Fit the Ninth
A small Deathstar adventure and Brisbane

JQ865 CNS-BNE, Y, 11A/B
JQ884 BNE-CNS Y, 8 D/E/F

I am, of course, outfitted in my standard economy class outfit – a balaclava helmet so that no one recognises that I am flying in the back of the bus. I could have gone QF, but the £660 for business class or £230 for economy class lost out to the £90 on Jetstar ( aka Deathstar). I check in about an hour before the flight at 08:10am and quickly answer the Deathstar security questions which are a little more rigourous than the ones I’ve so far faced on domestic flights in Australia. Passing very swiftly through security, I blag my way into the QP at Cairns by waving my BA card and having yesterdays QF boarding pass in my top pocket. I’ve noted they don’t seem to check them and after a nice long black, a glass of apple juice and a read of the Cairns Post, I go and join the huddled masses for the flight to Brisbane.

The legroom on the Deathstar 717 can be best be described as minging. My knees were brushing up against the seat in front, it was just about tolerable. As you’d expect there is a “café service” for various items of food and drink, I took a bottle of water at $6 and watched the scenery/read my book for the 2 hour flight to BNE. Nice scenery to watch out of the windows.

I was met by Stephen at the gate and he took me on a whirlwind tour of Brisbane. This included a trip up to a local lookout spot, a walk around New Farm, a fish and chip lunch with damn fine fish. Then we took a catamaran ride along the Brisbane River to the CBD, then a very hot and sweaty walk around some nice streets with plenty of attractive buildings and finally for a delicious cold beer (even if it was Castlemaine:-)), After a short train ride, another wander around some markets and then a bus ride, we end up having another beer whilst geeking about small airlines. Stephen kindly ran me back to the airport where we looked at all the various gates and planes around before boarding was called for the CNS flight. On this one legroom wasn’t a problem, we got a row each, one gentleman did try and sit next to me, but I suggested he’d be more comfortable in a row on his own.

The problem with being in the Tropics is that night falls very quickly, by the time I boarded the 717, it was just coming to sunset, by the time we were aloft it was dark, so not much opportunity for viewing. I bought a cheese and corned beef sarnie before take-off, so all I bought from the Deathstar café was a bottle of water (which was 20c cheaper than the airport). I sat and read a couple of magazines on the flight and started to feel more and more tired. Straight off at CNS, into a minibus back to the hotel and then a couple of slices of mango, a glass of apricot juice and vodka and a collapse into bed ensued. So much for going out to investigate the one nightspot that CNS has to offer for me.

The next morning was more a case of getting up and getting out before it became too hot and sweaty in Cairns, so courtesy of an early night, I went and had another fine breakfast before wandering around. Cairns has lots of organised activities in the form of trips etc, so I had booked the “SkyTrain” one to go up a cable car into the rainforest, this was expensive but great fun and I can recommend it as being worth the trip. My wander around Cairns revealed little of obvious interest, although I did note the only nightspot which seemed very “Only Gay In The Village” and was ruled out for any nightcaps. After a delicious lunch of Moreton Bay Bugs, I toddled off for a little afternoon nap before spending the evening slightly sadly re-packing the bags and then playing Sims 2 whilst trying to demolish the remnants of the fruit plate.

I liked Brisbane and it deserves a return visit, I probably won’t go back to Cairns.