Townsville > Sydney
An unusually inexpensive Brisbane > Sydney fare saw us travelling Qantas, rather than JetStar or Virgin Blue, not that there was a great deal of difference up to boarding time, when Madam reported a significant difference in leg room. When you're around the six foot mark, however, Cattle Class still feels like Cattle Class.
The first leg of the flight was unremarkable, but an hour's interval in Brisbane was a reminder of the difference between the full fare and budget ends of the airline spectrum. We'd ventured down towards the Qantas end of Brisbane Domestic before, but this time we were starting from the heart of full fare.
With more time on the ground I may well have noted other significant differences on top of the presence of a Wine Selectors tasting session and enlistment enterprise. I'd noted one as we made our way from the arrival gate to Gate 22 without paying too much attention, but when Madam returned from a quick scout around the retail options with the news that there was an actual wine tasting in progress, naturally I felt duty bound to investigate.
With more warning I would have got further than the Ninth Island Sauvignon Blanc and classy new style McLaren Vale Chardonnay whose name, due to the need to keep my wits about me while an attractive sales rep operated a high intensity version of the signup spiel, escapes me.
A lesser man would have kept tasting and eventually weakened, but having dropped out of The Wine Society Regular Tasting Dozen program so that I could keep buying from my favourite small wineries I decided that discretion was the better part of Valerie and used the queue forming at Gate 22 as an excuse to make my escape.
Having given serious thought to the various stratagems that could be adopted in future I'll be better prepared next time (if we get to fly full fare again in the next year or two at a time when they're doing a similar promotion).
The Brisbane - Sydney leg on a larger aircraft provided a space differential even Hughesy could notice and a request for red wine (at the regulation $6) produced a Mount Langhi Ghiran Shiraz rather than the usually ubiquitous Wolf Blass or Jacobs Creek. Another tick for the full fare operator.
Unfamiliarity with the transit arrangements between Sydney Airport meant we expected to be taking the train and scoped out the station location en route to the baggage carousel, but having collected the wherewithal we were passing the Airport Shuttle booth when an inspired inquiry produced the news that the $14 shuttle bus would drop us right at the hotel.
No brainer…
We were booked into the Great Southern Hotel just after three, early enough to allow a couple of hours' leisure time that could have been used to peruse an art exhibition, but Madam felt there wouldn't be enough time for a proper appreciation and we ended up taking a wander along George Street up to the Queen Victoria Pavilion, a trek that turned into a quest for Kinokuniya, one of the larger Japanese retail book outlets.
By the time we'd made it back to the Great Southern we weren't interested in doing much wandering in search of dinner and a stone's throw from the hotel we found an outlet that provided a very satisfying serve of salt and pepper prawns and two bowls of short soup (one wonton, one dumplings) which both went down very well.
Amazingly we were back and ready for bed by 6:30 and shortly thereafter a surprisingly sober Hughesy was pushing up Zs and working his way through the contents of the saw mill.