Gyrocopter photographs of Wallaman Falls, Hinchinbrook Island, Ingham
A daring duo could very well be the very first to pilot a gyrocopter above Hinchinbrook Island and Australia’s tallest single-drop waterfall.
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A daring duo could very well be the very first to pilot a gyrocopter above Hinchinbrook Island and Australia’s tallest single-drop waterfall.
Former Ingham man Dan Birkett, 71, and wife Christiane, rocked up to his former hometown in his mobile home, gyrocopter in tow, on Sunday and circumnavigated Hinchinbrook Island on Wallaman Falls on Tuesday.
The couple who have embarked on their latest adventure in North Queensland can now lay claim to what is probably the first gyrocopter flights over the world’s largest island national park and the iconic 268-metre waterfall 50 kilometres west of Ingham.
Mr Birkett, speaking after a second flight over Wallaman on Wednesday, said the clouds parted just in time for the sun to shine for two passes around the falls.
“I’m so glad the sun came out and went down into the valley while we were going over the top,” he said.
“We were up at about 3,300 feet so it was a little bit cool.”
Mr Birkett said that while Hinchinbrook Island was spectacular, he joked that Wallaman Falls was “more scary”, even though travel by gyrocopter was safer than in a helicopter.
“There was nowhere to land up there … the rainforest is spectacular, it grown over the top of the road.”
Mr Birkett and Christiane, a former journalist cum librarian, said they were considering flying up the Herbert River to Herberton in the Tablelands for their next flight.
He confirmed on Friday that he had made it as far as Blanco Falls on Thursday before he was forced to return to Ingham due to deteriorating weather conditions.
The couple are headed to Innisfail and Atherton on the next stages of their journey.
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Originally published as Gyrocopter photographs of Wallaman Falls, Hinchinbrook Island, Ingham
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