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Fact for December : Is that a Chinese Restaurant or Asian Cafe? 14 Dec 2013 9:10 PM (11 years ago)

Something that can take a while to adjust to are the differences between eating out in Australia and the UK.  For one places close a lot earlier here.  Two, the concept of a restaurant allowing you to Bring Your Own (BYO) alcohol or having no licence at all. 

The fact I found hardest to accept was the decor.  With many restaurants brightly lit, poorly furnished and generally looking like they had seen better days. What I needed to learn, is that most of these places are actually closer to Asian cafes - without the full english breakfasts and builders teas - than fine dining establishments.

Don't get me wrong, high cuisine does exist it's just unlikely to be found on the side streets in quite suburbs.  If you leave the house with that expectation, you're unlikely to be disappointed.

Fact #5 - State run utilities are just as expensive 17 Oct 2012 12:17 PM (12 years ago)

In the UK there is a lot of grumbling around whether or not the formally state owned utilities should have ever been privatised.  "Run for people, not profits" is the familiar battle cry.

Well, Australia still has some state owned utilities - NSW electricity for example.  From the what I read in the news, they are just as badly managed and the states are addicted to the revenue that they generate.  To the point where double digit price hikes are common - to the extent where Julia Gillard has threatened to use the "big stick of regulation" if the states don't reduce electricty prices.

It seems that in either system the consumer gets screwed.

Fact #4 - Medicare and NHS are not equal 25 Sep 2012 10:11 PM (12 years ago)

The cost of being unwell in Australia can be quite a shock.  Unless you are lucky enough to find a Doctor who bulk-bills a visit to the Quack will cost you money.  Typically $30 and up will need to come from your pocket to top-up the payment towards your consultation that Medicare will make to the Doctor.

If your Doctor suggests you go for radiology or other treatments, there will be other 'gaps' that you will be expected to make up the the shortfall for.  For example a brain MRI scan is around $320, of with Medicare does not cover a cent.

It isn't any better if you have private healthcare, even the highest cover is unlikely to offer outpatient radiology cover - unless of course you are referred from a specialist.  Where guess what?  There will likely be a gap to pay for the specialists time to.

With no standard prescription costs, you pay whatever the chemist wants to charge you for your medication.  So it pays to shop around for the cheapest chemist to fulfill your prescription.

Fact #3 20 Sep 2012 10:23 PM (12 years ago)

If you see a car with a 'For Sale' sign in the window, don't expect to see the price that the owner is hoping for.  I find it unfathomable that I'm expected to phone up and ask.

Fact #2 17 Sep 2012 9:06 PM (12 years ago)

It comes as a surprise to me each time it happens - but in Canberra people leave the office for home whenever there is a big rain storm.  Strange but true.

Clothes Pegs 4 Sep 2012 2:29 PM (12 years ago)

Ok, so this place has gone a little stale.  Life has settled in Australia, we bought a house and still love being here.  As things plod on there is less and less for me to write about - that would be of interest to anyone.  So, rather than close the blog I'm going to try adding a series of short updates around Facts, Myths and Maybe's about Australia.  Starting with:

Fact #1 - Plastic clothes pegs do not last as long in Australia.  It must be the sunshine, because after a few short months the plastic becomes brittle and they shatter when you come to use them.

Just as a foot note: Australian clothes pegs may not be up to much, but the washing lines are something else.  No plastic lines that stretch and break.  Here heavy guage steel wire seems to be the minimum spec.

So now you know....

More wildlife. 1 Jan 2012 11:59 PM (13 years ago)

Meet the possum who lives in my garage roller door; posing in the apple tree that hangs over our decking. 

We hear he/she each night after sunset, as it noisely bounds across the metal parts of the roof and onto the decking.

Sometimes we are treated to a possum chorus, as all the possums in the area shout to each other, which sounds like (to my ears) a moped being kickstarted.

