The first leg of the trip is a commercial flight up to Newman, followed by a relatively short drive out to Jigalong. We arrived at the airport on Sunday morning to find the new aviation normal, a ghost town… The Qantas terminal at Perth airport outgrew the roads around it many years ago, pre-covid this meant long queues at peak times. Now, with a dramatic reduction in demand… things actually work quite nicely.
Inside, there was far more capacity than demand. A skeleton crew looked after security and only a few shops were open. What was most dramatic was the lack of passengers… I hadn’t flown since our trip to Antarctica 10 months earlier and it was a surreal experience. The closure of the borders isn’t really seen in the city where the shops, cafes and pubs are all full. Here, it was a lot more apparent!
Due to the much lower volumes, the Qantas Club was closed and everyone was redirected towards the Business Lounge.
Qantas Business Lounge
We were welcomed into the lounge by the crew who seemed surprised to see some passengers!
Which was understandable as the lounge was very empty! The staff outnumbered passengers 2:1 and it was one of many reminders that despite the normalcy we enjoyed in the city, there was still a pandemic raging elsewhere.
Qantas QF1654
Airbus A320 (VH-JQL)
Perth (PER) -> Newman (ZNE)
Depart 11:18, Arrive 12:50, Flight Time: 01:32
Boarding was called and it was a very empty plane for our flight to Newman.
As we waited for pushback, the Capitan said hello – and was clearly reading from the wrong paper as he got all of the cabin crew names wrong! Once we were moving, we rolled past a reminder of Virgin Australia’s woes… their former A330 wrapped in foil and plastic. Today in 2021, its yet to move since its last flight in March 2020.
Shortly after take-off, lunch came in the form of a slice – lucky we’d sampled the different pizzas on offer in the lounge! There was also the option of water, orange juice, tea or coffee – which for Qantas is a bit of a step down from the usual offerings.
As were carrying our own cake, I was a little tempted for second lunch, however Mrs Hut reminded me that it was strictly for the folks we would be meeting during in the week. I do feel a lot safer after carrying a cake through the airport, a range of staff sought to inspect the cake – to ensure it was safe, of course.
There were just 58 passengers to the 180 seats…
It was a bit bumpy on the descent and on the approach, we got a distant view of Newman and the surrounding mine sites.
On the ground it was a very reasonable 33°C (91°F)...
… and a short walk to the terminal.
It was a bit of a wait for the luggage, before one of Mrs Hut’s colleagues met us at the airport and gave us a lift into town.
In Newman, we picked up our ride and stopped by the supermarket for food. Here, Mrs Hut demonstrated the value of a carefully crafted two-week long meal plan. It was an appetising mix of robust food to survive the flights and nothing that would perish on the hot trips. After stopping for fuel, we grabbed a photo of one of the few patches of greenery in town – the war memorial.
On the way out of town, it was classic Pilbara – big trucks and orange dust.
In the distance there were frequent willy-willys, however as there is a mine over there… this one might have been blasting.
The drive out consisted mainly of lots of very straight sections of road…
… before we hit the Jigalong turnoff.
There, it turned to very straight sections of unsealed road!
Did I mention, there was lots and lots of very straight road!
After a couple of hours, we found ourselves in Jigalong – where after unpacking, we took a moment to enjoy some quality air conditioning!