On June 3rd, 2007, I top landed at the school oval after soaring Beechmont. My paragliding instructor Phil Hystek shook my hand while saying, “You’re licensed”. The previous month, sixteen years ago, I’d signed up to learn to fly with a long time local of Canungra, someone who has trained most of the pilots in this club, the most active in Australia. The country offers world class flying but here in the hills closer to the coast the conditions can be quite complicated and tricky. Often when facing weak conditions in the Alps I would encourage myself by declaring it was “Canungra conditions”, something I have a lot of experience with.