But his (or her) nickname 'Pooey' comes from the amount of droppings left across every surface at the back of the house.  For a small animal you would never believe the amount of poo it produces.

I have visions of having a Caddyshack style war with them.  But I am in rental and am well aware I'd loose.  Besides, it is apparently illegal kill, or even to move a possum far enough from your house that it couldn't find its way back. 

I must confess feeding them the occasional apple from my hands doesn't help my situation.  Can't help it - for all the mess, they seem so cute!.

The wildlife.. 28 Dec 2011 8:46 PM (13 years ago)

Found this handsome looking devil hanging out on the back wall of the house. 

Large brown spiders in Australia are apparently less of a worry than the small black ones.

This guy was very big and brown and bit of a shock.  Thankfully Huntsmen are virtually harmless (they can however give a nasty nip).

He was gone this morning, so I wonder if he crept into the house and is waiting to surprise us!

Things you don't see in the UK #2 - Australia's Favourite Cheese 28 Dec 2011 8:40 PM (13 years ago)

But apparently it is nothing to get shocked or snigger about.  Nor should you consider contacting your member of parliament in disgust.  According to the Coon website: "The brand name recognises the work of Edward William coon in developing the 'cooning process' of cheese making".

So there you go, we all learned something.  You can read more of the Coon story here.

Small things.. amuse my small mind.. 28 Dec 2011 8:32 PM (13 years ago)

As a Christmas present to myself, I recently bought a secondhand chest freezer - I know how to live on the wild side.

There is something about having an electric appliance located in an area that is virtually outdoors.  It feels very Australian!

Everybody meet my new refridgeration device.

Things you don't see in the UK #1 - Magpie Swooping Season 18 Sep 2011 1:03 PM (13 years ago)

Apparently the magpies of Canberra are aggressive, or at least the males are when it is nesting season.  (See the defensive head-gear worn by the cyclist to the left) and amusing article from the Canberra times:

The bush capital's swooping harbingers of spring are upon us and the ACT Government is warning residents to be aware of the black-and-white menace from above.

And while plenty of new magpie warning signs have been erected around nest-worthy suburbs, they weren't enough to save Erica Laurente from one particularly aggressive bird in Palmerston yesterday.

 Full newspaper article can be read here at the Canberra Times website.

Geocaching 4 Sep 2011 3:17 PM (13 years ago)

A friend of mine recently got me into Geocaching. Put simply, Geocaching is a geeky treasure hunt. Geocachers hide treasure (caches), containing - as a minimum - a paper log so that finders can record their visit.  Once the cache has been hidden, the co-ordinates of it's location are published on a website (Geocaching.com) for others to find.

Other Geocachers then use their GPS' (these are surprisingly cheap, alternatively some smartphones can also do the same job) to track down the co-ordinates and find the cache.  Amazingly, there are over 500 caches hidden within a 10km radius of my home.  Even more amazingly I (unknowlingly) passed by two each day on my walk to and from work.  With the aid of my GPS and a good deal of heading scratching and poking about I was able to score my first finds.

The inventiveness of the folk hiding the caches is to be believed. Hidden in fence posts, children's play areas, I even heard of one hidden inside a snail shell.

The next stage was to involve my pre-schooler, as it is a good excuse to spend some time with daddy. I also look less of an idiot on my hands and knees if their is a little one alongside me.  Geocachers are mindful of the adult / child connection and the larger caches are used to exchange proper treasure between the kids.  At our first find together he was over the moon to swap a plastic soldier for a yo-yo.

It is also a great excuse to go exploring parts of Canberra that I would not otherwise be visiting.  Just watch out for muggles!

The day we went to Sydney 23 Aug 2011 9:02 PM (13 years ago)

We recently made a tourist trip to Sydney, the intention was to secure some winter sunshine and to see the sights.  From Canberra, getting to Sydney presents four choices: Drive, Fly, Bus or train. On the basis that flying the four of us would be prohibitively expensive (nearly $1000AUD in total), our car is a shed and on a colleague's advice that the bus journey was over barren terrain, we chose the train.

