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...
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