Armidale- Sydney and Vienna

Sunday we spent out at breakfast down town and some shopping before heading off to the airport to clean up the plane and refuel it - Michael had come straight to the restaurant the previous evening.

Billie turns out to be an ace refueller...

Once we had done at the airport we  headed back to the house where M and B are living to get ready for a BBQ.  A few of their friends dropped by and we all had a great time. It was a lovely day but you needed to be sitting in the sun as the temperature was cool in the shade, it had been below freezing overnight. M's boss Brad livened up the proceedings by "buzzing" us in his recently renovated Cessna 185 which was great fun.

Monday morning it was off to Sydney for the trip to Vienna via London. A foggy morning meant that my flight was held in Sydney and so it actually arrived late - in fact after the subsequent flight. As a result we had two QANTAS Dash 8  aircraft on the airport at once and one had to wait on the runway for the other one to move away.

Two QANTAS flights together at Armidale airport-a rare happening...

I have added in a couple of pictures of M's house which I forgot to put in the previous blog....

The inside view showing the kitchen area and............

The exterior with the walls all bricked up but still no garage door!

One other interesting point was that at Armidale the QANTAS agent happily agve me boarding passes  fro all three legs of my homeward journry-something that seems to be beyond BA in Vienna when I travel the other way.  Still the delay was not too bad and eventually  we got away and I made the flight to Sydney - then the incredible mess of a transfer at Sydney airport where eventually I ended up  having t0 get the train and pay $5 to go to the international terminal. They really do not have that well sorted for passengers who arrive on QANTAS flights  at the smaller domestic terminal.

Then it was another check in as my boarding passes given out at Armidale did not have bar-codes on. Then the First Class lounge which is the best part of being a top grade QANTAS frequent flyer.  It really is a haven of peace and service with a great location and a superb restaurant.

We were late departing due to some lost passengers and a few minor technical issues on a movie screen but the flight  went OK and we finally arrived in Bangkok close to time and even a bit early in London - so much so that we had to wait for 10 minutes for an SQ flight to push back from"our" gate!  A charge around the terminal  at Heathrow, no terminal change thank goodness,  and a really good bacon and egg breakfast cooked freshly in the First Class lounge at Heathrow 3. Then the last leg to Vienna on BA which was the usual disappointment in terms of crew attitude and service standards.

We landed more or less on time at about 1400 local in Vienna;  a sprint by cab from the airport to home, a quick change and then it was off to a 1500 meeting at the Australian Embassy - back in the old routine again...

Adelaide: 16-19 June The Uranium Conference

After a hectic time on Tuesday Wednesday was a relative rest with no talks to give but just lots of good mates from industry to meet and greet and renew network connections with (sorry Winston Churchill!) . Many good talks to listen too and a few bad ones too. The evening was spent enjoying a steak dinner with Russ and Mike. Thursday was a bit more strenuous with two presentations of my own to give plus being a co-author with both Mike and Russ for their two papers. Luckily I was  not required to speak, just answer some questions.
We had a good conference dinner on Wednesday evening although most of the comments were related to the proposed super tax for  Australian mining companies - I think you can guess the industry view....
Thursday night the three of us caught up with another chum who is now a big cheese in the EPA
Friday was a sort of day off as a couple of meetings were cancelled. Dinner was spent with some very old friends from Darwin days and whose elder son had   been at school with Michael and is now an orchard manager, the next son is in design and their daughter ,who used to rent my house in Darwin is about to get married. All great stuff and a lovely meal at a place up in the Adelaide Hills.

Saturday morning was an early 0530 start for the double barrel trip Adelside-Sydney and then Sydney-Armidale to catch up with son Michael. Turned out he was not only on one charter to Lord Howe Island that ended at the Gold Coast,  but had a follow on from there to Mackay in Queensland so he would be unable to meet me at the airport after all. He left his ute and keys for me at the airport so I found my way down to the motel and later his girlfriend Billie came over after her netball game and we moved the ute up to the airport for M to use when he got back and then we went to look at the house M is having built. It has bricks on the walls now and looks pretty good ,apart from no garage door, the water pipes in the wrong place for the dishwasher and some other minor niggles that have to be worked on. The builder  apparently says all weill be well by mid-July.
Dinner was spent at a Thai restaurant in Armidale with Billie and the wife of another of M's pilot mates who is away at the moment. M finally joined us as we had coffee and then it was off for  an early night after what had been a long day for everyone.

June 13: Back to Australia

Sunday night and  it is 1900 and I am back at Vienna Airport waiting to board the British Airways flight to Londoin to meet up with the QANTAS flight to Sydney. BA were delayed which was bad news as my connection time in London was not very long but good news as I was able to watch the Canadian Grand Prix on the TV in the lounge at the airport. We boarded at the point where there were three laps to go but the result did not change and Lewis Hamilton made it to the number one slot.  At Heathrow I found out my upgrade on points to Business Class was confirmed and so that was great - upstairs in a 747 which is always nice.
The flight was OK and the stopover in Bangkok was good with a new security layout which is more efficient than before. At Sydney I had a long stopover before the onward flight to Adelaide   where I finally arrived at 1400 - only to find I was due to be speaking at a public meeting at 1600 and not 1730 as I hd thought. Still it all went well and I met up with two good friends Russ Edge and Mike Fawcett for dinner before I crashed out asleep in the Paringa Hotel, just off Hindley Street.

29-30 May: The mine and home again

So we had an early start for the 4 hour plus drive to Kayelekera and the visit to the mine. Soon after leaving Mzuzu the road dropped off the plateau, curved sinuously on the descent down the escarpment to the shores of Lake Malawi. The lake was glinting blue in the sunlight and we passed by many backpacker reesorts and small fishing villages. The road down the escarpment is the only place I  have ever seen wild life in Malawi, apart from birds or those infamouse mice kebabs. Always in the same place is a small colony of baboons at the raodside and this trip was no different.
The mine staff met us at the gate for the safety briefing and the whole group of about 25 was issued with  protective gear like safety vests and hard hats and safety glasses etc. Then the tour, which was very good. Well explained and plenty of staff on hand to answere
 the questions. Then a lunch and a final farewell chat and it was back on the transport and back to Mzuzu.
Sunday morning was avery early start to make sure we would all be at the airport in time  to catch our various flights. On the way was a great rainbow which seemed to be travelling with us for a while and we even got pictures of its end!....but no gold in sight..
Under grey skies we arrived well in time but all was delayed as the UN Sceretary General was  departing at the same time and so all the red carpet stuff and the guard of honour  and protocol etc had to be  got out of the way before we were flown off. A few hours stopover in Johannesburg and then the overnight sector with Lufthansa  to Frankfurt and then the early morning flight with Adria Airways in a little regional jet back to Vienna. Another job done.