Canberra railway station is interesting in that it doesn't sit in the centre of the city, instead it is located in the suburb of Kingston.  Despite being nearly 330km away from Sydney effectively Canberra sits at the end of a branch line.  Unless you want to visit Sydney or one of the stations in between, you will find yourself being transferred to a coach somewhere in your journey.  The station itself, is clean, quite and functional.  Unlike railway stations in the UK, we were able to park our car in the car park for free.

The train service between Canberra and Sydney is provided by CountryLink and the journey takes a little over four hours.  The price for two adults (the kids were free) travelling in first class, was a very affordable $222AUD for return tickets.  As we were going for a long weekend we opted for an early morning train, that arrived into Sydney Central Station at 11am.  An unexpected plus of leaving early was the number of kangaroos we passed by close to our windows, even before the train had left the station a startled mob bounced away in clear view.  They were a repeated sight until we reach the Glen Alpine and the outskirts of Sydney.

On arrival at Sydney Central station, we took the decision to walk to our hotel - the Circular Quay Marriott - which was at the far end of Pitt Street from the station.  After about ten minutes, my son decided he'd walked enough and spent the remainder of the journey on my shoulders. I one the bet of who would see something famous first, when I spied the harbour bridge through the pedestrianised area.  At the hotel we paid a supplement of $50AUD for a room on the 28th with a view of the opera house.

Next we decided to explore the Circular Quay itself, at this point I have to say the winter sunshine was not with us!  The skies were black and even before we reached the steps of the opera house the wind was driving us back.  So we took a few hasty photographs and to make good on a promise to my son, we bought tickets for the Manly ferry.

Had someone explained that that the Manly ferry passed through the heads, where the waves of the Pacific Ocean meet the still waters of the Sydney harbour I would have picked a different destination.  The first ten minutes of the crossing went smoothly, then I started to notice security staff appearing on the lower deck - their purpose was to ensure the side doors were closed and that everyone stayed seated.  "You won't drown, but you might break a leg if you try and stand up" I heard one say.  The next ten minutes lasted a lifetime - during which we were quite literally shaken, rattled and rolled.  Everyone went quiet and water sprayed through every gap in the doors.  Then just as I thought it might never end the waves subsided and we cruised into Manly Wharf.  As we left the boat, I overheard another conversation "Of course it is far worse on the way back".

I am not too much of a man to admit, that I chickened out and point-blank refused to travel back to Circular Quay by ferry. Manly isn't directly linked to the city by train or bus.  Luckily, the bus drivers of Sydney are an understanding bunch and as well as making sure there was room for my daughter's pushchair told us where to get off and which was the next bus to get onto and from where.  So unexpectedly, we also got to ride over the Harbour Bridge before being deposited a block away from the hotel.

That night, rather than risk the tantrums and tears of our littlies we had a feast brought to us by room service.  Which - if a little expensive - was very passable indeed.

The next day, with a hearty buffet breakfast inside us and a warm sun in the sky, we set forth once more to explore, sight see and take photographs.  Before slowly making our way back to Central Station to meet our train.  For our return journey, we were treated to a carriage almost to ourselves (at no point were there more than four others sharing it with us).  We would definitely go by train to Sydney again..

So Where Are You Mate? 28 Jun 2011 10:05 PM (13 years ago)

Apologies, for falling silent.  A lot was happening in my life around February time.

Our new baby was born into the world.. alongside that we were arranging her Australian Citizenship and Passport.. and alongside that we were packing our lives up ahead of the move to Australia.. and alongside that I was negotiating with my employer about a possible relocation within the company to Canberra.

