Did anyone operate the F27 or F50 to Rupert Murdoch's farm paddock which was referred to as Rupes Place?
Yes, I did one charter to Rupert's farm, with a full load of glitterati and clitterati who we took there for lunch before taking them back to Sydney, all of them very well oiled, the same afternoon.
The one thing I do recall was that the gravel was a bit soft (it had rained relatively recently before we went in there) and the Friendly's wheels left quite definite ruts in the strip and the parking area.
I'm told we also threw up quite a bit of gravel as we started the takeoff run, much to the discomfort of those onlookers silly enough to be standing quite some distance behind the aircraft.
The strip was no more restrictive than some of the places we landed at on the Around Australia Charters, (probably the best holiday I've ever been paid to take).
The only downside to those excellent trips was the stupidity of the Flight Attendants' Union (the head office in Melbourne) forbidding the same two girls from doing the whole trip - the Union insisted on a crew change half way around the trip. (I think it was in Darwin.) I think it would be safe to say 100% of the ANSW girls hated that, as did the pax, who really bonded with the girls. (On the subject of the ANSW girls, if there was a lemon among them, I can't recall her. What a great bunch they were.)
I still have a vivid memory of walking into the bar at the Roebuck Arms in Broome with our two FAs in tow. Both girls were seriously overdressed for the Roey and both of them were
very near the top of the tree in the 'eye candy' department. The utter silence as forty feral West Orstralyan male drinkers stopped, to a man, to ogle the girls and look daggers at me and the FO was something to behold.
On one of the earliest Around Australia charters, one captain (the redoubtable Caveman) had to ask the pax if one of them would agree to use his American Express card to pay for the fuel at one of the more remote airfields, as the fuelling agent wouldn't accept the ANSW carnet.
I have to agree with earlier posts regarding ANSW. What a gem of an operation it was - and not just the aircrew. Pat and Malcolm ran about the most efficient and happy Admin. Department I've ever run across in my life.
I've just discovered this thread and agree with others' comments that it's been a pleasure to read - with the exception of posts #282 and 283. The less said about that individual the better. The many nicknames he collected over his years with AN - every one of the pejorative - says it all.