Geneva - again 28-29 June 2009

After a day at the airshow it was back to work. Another meeting in Geneva but this time it was an early start on Monday morning so my colleagues and I had to fly over on Sunday afternoon. So it was the usual flight with Austrian in a Fokker 70 on a very pleasant afternoon. Despite all the rain in Vienna it seemed that Switzerland was having good weather.

We were staying at the Royal Hotel near the centre of town so after checking in we were able to stroll down the edge of the lake only 3 blocks or so away. We looked at THE water jet and then commented how clear the water was before finding a restaurant for dinner.

THE water jet

The selection was french/italian place and the food was OK as we sat out in a tree lined square a little bit back from the lake.

Monday morning, after breakfast, the team assembled and headed off to the Palais des Nations for the meeting. It was a beautiful morning but the sun was shining a bit more than we thought. The walk took us past the famous old front door with all the flags of the UN Member States on display.

Fountains and flags at the old front door

The significance of the chair sculpture was lost on me - but a broken, three legged chair outside the United Nations does have some symbolism.........................

In the end it was a warm group that finally went through the security gates and found our meeting room.

In the great hall on our way to the meeting

The meeting went all day but the break for lunch allowed us a chance to walk around the gardens and get a view of the front of the grand building I had not been able to see last month when I was there.

The view from the gardens

The meeting ended more or less on time and was considered a success but sadly my colleague and I had to depart before the cultural show and reception to mark the end of the day so we could catch the evening Austrian flight home. The other members of our delegation were able to stay on and I heard later that the show was good with traditional dancers from central Asia. Of course when we were at the airport and checked in they advised of a one hour delay! So we went and sat in the lounge and had a couple of well earned G&Ts reach while we waited and watched Andy Murray lose that first set.

As the sun was setting the plane finally arrived and we purchased the obligatory swiss chcolate for distribution back in the office. The plane arrived in time for me to catch the last but one train back to Vienna City and I was home by 2330.

Airpower 2009 June 27th

An early start to be collected at 0630 by my friend James (husband of my former German teacher) and we set off from a cool but clear-skied Viena to head off 190 km to the south west to Zeltweg, Austria. Site of the A1 Ring, location of the former Austrian F1 Grand Prix.

The weather was a concern as we have had very wet week in Austria with the Danube rising 2 metres or so and the Danube Island Festival under threat of cancellation. Anyway it had stopped raining and we were hopeful. As we drove into the alps (Zeltweg is at 2200 feet elevation) the weather became less appealing and we drive through low cloud at times.
Despite our early start the traffic was heavy and we arrived at the venue to see the opening acts from the car as we queued to get into our reserved car park on the airfield.

A view of the crowd from the balcony of the bar - hills and rain clouds at the rear provided an impressive backdrop.

A super opening act with an f16 flying back and forth releasing flares and a parade of helicopters.By the time we were actually installed in our reserve enclosure a Long Ezy was flying a display-memories of days in Darwin watching the same sort of plane doing displays.

Long Ezy

The air displays never stopped all day with a fantastic range of aircraft including ear shattering runs by Typhhon/Eurofighters, displays by Red Bull, Breitling , Turkish, Swiss and Polish teams amongst others). Displays by the Austrian armed forces, parachutists both civilan and military, an example of a Red Bull air race, aerobatics, warbirds, water bombing and replicas of a Bleriot XI and a Fokker DR1 triplane and an amazing aerobatic display by an Italian airforce cargo plane all contributed to a truly spectacular day.

This is the Italian airforce looping an Alenia C27J Spartan - "the little cousin of the C130 Hercules"

Breitling Display team

Red Bull display team

Bleriot XI

Catalina PBY-5

DC-2

Dornier D0-24

Typhoon Eurofighters

The weather was just on the edge with a couple of wet spells but not quite enough to stop the flying. When the show ended at around 1800 we were happy we had enjoyed a great day out.