So, a long story short:

• We all flew down in April, Singapore Airlines were excellent in every possible way.  They even waived all our excess baggage costs.  
• We made basecamp at my mother-in-laws in Queensland.  The drive north from Brisbane was made more exciting when the TomTom chose unpaved roads.
• We bought a 20 year-old Ford Falcon as a run around.
• The family stayed in the sunshine, as I came to the Australian Capital Territory to start work and find a more permanent place to live.
• Qantas charged me the full amount for my excess baggage (despite the flight be empty) and then lost my bags.
• I found a house, the family all drove down in the Falcon (22 hours of "Are we nearly there yet?").
• Thus far, we're all living happily every after in the winter sunshine.  But by crikey, everything here feels so expensive.

More updates and observations from around Canberra to follow!

Super fast turn around time by Australia House 19 Feb 2011 1:43 AM (14 years ago)

This week - and for the second time - I went through the process of registering my child as a Citizen of Australia by descent of her mother.  The forms, birth certificates, fees and SAE were posted off on Tuesday (15th February) by Special Delivery. 

When we received the SAE back today (19th February), I thought it must be a sign that I'd filled the form out incorrectly.  But no - with a four day turn around - my daughter is now proudly an Australian citizen.

You can read about the full application process in my earlier post :: Here!

Fact Sheet 21 - Managing the Migration Program 4 Feb 2011 1:28 AM (14 years ago)

Fact Sheet 21 is of interest to anyone waiting on a Child or Partner visa.  Chances are if you get fed up of hanging around and poke at your Case Officer, you'll get told something along the lines "We're working as fast as we can within the quota limits set down by the Australia Government".  Which if you look at the facts isn't (or shouldn't be) true :

Family Stream

Partner category visas:

• Partner (subclasses 309/100 and 820/801) visas cannot be capped.
• Prospective Marriage (fiancé) (subclass 300) visas may be subject to capping.

Child category visas:

• Child (subclasses 101 and 802) visas, Dependent Child (subclass 445) visa, Orphan Relative (subclasses 117 and 837) visa and Adoption (subclass 102) visas cannot be capped.

Source :: Australian Immigration Fact Sheet 21

Routes to PR 1 Feb 2011 1:27 AM (14 years ago)

In case this is of use to anyone, I copied this chart from a magazine.  It lists most of the basic visa routes to Australian Permanent Residency:

Click the image to see a High-Res (legible copy).

Hope this will be of use to somebody.

Another Useful Email from Australia House 13 Jan 2011 3:29 AM (14 years ago)

I thought I'd see if Australia House had updated the useful email that they used to send out to people enquiring about partner visas, so I made a new request to them myself.  Here is what they sent me:

Australian Terminology	UK	IRELAND
Practising lawyer	Solicitor	Solicitor
Magistrate	Magistrate	N/A
Public notary	Notary Public	Notary Public
Justice of the Peace	Justice of the Peace	N/A
Commissioner of Declaration	Commissioner for Oaths	Commissioner for Oaths
Position/agency recognised by the law of country to certify documents	Officer of a Court appointed by a Judge to take affidavits	Peace Commissioner

·        Applying for a Partner Visa Offshore


Please note:

** FEE INCREASES ARE DUE ON THE 1ST OF JANUARY DUE TO A RE-CALCULATION OF EXCHANGE RATES - PLEASE SEE THE HIGH COMMISSION WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION **

-The advice you are given by the London Contact Centre will be based on the information you supply.
-We cannot advise clients on the likely outcome of any visa application, as applications are assessed on an individual basis.
-The Department of Immigration and Citizenship Strongly recommends that clients do not make any irreversible travel bookings until they have been granted an appropriate visa.

If you would like help finding the right Australian visa, please visit the Visa Wizard website: http://www.immi.gov.au/visawizard
We hope this information has been of assistance.

