OK, newie here - here's my story.
I grew up in the '50's under the approach to RWY26 at Essendon, so saw everything from
Viscounts to 727's close up from the backyard. Pretty exciting stuff, but poor family so no chance of flying in them .
Then after (first) marriage, lived for a while on the eastern boundary of YMEN where the throaty tones of the B&B Bristols doing their runups late at night used to lull me and the bride to sleep .....:thumb_up:
From there, spent most of my last 30 years travelling back and forth to the US and Europe in the big kero burners, up to a dozen or more times per year. Pre 9/11 was a great time, with plenty of rides up front and lots of interesting take-offs and landings - plus met a lot of really great pilots with lots of stories to share.
Now I'm retired (or retrenched or whatever, who cares at this stage :big_grin: ) at the age of 59 I finally realised my lifelong desire to fly. So I'm here solely to enjoy myself - no hour-building for me, I'm too old to aspire to a CPL or ATPL ;). And RA is an absolute godsend!
From here, I hope to build or buy a plane (build would be great, but not sure SWMBO would agree, but then she'd probably not be happy with buying either) and spend heaps of time in the air exploring some of the beauty this country has to offer.:thumb_up: