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FLY-IN TO HORSHAM VICTORIA, 20 – 22 OCTOBER 2006

An early morning start had us as the first to arrive at Horsham for the second IFFR fly-in this year. After a warm welcome by members of the Horsham Aero Club we booked into the Capital Motor-inn, our base for the next few days.

A wander around town, seeing the local sights took us to the Horsham Botanical Gardens on the banks of the Wimmera River. The collection of roses were a treat. A great walking track along the river, a legacy of a visionary Horsham resident, took in the Wimmera River Environmental Centre, the Anzac Memorial and the Music Bowl.

In the CBD, as the afternoon wore on it was wonderful to meet up with IFFR members as they started to trickle in to Horsham. By the evening there were 10 aircraft and 32 members gathered at the Capital for our informal get-together.

Saturday morning had us braving the -1C temperature to await the bus to take us on our tour of the Grampian Mountains.  “Woody” was our congenial host and pointed out the many items of interest on the way.  Our first stop was at the foot of Mt. Zero, on the northern end of the Grampians at the Mt. Zero Olive grove.

Here we were told a little of the history and statistics of this 45 year old industry on this site.  Sample products of all kinds related to olives were available and for the rest of the bus tour we were accompanied by the gentle clink of olive oil and sauce bottles at every bump in the road.

The next stop was at the quaint village of Wartook, within a short drive to Lake Wartook.  It was evident here that the drought was having it’s effect as the water line was clearly visible way above the level of water at present.  Even so, a wonderful view of the lake with a backdrop of the Grampians.  The visitors parking is fairly limited at the lake and here Woody had a slight altercation with a group of non-comprehending Swedes who couldn’t understand that our coach required considerable space to turn around.  Finally with a marshalling team of 5 IFFR members, traffic was halted enough for the difficult manoeuvre to be completed.

Next stop was at the peak of the Grampians which provided spectacular valley views in all directions.  Almost immediately below was the village of Halls Gap.  The sandstone protrusions of the Grampians have been marveled at by generations of visitors.  There are many walks throughout the National park which has many waterfalls to visit.  The waterfalls, however, did not put on a good show for us.  We will return after the drought is over.

The village of Halls Gap is the gateway to the Grampians so a lot of tourist traffic congregates here.  Woody had some difficulty finding a spot to park the coach, but after another encounter with the bewildered Swedes he managed to squeeze the bus under some shady trees.  We had about two hours to have lunch and explore the village.

Further down the valley is situated Lake Belfield.  This is a water storage that was built in 1966.  At completion it flooded the picturesque valley and village of Belfield.  In this village was a grand guest house, complete with swimming pool.  The buildings were removed but the foundations, steps, parking lots, etc. remained to be inundated.  Now 40 years later, the water level has dropped to expose the roads with white markings, stumps and steps, but most intriguingly the guest house swimming pool, now partially filled with mud.

The return tour to Horsham took us past the many farming properties south east of Horsham.  It’s very obvious that the stock on these properties are not doing as well as they are accustomed.

After the bus unloaded the many sleepy travelers, some of us opted to go to the airport where the Aero Club was hosting a fly-in and trade show billed as a “Beer, Bar-B-que and Bonfire” It was interesting to see the skydiving, vintage DC3 and an assortment of aircraft which had flown in.

Saturday night we were on the bus again to be delivered to the Old Horsham Restaurant for our formal dinner.

Sunday morning had us gathered at the Capital again for our IFFR meeting.  Up-coming events were discussed and other general business completed before the bus collected us again to transport us to the airport.  Here, members of the Horsham Aero Club had prepared a wonderful lunch before IFFR members left to return to their respective bases.

Thanks to Bruce McClure and Dick Wilson for putting together another great IFFR Fly-in programme.

Reported by Andrew M