I took off the other day for the Solomon Islands from Brisbane...11:30am departure (very civilised hour). Had a goumet brunch, loveliest flight attendants on earth. Nothing but ocean, blue skies, a smidgen of cloud and a 120kt tail wind.
Mountain range to descend through before Henderson Airfield, mount Austin boasts a 1,000 on top of Kosiusko....and 10 DME from the airfield. Some cloud cover over these ranges, a touch of spoiler, and we were in paradise.
A little less than an hour turnaround, and we were DME stepping up these same ranges, another goumet meal across the coral sea (with desert this time due to the headwind home), a nice descent through fantastic Queensland thunderies/lightning/hail, a rare left base over Brisbane town (spectacular city scenic) for a visual, home by 4:30pm (civilised hour) for some street cricket with the kids................Mate!!!! Nothing in the whole world like it. Wouldn't be dead for quids. Really beats the hell out of another day in the office.