Yours faithfully,

London Service Centre

Migration Branch
Australian High Commission
Strand London WC2B 4LA


DIAC website: www.immi.gov.au

London website: www.uk.embassy.gov.au

600850

Telephone Information Service: 09065 508 900
£1 per minute currently, £1.02 per minute from 04 Jan 2011 (in line with VAT increase) from BT telephone lines, other provider charges may vary.  Access to an operator is provided at the end of recorded information between the hours of 9am and 4pm London time, Monday to Friday except on public holidays and Australian High Commission holidays for which is shown on the website: www.uk.embassy.gov.au)

DIAC Privacy Policy: www.immi.gov.au/functional/privacy.htm

Book - Living and Working in Australia 12 Jan 2011 1:20 AM (14 years ago)

I'm still in limbo-land waiting for exciting news.  Which I'll share with you once I have it.  Meantime - just to test if anyone reads this blog - I'll send a free copy of "Living and Working in Australia: A Survival Guide" to the first (and only the first!) person to email me at :: NOW GONE (don't worry there's no need to send any of your details to me, until I confirm that you were the first).


No catch, free book, free postage, you just got to be first!

Book now on its way....

Happy New Year.. 1 Jan 2011 1:20 PM (14 years ago)

to one and both of you.. Only 16 weeks to the day until we make the big move.  I promise I'll have something interesting to write about between now and then.  Take care and on with the January detox.

The best travel guide you will ever read about Australia 12 Dec 2010 4:46 AM (14 years ago)

Thanks to Bitterwallet for posting a link to this travel guide for Australia, that apparently fell out of a magazine supplement.  The city descriptions need to be read to be believed (click the image for a larger copy) ::

Validation Trip - Part 2 - Getting in to Australia 29 Nov 2010 3:28 AM (14 years ago)

So, what happened after I got off the plane? (Which incidentally landed into Brisbane forty minutes early). It was a reasonably short walk to immigration, where without any queue I handed my landing card to the officer - for the first time with the "Yes, I have a criminal record" box ticked.  With no mention of my trip plans or visa, he told me that I would have to be referred because of my character issues.

Here we go! I thought, but the lady that dealt with me was lovely.  She took a photocopy of my landing card and asked for brief details of my criminal record, which she noted on her photocopy.  When she asked about any previous visits to Australia, I decided to come clean and admit that my criminal record was previously not declared.  "I don't want to hear" was her reply and she waved me through to the baggage reclaim.

Baggage reclaim was also painless, my bags were neither first nor last onto the belt.  I did notice that another plane landed whilst I was waiting and I thought I would likely be competing with the new arrivals in the queue for customs.  Luckily, this feeling didn't bear fruit and having ticked the "Items to Declare" box I was directed to have the contents of my suitcases inspected.

Sadly, the Border Security "Nothing to Declare" film crew were nowhere to be seen and my chance for TV was lost.  Again the officer who dealt with me was a really nice guy, he didn't bat and eyelid at the amount of baby clothes, documents and old photos I was carrying.  Happily neither the wooden duck nor the Harrod's Flap Jack tin that I was carrying (as a gift for my mother-in-law) were considered a risk to Australia's flora and forna.  So with everything hastily stuffed back into my suitcases I passed bleary eyed through the sliding doors into Australia proper.

Validation Trip - Part 1 - Getting to Australia 12 Nov 2010 4:47 AM (14 years ago)

Well I'm back from my partner visa validation trip to Australia - and what did I learn? For one, I have to agree with Richard & Judy when they said that "The Girl wth the Dragon tattoo" is a difficult book to get into.  I'm a 150 pages in and still not drawn into the plot..

Having arrived at Heathrow on a National Express coach, I set about trying to unburden myself from my luggage and get to the departure lounge.

The Singapore Airlines check-in area was easy enough to find within Terminal 3, but there was a long line of people waiting to drop-off bags at the 'Online Check-in' desk. Having checked-in online and printed my boarding card at home (and not wanting to queue unless I really had to!), I decided to plead ignorance and went straight to an Economy desk.

