On cloud nine but no glory
WHEN Lennox Head man Andrew Polidano headed to northern Australia earlier this month, his mission was to be the first person to paraglide on a huge Morning Glory cloud.
These clouds can be 1000km long and 2km wide, with winds of up to 60km/h.
Unfortunately for Mr Polidano and his team, a differ- ent group of paragliders beat him to it, and they flew a Morning Glory cloud before he even got to Burketown.
But he says the experi- ence was still incredible.
"The weather wasn't on our side," Mr Polidano said.
"We had to fly out to sea to try to get a big cloud, which was really dangerous.
"The whole mission was really dangerous, actually. It's a risky time of year because you're flying right over the top of these river systems and it was crocodile breeding season.
"We didn't get a Morning Glory, but we got what we called a Bue Glory.
"The way I put it is like this: It's like paddling to catch a wave, but you don't see the wave until you're suddenly just hit by it.
"It was a really weird feeling."
The Morning Glory clouds remained offshore and therefore off-limits, in case the paragliders were forced down in the shark and crocodile-infested waters of the Gulf of Carpen-taria.
But Mr Polidano hasn't given up yet.
"I'll definitely be going back up there to try again," he said.
"I will get one of those clouds."
