Arriving into King Island
Our first glimpse of the island was over the North-Western Tip, over Lake Flanigan, and we continued to fly down the Western Coast of the island, me being seated on the right hand side, I was treated to a very breathtaking view of the coast as we tracked along there, then joined the circuit for a crosswind join.
We then turned Downwind, then turned Base, and then finals, for what was a very smooth landing onto Runway 28, King Island’s main paved runway, with an unnoticeable bump as the tail wheel was lowered, and then a gradual adjustment of senses as the aircraft’s cabin was now on that upward incline again!
We got to the end of Runway 28, then backtracked for the terminal. Finally we came to the front of the Terminal, and one after the other, the engines were shutdown, to a roaring silence, something that needed adjustment to as throughout the whole flight, we all were quite use to the pleasant noise of the R-1830 radials working their hearts out. The First Officer then appeared from the cockpit, and went down to the rear of the aircraft to get the large door open and place the stepladder that was needed for us all to disembark. I was one of the first off the aircraft, and as expected, once the passengers gradually disembarked, we spent a few minutes milling around on the tarmac getting photographs before we were whisked away into the terminal.
Then out the other end onto a small bus, greeted by a gentleman by the name of Adrian.
King Island - An Isolated Oasis!
King Island is one of many islands that make up the State of Tasmania, and this was essentially my first visit there. It’s located in Bass Strait, within the ‘Roaring 40s’, between the North-Western Tip of Tasmania (Relative to Smithton 80km away) and Cape Otway, Victoria on the mainland (About 90km away). It has a small island community of about 1700 people, and is well known to the rest of the nation for its production exports of beef, seafood (Predominantly lobsters), dairy products, and also Kelp (Seaweed). Although with a small population, the island is massive however! North-South, it’s 65km and East-West, it’s 26km.
Currie, the 'capital' of King Island
King Island Airport gets regular RPT services by Regional Express from Melbourne, King Island Airlines, a small outfit operating out of Moorabbin in Melbourne, and Airlines of Tasmania did have services there from Wynyard, Tasmania, at the time. It’s a nice natural getaway and has a steady stream of tourists a year, which today, was going to be boosted by another 30 people.