Craven Suid Afrika 2022 TR

[Sprucegoose]

The food was very decent on this flight although the "selection" of cheese was rather poor! Possibly the worst I've seen

I think the Accountant spent time in the Catering Department......

 

[craven morehead]

Taxiing in, I saw a Shanghai Airlines FM (a wholly owned subsidiary of China Eastern) plane for the first time.





Check out this stylish chap Him and his partner (very plain attire) were also in the VS Clubhouse pre-flight with some very expensive looking, matching Louis Vuitton luggage. Why not travel in style? Believe me, they had done some serious shopping



Through the immigration kiosk in 2 minutes and off to baggage carousel #9



After a speedy start, I had to wait 20 minutes for my priority baggage but then went straight through customs in 60 seconds!

Walked over to the bus transfer. Must have just missed previous bus, because I had to wait 20 minutes for the next one. I'm actually unsure of what the frequency is meant to be. Others may know.

Driving past our "Boomerang" that roared home in 10.5 hours



Arrived at the DOM Terminal and preceded to the J QP. Grabbed a seat and set myself up, and then straight in for a shower before a small feed.



There was a decent selection of food available, and the place was ~50% full, so minimal photos.

Butter chicken and rice hit the spot and there was actually chicken in it I don't know how many of the wet dishes I've had at BNE DOM J QP recently that have been almost meat free.



Then, we had to have the obligatory Grub that puts his stinky feet up on the seat. He spent most of the time with his phone on reverse camera looking at himself and preening his hair



Next flight SYD-BNE

 

[craven morehead]

Boarding time for QF536. Now I normally get on near last when travelling DOM J but today I was knackered and got on nearly first. Seat 3D.

I was literally half asleep by the time a chap asked me to move so he could sit in 3F. I must have looked shagged. Long day mate? He asks.

Yes mate, I just came in from Jo'Burg. I know he says, I was your Captain! We eventually departed 20 minutes late which was going to be an issue as I only had a 40-minute window before my BNE-EMD flight.

Are you heading home to BNE? No, I said, heading out to Central Qld. Which part he asks? Emerald is my regional airport and then I'm an hour from there. Ahh, I used to fly the Toll plane into EMD in the late 80's. Then enquired as to where I lived. I said I head North then head East, low and behold; he named my town before I did. Ahh, yeah, I used to land on the mine airstrip in the mid 80's he goes on to say

We had a really interesting chat for half an hour, and he told me he had been with Qantas for 34 years.

I told him I was odds on to miss my next flight. So, when we landed, he pulled out his Qantas tablet looked up my flight, rang the control room and asked them to hold QF2410 for me if possible. What a bloody good bloke, even just trying was good of him. Champion bloke

He then went onto tell me that there had been a security breach earlier in the afternoon and they had shut the terminal down at one stage.
Anyway, after shaking his hand, I took off in a hurry for Gate 1 and or the help desk on the lower floor hoping for the best. Turns out 2 other chaps had been held up by the shutdown and they fronted about 2 minutes after me. Long story short: One of the desk ladies drove us out to the plane in the Corolla. I knew my bag wouldn't make it and had lodged that with the desk. My bag was delivered to my home, a 100kms from EMD the next arvo. Great result I have had this happen 3 or 4 times before.

Last of 3 back-to-back flights to get home on this rainy afternoon.

QF2410 - Create and share your videos with Clipchamp



Off we go





Not often I pay attention to the interesting cloud formations.






They must think I need to start on a health kick after this trip!



The Universe is back in sync



Landed 30 minutes late after the delayed take off, which was the only reason I made the flight. When I originally lobbed up at the ground floor help desk, they had already put me on the next morning's 6.40 flight, so I was glad to get home tonight.





Bags were out in about 15 minutes. Wife was there to pick me up and then it was time to head home!



Funnily enough, I was back here 30 hours later to fly to NTL

That concludes this not so glamorous, but hopefully interesting TR. Thanks to those that followed along and also for the comments.

Cheers CM

 

[Cossie]

A great TR, places that I would love to visit, (St Lucia especially), who knows, maybe one day, thanks very much.

 

[craven morehead]

A great TR, places that I would love to visit, (St Lucia especially), who knows, maybe one day, thanks very much.

A pleasure @Cossie & St. Lucia is excellent!

 

[tgh]

Another thank you for a super interesting tr ; off the beaten track and offering local insight.. well done

 

[craven morehead]

Another thank you for a super interesting tr ; off the beaten track and offering local insight.. well done

Thank you very much @tgh

 

[Quickstatus]

Corolla

Come on QF, surely a ute would be more culturally appropriate.

Thanks for the TR.

 

[OZDUCK]

Very interesting TR with some excellent photos. You really opened my eyes to what that part of South Africa is really like.

 

[craven morehead]

Come on QF, surely a ute would be more culturally appropriate.

Thanks for the TR.

Cheers @Quickstatus

 

[craven morehead]

Very interesting TR with some excellent photos. You really opened my eyes to what that part of South Africa is really like.

Thank you @OZDUCK

 

[drron]

A wonderful TR. On our visit I got to love KwaZulu - Natal. Would love to go back but it's not going to happen as Mrsdrron didn't feel the same way.

So I really enjoyed tagging along.
And what a great seat mate you scored on the penultimate flight.

 

[craven morehead]

A wonderful TR. On our visit I got to love KwaZulu - Natal. Would love to go back but it's not going to happen as Mrsdrron didn't feel the same way.

So I really enjoyed tagging along.
And what a great seat mate you scored on the penultimate flight.

Many thanks @drron and yes what a lovely fellow Captain Taylor was

 

[Mattg]

Is that a Lufthansa 747 by any chance @Mattg

View attachment 313120

A beautiful piece of machinery

(Provided you're not looking at it from the inside, in a middle seat, flying long-haul... as I may have done recently )

 

[VPS]

Another great TR (always enjoy yours) - I'm wondering if I'll ever get to South Africa - so many things to do and so little time

Great to hear about the great service from the pilot

Cheers

 

[craven morehead]

Another great TR (always enjoy yours) - I'm wondering if I'll ever get to South Africa - so many things to do and so little time

Great to hear about the great service from the pilot

Cheers

Thank you @VPS Under different circumstances, I would have loved to talk to Captain Taylor for hours, but very decent of him to try and help.

 

[RB]

Great report & a style of travel that I also enjoy. Always good to have a beer & catch up with mates after a long time

 

[craven morehead]

Great report & a style of travel that I also enjoy. Always good to have a beer & catch up with mates after a long time

Cheers @RB agree having beers over a catch up with mates is awesome. Especially overseas

 

[bPeteb]

Brilliant tr cm. Loved every post. Now to try the video upload next decent trip we do. Did you use that editor and then link to them?

 

[craven morehead]

Brilliant tr cm. Loved every post. Now to try the video upload next decent trip we do. Did you use that editor and then link to them?

Many thanks @bpeteb much appreciated.

I used Vimeo until I ran out of free storage for the month then tried ClipChamp Editor which is on my newish laptop.

A bit of trial and error as I hadn't tried to add any videos before this. Didn't even know if it was possible Ultimately , after I worked it out, I could just copy the link and paste to TR