Bart Bear's Blog

Helicopters are a great way to see the countryside.In previous posts I showed some of our photos of Uluru and Kata Tjuta taken on our helicopter flight at Uluru, now here are some that show the country around the larger area. In the top one you can see ridges of red sand in strange patterns. These are ancient sand dunes that Spinifex grass and Desert Oak trees have stabilised. They are there in the other photos as well, but not as easy to see. Surprisingly, you see the same pattern of swirls and curly lines in the art of the local Anangu people.If you look closely at the middle picture you will see a batch of tents near the left hand edge. These are actually very posh tents, costing much more per night than the Oldies can afford. They are where Wills and Kate stayed when they visited Uluru. The royals were at Uluru just before us. You can see where we stayed in the bottom picture. The big resort in the centre, curving around a pool, is "Sails in the Desert"; I can't recommend it highly enough, it is a great place to stay. The buildings to the left are the Yulara police and ambulance stations. Yulara shopping centre is on the left of the resort, and other hotels, motels and caravan parks are in the background. We will do another trip to the Centre sometime. The scenery is mind-blowing and photos just don't do it justice.

Labels: Central Australia, helicopter, Uluru

40 Km west of Uluru are the spectacular domes of Kata Tjuta, which are also called The Olgas. They are actually part of the same sandstone bed as Uluru. The rock goes deep underground and breaks the surface at Uluru and the Olgas. Instead of one big Rock, Kata Tjuta is eroded into many separate rock domes. You can drive there from Uluru, but can only walk in a few controlled areas; the rest is sacred ground to the Anangu people. We decided to see it the easy way, from the air. Our helicopter took us to both Uluru and Kata Tjuta, and I have to say that this is something that everyone should do. From the ground you don't get the impression of the size of these sites. Because of the rain of previous months, the creek beds draining the Olgas were really green. The contrast with the red of the rocks and the brown of the desert scrub made a picture that this small bear will remember for a long time.

Labels: Central Australia, helicopter, Uluru

The best way to see Uluru is from a helicopter. From the ground you can see only one side at a time; from the air you really get the impact of the size of the monolith. I guess these photos speak for themselves. I will just point out that the region had just had the best rain for 35 years, so the country is far greener than normal. You can see the Rock is surrounded by a green ring where the runoff from the rock has led to more growth. In the bottom right photo you can see the remains of the old airstrip. This was in use from 1959 until the new airport was built at Yulara in 1984. In the background of this photo you can also see the old Ayres Rock resort area. When Yulara was established in the 1980s, all tourist activities were moved there and the old tourist area was handed back to the traditional owners, who call it Mutitjulu.

Labels: Central Australia, helicopter, Uluru

Did I mention that Leonardo Da Vinci was the first to think of almost every machine? Well, here's another couple. The one on the left is a jack. It is just like the one that Dad had in his old car. The only problem with this model is that the handle is too high for small bears to reach. Dad could reach it and it certainly lifts small bears easily enough. The one on the right is a helicopter! It is not much like a modern chopper, but the basic idea is there. I can see a few problems that Leo would have come up against if he had a useful motor and had built a full-sized machine. For sure, he would have had to put a tail rotor on it to counteract torque, and something to cure the cyclic variation in lift as the blades whiz around (Dad explained about this and I almost understand it). I am sure that a genius like Leo would have sorted these out and we would have had working choppers centuries ago, except that nobody had discovered petrol and light-weight engines then.

Labels: Canberra, gardens, helicopter, heroes

The whiskery old guy in the red suit snuck up on me again. I had a screen of helpers to catch him, but he picked the only time that all of us were catching a bit of shut-eye and left a pile of packages for us all. I was first up on Christmas morning and there was this huge bag labelled "Bart". I had a tough job unpacking it. Actually I had to wait for some help from the oldies. Guess what was in it. My very own helicopter. I have been on a few helicopter rides and saw how the pilots flew them, so I am going to have lots of fun flying this little one around the house. When I can get it away from Dad that is.
You can see the pictures a bit bigger if you just click on them. And don't forget to check back through the archives for my earlier postins.

Labels: aircraft, Christmas, helicopter, models, Santa

Dad shouldn't have taken us for a helicopter ride when we were on our Great Ocean Road trip because both Mum and I are totally hooked on them. They are a fantastic way to see things that you can't see from the ground and really give you a better idea of what the country you are driving through is like. Here are a couple of pictures from our two flights so far. As you can see, the weather and scenery were very different each time. The pictures on the left are from the wild and rainy day we flew over the Twelve Apostles and the nearby coast. You can see how rough the ocean was and how deserted the countryside is apart from a few houses and cows. The pictures on the right are from our Gold Coast trip. You can see a big difference. Beautiful weather and a landscape full of buildings, canals, lakes and sandbanks. My favourite spot in helicopters is on top of the instrument console. From there you can keep a check on what the pilots are up to and can see everywhere except behind the chopper. Sometimes I clamber around the cabin but Mum always notices and drags me back, even when you would think she is concentrating on filming. Mums really do have eyes everywhere!

