Journey from Perth to Airlie Beach

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Around 21:30 I made my way to the airport from Perth YHA via the airport bus. The journey didn’t take too long - maybe just under 30 minutes. There were only three other people on the bus so I guess that night flights aren’t so popular on a Saturday. I arrived at the airport with plenty of time to check-in and get myself sorted. Usually I’d use the self check-in machines and get my boarding pass printed. This time I decided to queue up and do it manually as I wanted to take a bottle of wine with me and wanted to check the regulations regarding liquids in sealed containers. The woman at the check-in desk was fairly friendly and stated that I could take my wine with me in my hand luggage - she took my word that it was all fully sealed and asked if I had any items like lighters or deodorant cans in my checked baggage. I told her that I had put them in my checked luggage as I wasn’t able to have them in hand luggage the last time I got an internal flight. She asked me to step to one side and find the lighter and deodorant in my backpack and put it in my hand luggage. I obliged her and began to unpack my things, desperately searching for the contraband items. I wasn’t entirely sure that I had the lighter to be honest, but thought I’d better declare it just in case it turned out to be a problem later on. The lighter was apparently the first thing I had thrown into my backpack as I only found it once I’d strewn the rest of the contents of my backpack on the floor around the check-in desk. It was nice to have all my pants on display whilst people looked at me; possibly wondering what kind of terrorist faction I worked for. I managed to repack my backpack and get checked in without any further dramas. I double checked I had my passport and made my way to the security area to pass through to the departure lounge.

As i was in the process of removing my belt/keys/wallet/loose change/jewellery, I informed the security officer that I was diabetic and carrying a quantity of prescribed medication with me as it couldn’t go into the hold with the other baggage. I had my doctor’s note and Australian prescription ready as evidence for my story. He politely asked to see my pen refills and asked if I was carrying any epi-pens. I answered no; and reiterated that I was diabetic. He asked again if I had epi-pens - I politely told him I wasn’t epileptic but diabetic. I thought perhaps he might not be aware of the difference! He eventually let me through when he had confirmed with his manager that I wasn’t going to be a threat to anyone with my 6mm needles. I walked through the security machine and waited patiently for my hand luggage to be scanned. The x-ray operator couldn’t work out why I had a bottle of wine and had to call over the supervisor. She smiled when she saw I was causing trouble again and inspected the bottle. It was all fully sealed with a cork and the metallic tape so I was allowed to keep hold of it. I collected all my possessions and was desperate to get to the departure lounge. I was in the middle of putting my jewellery on, and checking I had my passport/boarding card/mobile phone when I was asked to step to one side by a different security guard. He explained that I was chosen for a random explosives check and asked me to read a statement regarding the search he would undertake. I had to confirm I understood what was happening before he proceeded to wipe over my bag (and its many contents) before wiping over me. He put his detector into the machine and I came back negative for explosive materials. What a surprise!

I hurriedly made my way to the departure lounge before anything else could happen. It was only later that I realised that although I had been thoroughly checked for contraband items and explosives, I did in fact have a lighter, an aerosol deodorant can and a bottle of wine in my hand luggage. I’m pretty sure I could have started a small fire on the plane if I had been so inclined. I found a free internet terminal and checked my facebook page accordingly and then sent some emails before going in search of a coffee and some banana bread. Our flight was ready to board and we all formed a line, ready to present our boarding cards. Thirty minutes later, we begin the boarding process and people are pushing and shoving each other. I managed to find my seat with relative ease and got comfortable. I purchased some cheese & crackers with a bottle of water and ended up falling into an uncomfortable few hours sleep. We arrived at Brisbane Airport a little behind schedule but it didn’t bother me as I had over five hours to wait for my connecting flight up the coast to Proserpine. I found myself ordering a Hungry Jacks breakfast and watched kids’ cartoons on the departure lounge TV. I was trying to hard to stay awake and decided it was probably time to get a coffee. I was able to deal with the general hustle and bustle of the airport noise - although the woman sitting five (!) tables away from me was really annoying me. I could hear every word of her inane conversation with her equally shrill friend - both of whom were ignoring the small, ill-behaved child who had climbed onto a barstool type chair and proceeded to fall off it. Cue screaming child plus hysterical shrill mother and I’d just about had enough of airports for life. I went in search of a quieter place to sit and wait out the time until my scheduled departure. I found a place with few people and got comfy. I hadn’t realised before (the shrill woman had distracted me) but the loudspeaker in the airport was constantly calling out names for passengers who were holding up flight departures. Each time the loudspeaker called out, the staff member sounded more and more annoyed - there were several calls for a Mr & Mrs something (“your flight is boarded and ready to leave” then “your flight is ready for an immediate departure”) before I heard “please come to see a member of staff as the flight has now departed”. That cheered me up no end!