Everything was going well, right up until the moment when the agent dealing with me said "Sorry, you're not entitled to 40kgs baggage - as you have a return ticket". Having checked and double checked this fact with the Singapore Airlines contact centre, I was ready for a fight. Luckily, I'd brought a copy of an email I'd been sent by customer services - which the agent took away to discuss with her supervisor. Two minutes later, she apologised and checked my bags in. Unexpectedly each bag was also 2kgs overweight, but it didn't cause me a further problem.

On to the plane itself, people make a big fuss about the Airbus A380 or 'Super-Jumbo'. Personally, from an economy seat perspective things were largely the same as any other wide-bodied aircraft. In fact Singapore Airlines have the same seats and entertainment systems across their entire 747, 777, A330 and A380 fleet. The only differences I could spot were: 1. The A380 has an upstairs economy cabin, which is less crowded with the seats in a 2-4-2 formation and 2. In the upstairs economy cabin, there is an additional storage bin at seat level alongside the window seats (large enough to hold a laptop or to stuff the pillow and blanket into) and 3. The connectors that allow you to plug your iPod into the entertainment system are slightly different (the standard Apple AV cable will still work on both, but on the A380 you need to use your iPod headphones for audio). All the Singapore Airlines aircraft use the twin mono style of headphone socket, so if you want to listen through your own earphones you'll need to bring an adapter with you (how I was mocked for buying a couple of these "just in case").  Being a double decker, you also have the option of going up and down the stairs to use the toilet - a novelty in itself.

As for the in-flight experience, Singapore Airlines and the Singapore Girls cast a shadow over every other airline I've flown with. Even in economy the service at all times was attentive. A menu was distributed soon after take-off and generally for each main meal three choices were offered (a balance of Western and Asian food).  Hot towels were distributed before each food service and drinks were regularly refilled.  More than once, fellow passengers were offered alternate meals when it was noticed that their first selection had gone un-eaten.

And as for how they dealt with families travelling with infants and small children? They were just amazing. Older children were treated as having special dietary requirements and served their meals first. Parents with babies were asked which parent should be fed first (so that one could remain in charge of the baby and the other could eat unmolested). For the babies, multiple choices of jarred baby foods were provided - as were nappies. Compare this, to BA, who don't even offer a meal to kids under the age of two travelling without their own seat (nor did they offer any assistance to my partner when she was travelling alone with our baby).

Krisworld - the name given to to the Singapore Airlines back of seat entertainment system - offers more films and TV shows on demand, than you'll be able to watch - even when you add the hours spent sat in your seat on the four legs of a return trip to Australia. For music there is a wide selection of radio and audio CDs to choose from. I especially liked the ability to create a playlist of tracks from the many CDs on offer. It also offers a selection of games, airport information and flight-path map.  Speaking of the map, my inner child sniggered when the Japanese city of Fukuoka was displayed.

I'd like to say that I arrived refreshed and rested into Singapore, but I'm not sure if that can ever be true after twelve and a half hours in a cramped economy seat? All I can say is it was a relief to land and we exited the plane without delay. Although another quirk of the Singapore Airlines experience is that the curtains that divide the cabins are kept closed, until the premium passengers have departed. So for a few minutes, you're left wondering if the doors have been opened.

Once in the Changi airport transit lounge, I only had time to change into a pair of shorts, get some Duty-Free and drink a quick coffee before needing to join the queue for security ahead of my departure to Brisbane. I was almost nearly tempted to by an iPad, at over a £100 less than the equivalent UK prices! (I would have had difficulty explaining it away to my partner, so thought better of it).

Having done the long leg from the UK, it was a pleasure to hear that with a favourable tail wind our flight time would be reduced to less than seven hours. Again - after take-off - menu cards were distributed and the service matched what I had received on the A380. Apart from a few bumps of turbulence over the Northern Territory the rest of this part of the journey passed unremarkably.
...to be continued....coming soon - Part 2 - Arrivals and my week in Oz...

