Thanks again for the advice.
Only Qantas do the flights from BNE to where I am heading, HVB. Virgin fly to HVB non stop from Sydney.
I might just alter my arrival date as the departure times of the domestic flights are different each day and some days the second flight is much earlier. In which case I could, as suggested, book the second flight and hope to transfer to the first.
I really dont want to hang around in Brisbane for 10 hours, I could almost walk to HVB in 10 hours (slight exaggeration perhaps!!),
The EK434 does consistently get in earlier than its 6.40 am arrival time, when I did the trip in April we were in an hour early, today it got in at 6.05.
Or alternatively I could fly into Sydney and DJ up from there. I shall go and check prices and see how competitive they are against the BNE prices.
Thanks again.