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My usual mundane commute was interrupted today, which saw me spending much more time in the office then normal, and a much more rushed time getting to my CNS flight.
The day started OK, up at the usual 03:25 for a S,S &S, breakfast and bus to work for a few quick hours of last minute tidy up before our Tassie holiday, commencing tomorrow.
Not long before I would normally start to pack up, a colleague emailed me to say there had been a fairly significant landslide that had taken out the road between me and my first flight of the day! As there was a landslide a few days back between Mt Hagan and Lae (which was causing its own dramas with Jet A1 at HGU), I thought to myself in Sgt Shultz style ... Jolly Joker!
Well as it turned out, it was no joke. A 300m wide chunk of mountain had slid downhill taking out the road I had driven along only a few hours earlier, leaving it totally impassable. So I stayed at my desk working and wondering how I'd explain my no show to Europcar, H-CNS, QF, VA and Peppers......not to mention TID and most importantly my +1 and daughter that I was supposedly meeting in MEL prior to the flight across the strait! The holiday is for our 23rd (I think, close enough) wedding anniversary, our 30th year together and Lisa's birthday, so let's face it, there was only a divorce resting on this carefully enacted and very cunning plan (credit to Baldrick)!
So after some time of drinking coffee (excellent Goroka highlands coffee), I had a brainwave to ring the helipad and inquire as to the availability of a rotary and low and behold, two were available on standby. OK, simple......walk to the nearest bus stop, catch the bus to the helipad and I'm laughing! So after one high altitude walk (which my lungs are not overly adapted to) and one highlands bus trip, I'm at the helipad only to realise I'm not the only one with the same idea. To add to the issue, the Lae-Hagan land slip earlier in the week, where the only track to us, (loosely referred as the Highlands Highway), slid monumentously into a ravine and stopped fuel (not to mention something far more dear to my heart - food) from reaching us and hence limiting supply to the Bell 212 that enticingly beckoned, meaning us early comers (should that go in the "you know you're a frequent flyer when" thread ....... "You beat the other mug punters to the heliport") had to wait for a full payload, which delayed the process a tad! Anyway, we were flown over the slip, to land safely at Suyan village where we had to catch another bus to Kairik airstrip where our usual Twotters were waiting to take us to HGU!
A relief occurred at HGU where we cleared customs, as we weren't entirely sure our ATRs had fuel for CNS and POM was a very real refuelling possibility.
So I started typing this in the H-CNS lounge, thinking "what an ordeal"! What a load of cough! We talk about our "first world problems", yet I've learned 100 houses slid down the hill with the landslide. While I was worried about a holiday, 100 families have lost everything they own (it isn't much, but it was theirs.) and are tonight, out in the cold and rain (at 8000 ft and wet, it's bloody cold), wondering where they will get shelter...where they will get food and how they will start from absolutely nothing!
EDIT: The impending landslip was not secretive with a great rumbling and movement (so I've been told), and thankfully, there have been no identified casualties.
The day started OK, up at the usual 03:25 for a S,S &S, breakfast and bus to work for a few quick hours of last minute tidy up before our Tassie holiday, commencing tomorrow.
Not long before I would normally start to pack up, a colleague emailed me to say there had been a fairly significant landslide that had taken out the road between me and my first flight of the day! As there was a landslide a few days back between Mt Hagan and Lae (which was causing its own dramas with Jet A1 at HGU), I thought to myself in Sgt Shultz style ... Jolly Joker!
Well as it turned out, it was no joke. A 300m wide chunk of mountain had slid downhill taking out the road I had driven along only a few hours earlier, leaving it totally impassable. So I stayed at my desk working and wondering how I'd explain my no show to Europcar, H-CNS, QF, VA and Peppers......not to mention TID and most importantly my +1 and daughter that I was supposedly meeting in MEL prior to the flight across the strait! The holiday is for our 23rd (I think, close enough) wedding anniversary, our 30th year together and Lisa's birthday, so let's face it, there was only a divorce resting on this carefully enacted and very cunning plan (credit to Baldrick)!
So after some time of drinking coffee (excellent Goroka highlands coffee), I had a brainwave to ring the helipad and inquire as to the availability of a rotary and low and behold, two were available on standby. OK, simple......walk to the nearest bus stop, catch the bus to the helipad and I'm laughing! So after one high altitude walk (which my lungs are not overly adapted to) and one highlands bus trip, I'm at the helipad only to realise I'm not the only one with the same idea. To add to the issue, the Lae-Hagan land slip earlier in the week, where the only track to us, (loosely referred as the Highlands Highway), slid monumentously into a ravine and stopped fuel (not to mention something far more dear to my heart - food) from reaching us and hence limiting supply to the Bell 212 that enticingly beckoned, meaning us early comers (should that go in the "you know you're a frequent flyer when" thread ....... "You beat the other mug punters to the heliport") had to wait for a full payload, which delayed the process a tad! Anyway, we were flown over the slip, to land safely at Suyan village where we had to catch another bus to Kairik airstrip where our usual Twotters were waiting to take us to HGU!
A relief occurred at HGU where we cleared customs, as we weren't entirely sure our ATRs had fuel for CNS and POM was a very real refuelling possibility.
So I started typing this in the H-CNS lounge, thinking "what an ordeal"! What a load of cough! We talk about our "first world problems", yet I've learned 100 houses slid down the hill with the landslide. While I was worried about a holiday, 100 families have lost everything they own (it isn't much, but it was theirs.) and are tonight, out in the cold and rain (at 8000 ft and wet, it's bloody cold), wondering where they will get shelter...where they will get food and how they will start from absolutely nothing!
EDIT: The impending landslip was not secretive with a great rumbling and movement (so I've been told), and thankfully, there have been no identified casualties.
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