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Published: April 27th 2014
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Friday 25 April
Today is 'do nothing beside the plunge pool day'. Unfortunately, the weather didn't know about our plans.
Went down to brekkie at about 9am since it was included. I technically had croissants but they weren't what I would call croissants. They looked like croissants but weren't the usual flaky pastry, just tasted like bread.
Before heading back to the room we swung past reception and booked a return airport transfer and managed to get a late check out for midday the following day so we didn't have to hang around for two hours in the reception area.
Back to the room for a swim despite the overcast skies, followed by lots of lounging on the lounges on the deck overlooking the lagoon, interchanged by coming inside to use the internet or sit in a different location. Or in my case, have regular naps.
Our peace and quiet was somewhat disturbed by the gardeners who seemed to be having way too much fun working than they should. They used a whipper sniper to 'mow' all of the grass out the front of all of the bungalows, holding up a tarp to prevent anything going
into our plunge pool. Yammering away in loud voices the entire time.
Then they came back and raked up all of the grass. While the area wasn't exactly ideal for a mower there had to be an easier way to do what they did but it kept them busy for most of the morning.
At lunch time we headed back up to the Mangoes Restaurant where we grabbed open grilled sandwiches and a side of fries. Then back to the room for some more reading, napping, tv, a couple of drinks and some snack eating. Just the way I like my holidays!
At dinner time we headed back up to the restaurant where we both opted for steak and dessert (why not really, as the last real dinner of the holiday?) before heading back to the room and some crappy tv before bed.
Saturday 26 April
Up at a reasonable time but opted to skip breakfast since we'd be having a relatively early lunch today before heading to the airport.
I think we had both hoped that the weather would be heaps better this morning and involve some sunshine rather than glare from sun
behind clouds but luck wasn't on our side again today.
I showered and dressed and finished sorting out my bag in preparation for departure, and we spent the next couple of hours reading, watching tv and lounging outside.
At around 11:30am we headed down to grab lunch, an open grilled sandwich and some fries, and to settle the bill. The transfer was due to show up at 12:30pm, the flight was at 3pm, but the transfer arrived a little earlier. About 8 people piled into the minivan and we picked up another couple at another resort and then getting to the airport.
Wasn't much of a queue at Virgin and they sorted us our boarding passes for both flights, as we were flying international to Brisbane and then domestic on to Sydney.
We then discovered that we couldn't go through immigration and towards the boarding lounge as it wasn't yet open. Half the shops were shut, the airport was fairly full and there were no seats. After a few people started forming this weird queue we decided we might as well join them.
They then called our flight through to immigration, but it still wasn't
open. It was the strangest set up. Eventually a solo guy with 'immigration' written on his back showed up and opened up. It was just him to process a couple of flights. And one security screening open.
Stuart managed to have a dodgy bag or something, after it went through once they made him open it up and show them what was inside, and then rescan it. Nt sure what they thought they saw, but they recorded all the details and we went through, no questions or anything so obviously nothing to be concerned about!
There were only two boarding gates but we grabbed a seat and bought some snacks for the flight, including water. There were essentially two shops, including a tiny duty free shop, and that was it. Exciting.
When they called the flight we managed to join the wrong queue and found ourselves lining up for duty free collection. So we switched queues only to discover they were taking everyone's water off of them, including just-purchased, not yet opened, water. What a waste of money and I was quite annoyed. They never give me enough water on a flight and Virgin on their short
haul flights are worse than the full service carriers in the water respect (plus I end up being the annoying passenger who asks for water every time a crew member walks past!).
Onto the flight, this time an aisle and a middle seat towards the back, again it was a very full plane. Virgin entertainment system was working though so I read my book and watched a movie. Unfortunately if you hit pause and don't go back to it quick enough the system restarts and puts you back at the start of the movie, and a couple of times the wifi connection dropped out so I think I restarted the movie four times in total.
Three hour flight into Brisbane was a little turbulent but arrived slightly early. Quick duty free stop was first on the list, following by the immigration, customs and quarantine process which was fairly easy. Straight through SmartGate before declaring food and wood, showing the quarantine marshall and heading straight out. From there it was across to domestic transfer, checked our luggage onto the next flight, hopped the free transfer bus and headed to the domestic terminal.
Through security (no double screening of Stuart's bag this time but I did get explosives tested) before it was Red Rooster for dinner, feeling a bit of déjà vu from the outgoing flight. Then we headed to the Virgin lounge where we spent the next two hours.
Flight to Sydney left at 8pm and again was pretty full. Got a snack on this one though. Landed at 9:30pm at Sydney and luggage seemed to take forever to come out before getting picked up by Stuart's parents who drove us back to Wollongong where it was pretty much straight to sleep.
Sunday 27 April
Up, showered, dressed and a bacon and egg breakfast before loading our luggage into Stuart's car and driving to his sister's to see the house her and her boyfriend had just moved into to. Then it was time to drive back to Goulburn via the slightly more 'scenic' route. Went through a place called Robertson where I was supposed to see the 'Giant Potato' but it has either been demolished or we missed it. A google image search though showed me all I needed to though.
Stopped at Hungry Jacks for a quick lunch en route at about 12:30pm. Got into Gouburn at around 1pm, got my car, loaded my luggage into it and I headed home solo, getting into Canberra at around 2:30pm.
End of holiday... time to start planning the next one!
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