On Saturday morning we had a sort of private taxi to the airport. It was very quick and we had help with our suitcases, which we much appreciated. We checked in and went through security. The security section was quite pleasant, with lots of pods open and no waiting. They did not require as much sorting out of stuff as in China, and had the special screening machines for people, which meant they didn’t actually touch us.
After that, we went to one of the cafes for breakfast. I had a bowl of porridge and shared it with Stephen as it was quite big. Our flight was at 9.30 a.m. and we assumed (rightly) that we would not be fed immediately on getting onboard. The photo at the top was taken at the cafe.
It was a relatively pleasant 12.5 hour flight. We were served two meals, a brunch and an evening meal. In between, which was quite a long time, they served little savoury rolls and other snacks and drinks on demand. The staff were lovely and always behaved as if it was their pleasure to look after us. It was a day flight for us, and we didn’t try to sleep, just rested. Although we were sick of being cooped up by the end we agreed that we were well looked after and it was as enjoyable as it possibly could have been.
At Singapore we were transferring in the same Terminal. It was still quite a long way to our next gate, and we even caught a little train, but somehow not as frenetic as some of our transfers have been. The 5 hour flight to Perth wasn’t quite as nice as the previous one, we mainly had male flight attendants and they simply didn’t appear to be enjoying themselves looking after us. The food wasn’t quite as good either. I guess it depends on the contractor doing the meals, as much as the actual airline.
Stephen hadn’t eaten on the flight, so after coming through the automatic passport check and customs we went to a cafe for coffee and snacks. I was still feeling OK, with very little sleep, but Stephen was feeling pretty sleep deprived.
Much as it is a security feature to have someone in the house when we are away, it is still disconcerting to find things in different places, etc. I felt well enough to go and do a little bit of shopping for food for dinner and breakfast. We went shopping again yesterday (Monday) for extra groceries.
This morning I spent time finishing unpacking and sorting out my study. I did some washing yesterday and it was still pretty damp this morning. I’m feeling that there may be less dust from the building site next door and have put the washing outside to dry. We thought that the building might have progressed more than it has, but they appear to have done all of the foundations.
On Sunday night we had difficulty sleeping. We got up at 1.30 a.m. and had hot milk and toast, then went back to bed. We slept in, despite the workers having commenced at about 7.00 a.m. Last night we went to bed later, at about 11.00 p.m. and pretty much slept until 7.00 a.m. when we were woken by the noise from the building site. As a consequence we feel somewhat better today.