Getting from Agnes Water back to Brisbane Airport 18 Oct 2010 3:06 AM (14 years ago)

With less than two weeks away from my validation trip to Australia, I've started to think about the finer logistical points of the journey.

Q. How I'm going to get to Heathrow?
A. I'm travelling alone, so the cheapest easiest option is for me to try out the services of National Express coaches for a knockdown price of £19.90.

Another alternative (other than to ask the better half to drive me) which wouldn't have been too costly is the First Great Western RailAir link. However, it would have required me to negotiate between the railway platform and coach station at Reading, with 40Kgs of my partner's most treasured possessions and my own over stuffed rucksack of hand luggage.

Q. How do I get from Brisbane Airport to my mother-in-laws in Agnes Water, QLD - nearly 500km (310 miles) away?
A. This one was made easier; the m-in-law has offered to collect me.

Q. How do I get back from the m-in-laws to Brisbane Airport?
A. This is a little trickier. Having had her perform the six hundred mile round trip for me once, I couldn't very well ask her to do the same thing again - less than a week later.

So, I started to look at the option of hire cars from Bundaberg. The quote I received - for an eight hour car rental - left me stunned. To give you context: I can collect a car from Heathrow and drive it to Swindon, for less than £40 plus petrol.

A one-way journey from Avis Bundaberg to Avis Brisbane airport was priced at $236AUD, with mileage charges and petrol to be added on top. At today's exchange rate, that's nearly an eye watering £150 before I'd started the ignition.

At that price, I'd want to be offered a Mercedes or be allowed to keep part of the car. But no, this was for a Hyundai Getz - hardly premium transport.

Another option - suggested to me, was the high-speed Tilt Train, leaving Miriam Vale it promised to get me to Brisbane central station for a more reasonable $80AUD. That said, the quoted journey time was a less than high-speed five hours. Un-burdened from my partner's heavy bags (left for safe keeping with her mother) it would be easy to hop onto the Airtrain ($15AUD) to get me to the airport.

Lastly, I considered flying as a possibility. The absolute cheapest option I found was with Tiger Airways, from Rockhampton. Their price was $24AUD - by far this made planes, cheaper than trains or automobiles - but would have meant that I would have had to depart from my mother-in-laws at 4am to get the airport and it also would have left me with a fourteen hour wait at Brisbane.

The route I finally selected was a flight with Qantas, from Bundaberg for the grand total of $88AUD (around fifty quid) or less than a third of the total cost of hiring a car and driving myself.

By flying, the journey time is reduced to fifty minutes - so another win. The only area of concern – particularly for my beloved partner - is the aircraft that Qantas operate from Bundaberg airport: the De Havilland DHC-8-400Q. Since the advent of jet engines, her feeling is that propellers have no place in modern propulsion.

Bundaberg airport markets itself as an up-and-coming facility. "More than 50,000 people pass through the terminal annually" their website pronounces. By comparison, Heathrow handles around 183,000 every day of the year!

Brisbane airport is divided between two terminals that are 2km apart, so I'll need to use the previously mentioned Airtrain to transport me between domestic and international terminals. All being well I should only have a few hours between check-in and the first leg of my Singapore Airlines flight back to London.

Once I finally get back to Heathrow, my lady love and son will be waiting to chaffeur me the final miles back home. By then it will be less than six months, before the three of us (plus our currently unborn beautiful baby) are back in Heathrow to make our one-way flights to Australia. This time I have a feeling we won't be flying up to Bundaberg!

Important Milestones 13 Sep 2010 1:33 AM (14 years ago)

Four weeks until my current role comes to an end (after 12 years).
Seven weeks until I validate my visa.
Seven months until we all make the move to Australia.
Two weeks until we find out the sex of our baby (and then make his/her flight booking with Singapore Air) and then:
only twenty (or so) weeks to he/she makes an arrival.