Queensland Part VI

During this flight, we will leave Queensland and reach New South Wales.

We depart from Redcliff (YRED), a popular seaside resort. Redcliffe became Queensland's first colony in 1824; however, it was soon abandoned for Brisbane. Redcliffe holds the distinction of being the first European settlement in Queensland, first visited by Matthew Flinders on 17 July 1799. Explorer John Oxley recommended "Red Cliff Point" – named after the red-colored cliffs visible from Moreton Bay – to Governor Thomas Brisbane for the new Moreton Bay penal colony, reporting that ships could land at any tide and easily get close to the shore. The penal colony was established at Redcliffe on 13 September 1824, under the command of Lieutenant Henry Miller with 14 soldiers, some with wives and children, and 29 convicts. However, this settlement was abandoned after one year and the colony was moved south to a site on the Brisbane River at North Quay, 28 km (17 mi) south, that offered a more reliable water supply. This settlement led to the establishment of Brisbane, now Queensland's capital city. We overfly Brisbane again and land at Archer Field (YBAF). The airport was once Brisbane’s primary airport. In 1998, the airport was leased by the Federal Airports Corporation to the Archerfield Airport Corporation. Today, Archerfield is used mainly for civil aviation. It is home to the Queensland Government Air (QGAir) Rescue helicopter flights, Queensland Police Service POLAIR flights, No. 219 Squadron of the Australian Air Force Cadets, and still in their original hangar, the Royal Queensland Aero Club.

We head west and reach Amberly Military Airbase (YAMB). RAAF Amberley is the largest operational base in the RAAF, employing over 5,000 uniformed and civilian personnel. There are a variety of other formations on the base such as training colleges and maintenance areas. Amberley's largest squadron in terms of personnel is No. 382 Expeditionary Combat Support Squadron RAAF (ECSS) providing both garrison and deployed combat support. Amberley was one of only two airfields in Australia (the other being Darwin International Airport) that were listed as a Transoceanic Abort (TOA) landing site for the Space Shuttle. Amberley is currently undergoing an A$64 million re-development program. The RAAF has plans to have Amberley operating as its "superbase" with flights of F/A-18F Super Hornets, KC-30A, C-17 Globemaster, and the C-27J Spartan. We head south and arrive at Boonah Airport (YBOA). We then make a short stop at Kooralbyn (YKBN) before heading back towards the coast, and land at Heck Field (YHEC).

From here we turn south and reach Southport (YSPT). We now follow the coast south and fly along the skyline of Gold Coast. We land at Gold Coast (YBCG). It is Queensland's second-largest city after Brisbane, as well as Australia's sixth-largest city and the most populous non-capital city, with a population of over 600,000. The city's central business district is located roughly in the center of the Gold Coast in the suburb of Southport. The urban area of the Gold Coast is concentrated along the coast, sprawling almost 60 kilometers, joining up with the Greater Brisbane metropolitan region to the north and the state border with New South Wales to the south. Nicknames of the city include the ‘Glitter Strip’ and the ‘Goldy’. The demonym of a Gold Coast resident is Gold Coaster. From the 1920s onwards, tourism led to significant economic growth in the region, and by 1959 the Gold Coast was declared a city, with its first skyscraper being built in 1960. The Gold Coast boomed from the 1980s onwards with skyscraper construction. This era was defined by the city's ‘white-shoe brigade' developers, neon lights, and organized crime, particularly the yakuza and the Russian mafia. The late 20th century saw the city's tourism diversify with theme park openings, and in the early 21st century became an international destination for film production.

Now we cross into New South Wales and land at Murwillumbah (YMUR). We fly around the Tweed Volcano and Mount Warning, a remnant caldera, in the Wollumbin National Park. The park is part of the Scenic Rim Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance in the conservation of several species of threatened birds. In addition to numerous bird species, carpet python, land mullet, eastern small-eyed snake, lace monitor, black-bellied marsh snake, and long-nosed potoroo can be found here. Next we land at Tyagarah Airport (YTYH). We head south and land at Ballina (YBNA). Ballina was established in the 1840s on the northern shore of the Richmond River, 20 kilometers south of Cape Byron, Australia's most easterly point. In 1973, the Las Balsas rafts were towed into Ballina by fishing trawlers after their journey from Ecuador. One of the rafts is preserved in the Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum. They had planned to arrive in Mooloolaba in Queensland, but currents forced them off their course. Their journey was almost twice as long as the Kon-Tiki expeditions of 1947 and proved that people could have traveled across the Pacific in ancient times.

The flight has 198 miles and 10 landings. I will be in the COWS DA-42, please fly what you like.

The flight plans are here. 

Recommended scenery:

YAMB: https://flightsim.to/file/13518/raaf-amberley-air-base-in-queensland-australia-yamb

YHEC: https://flightsim.to/file/76504/yhec-heck-field

YBCG: https://flightsim.to/file/18491/ybcg-gold-coast-airport

YMUR: https://flightsim.to/file/12624/ymur-murwillumbah-airfield

YNOB: https://flightsim.to/file/2097/ynob-nooby-s-creek-murwillumbah-nsw

YTYH: https://flightsim.to/file/7660/ytyh-tyagarah-airstrip-nsw-australia

YBNA: https://flightsim.to/file/35960/ballina-byron-airport-ybna-australia-nsw-tag21

YBOA: https://flightsim.to/file/59859/boonah-airfield-yboa

YKBN: https://flightsim.to/file/1753/ykbn-kooralbyn-airport-qld

YBNA, YRED, YSPT, YBCG, and Landmarks Gold Coast are available as payware from/via ORBX

We try real weather. Please set your simulator for a 10 am local departure.

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Sunday, November 3, 2024. 1700 UTC
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: United States East server.
These flights are events posted at DigitalThemePark and use DTP's Teamspeak Channel for communication.

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