Wednesday 27th March 2024

Woke up today at a reasonable time and went for a morning walk.  The hotel was kicking us out well before our flight, but we had plans to go and check out Cairns for a bit since we had not yet done that.  After breakfast and checking out, we drove our way down to Cairns and parked by the Esplenade and walked around for a bit.

The area had changed a lot and we were done walking around in the blazing sun with no breeze at all.  The city was pretty empty (considering everyone is probably on day tours) and we picked up some lunch at a local bakery (including a vanilla slice) before heading to the Cairns Botanic Gardens.  Now I was trying to stay off my foot, and decided to find a spot and just read my book.  Heidi went off to explore for a while and we ended up meeting back at the car after a while.  From the gardens we went to the gas station to refill the car and then it was off to drop off the car at the airport. 

We dropped off the vehicle with the rental company and then we headed into Check in and just before we got to the doors, I got an alert that the flight was delayed.  O well too late now!  And then the double whammy, right in front of the doors on the inside was the Virgin Australia check in, so that was great however check in would not open for almost an hour!  Greaaaaaat!  The landside part of the terminal was crammed full of people waiting to check in and there wasn’t many choices of places to sit.  We found a crowded spot and sat down to eat the lunch we bought and waited it out.

Eventually we were able to check in and we were a few people behind some people we were on tour with the day before and they took our bags and off they went into the baggage check.  We had one seat between us that had been empty until a little earlier in the day and I made a joke about moving the person in that seat to the empty aisle that was showing, of course for their benefit.  But they said they will see what they could do!

We headed for security and my continuation of Australian security being worse than America this time I was fine on my body after the shenanigans in Sydney, but they wanted me to empty out everything that was in my backpack and put it through the xray machine 3 times!  What an adventure!!  I will never complain about security in the USA ever again (though I haven’t had to wait on any occasion really, no more than 5 minutes).

After making it through security, we headed out into the terminal to find a bathroom and a place to sit out the wait.  The Cairns Airport looks much better than it used to and is now quite spacious and has lots of shops, restaurants and cafes.  We found a great seat and just sat down and I pulled out my book and continued to read.  We wiled away the time just letting the airport move around us.  I was staying far away from the lady who was sitting close by continuously coughing.  This made me put on a mask and just stay well away!

Virgin Australia – VA784
Cairns to Brisbane
1420-1640
Boeing 737-700 (VH-VBY)
Economy Class (Seat 18A)

Boarding: 1428 (Gate 18)
Push Back: 1453
Take Off Roll: 1505 (Runway 15)
Top of Descent: 1631
Touch Down: 1656 (Runway 19R)
Shut Down: 1706 (Gate 40B)

Boarding was eventually called for our flight shortly after the delayed inbound had disgorged everyone.  They had already boarded people with assistance and they called business class and priority elites first.  But at the same time they had those in the back of the plane line up so that once they were done, we were ready to go.  Thankfully they use back of the plane boarding so rather than having to go up and down the ramps, we just turned left and went out the door onto the ramp straight out to the back of the plane.  Up the back steps and into the aircraft.  Heidi and I were hoping we could keep the seat free between us, but she took the middle seat just in case, that way the person in the middle can at least have the aisle. 

Boarding continued and the plane filled up and eventually they told us that the doors were shut and boarding was complete.  There were 2 seats left on the plane.  One was in between me and Heidi and the other was on the other aisle in our row.  Heidi moved back to the aisle seat and then the child on the other side of the plane, put their plush toy into the aisle seat and buckled him in.  Good use of the seat 😀

We got the safety briefing as we pushed back and headed for the runway.  We took off to the south and then turned out over the ocean and out the window you had a great view of all the reefs and islands off the coast as we went south.  We tracked over the coast to around Townsville and then went inland from there.  Service onboard started pretty quickly, i mean they are trying to get you to spend money, but I took a water and just sat back and enjoyed the flight south watching a movie from the streaming service onboard.

We eventually began tracking back towards the coast after crossing over the Morayfield area on our descent into the airport.  We were landing from over the bay but we didn’t turn again over Tangalooma and that could have been because we were coming from the North, but as we turned onto final, we seemed to be further north than I thought we would be.  That was strange to my brain as I figured we would be heading to the old runway, but being so much further north, it meant we were coming into the new runway…… Finally!!!

The landing on the new runway was smooth and the facilities looked great.  As we taxied back next to the old spotting loop road (which still existed and I assumed there was a tunnel to get over there now) and we passed a fancy new fire station, the first time I had seen it over on this side of the airport.  We pulled into the Virgin side of the domestic terminal and I checked the tile and thankfully my bag showed in Brisbane, so that was a good start.  We deboarded through the back of the plane this time as they had quickly brought over the steps and gotten it all hooked up, unlike Qantas in Cairns when we arrived.

After making our way across the ramp, up the steps, up the ramp we were finally in Brisbane and I was home for another month.  Heidi was back in Brisbane for the first time since 2016 and we were headed to get our bags, our rental car and then home for a quick night stay.