Part 1 - Sydney - Aalborg

Trip so far ...

Wed 7 july - Sydney-Singapore - QF A380 - Tom got last seat in first so I had to suffer business - coped by sleeping off my pre-departure headache for 6 hours straight! On approach into SIN couldn't find my glasses - after huge search involving 2 hosties with torches dismantling the sleeper seat, the bloke next door eventually found them folded into his tray table slot & employed his 7yo son's small hand to fetch them out - lenses intact but one arm at jaunty angle & unwearable - solved that by attempting to straighten & breaking off completely - now look like one arm bandit but at least I can read - maybe I can get them repaired in Hungary ...

Singapore-London - QF A380 first class - what can I say ... movies, gourmet meals, wine, luxury bed - Enya all the way - interestingly all pommie crew (who don't call Australia home)

Thurs 8 july - London-Copenhagen - SAS A319 economy - last 2 seats (lucky!!) - with Scandanavian priced food/drinks ($15 sambo + coke) - we'd eaten enough for a week so no prob - on approach into CPH saw lots of windfarms - and a long bridge that just ends (Tom assures me it descends into a tunnel) - Copenhagen fine & sunny - found 711 with slightly cheaper food/drinks ($10 sambo + coke)
Copenhagen-Aalborg (nthn Denmark) - SAS Canadair RJ900 economy - but with FREE coffee!! (no time to collect money on 30 min flt) - Aalborg raining - after brief wait, we spotted a Touareg approaching the terminal with attitude - Anders, who's lending us a glider & car, was rushing from picking up the repacked parachute

Anders & young daughter Ingeborg took us home to Hobro, about 50k south - wife Karen & younger daughter Gudrun at home in beautifully renovated farm house & outbuildings - we're in the (luxury) loft over the "stables" - next to the "shed" of every boy's dreams with ferrari, lotus, mini, harley & countless other toys!

Good news - the Nimbus 4M is in beautiful condition and has had an annual inspection; our tow car is a roomy Ford transit van

Bad news - the Nimbus hasn't flown for 2 yrs & needs an engine check which has to be done at Schempp Hirth (manufacturer) in Germany - only a 300k detour on the 1800k direct Aalborg-Szeged trip - now thurs pm, even if we drive all fri (1144k) wouldn't make it to Schempp till fri night, so earliest possible inspection is mon am

and ... the 302 is in for calibration & is expected in the post in the next day or so
and ... the Transit van also hasn't driven for 2 yrs - currently in for service, still needs inspection (pink slip) & new plates (from Danish RTA)

Fri 9 july - Tom and Anders fitted the Altair and built (very neat & detachable) wiring to power it from 12v - more bad news - the pre-built wiring to connect the Altair to both 302 and flarm doesn't power the flarm - so will have to connect Altair direct to flarm and lose the 302 input (vario, airspeed) - adequate but not best for final glide
Meanwhile - several calls to car service place explaining urgency
lunchtime - car's out of service and ready for inspection - we go to inspection place & explain urgency but they're very busy
1.30pm - the inspection is not done and we won't make the RTA (30 min drive) before they close at 2 - can't get plates till mon am
2.10pm - back home, inspection place phones - inspection finished - aarrgghh!
40 min delay has cost another day - even driving like stink, earliest we can make Schempp is tue am

Nothing else to do but have a lovely lunch in the sun overlooking Mariager Fjord - then walk through green sheep fields, climbing stiles over electric fences, along the fjord edge to town and back - Anders explained it costs more to shear the sheep than their wool is worth - but the owners can make money by renting out the sheep to keep the grass down!
We took Anders & Karen to dinner at a restaurant in an historic boutique brewery - great ribs - and beer of course (even tho I was a pleb and drank wine)!

Sat 10 july - it's sunny! yay!!

Stay tuned for the next exciting episode...
- will the 302 turn up in the post? (which miraculously does come on a saturday!) - or do we have to drive 100k to steal one out of another glider?
- will the RTA give us our plates on mon am?
- will our heroes make the 1144k to Schemp in one day (at max 90 kph)?
- will Schemp drop everything (incl all other WGC glider fixes) to do our engine check asap?
- will our heroes make the 1057k to Szeged in one day?
- will our hero get to fly at all before the official practice (20 jul)?