A good run home with not too much traffic but the rain was heacy at times up in the Alps. Vienna had been dry all day but sadly we brought the thunder storms and rain back with us at about 2100. An early night as it is off back to Geneva again tomorrow (Sunday) for another work meeting.

Europe bound 13-14 June

A realtively early departure to book in for the 0800 Jetstar flight from Darwin to Sydney. Not very exciting but that is Jetstar all over. You cannot even check your baggage through and I had to collect it and carry across to the interational terminal in Sydney!

But once in Sydney and the ral QANTAS environment it was OK. I was able to check in at the First Class desk and the service was excellent. And then the First Class lounge which has to be one of the best in the world. I arrived and was able to sit down in an atmosphere reminiscent of a really good restaurant; had very good meal for my lunch with excelent wines and very aattentive but discrete service; very good coffee and then read the papers. The architecture of the lounge is spectacular with panoramic views of the airport.Q

QANTAS First Class lounge, Sydney

View from the lounge with a QANTAS A380 being towed to the ramp for loading and an ETIHAD A340 departing in the background.

Again I had an upgrade to Business Class and although it was a B747 not the A380 and so not quite so comfortable it was good flight. We landed at Bangkok to re-fuel and I went ashore to have a walk and a drink in the lounge. But imagine my surprise when I boarded the aircraft for the leg to London to be met by the same cabin attendant who had looked after me on the A380 from LHR-SIN on the way down to OZ! She was very happy to see one familiar face and made sure I had a great flight back to London.

From London T4 it was a bus again to London T3 and then the BA flight to Vienna. BA have a new business lounge in T3 - a building which they seem to be using quite a bit despite having the "wonderful" new T5 reputedly now large enough for all their flights. The new T3 lounge was a project which was long overdue for customer comfort.

So after a good read of the English sunday papers and a couple of coffees it was time to make the last leg of the journey and fly to Vienna. We arrived more or less on time, the hire car was waiting and by 1330 I was home in the flat. The marigolds had survived nearly 2 weeks without watering and all else was in order.

A rushed "holiday" but great to see Michael and Billie nd to catch up with all those other friends in Sydney and Darwin and at the conference. Back to heaps of work and now I realise I will have to go back to OZ in November to finish off a few things I did not complete this trip.

Darwin 12 June

After the conference it had been decided to have a short workshop on radiation safety and protection issues in uranium exploration and I was asked to talk about the role of the IAEA in this part of the uranium production cycle. It was mostly about standards development and application . The audience were all industry professionals and the debates after the papers were very good. Once the workshop was over I bade farewell to all the friends there and caught up with Didier who had been working in the hotel. We set off to have lunch with Mike at the Cornucopia resaurant at the Darwin Museum. A beautiful venue with views across the Arafura Sea and good food and service. You need to book early and get a table on the terrace!

After luch it was on to the OSS offices where we all had meetings; Didier and I with the Supervising Scientist and Mike with the National Parks peopel about the work plan for South Alligator this year.

When we finished it was 3 pm and time to put Didier on the pane back to Singapore and Europe. I had drink with my former colleagues ( it was a TGIF time ) then back to catch up with my hosts, Chris and Shirley, to have final farewell drink at the Darwin Sailing Club for a real Darwin sunset, then home to dinner and packing for my own departure.

Sunset from the terrace at Darwin Sailing Club.

Darwin - The conference 10 & 11 June

So to another objective of the Darwin trip. The others were to see friends and catch up on the South Alligator story but the meeting was the AusIMM Annual international Uranium Conference, so very important for me from a professional viewpoint.

Lots of old friends and professional contacts to catch up with as well as being there to support Dider when he gave his paper on the first day - and then he supported me when I made a presentation about the South Alligator on behalf of Mike and myself at the end of the first day.

The venue was the new convention centre down on the waterfront and I was a bit disappointed that the disabled access was so poor generally and various aspects of the layout were rather inconvenient compared to other locations in Darwin and other venues in Australia.

Anyway the meeting went well. Plenty of attendees from 6 or 7 countries and some very interesting papers.

On Wednesday evening we had a gala dinner which was great fun as I met up with a lot more old friends.

