[Marvin]

Hola Amigos,
I wanted to share my Wallaby adventures with you;
My 10 yr old and I, took a road trip from NY to Wallaby Ranch, FL (imagine if the Aerotow Park was the whole city? )
It took us about 23 1/2 hour drive, stopping for Gas 3 or 4 times and taking 3 two hour naps, when I felt the need.
We get to Wallaby around 830pm, its starting to get dark and the place is like a ghost town... My son was like "Daaad what going on here....lol". So I drive to the end of the Rd. And I hear people Jamming in one of the Hangers, I'm like ok let's check it out, I'm greeted by LuLu the Dog 1st then Pete/Paul? The tow pilot. Super cool guy, don't think he was ready for my NY Energy though
He then showed us where to set camp and even sprayed the area cause those monster fl bugs was out something firce!
After we set up the tent, we walked around to the pool area only to realize we had all of Wallaby Ranch to ourselves well other then the staff which was all hiding in there Batcaves ! After a dip in the pool and a bite to eat we called it the night, well I tried to but the boy, was worried about all the country/swamp sounds of the nite! (Sigh, city people) hahaha
Bright and early we now hear human life activity, we see people running around on golf carts, starting up the aerolites, AWESOME!
Malcom Jones Drives over in his cart and say let's go fly with a big smile.
OMG! Now I know what you H2-H5 guys feel when your up there, WOW! Prior to this we only had Sled rides down the training hill with like a 3ft altitute
We flew with Both Malcom and Eric, both were awsome ,Eric is a lil more conservative then Mr. Malcom which I respect(Malcom took my son through the clouds ) after several flights each,and running out of money, the HANG GLIDING virus is full blown!!!!! What am I to do now? Ugghh guess save up for more lessons x2 and 2 gliders.... Can I start a Hanggliding donation fund? I only need like 12 thousand hahaha
Anyway, we had Malcom all to our selves and he sat and spoke to us about everything, showed us his 100 plus collection of gliders and other really cool toys.
Showed us the used gliders that we can get at a pretty good price.
Gave us contacts to other flyers in the NYC area, introduced us to Mike Barber and other advanced guys, who took us under his wing literally and showed us break down and set up techniques (AWESOME). We watched them Aerotow and got more advice.... we Ate (Awesome food to the chef) drank and hung out, swam, jumped on the trambline, broke down Erics and Pete/Paul?(sorry) gliders for their Road trip. We fully submerged ourselves into the HG world. The Wallaby staff are great, (thanks Lorrie) we met cool people, got a invite to fly in Hungry, and made some new friends. overall Excellent Experience, can't wait till next time.
Thank you Malcom Jones and all of the Wallaby Staff, you guys gave my son and I some good memories and experiences.
If you never flown Wallaby please make sure to put it on your to fly list.

PS, if you see a pair of blk Nike sneakers by the pool, those are mine!, can you bring them to NY please? Hahahaha

[blindrodie]

[kermit]

Same old story. Like I knew it would be. fun fun and more fun

How many flights did you guys get in?
How much of the flight did you fly ?

The tug pilot's name was Paul, Little story.
I hadn't towed in two years and was down their this spring, The day I got their I saw Paul emptying out the garbage cans. Next morning I'm doing the early tow to get back into it. All proned out on the dolly and nerves fixing my bridle Lorrie says your up. I look up and the garbage man is flying the tug. He is a good tug pilot.

[Marvin]

[dievhart]

Great story...bugs and all (I was just back in TN).
Reminds me of when I learned to AT behind a tug pilot named Paul Splan.
http://www.dievhart.com/paul.html. RIP buddy.
Diev

[wayne ripley]

Wallaby is great fun, My wife and I spend 8 weeks there in the spring and Paul, Eric, Malcomb, Jim,Steve, Jim and Jeremy and many other's could not be better to hang with. If you want to fly anytime you want and have a good time doing it Wallaby is the place.

[Marvin]

[quote="wayne ripley"]Wallaby is great fun, My wife and I spend 8 weeks there in the spring and Paul, Eric, Malcomb, Jim,Steve, Jim and Jeremy and many other's could not be better to hang with. If you want to fly anytime you want and have a good time doing it Wallaby is the place.[/quote]
Wow, 8 weeks?!! That's just awesome!! I have to work up to that one....

[wayne ripley]

You just have to get old, which has it's minuses

[Marvin]

[GaryHU]

Hey Marvin, nice meeting you guys at Wallaby. I went back the the ranch many times after we met and got a total of 13 tandem flights in, all but one with Malcolm. He took my niece Sara on two flights and since then, she wants to be a pilot. The best experience in my whole life and Wallaby Ranch along with all the staff is amazing. Thank you guys!

I'm flying back to Hungary tomorrow morning so I don't have more time. As soon as I get back home I'll continue learning to fly, I just can't wait to solo. I can see myself living for HG easily. The best sport and feeling ever!

[Marvin]

[GaryHU]