Time for the second leg of my trip. The last flight wasn’t a great success - after saying I was going to go west I ended up heading North! So much for going without a plan… but at least I’ve got the game set up now. I’m going to fly through places I’ve worked (the ones that are north and ideally west of where I live), and that’ll get me into Asia at least. Then I can decide where to head from there.
After taking off from Rockhampton the first stop is the local power station, Stanwell:
The terrain auto generation does a good job with the turbine hall and other buildings, but surprisingly doesn’t have a model for the cooling towers or stacks (I can understand the stacks, they’re probably not too distinct on the pictures - but the cooling towers are pretty distinct, and I can imagine there are a lot of them spread over the planet!)
We promised it last time, but overflew after dark and it’s only a short detour on this flight - Callide Power Station near Biloela:
Power station turbine hall is the big building to the centre top right, with the Callide Reservoir to the right and the Callide Coal Mine in the background. Again, the cooling towers are missing!
In coastal regions there is a good variety of industry and farming, but heading inland in Queensland the main moneymakers are cattle and coal mines. Blackwater Coal Mine from FL150:
I’ve never been to Blackwater, though I’ve driven past it often enough getting to the mines further north, but it’s striking in the sheer amount of terrain it encompasses. You can see Blackwater airport to the left of the northmost tip of the mine. Also, perhaps another local thing, MSFS giving altitudes as “Fifteen thousand” over the radio is jarring … “ONE FIVE THOUSAND” is what’s in the AIP …
After a long cruise through the centre of the state (during which I sorted and folded the washing while listening out for ATC 
) we arrive at Mount Isa. Famous for its metals mine, which is right next to the town, fallout from the smelter causes problems from its sulfur dioxide and heavy metal particle emissions (which is why I was there - working on the monitoring equipment in town). A view of the mine, but the stacks from the smelter are again missing:
There was a bit of controversy a decade ago where they found lead concentrations in soil and children’s blood (!) at well above safe levels. Not much has been done to fix the issue (the lead is in the soil and all over every surface… I’m not sure there is a solution really!) but at least people now know what they’re facing. I do recall flying out for the last time and seeing the smoke from the lead smelter stack rising up, hitting the inversion layer, then falling straight back down into the centre of town
After obtaining fuel and coffee at Mount Isa (I had to make the coffee myself, and the coffee machine looks suspiciously like the one in my kitchen
), we start our final leg up to Darwin via Groote Eyelandt and the Gove Peninsula. MSFS really captures the feel of the terrain in this part of Australia well, in my opinion.
Groote Eyelandt (named by Dutch Explorer Abel Tasman on his 1644 voyage mapping what we now know as the northern coast of Australia) is home to the GEMCO Manganese mine and the indigenous Anindilyakwa peoples. I managed to get made redundant shortly before having to visit the island, but it’s emblematic of the social issues I’ve seen throughout my life with resource extraction and its impact on indigenous peoples.
The mine and airstrip - the town of Angurugu is hidden from view behind the King Air.
The weather over East Arnham got worse the further north I went - the real life weather sure makes things more interesting!
The Gove Peninsula was home to an alumina refinery, though it is now defunct and the plant is being demolished (and the associated ponds capped and remediated). Bauxite mining is continuing at the mine to the south until at least 2030. The site is important in Australian law, as a Native Title case was fought over it after the Australian Government issued a mining lease without consulting the local indigenous communities in the 1970s.
Mine and Gove East Arnhem airport, looking northwest up towards the refinery (not visible yet, but on the peninsulato the left of the photo).
The Gove Alumina Refinery.
We’ve made the most of the daylight, and I’ve done my housework chores while wearing my PC headphones (the cat thinks I’m strange today) - finally arriving at Darwin (a place I’ve never been in real life) for a full stop:
The weather over Darwin (CBD to the left of the photo) is beautiful after the rain I flew through earlier!
I’ve started recording details of the legs so I can track what I’ve done here:
The wind is definitely helping with my groundspeed, and I feel comfortable that I’m catching up to where I should be after the abortive first leg.
While googling around during cruise I found a Pro Line 21 mod for the King Air. I wonder if I can find a bush mechanic here to help me install it?
