The Little Jewel

What a marvelous thing these bus passes are and I'm not the only one who thinks so either by the measure of the queue that waited for the 685 bus to Newcastle.

We had decided on a day at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle which turned out to be a little gem of interactive exhibits and neatly delivered bite size chunks of information.
Spread over three floors there were galleries for fashion, entrepreneurs, The River Tyne, local regiments, working people and the Turb‌inia, the worlds first turbine steam boat.

The Museum building is a sympathetic conversion of the CO OP buildings and the best thing of all it's free.



What an amazing vessel - Turbinia head on;
40 knots in 1900 which lead to a revolution in marine power and propeller design.


Well worth the visit.

Australian Epilogue

We have now been back home a week, back at work, back to the normality of everyday life, back to cold weather, back to front.

Only last week ...........

Up early, packed the car and checked out of our excellent cabin at the Big4 Caravan Park in Nowra.

Morning tea with the folks and an upsetting farewell, we headed the 200 kilometers north to Sydney and our rendezvous with Emirates and the flight back to Blighty.

We left plenty of time for the journey which allowed stops at the Mount Keira lookout to give us our final panoramic views of the NSW South Coast and Woolongong, the handback of our comfortable hire car, negotiating the unfamillliar Sydney southern suburbs and cut and thrust of Sydney traffic. All negotiated with minimal stress.
Again Emirates facility to allow online check in 24 hours before the flight, made the process at the airline desk smooth and efficient.
Always worth asking ...... "any chance for an upgrade?"
"Sorry Sir, business class is full I'm afraid".

Our flight back to the UK routed us via Bangkok (8 hours) to refuel, then onto Dubai (9 hours). Change aircraft (1.5 hour connection - tight) and 8 hours to Newcastle.
Departed Sydney about 45 minutes late which was a worry with the tight connection at Dubai, but hey what can you do about it?
Arrived Bangkok at one in the morning and discovered we didn't have to get off the aircraft for refuelling. This was rather good as it means you don't have to go through all the security checks again.
"Excuse me Sir can I see your boarding pass please?"
"OK"
"Follow me please, these are your new boarding passes we are upgrading you to business class"

Thank you Emirates.

We made up time at Bangkok and were back in the air before you knew it, stretching out in our new surroundings for a comfortable flight to Dubai, arriving bang on time.
A quick change, some duty free, back in cattle class again and an event free flight to Newcastle, landing a half hour early.
Golly was it cold!

Our aventure to Australia, planned for so long, was over.


Views of Woolongong from Mount Keira lookout