Off I go

Thursday 08/09/2016 – Day 1 – Travel Day

Woke at 4.30am, and finished packing, had breakfast and had a BGL of 4.4. Woke Sue at 5.30 am and went into the girls room to see if anyone else was coming to the airport.

Departed home at 5.45 am and started a good run. After crossing the Ted Smout Bridge and onto the Deagon Deviation, news of a broken down vehicle came through. On the Gateway Motorway southbound at Nudgee Road. Oh crap! go to get past that! Decided to take the Deagon Deviation to Sandgate Road, after queueing for fifteen minutes and not making much progress.

On Sandgate Road, the traffic was heavy but moving and allowed us to exit to Toombul Road and get onto the Southern Cross Way and then onto Airport Drive and the Domestic Terminal. Picked up my bags, said my goodbyes and then walked to the Virgin Terminal.

Arrived at the check-in at 7.00am, with my flight boarding at 7.25 am. Thank goodness for the early start. How will the others in the group fare? My bag weighed exactly 23 kg, the maximum weight, how about that?!

Collected the rest of my gear, which I had strategically rearranged to the stuff I need in the plane and the rest in the luggage. I made my way to the departure gate, and tried to make up mu mind about buying a coffee. By the time I had decided to do that, there was less time to purchase it than the time left to board.

On the aircraft a Boeing 737-800, found my seat at 15A retrieved my laptop, man bag and folder and sealed in to my seat. I was shortly joined by a couple from Wynnum heading to their daughters place at Torquay. I also managed to remember Kristine’s bear and placed it on my knee at a window and took its photo.

The plane then departed Brisbane for Melbourne a flight of 2 hours and 15 minutes. There was about 6 oktas of cloud all the way to Melbourne, so no sights to behold. I instead, after the coffee and muesli bar, entered into conversation with my fellow passenger and then looked out the window, we were over northern Victoria and while working out where we were, we flew past Tullamarine. Hang on are we on a Jetstar flight? After short time however, the plane swung around 180 degrees and we landed at Tullamarine. Looking down I could not believe the amount of traffic at 10.15 in the morning, as heavy as Brisbane’s peak traffic.

After landing, and collecting the heavy bag, hired a Ecart and loaded the bag onto it. If anyone else has a heavy bag I can use this. So I made my way to Hudsons and waited. Not long after, Sam arrived and the start of the new adventure was getting underway. We waited for another two hours while the rest of the contingent arrived. Then we waited for the bus. It was caught in a snarl on the Calder Highway.

Finally the bus arrived at 1.00pm, and the bus driver, Lee, was very hospitable.

So we loaded our luggage, took our seats and began the next phase of the journey. It took three and a half hours to arrive at Bimbi Park; which included a stop in Apollo Bay, to buy supplies and a six pack of Stella Artois; and were given our room allocations. I was given DE2, Deluxe Cabin 2, a 4 person cabin all to myself. So I unpacked, showered, and changed and then made my way up to the dining hall for dinner.

During dinner, proper introductions were made and the plan for the walk, including the time for breakfast. After dinner, I made my way back to the cabin, wrote this blog, studied and watched some TV -at least channel 24. I couldn’t change channels as the remote was playing up. I selected channels on the set top box itself, but to no avail. Oh well, it was time to turn in, and an early day tomorrow.