Pilot’s Guide - Broome YBRM to Mount Hart YMHT
- sportsmanaust
- Jul 3, 2023
- 2 min read
Day 3 of our flying trip to the Kimberley. The route took us from Broome where we had stopped overnight to Mount Hart station. This route takes us to one of the first stops along the Gibb River Road from Derby. We have stayed twice previously at Mount Hart & loved our time there!
Sunday morning. We enjoyed breakfast at the Broome Courthouse markets which run every weekend during the Dry season.
After packing up at Sea Shells accommodation, we made our way to The Mango Place in the satellite village 12 Mile. It's a 15-20 min drive from Broome.
It's quiet surrounds and delicious food pictured below accompanied our flight planning.
Due to recent heavy rains, the Gibb River Road to Mount Hart had been closed for a number of days. This meant their AVGAS bowser had limited supply as the fuel truck was yet to get in.
After careful planning we were able to go ahead with our visit to Mount Hart. The Sportsman (VH-ZIF) has around 4 hours range with reserve which allows us to fly in and out of Derby nearby for fuel. At least until the fuel truck can drive in once the GRR dries out.
Mount Hart can be difficult to spot but Mt Matthew is a useful reference. The runway is spectacularly green & we were pleased to find the surface was solid.
There were no run ins with the local flock corellas this time though we still did a precautionary fly over. Previous experience taught us that upon hearing aircraft engine noise, the corellas take from the trees to the open airspace above the runway for safety... straight into our flight path on landing! Other wildlife to look out for are the local pack of dingoes and kangaroos though we haven't run into any of those yet.
We were kindly given a lift by the friendly staff down to the campground (a 10 min walk from the airstrip). We set ourselves up and enjoyed pizza up at the Homestead before crashing for the night.
Rest day tomorrow before planning our flights from Mount Hart out to places such as the Horizontal Falls, Mitchell Falls, Bungle Bungles at Purnululu National Park & Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater.
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