The flight itself was relatively uneventful and sunrise saw us tracking down Australia’s east coast with ‘Er Indoors in the window seat trying to catch a glimpse of Bowen once I’d pointed out that we’d be passing fairly close, though admittedly close is a relative term when you’re travelling at 38000 feet. She claimed to have been successful, though our position over the wing made it difficult for someone sitting one seat away from the window to verify the sighting.
We were on the ground in Brisbane, more or less on schedule when the fun and games, such as they were, began.
Unknown to the majority of those on Flight JQ 1, some time during the descent into Brisbane the auxiliary power supply decided to pack it in. Not that anyone would have noticed, since it was the kind of incident that didn’t pose any problem (as I could gather) while we were in the air.
In fact, if the pilot hadn’t brought the matter to our attention as the aircraft taxied into the terminal, I doubt than anyone other than the air crew would have been any the wiser.
Unfortunately, the failure meant that, once the engines were turned off the aircraft would be plunged into darkness unless they could arrange for some other source of electrical power.
Which, in turn, meant the engines wouldn’t be switched off in a hurry and that, in turn, meantno one was going anywhere anytime soon.
No sooner had they made alternative power arrangements than another gremlin appeared in the system. There was a problem, believe it or not, opening the doors, which meant that everyone who’d stood up when the engines were switched off stayed standing for quite some time.
Eventually, of course, they succeeded in opening a door and we filed off through the front doors hoping that nothing else would go wrong.
Then, for some reason possibly related to the previous difficulties, unloading the baggage seemed to take an inordinate length of time, but eventually some operator flicked a switch and the conveyor belt surged into action. Eventually our baggage emerged and we were free to make our way through Immigration and Customs and make transit arrangements to get us to the Gold Coast for a couple of days’ rest and recuperation before heading home.
The airport shuttle dropped us off in front of my Dad’s place just before ten that Saturday morning and after an hour and a half spent detailing our adventures over the preceding fortnight it was time to venture out in search of something to eat.