Scenic tour ofcentral Queensland

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Quick mini report of visits to MKY and ROK. It's been a long time since I visited these places by air. Probably because I like the drive up the Bruce Hwy and its inland alternatives.

 

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MKY after flight up from BNE via ROK. Good place because there is a whopping great Ibis that dwarfs the terminal.

Asked for a room with a view of planes, and my wish was granted.

 

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Inside the room I was reminded why I don't like Ibises. It was a shoebox. But the staff were pleasant.


And yes, there was a view of planes.

 

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Next morning, after a three minute walk from the hotel, Mackay airport looked a bit sawney, compared with refurbished ROK. Check in desk and the rather small departure area...

 

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I'd timed my arrival at the lounge to coincide with the probable boarding time for the 737 direct to BNE, the second of the day. It had emptied out. One person left in a t-shirt, shorts and thongs, the NQ dress code. Hi vis an optional alternative.



It's been a looong time since I flew out of MKY. Last time the lounge was a hatbox in the ground floor landside, but it's been done up, and is now upstairs airside. There is a VA lounge downstairs too.
In the QF one, there was a food and drinks servery, with staff who explained the menu, took your order, and brought ot to your table. Nice. The upside of COVID is a first class lounge service, although I suspect they don't run to champagne.

 

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These flights are the buses of North Queensland. The aircraft left CNS at 06.45 and this was the second stop after TSV. It was the same bus I caught up from Rocky yesterday afternoon. At MKY I counted 45 off, nearly 3/4 of the passengers, with about 18 left on board, and another 15 boarded. This made for a pleasantly empty flight to ROK.

View of MKY and its Ibis on takeoff.

Canefields for the first 100km, and a view of Sarina shortly after takeoff. Spot the sugar mill.

The in flight service, such as it was, was quick! It came out 10 minutes after we pulled out of the terminal.

21 minutes from departure, 19,000 feet above the railway town of Ogmore,. we commenced descent, folloring the Fitzroy River. The Fitzroy has a huge catchment, and occasional huge floods.

 

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Revamped Rocky Airport, not quite finished. A short delay arriving due to congestion on the tarmac. It was peak hour it seemed, and the unexpected 717 on the tarmac was having some issues...

Took a while to sort the issues. They're firing up the engines at 11.20, as I write this.
Here's the terminal, checkin on the right

The lounge(s), when they appear, are upstairs I was told. looks like they'd be up the stairs and lift, on the right in the middle distance. Unfortunately that would keep them before security.

 

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Side trip to lunch yesterday, when I had a longer layover in Rocky. The boathouse is on the river, nice food, opposite the old Customs House and the Criterion Hotel, both fine old buildings, and only about7 minutes from the airport. ~$17 in a taxi, or ~$12-13 in one of the handful of Ubers.

 

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Meanwhile, the traffic jam of passengers at ROK. Naturally, Qantas' 717 and Virgin's 737 both boarded at the same time, a stress test for the departure area. MKY would have had no hope with this lot, two queues snaking around the terminal. Airport designers are good at designing places to wait, sometimes not so good at places to queue.

Part of the problem was construction. The designers installed five adjacent doors, hopefully marked 'gates'. The witches' hats denote future boarding desks.

Only two of the doors are functioning, so both queues needed to channel simultaneously through adjacent doors. Qantas from 'gate' 2, Virgin from 'gate' 1, with a priority queue and all.


You can see that gates 3-5 are butted up against a wall of seats, with limited queuing opportunity. Yes, a usability fail under construction. The only hope is that the chairs aren't bolted down...

 

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The boarding area now has retail, which has shrunk the sitting space.
Newsagent, souvenirs and travel stuff

Cafe and bar

Green chicken curry. Edible...

Looks like plenty of space for lounges up there. At the moment it's just airport management upstairs.

 

[Mattg]

I'm actually staying at the Ibis MKY soon, so good to read a mini-review. I will make sure to ask for a room with a runway view!

 

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Friday lunchtime. Out of Rocky, a 717 to BNE, 40 minutes late in, 40 minutes late out, and pretty full. 717 was what I was originally flying up on, but it was swapped out for a DH4 a couple of weeks beforehand. See ya, Rocky.

Nice view across town to Mt Archer on the way out, before disappearing into the clouds..
46 minutes flying time to BNE, of which only 10 minutes was cruise at 33,000 feet. Snack was more water, and the cheesy biccies with caramelised onion dip, not my favourite. All economy to Rocky, no upgrades on this route!

Out of the clouds around Kilkivan, and descending past my home town, Woodford Qld. Wave if you fly past!

Then past some of the more obscure and modest Glasshouse Mountains; on left middle ground Tunbubudla, the Twins. Right of the Twins is Miketeebumulgrai, with the better known Tibrogargan behind it, to the right of the cloud shadow. In the foreground, Elimbah's pineapple plantations with some strawberries as well. The strawberries go to supermarkets, while most of the pineapples go to the Golden Circle cannery.

 

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Hoped to fly back into the new runway at BNE, but it was not to be, possibly because QF1795 was late and it's a shorter taxi across from the old runway to the terminal. The novelty was the gate, 27, in the common central pier, the one with no airbridges - Jetstar land!

It's been a long time since I was here, and it looked much more cheerful than last time I was there, when it was an empty semi-circle. I marvelled at all the shops up that end. Handy place to end the tour!

 

[craven morehead]

MKY after flight up from BNE via ROK. Good place because there is a whopping great Ibis that dwarfs the terminal.
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Asked for a room with a view of planes, and my wish was granted.
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That's my regular monthly digs