Day 14 - Tue 1 Oct: Brisbane to Hervey Bay to Home

18 – 24 deg C (82 – 85% humidity)

We made up a bit of time in the air and landed about 40 minutes late. Passport control was a breeze and then had to wait for what seemed like forever for my bag to come out. Line u with all the other cattle to go through customs and got to the domestic check-in counter with an hour to spare, or so I thought. Due to the rain and really windy conditions, flights had been delayed so the flight to Hervey bay was delayed by 30 minutes which gave me more than enough time to get to the domestic terminal, check into the lounge, have a shower and some more coffee.

Boarded for Hervey Bay a little later than the re-scheduled time of 9am and it got decidedly lumpy as we approached the airport to the extent that a number of people were oohin

g and clutching their armrests with white-knuckle grips. Pilot did a great job of landing though. My bag was number five on the belt and I was in the limo heading for home in no time.

It was really good to see we had had some rain, not a lot though, whilst I was away. The grass still has a green tinge to it and there is still water in the pond.

Home on arrival after being away for two weeks

Our fur babies, some of them

Day 13 - Mon 30 Sep: Abu Dhabi to Dubai to Brisbane

31 – 39 deg C (74 – 33 - humidity)

I set my alarm for 3:25am and thank goodness I did; it’s always the way that when you have to wake early, you have the best sleep ever. I left the hotel just after 4am and was at the Emirates Bus Station just after 4:30am. Had to wait around to get onto the bus, even though it was already there when I arrived. The bus was not even a third full, so plenty of room for everyone to spread out. We left at the scheduled departure time of 5am and my head fell off my shoulders on a number of occasions on the trip to Dubai. 

We arrived at the airport not long after 7:15am and on the way into the airport, I noticed an entrance for First and Business passengers only so, after de-bussing, I went to find those doors as the normal check-in for Brisbane was not yet open. Check-in was painless as was passport control and then security. I normally go to the A Lounge however, my flight was leaving from gate B19 so I decided to give the B Lounge closest to that gate a go. They have certainly expanded this lounge over the years, and although it is not quite as big as the A lounge, it is quite substantial. I had a nice breakfast of cereal, yoghurt, croissant and three coffees!

Between coffees and reading my book, I wandered up and down the lounge. We boarded a bit late, then had to wait for some last-minute luggage to be loaded, so that put us back about 15 minutes which then put us back another 45 minutes as we then had to wait our turn in the take-off queue! There are lots of unhealthy people on this flight – lots of coughing, spluttering, and sneezing and wheezing going on so I hope I don’t come down with anything.

Watched a movie and then the remaining episodes of a TV series I started watching on the way over. And then, just when I decided it was the right time to sleep, the flight became decidedly bumpy. This in turn woke everyone up so I got about an hour of sleep, I guess. Decided sleep was not going to come so got out the laptop and did some more words for the blog.

Bus from Abu Dhabi to Dubai

Sunrise coming into Dubai

Just happened to be looking at Google maps

Bus - Airbus - Dubai to Brisbane

Seat 12J

Queing to takeoff in Dubai

Takeoff from Dubai - casting a shadow

Day 12 - Sun 29 Sep: Abu Dhabi

30 - 41 deg C (79 - 24% humidity)

Slept very well last night and had a nice sleep in this morning as there was no-one and nothing to get up early for. After a leisurely breakfast reading my book, I ventured back upstairs and started the packing up process. Also went for a few short walks. Found the ironing board and set that, put my laptop on it and proceeded to catch up on some blog work.

As I have to leave the hotel early in the morning, I went down to reception and paid the bill.

The rest of the day was spent blogging, reading and packing.

No pictures today.