March, 19th

Gawler

This morning we went on another kangaroo-hunt with Dean and we saw a lot of them, even some of the big, red ones. Dean gave us a demonstration on what he can do with his rover. This afternoon there will be a whole group visiting who want to practice driving these 4WD's. Before departing, we went to say goodbye to the tame kangaroo as the winds blowing down the mountain refused to calm down untill noon. Then we took Dean up for a flight over his farm before we left and proceeded along the Golf towards Adelaide. The sun was high in the sky so wie didn't have to wait too long for the first thermals...

The landscape is changing from flat to rolling hills with a dried out saltlake here and there and highly cultivated farmland. There are a lot of useless patches of lands in the State of South-Australia so wheat is cultivated wherever possible. We touch down at a glider-airfield at Balaklava. Well, the club's secretary had said he would be there to help us get some fuel - but there is nobody in sight. Just a raven sitting on the porch, refusing to move. He doesn't even budge when we try to give him some water. After waiting for an hour in this heat and still not seeing anybody, we walk down to the road to stop a car. We are lucky, the first sheep-shearer who passes by gives me a lift to the next farm. There they kept fuel in a 1.000 Litre tank.

Next we face a very difficult flight as to flight-security regulations because Gawler lies in the midth of a bundle of control zones around Adelaide. The aircontroller has a hard time deciphering our unusual call-signals. Gawler is a huge glider-airfield right next to the city with two crossing runways. We are lucky that we don't get in trouble with neighbours that might be annoyed by the noise we are making! As soon as we touch down there is a car driving towards us. Ian Shaugenessy had awaited us. We will spend the next two nights with him and his wife Julka, who left Germany for Australia 40 years ago.