Kooka, I really enjoyed your post. As a Sydney boy myself, I have to say I am very jealous of your early morning flight -- I get to fly in the Sydney area < once a year, when home for visits (have been in Pommy-land ~18yrs now..!) and so I know just how beautiful it is to fly over the Hawkesbury / Broken Bay / Victor-1 etc and am very jealous
Last time, about 6mths ago while visiting a mate in Canberra, we flew up to Sydney at break-of-day in his Beech Bonanza -- the City was glowing with golden reflections from the sunrise as we cruised back down the coast... got down to Nowra before the Navy had woken up (airspace came alive as we were in it) then stopped in at Merimbula for a cuppa and then a tour of the Snowy Mtns on the way back to YSCB (with some full-on MTW turbulence for entertainment en-route!)
I guess flying is a bit like riding a horse (kind of...) - my Dad, who used to break horses, reckoned you couldn't call yourself a rider until you'd been thrown 100 times... similarly, within our first few hundred hours we must have a wide range of experiences in order to fill the cup of experience, before we empty the cup of luck! Sounds like you're well on your way and have managed to surivie the odd fright, from which I am sure you will have learned(!), already... that's what its all about mate!
Andy
