That unexpected occurrence was more than countered by the fact that the Gold Coast Airport shuttle was running more than three-quarters of an hour late.
Flights from Whitsunday Coast usually depart in mid- to late afternoon rather than the early evening.
So we weren’t quite anticipating that the food outlets around the Baggage Claim area were universally closed.
That, in turn, meant that the advertised “thirty-five minutes wait” for the shuttle wasn’t spent indoors, sitting down.
Instead, we stood around outside the terminal, watching the off-duty airport staff wander off homewards while we scanned the horizon for the shuttle.
Fortunately, once aboard, the journey to Southport was straightforward and uneventful, but it was still well after ten-thirty when we alighted in front of the unit which would be our base for the next forty hours.
Given the lateness of the hour, we took a rain-check on eating and crashed, figuring that skipping a meal after a substantial breakfast and a late lunch probably wouldn’t prove fatal.