The $47 million MRH90 Taipan helicopter made the two-hour journey from the base at Nowra with a crew on board.

Some crew jumped off at Taronga Western Plains Zoo, to see the Black Rhino that HMAS Albatross sponsors, while others met with the public at No.3 Oval at Victoria Park.

Students from Dubbo College also had the opportunity to participate in team-building exercises with Navy personnel at the Dubbo Aquatic Leisure Centre.

The students were able to experience first-hand some of the Navy’s sea survival techniques including using the Navy’s specialised lifeboat and performing a rescue.

Petty Officer Greg Doran said the helicopter was an amazing vehicle.

“It’s a month old, and has made a flight from Brisbane to Nowra and the flight from Nowra to here. It’s basically brand new and is worth approximately $47 million,” he said.

“It’s a very useful and quick helicopter. It only took us two hours to get up here and it will take us an hour and a half to get back.

“It weighs 10 tonne and fits 20 people in the back plus a crew of four. We have a ramp out the back that we can load stuff in.”

The MRH90 uses 500 kilograms of fuel an hour when in flight, and Petty Officer Doran said it was the equivalent of 10 litres of fuel every three seconds.

In order to reach its maximum range of 800 kilometres, it has seven fuel tanks and is powered by two Rolls Royce engines.

“We’ve been out and done a lot of humanitarian aid and disaster relief this year for Fiji, we used these aircraft because you can longer loads in,” Petty Officer Doran said.

“We went down to Forbes today and a look at the floods down there.”