Thursday evening we had a public information night with members of the public invited to hear presentations about all aspects of the uranium production cycle and then ask questions. I had two slots. The first was about the remediation of uranium mines in Australia and world wide; and the second was a presentation about the work of IAEA on "safeguards" the non-proliferation work of IAEA. It all went well with both pro- and anti- nuclear proponents in the audience but no madly rabid debates. A reflection that the world is slowly learning about nuclear power and how it is perhaps an essential element in the future security of the world's energy supply as well as being a help in the battle against climate change.

I also confess that at luchtime on Thursday Didier and I went off to my favourite art gallery in Darwin - Framed at Stuart Park -to look at some paintings and he bought a really nice pair of aboriginal "mimi" figures . It really is a super spot to pick up quality art, especially aboriginal art.

9th June - Back to the South Alligator

Tuesday morning and 0600 found me standing in the street outside Chris and Shirley's place waitng for Didier to arrive in a taxi to start our field trip. They arrived on time and the first stage was out to McMinn's Lagoon to the home and farm of my friend Mike. There we met up with his wife Chris (Mike was away on a job in WA) and she gave us the keys to Mike's truck and a memory stick with all the pictures I needed to complete the presentation Mike and I had scheduled for the next day at the conference in Darwin.

As the sun came up we set off in the truck (Toyota Land Cruiser, FWD tray back V8 diesel) and headed south down the Stuart Highway. Breakfast was at the BP station at Adelaide River (100km south), a real throw back to the old days at work with OSS. When, after 200 km, we reached Pine Creek we turned left onto the Kakadu Highway and into the southern end of Kakadu Park.

Dider and the truck at the edge of the valley

A short stop at the ranger station to tell them we were on a site visit and to pass on the day's paper (NT News - an old tradition from the days when I doing regular work visists at the sites).

Then we drove down into the South Alligator Valley and began looking at some of the sites. There were 13 uranium mines in the valley in the 50s and 60s which were abandoned when the wrok finished and one of my last jobs at OSS was planning their remediation. Mike has been managing the design and construction phase of the programme and this year we hope all the work will finally be finished. We started in 1999 so it has been a long haul.

Our first stop in the valley was the old homestead built in 1953 by Joe Callanan. Joe was a cattle farmer who noticed soem mineralisation in rocks on a hill at his station. He thought it was copper but in June 1953 a geologist identified the first uranium deposit and the site was named Coronation Hill, the native name is Guratba. This was one of the 13 uranium mines that were worked over the following 10-15 years.

The homestead - a bijou country residence indeed!

The first sites were an old cleared area and then the location of the final disposal site which will be built this year. At Guratba we walked up the hill a little way to look at the progress of the revegetation which had been seeded in 2007. So far it is looking pretty good. Then we drove around to the other side of the hill to get a good distance shot.

Guratba (Coronation Hill) showing revegetation progress

Then a quick look at the South Alligator River at the old Gimbat Stataion Causeway and reminder for Dider about one of the local safety hazards. We did not see a crocodile but you know they are never far away.

South Alligator River at Gimbat crossing

Didier and a croc warning sign - note two types of crocodiles - both bite

Then we drove up to the old mine at Palette for a superb view across the valley - and to see the state of the old site which will get a final clean up during the campaign ths year

Palette mine site

The view across the valley from Palette towards Koolpin Gorge.

We then drove down the valley stopping to look at the old Koolpin minesite,the former uranium mill site at Rockhole and ended up at the Gunlom Waterfall. This was the famous big waterfall seen in the original Crocodile Dundee movie. Of course as it was the dry season there was not too much water flowing over the falls.

Gunlom waterfall

By this time it was getting towards the time to head home after quite a long time in the field. But we stopped off in the old mining town of Pine Creek on the way home to view the former gold mine pit. This is now a water filled void used for fishing and water ski-ing-and another example of Mike's remediation skills in both plannng and execution of the works.

Enterprise pit, Pine Creek.