My flight was eventually called and I headed towards the departure gate. It was a fairly small plane with a around 50 people heading up to Proserpine. The take off with slightly bumpy and we managed to find a patch of fairly bad turbulence before we finally climbed to our ideal height and levelled out. I had the window seat and was looking forward to the amazing views I thought I’d get. Unfortunately for me, most of the sky was filled with a thick, dark grey cloud. I couldn’t see six inches out of the window, let alone any of the tropical Islands below. I sat and read my book, hoping that Proserpine wasn’t hidden by clouds also. As we neared our destination the cloud cover did clear. I looked out of the window at Queensland below and was truly surprised by the lush green vegetation that stretched on for miles. I know that Queensland gets a lot of rain and is one of the most tropical states in Australia; however it didn’t stop me thinking that I had perhaps boarded a flight to New Zealand (I was tired - it could have happened). As we began our decent, I was able to get a better view of the landscape. The most accurate description I can give is that it looked like several mountains of broccoli. It was green and leafy as far as the eye could see. The ground looked pretty sodden - it gave the appearance of being marshlands although I’m pretty sure that it was meant to be a forest. I was unable to see Proserpine airport from my side of the plane and was convinced that we were making an emergency landing into some trees. Fortunately, a small unsealed road appeared and we neatly landed, making our way to the end of the road before making a ‘U’ turn and heading back. The small airport buildings came into view on from my side of the plane as the captain announced the local time and outside temperature. There was a mad scramble to disembark - I made my way through the plane and down the steps, onto the tarmac. We were ushered in the vague direction of the single story building that I assumed was the airport. We went through a gate in the chicken-wire style fence and waited outside on the other side of the building for our luggage. Two young guys arrived with the luggage on trailers. It was a free-for-all as everyone pushed and shoved to be the first to get their luggage. I managed to locate my backpack and headed off in the vague direction of a taxi. I paid the flat rate $15 fee to get to Airlie Beach and dropped off at my hostel. I’d had to make a quick decision on a hostel whilst I was in Perth.

The hostel didn’t sound that promising but it was cheap and the only one (!) that had beds free. As we pulled up, I was secretly hoping that this was not my hostel. This hope was shattered when the taxi driver announced it was my hostel. Oh God, I thought, please don’t leave me here. I went to reception to check-in and pay my key deposit. I was put into a 6-bed hut that had only one other resident - a really friendly 25 year old German guy. I checked out the bed situation and decided that I’d take the bottom bunk underneath the German guy - two of the beds were in the kitchen area (!) and the other bunks were right underneath a window with no curtains. The hostel was an absolute hole. I took various photographs to document the rusty fridge, the mouldy shower and the complimentary cockroach spray. There was a little sign asking for people to email a well known travel guide company, asking them to include the hostel in their ‘top places to stay’ section. What a joke. My roommate was pretty nice and I was able to practice my German language skills with him. We climbed into our beds and carried on talking. Just as I was drifting off to sleep, one of the wooden slats on his bed snapped and fell onto me. He was convinced he was going to end up falling through the entire bed and onto me during the night. It was pretty funny at the time, but then he decided to move to a different bunk just in case.

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Comments

[Aud]

All sounds, er.... very interesting, lol.....put it down to experience, it will be something to tell the grandchildren :-) Just stay out of the water, lol. Big hugs, lots of love...mum xxxx