My flight from Townsville to Sydney departs 1320 which meant a shuttle pickup at 1145. That suited well as the hostel check out was 1000. It allowed me to chill a bit in between checking out and leaving. I waited outside the hostel at 1130.
A little after the scheduled pickup time, I saw a white Airport Shuttle pass with a passenger on board but didn’t stop. I attempt to wave it down but the driver didn’t notice me.
I waited a little till nearly 1200 and rang/txted the shuttle company. I was told that they were running a little behind today and that they would be a long after a drop off. It finally arrived at 1210 after a few more txt from amid plenty of nerves. I got to the airport with a little less than an hour to departure but all was sweet.
The Virgin Australia flight to Sydney departed about 20 minutes late. I was hungry despite having breakfast and a morning tea of leftover bean salad. Complimentary coffee/tea, water/juice was on offer plus a small sandwich. Not as generous as Qantas but better than domestic in NZ which is reasonable in consideration of the longer flights.
I opted to buy a larger sandwich (AUD9) and wine (AUD8) but as a combo it was only AUD13. I tendered AUD15 but the flight attendant said, AUD10 will do. Sweet! I enjoyed that while watching six episodes of a comedy series called The Katering Show featuring two women caterers both name Kate who take the piss out of people with food intolerances.
I trained to the Breakfree hotel on Clarence Street. Kim arrived less than 4 hours later on his China Airlines from Auckland. Being the first day of the school holidays, he decided to fly commercial rather than staff standby, and it only cost about NZD28 more.