We’re heading off to Queensland for a short trip to visit the reef and the rain forest and to get away from the Melbourne winter.
Flight is at 14:55 so don’t have to get up early, but we still left a bit later than I planned.
Still made it to the airport with plenty of time, through security and grabbed a coffee before heading to the gate which was the furthest from the main bit so hoped they wouldn’t change it at the last minute.
When we tried to go to Western Australia during the pandemic they weighed our bags and because we were overweight had to pay $60. We were on the plane when I got a news alert that WA were closing the borders and we’d be turned away when we got there so decided to get off the plane. And we never got our $60 back.
This time the queue was long so they didn’t bother to weigh our bags but I think we were under weight having learnt our lesson.
Got on the plane, our seats were right at the back next to the toilets so had the pleasure of lots of people walking past with their kids and the sound of flushing every 5 minutes.
The plane filled up and there were loads of toddlers, which was annoying because it wasn’t long before they all started crying.
We were about at takeoff time when the pilot came on and said there was a technical problem and the engineer had to have a look. Oh, and it was change over time so there would be a delay. Oh, and then they would have to do paperwork so that would take a while. I hate Jetstar.
Left about 45 minutes later, I watched a movie (Wanted) and started another (World War Z) and then we were on our way down to land.
We were right at the back so were ready to make a quick getaway out of the rear door where we got on, then the announcement came that only the front door would be used, so we ended up being the second last off. I really hate Jetstar.
The warm air hit us as we exited the plane, the ground was wet but wasn’t raining at the moment. Since we always only travel with hand luggage we skipped the baggage collection and went straight to the taxi queue which was about 20 deep. It was moving reasonably fast as taxis came along, but it wasn’t long before the queue had over 100 people in it. Only took about 10 minutes, then we were heading into town and the rain came hammering down. And then stopped. And then started again. And then stopped.
It kept doing this all evening. Got to the hotel and were told we had been given a wheelchair accessible room which just meant the bathroom was bigger – we had been given one before in Minsk and I remembered the shower head was about shoulder height and we had to ask to be moved, but the receptionist said this one was normal height.
Room was nice, spacious and clean, free tea and coffee (love a freebie), but a packet of biscuits was $16 so didn’t think we’d bother with anything out of the mini bar.
There was a nice big TV but it was mounted on the wall to the side of the bed, which made lying in bed to watch it uncomfortable. I tried moving it to see if it was on a pivot but didn’t seem like it and I didn’t want to accidentally rip it off the wall. I’d brought along a cable so that I could attach my laptop to the TV but all the ports were flush against the wall so bang went that idea.
Anyway, dumped the gear and went out for dinner, it was now nearly 20:00 and looking at Google a lot of the restaurants shut at 21:00. Walked to a seafood place that Google said was good, then realised I’d gone the wrong way so turned around. It was only a couple of minutes from the hotel but managed to rain and stop a couple of times (I’d actually remembered to take the umbrella).
Song had bugs (think mini-lobsters) in garlic butter with a spinach and mashed potato veggie thing, I had salt and pepper calamari with a pine-nut, roasted capsicum and rocket salad. Both were good. We also had a baguette and dips to share to start, and I had a beer.
The couple next to us had confit of duck and a steak, which I thought was a bit weird – going to a seafood restaurant and not ordering seafood.
Wandered around for a little bit, the area was busy, obviously lots of people escaping the cold weather down south.
Watched a bit of TV on the laptop, checked on the cat using the webcams at home – we also bought an internet connected treat dispenser so we could feed the cat from anywhere in the world and watch her eat (is that sad? I don’t think it’s sad).
Bed was comfy so didn’t take long to fall asleep, although each power socket had an annoying blue LED light which was quite bright.
Lazy day tomorrow, nothing booked, we’re just going to wander around and relax.