In the middle of some pleasant dream featuring my mother, my alarm awakens me at 6:15 AM. For Amelorn/James, this is a terrible way to start the day. After 10 minutes, I managed to crawl out of bed. I had a taxi booked to arrive in 20 minutes, so I dressed myself and packed up my computer and any loose item I could find. This is where showering the prior night makes life much easier.
Just as I finish, it's time to leave. I dropped off my key and hopped into my waiting cab.
The QF premium check-in had a fairly decent queue, which was a departure from my prior experiences at BNE. Fortunately, it moved quickly, and I soon had my boarding card.
PER, as an airport, is one of the few where I wouldn't have felt under or haphazardly dressed. Given then I would probably not have an opportunity to do laundry for 8 days, I wanted to conserve my "good" stuff for The Ghan and my time in ADL/The InterContinental, so I just threw on a pair of Canterbury track pants ("trackies"), a ragged but comfortable Burberry shirt, and my RL corduroy shooting jacket (the manor meets the council estate
). Fetch some more smelling salts for those who deem this inappropriate. The airport was overrun with FIFO workers and miners in the standard "tradie" outfit of boots and blue/yellow suits that I seriously doubt get a washed more than once every Christmastime. While this demographic was decidedly "blokey," I did pass one very petite young Asian woman in the standard outfit, but clean. Somehow, I doubt that all 45kgs of her is down in the hole with a pickaxe.
The lounge is a Qantas Club. The breakfast consisted of fruit and carbs. I opted to use/play with the pancake machine, and was duly reward with a pair of silver dollar pancakes. Some butter and "maple" syrup later, I considered my fast broken. At the height of barbarity, a sign notified guests that the bar wouldn't open until noon. While I don't consider myself a prodigious drinker (especially on my own), it just isn't flying without a drink at an otherwise utterly inappropriate time.
Boarding began at 8:22 for an 8:45 departure (15 minute delay). I am not sure if this was an elite-heavy flight, but the premium boarding lane seemed to fill indiscriminately as if it were just a second regular lane. However, as I timed my departure from the lounge perfectly, boarding was called just as I walked to the gate area and thus was one of the first to board.
I took my seat in 2D and waited for the cabin to fill. To my disappointment, this was an "old" 738 without Qstreaming or the new leather seats. The old ones were still comfortable and miles ahead of the 734 J seats (shudder). The load was 4/12, so there was plenty of room. Prior to departure, juice & water were offered by Virginia, a lovely Canadian FA (surprise). I opted for scrambled eggs, sausage, tomato & spinach with a ginger/pear energiser (delicious). I declined the Greek yoghurt and the raspberry muffin. I am unimpressed by the former, and I find most modern muffins have a sugar content that puts an honest cupcake to shame. I asked the other FA if I could have a cheeky Crown. Her wicked smile was all I needed to see, and suddenly I had a true Aussie brekkie.
Soon, banter and jokes followed. The Australian FA confided in me that Virginia's husband put beer in his cereal. I promptly informed her that Virginia's husband is probably a "newfie." I was then asked if I wanted cereal.
When she brought this info back to Virginia, I heard some rather indecorous laughing from the galley. By now, it was plain that I existed for the amusement of these two shrews who kept the beer flowing. For the sake of gallantry, I could not well refuse them their entertainment.
We landed in DRW..at some point. After exhausting the galley's Crownies and moving onto James Squire Golden Ales, I did not really give a damn. My bag was one of the first 10, and $26 later, I was in Darwin city.