Manilla Paragliding

Godfrey Wenness bought Mt Borah, 15 kilometres north of Manilla in northern New South Wales, in 1994 and has run Manilla Paragliding from the site since. A SAFA Chief Flying Instructor and National Instructor Examiner of more than three decades' standing, Wenness holds the FAI world open-distance record — 335 kilometres, flown from Mt Borah in 1998 — and, with Suzi Smith, the tandem open-distance record of 223 kilometres, set between 2000 and 2003. Mt Borah hosted the FAI Paragliding World Championships in 2007. Tandem flights operate year-round, conditions permitting, priced at $275 for 30 to 40 minutes, typically flown ahead of a student's first solo high flight to introduce ridge soaring and thermalling. More than 2,000 people have learned to fly at Mt Borah since 1995. Wenness instructs to what the school describes as skill standards "well beyond the minimum," framing the sport on his site bluntly: "it's aviation, not a holiday." The nine-day novice licence course, which folds tandem flights into its structure, runs to $2,890.