From the Equator to Miri and Mulu

Today we are leaving the equatorial city for the jungle of Mulu, one of the top three biodiverse locations on the planet.  

We make our exit from Indonesia without any real hiccups, in fact it all goes rather well.    We are directed to head out to the north east to intersection SAPSA, this is not really what we want has it takes us over 3,000ft hills.  Hill near the equator are not our friends due to the humidity and the low lying clouds.  Toaday however it looks OK so we reluctantly accept the clearance.  Maintaining visual sight of the ground ahead we weave are way easily through the hills and clouds.  Today we have no issues.  

Our journey is visually spectacular; I really should not say this but even the pine oil trees look spectacular.  Pine oil as previously mentioned is the scourge of the south east.  It is cropped everywhere, up hill, down stream, up,to,the beach and along the river.  How they manage to grow it on some of those hills is incredibly.  The effort that has gone into,cultivating it is amazing, but it is a major cause for deforestation and loss of animal life. Only a few years back we pass over a location which was the habitat for over 64 indigenous species which has now been whittled down to 24☹️.

That last 40 miles to Miri takes us over the coast, we have a 1,500ft and below clearance, which means we have a chance to play.  We take G-DIGA down to 100ft and below along the beach, buzzing all below.  This is really Hawaii-5-0 stuff but in Asia.  We see locals waving jovially to us and return the compliment.  Peter wants to get a low level view of the palm oil, so we hope over the coast line and take a peek at the crops below, being aware of the fact that telephone masts are never far away.  Enough of the crops we head back to the more enjoyable South China Sea coastline of East Malaysia, Borneo.  

Finally we have to climb to a sensible altitude in order to radio contact with the tower and radar.  This achieved we land on 02 refuel and get rotors turning within 45 mins and over $900 lighter, $700 for handling etc and over $200 for fuel.  The good news was that we can clear customs and immigration at Mulu.

Mulu is a smaller airport so this will go a lot quicker and more easily.  On the 30 minute hop to Mulu we have to avoid encroaching into Brunei airspace and enjoy the views below.

At Mulu we park the helicopter up for 5 nights on the grass in front of the tower do make our way to the Marriott Hotel.  It is hot and humid and we are glad to get to our rooms.  I decide to get my own room which costs me 330 Malay ring its per night.  Not too bad really.  

After checking into our rooms and dropping our bags off we head to the park entrance and chat with the park administration and plan our visit.  The best part though was sharing few beers with the local guides and out Mulu tower controller.  

Back at the hotel I have a swim in the clear pool, have dinner and then catch the cultural evening entertainment of bamboo stick dancing and blowpipe blowing"?"  Of to,bed ready for a busy day tomorrow.  The internet here is very poor so these posts may be very late!