Flying Kites on Australia Day is a must, but being invited to do so at Kings Beach, the closest beach to Brisbane on the Sunshine - That was a great idea!

Well, our esteemed president even arranged accomodation for us the night before, so how could I refuse.

It was the storm season with a guaranteed storm every day, so it wasn't surprising that the sand was very wet when we arrived early on the Monday morning. Unfortunately that meant the humidity on the beach was very high as the sun blazed down from a clear blue sky. You couldn't help but sweat, drink, and sweat some more.

As was typical of morning winds, we had the occasional breeze for a few minutes before it stopped and started from another direction. Nothing would seem to stay up for long, even with longest lightest line.

Things were only just settling down when 10 o'clock came around with the planned skydive. The parachutist came out quite aways down wind, and unfurled the massive Australian flag. Quite a magnificent site to see.

Unfortunately he decided at the last moment that the planned landing site, the beach volley ball courts 100 meters further north, was too small, and was worried that the heavy weight swinging on the end of the flag could hurt someone.

Naturally he had an alternative... Yeap, you guessed it, the larger clear area we were using. Everyone scrambled to clear a space for the parachutist to land in, and a bare miss with my genki kite line, he got down.

After that things became good. The winds settled down, and I put up a record number of kites flying at the same time (10 kites, 2 arches, and 2 line laundry). The two flowers and the trilobite, were also put up, and everyone started to enjoy themselves.

The heat and humidity unfortunately also got worse, and a few fliers left at about one o'clock, completely worn out by the sun, the sand, and the heat'.

I took off to find some lunch, and was just returning when a storm made its presence known with black clouds and rumbles. It was 2 in the afternoon! David called a hasty pack up, and everyone starting bringing in everything as fast as they could.

It was even announced that beaches to the north of us were closed against risk of lightning strikes. By 2:30 everything was packed, and wouldn't you know it... the storm fizzled and dissipated, leaving fairly empty beach. Everyone however had had enough and we all headed home.
I had more sunshine on the way home, and only arrived back in Brisbane just before another storm.

Oh well, it was a great day, and the club has already been invited to return next year. Hopefully we can make the King's Beach Australia Day fly a regular event on the club calender.

Tight Lines - Anthony.