To see the photos better, just click on them. And do check out my archives for earlier posts.

Labels: aircraft, Gold Coast, Great Ocean Road, helicopter, Queensland, Victoria

Yes, helicopters do have wings. Dad says that a helicopter is really a rotary-winged aircraft. The wings are the long thin things that whiz around on top and that you have to be careful of when you are getting in and out so that you don't end up as thinly-sliced bear kebab. Anyhow, here are a couple of photos of what we flew over.
The top photo is over South Stradbroke Island. South Straddie is one of the islands that make the outside of the Broadwater and the southern end of Moreton Bay. It is mostly sand and scrub. Notice how the pilot has given me a really important job. I am the forward lookout and I have to yell if I see other aircraft in the sky or sharks or whales in the water.
The bottom photo shows some of the big buildings of Surfers Paradise. The really big one is called Q1. It is the tallest residential tower in the world at present. I have been almost to the top of it. In fact, the very second picture on my blog was taken out of one of the 78th floor windows; check it out in the November 2006 archive. It is the building where the security guard insisted on putting me through a full-body search before he let me in the building (check the Dec '06 postings for an embarrasing picture). It was great to see it from way up above with no security hassles. Small bears and helicopters are really meant to go together.

Labels: aircraft, Gold Coast, helicopter, Queensland

Gotta love these oldies of mine. They took me on another helicopter ride! This one was in the same sort of chopper that we flew in over Port Campbell National Park, a Robinson Raven. But the country we flew over this time was very different. Instead of the wild, windy, rough cliffs and ocean, this time it was over the high-rises, canals and theme parks of the Gold Coast. And the weather was perfect this time. The pilot was agreeable to having small bears in the cockpit (more on that later). Here we are with the Raven on the floating heliport at Southport, just back from our flight. The yellow things on the oldies' waists are life-jacket pouches. They had to wear them in case the chopper had to land in the water. We didn't, so I still don't know how they work, but there wasn't one my size so maybe it's just as well.

Labels: aircraft, Gold Coast, helicopter, Queensland

At Avalon airshow I saw a really mean-looking helicopter. It was bigger than the one I flew in and it had a big gun under its nose. Gee, I could have some fun with a machine like that. Dad says that it is a Tiger. Well, maybe, but real tigers have yellow and black stripes and this one had brown, green and black ones. The small photo in the corner is a good example of why you never turn your back on Mum when she has the camera. OK, Dad and I were both looking up and we have more or less the same shape but we don't need photos to prove it!

Labels: aircraft, airshow, aValon, helicopter, Victoria

Boy, was the ocean rough the day we went helicoptering over the Port Campbell National Park coast! Some of the waves were so big that they actually threw spray right over the top of the cliffs. None of them hit my helicopter though. The town is Port Campbell. Waves were running right into its little harbour so no boats were there. Our helicopter ride wasn't rough at all and the pilot dodged all of the rain showers. It is easy to see why so many ships have been wrecked along this bit of coast, particularly sailing ships which got too close in and hit the reefs and cliffs. There have been over 150 wrecks along the coast we travelled between Melbourne and Adelaide. I'll stick to planes or cars along here. That water is far too rough and cold.

Labels: aircraft, Great Ocean Road, helicopter, Victoria

I saw a really big helicopter at the Avalon airshow. It was much bigger than the one I flew in a week later. This is a Russian Mil-8 helicopter. It is one of the most successful helicopters ever. It is used in over 40 countries and there are over 10,000 of them in use. This one is used for carrying cargo and aerial agriculture work. The people who import these choppers into Australia told us all about them and let me climb all through this one. Aeroplane people usually like small bears.

Labels: aircraft, airshow, aValon, helicopter, Victoria

The absolutely most exciting thing we did on our trip was to fly in a helicopter over the Port Campbell National Park. I was a bit worried because the day was overcast and blowing a gale, but Dad wanted to go and Mum let herself be talked into it. I expected to be tossed all over the place but the chopper was a lot more stable than an ordinary aeroplane would have been. We flew over the Twelve Apostles and up the coast past Port Campbell. The sea below us was really wild and smacking onto the cliffs with lots of spray. The oldies got some great pictures and video. I watched the pilot so I could take over if anything went wrong but nothing did. If you visit the Twelve Apostles then take a trip in this helicopter. It really is one of the things you will remember forever.

Labels: aircraft, Great Ocean Road, helicopter, Victoria