly impressive. I counted seven successively weaker clouds going by overhead over the next hour or so (Liz politely excused herself after about number three and went back to bed).

But I digress....
Following another day in the paradise that is Sweers Island (a picnic on the beach where we saw great numbers of giant turtles frolicking in the swell, not to mention a small shark cruising by), I was quietly optimistic about our chances to connect with a 'glory the next morning, 1.October. Sure enough, an exploratory look outside our cabin at about 6 a.m. confirmed some dew on the ground. Tex had kindly offered us the use of the ute to drive out to the strip, where the Grob awaited us close to daybreak. By the time I had finished loading and checking the glider, the first light revealed some undulations on the horizon which could only mean one thing: a great big beautiful 'glory!

After lift off into the east, all was revealed by the time we got to 500 feet: about 20 miles away this magic great cloud awaited us stretching from horizon to horizon. Since the cloud was travelling towards us at about 1 mile per 3 minutes (20 knots) and we were approaching it at 15 miles per 10 minutes (90 knots), it only took about 10 - 15 minutes before we were confronted by this immense wall of cloud towering above us. We shut the engine down after confirming that we were in fact climbing at about 600 feet per minute in front of that magnificent cloud. Liz who had never flown in anything smaller than a 747 before coming along on this trip couldn't get over the smoothness of the glide ahead of this 'glory. We climbed in front of it to about 6000 feet, which represented the tallest 'glory I had so far been on, previous encounters being to about 3500 to 4500 feet. 

Arriving at the top of the cloud, it is hard to describe the vista which awaits you as you leave the gloom in front of the cloud and see the sun, which is not long above the eastern horizon, illuminate the tops of the primary 'glory as well as the entire downstream side of the 'glory system. On this occassion, we could observe four clearly defined but consecutively smaller parallel roll clouds and another three less well defined but still recognisable parts of the same wave system.

Riding the 'glory is an excellent exercise in relative motion: your seemingly linear track in front of the cloud in fact desribes a great arc as the cloud itself travels over the Gulf at 20 knots or more. We travelled outbound some 40 miles past Mornington Island, then turned around and found that our track now was becoming more and more parallel with the coastline. Back near the mainland, we realised we were not alone! After hearing him on the radio for some time, we eventually observed a glider coming towards us, which turned out to be Geoff Pratt in a Monerai motorglider from Cairns who is an annual participant in the hunt for the 'glory.

We followed the 'glory over the coast near Burketown, when we could see evidence of it breaking up in the convection which had now started. After exploring a secondary and tertiary roll cloud with progressively lower climb rates, it was time to start the engine and set course for Normanton, our next stop.

When we called Ray at Sweers on the radio to thank them again for their hospitality and for a brief description of our ride that morning, he summed out our luck by asking: "do you think you've been struck on the arse by a rainbow?"  - enough said, I think.

Best regards,
Dieter