So we drove home having had a great trip. For Didier a chance to see a unique remediation problem in the uranium mining business; and for me a chance to catch up on a project and an area that had been so much a part of my working life for so many years.

8th June - Heading North

Monday 8 June was a public holiday in NSW and the NT (Queen's Birthday) so the traffic from the hotel to Mascot (Sydney) airport was very light. I arrived with plenty of time to check in and read the papers in the lounge before the QANTAS flight up to Darwin. The flight was very ordinary and I had a good seat so I could look at the outback and then the incease in vegetatin as we got further north. Finally we reached Darwin and I was met by Shirley the partner of Chris my old golfing partner - they had kindly offered to put me up as my own house is still rented out.
Before we went back to the flat Shirley drove me around Darwin to show me the changes since I was last home 15 months ago. Heaps of new tower blocks changing the skyline and character of the city as well as many unimginative rectangular apartment blocks down by the new convention centre. Named the "Cockroach" by the locals the CC is rather an odd design and not wholly functional in my opinion. Disabled access is far from state of the art. Since all my time on crutches over the last year or so I am much more aware of these issues and I am surprised at how the darwin authorities allowed such a design. But them maybe knowing Darwin maybe not.......
In the evening I met up with my French colleague from Vienna Didier and we headed of to Mitchell Street for dinner. As it was dry season all the places were open to the street and we had a very pleasant time- especially as the waitress was a french canadian backpacker and we all spoke French! Monsoon was our choice of eatery - last time I was home it was called Rourke's Drift, but in Darwin restaurant name chnages are pretty common every year or three.
It was an early night as D was still recovering from the flight as he had arrived at 0530 from Europe and we had an early start next day.

Sydney 7 June

Sunday 7 June was another good day weatherwise to start with in Sydney. Michael, Billie and I went shopping to get some camping gear for their forthcoming trip and then some gear for me at R.M Williams (where else?). A bit of a wander around the city and lunch and then it was time for them to head back to Bankstown and fly back to Armidale.
They left soon after lunch as the weather from Temora was starting to catch up and the 310 had no de-icing. With Armidale at 3500 feet elevation the weather can get pretty cold at this time of year. Sure enough M called to say they had landed OK back at home but it had been cold and they were height limited because of ice.
Back in Sydney I wandered around a bit more for some last minute shopping then met up with Kate and Jeremy Eccles for dinner. Jem and I were at school and in the scouts together in UK (many years ago) and our mothers had been close friends too. Anyway we always try to meet up when I am in Sydney and this time we had a great Chinese/Malay dinner at a place overlooking Circular Quay. Very traditional and excellent food.

Temora Flying Day 6 June

Saturday dawned bright and sunny and Michael said we were going to Temora to see the airshow at the Temora Aviation Museum http://www.aviationmuseum.com.au/. The weather was great and we took the long taxi ride to Bankstown and found all 3 runways in action non-stop, mostly with training flghts. Anyway we made our departure and set off towards Temora. Billie in the back seat doing her knitting!Despite the great day in Sydney we arrived at Temora to find that the airstrip was clouded and fogged in! Visibility 200m at ground level but unlimited where we were at 2500 feet! While we circling around we were joined by an old school friend on M's from Darwin days, David. David is an A330 pilot with QANTAS now but was flying a Cessna 182 from Melbourne to see the show too. While we waited the lads practised a bit of formation flying.

Eventually we flew off to Narrandera for lunch while the weather cleared and as we landed there we met another couple of planes doing the same thing- waiting for good weather at Temora - and one of them was another QANTAS pilot and friend of David's. So we all got the taxi to town, in turns as there is only one cab and we were 7 people.

As we were eating David's dad called from Temora to say that the cloud was lifting and flying would start soon. So we ate up and flew of. As our plane was a twin we got to the show first and were met by David's Mum and Dad which was great bonus as I had not seen them for a couple of years. By the time we arrived the flying display had started so we landed in between "acts".

One of Temora's Spitfires - which we did not see flying sadly as we were too late.

