My anxiety must have been evident because I woke an hour too early concerned that the alarm had not sounded. By the time it was time to get up we were wide awake. Shower, dress, finish packing and we were ready for the shuttle bus at 6:35am for a 6:45am pickup. Arranging the shuttle bus was done for us by Cube Apartment staff and hence not in our control, so I was concerned. By 6:55 the bus had not turned up, but an employee of Cube Apartment had and we persuaded her to find out what was happening. Unfortunately the shuttle bus company did not open until 7:30am so she did not find much. We decided that we would take a taxi and asked the employee to contact their taxi provider. She appeared to be unconcerned, but eventually confirmed the cab was on its way. We were in the taxi and away by 7:05. The trip to Tullamarine was uneventful except for the flickering low fuel warning light on the taxi.
We were in the line at REX Airlines by 7:45, and I was confident we were away. “I'm afraid, your baggage is overweight.” We were told by the check-in operator. I saw we were weighing in at 20kg per bag. We had been carrying four bottles of wine and a bottle of olive oil since Margaret River for Joanne and Brendan. “The weight limit is 15kg.” We had to pick one of our suitcases that we agreed to leave behind if the total baggage was over the limit. Fortunately all the luggage arrived.
The plane was fully loaded. There were two ministers of the crown on board, Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Water and Nicola Roxon, Minister for Health & Ageing, with their individual entourages, numbering eight in total. During the flight they all perused speeches and press releases, read all the daily newspapers and passed notes between themselves. I did not have the opportunity to enquire whether all the words to be spoken that day had been scripted.
As we were filing down the stairs, Minister Wong's handbag strap became tangled on the railing. I was following immediately behind and released it for her. Thus was my 10 seconds of fame.
After we arrived a big jet touched down. It carried the Prime Minister and the rest of Cabinet for a meeting today in Burnie. Brendan said he had never seen a big jet at Wynyard airport. Usually it was the SAAB turbo-prop planes in which we came over.
Brendan and Joanne were there to greet us, after which we set out for Boat Harbour. When we arrived at 1 Mackenzie Road we were greeted by one of the most beautiful and peaceful vistas I could imagine. See photos 1,2. Their house (3) is pre-1900 and very comfortable.
After lunch we went on our first tour including Boat Harbour Beach (4) and a look along the coast to Burnie from Table Cape (5). Serene. We drove east as far as Somerset and then returned home. Adrienne took some very interesting photos of the sunset.
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