We had missed some of the older planes like the Spitfire, Boomerang and Wirraway but were in time to see the Meteor and the Vampire take off for the start of the jet display.

The display was done aginst a low overcast sky and so the air pictures all came out rather dark. The Canberra bomber was superb as always and the display team also had a couple of Vietnam war era spotter planes up at the same time to show how they had all worked together in the past.

Another special turn was the Royal Australian Navy's Huey helicopter which did a great display.

This was followed by the last plane display, a Cessna A-37 Dragonfly- unusual as it had an air-to-air refuelling probe fitted which I had never seen on one of these planes before!




The other Spitfire was in the workshop hanger having a major service

Spitfire undergoing maintenance

As the display endeed so the rain started again and we decided we had better refuel ($500) and head home before the weather got too bad. But there was still time to ahve avery quick look over the Havard owned by David's Dad Ian - the picture below is the proud owner on the wing of his superbly restored aeroplane.

As the rain got heavier we headed off with the weather coming in fast behind us. The airspeed showed 170/180 knots but the GPS showed our speed over the ground as between 200 and 220 kts, a really big tailwind. We passed through the front before too long with no problems and finally ended up in Sydney for lovely evening and landing shortly after dark.

Michael, me and the Cessna 310 at Bankstown on Saturday night.

Sydney June 5

Following a good night's sleep after the flight from Europe I spent Friday wandering around Central Sydney and just relaxing. The weather was great and it was good to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge again, to say nothing of the shops. I always enjoy seeing the splendid clocks in the arcade at the Queen Victoria Building.

The clocks at the QVB

In the evening Michael and his girlfriend Bille flew down from Armidale in a borrowed Cessna 310. They had suffered a few delays as the plane's battery was flat and a jump start was needed! Anyway they did arrive in the end. Although it was late when they finally arrived from Bankstown Airport by taxi, we set off to The Rocks for dinner and found a waterfront restaurant. The meal was great and we were able to watch the coloured lights how changing on the roofs of the Opera House. Apparently all part of Sydney's Festival of Light. and we then began to notice other light shows and art works around as we walked back to the hotel. Some of them were designed for kids to play in whilst others changed the facades of buildings, all very interesting.

Australia bound

June 3 and I am on the road again. But it is a sort of holiday this time, at least I am the one paying. Off to Australia to see son Michael, some friends in Sydney and Darwin , and do some work in a conference and help out at a public information meeting and then assist at a training course in Darwin.
The other thrill will be travelling on an Airbus A380 for the first time, that is why I flew to London early in the morning so I could join the QANTAS flight QF32 from London. A flight at 0720 and some good news. British Airways gave me a free upgrade to Business as the plane was full with a school trip. A very nice surprise and a decent breakfast. Arrival at T3 and transit to T4 was no real problem.

The QANTAS plane was waiting when I arrived.

QANTAS A380 at Heathrow Terminal 4.

I had been able to score an upgrade to Business Class through my frequent flyer points and found that the new cabin on the top floor is very good. The new seats go almost flat instead of the 7-8 degree tilt of the older pattern so it is a lot easier to achieve a decent sleep.

12 hours flying and I was back in Singapore and having a quick drink in the lounge before going back the plane for the run down to Sydney. This was the first time in years I had seen Singapore airport in daylight whilst in Transit and it made a pleasant change. Lots of upgrading work going on, as at Heathrow Terminal 4; the difference is that Singapore does not ressemble a building site and second rate dump like T4. The whole place was still bright and airy and functional.

Singapore gate lounge; passengers waiting to load the A380-A lot of people

Here is the A380 again with a QANTAS A330 taxying in the background. Just shows how big the A380 is. I have to say that the flight on the A380 was very good and highly recommended. Upstairs is very airy and quiet. The new decor is attarctive and QANTAS service is still up there with the best of them.

Arrival in Sydney was no trouble and I was away to the hotel in good time. The Travelodge on Phillip Street is built over the top of the NSW Leagues Club and 20 metres from Martin Place so well located for any visitor to the city.