15/12/2025 last day in Oz

Another beautiful sunny day for my last day in Australia. I had a phone call from Dylan in the early hours checking I was ok in light of the Bondi shootings, he couldn’t remember where I was and had tried a few times but as I’d been out my phone had been on silent and I forgot to turn it back on again  Having reassured him I was ok, and had a brief chat, I went back to sleep. When I woke again at a civilised hour, I packed the sturdy one, not quite with Simon’s military precision, but everything was in so who cares if it looks a bit crumpled and bedraggled coming out the bag at the other end, there’s nobody i know who will see it and if a random stranger is feeling a bit judgy about it they are more than welcome to run an iron over my clothes.  

Once I’d packed the Sturdy One, I stripped Connor’s bed and threw the bedding into the wash. Julie had an appointment so while she was out I did a final sweep of the house to check I'd not left anything anywhere, and I think I’m all good. Go me, it will be a bloody miracle if I manage to leave the country with everything I came with! Although it wont be a big drama if i dont as Carey and Ray are in Auckland in March so they can bring anything I leave there out with them.  When Julie got back we loaded everything into her car then went to pick Mamma Kay up. As well as taking us for lunch before I flew out, she also wanted to come to the airport to see me off. I think she just wanted to make sure I was leaving! Miss Mauds in Warwick was heaving when we arrived, but we placed our order at the counter, found a table and waited for our food, whilst enjoying a sunrise drink, a fruity concoction of pineapple and orange juice in soda water . Delicious. Our sandwiches came quickly which was good because I was starting to get a bit anxious about the time, which was silly because the flight wasn’t until 1700 and it was only 1345.  Our lunch was practically inhaled and we were back in the car and on the freeway. Unfortunately we  instantly hit traffic. Julie checked on the traffic app and there were no accidents, it was just really busy. Which was a relief but did little to relieve the knot of anxiety in my stomach!  

The airport is 20mins from Julie’s on a good run but it took 35 today which wasn’t too bad. We managed to park outside the international terminal and Julie wheeled me in.  I started getting concerned when I couldn’t see my flight anywhere. It was booked with Emirates but the flight was being operated by Qantas and was nowhere to be seen. Confused, we asked a random uniformed person which desk we needed to go to for check in, only to be told we were in the wrong terminal! Thank God Julie was still there because otherwise I would have had to catch the bus bus over to terminal 3 where I was supposed to be flying from. It turns out because the flight was being operated by Qantas despite it being an international one, it was going out of terminal 3 and 4. Qantas has its own terminals. It would have been good to have known that beforehand, in my defence Julie didn’t know it either and she hasn’t been out to terminal 3 & 4 for years to pick up or drop off friends and family. 

15 minutes later we were at terminal 3 which is where we were told to go, and we went in. It was much quieter than the international one and very laid back. The girl we spoke to was so laid back she was horizontal and not particularly helpful.I was really conscious that Julie was parked in a six minute drop off bay and this girl was like a snail accompanying us!! No sense of urgency about her at all!  To add insult to injury , despite being told we had to go to terminal 3 we actually had to check in at terminal 4, I asked the girl if she could take me down as with my rucksack, crutches Mildred and a pair of feeble arms it was going to be tricky, it wasn’t her job apparently so poor Julie zipped me down to terminal 4 fast as possible and got me to the check in desk. Mamma was also sitting in the car and the temperature was in the high 30’s. The car wasn't running and we didn't want her overheating, so after the biggest squidge with Julie, and a bucket load of tears from me, we said our goodbyes. It appears goodbyes aren't my thing because they continually make me cry . WTAF is that all about? 

I was directed to the one line by another unhelpful assistant only to be moved from there as I had been put in the wrong place. The Qantas organization levels in terminal 3&4  are clearly outstanding, and the staff so far distinctly unhelpful. That all changed when I finally got to the checkout, the guy who was checking me in was lovely, and as I was finally being dealt with, the fear I'd miss the flight started to leave me. In all the airports Si and I have been in, Qantas has to be the worst for special assistance and customer service.

The sturdy one was finally loaded safely onto the conveyor belt making its way into the bowels of the airport, Mildred was tagged and I was kept in her till the aircraft doors rather than transfer chairs there times to security. The girl wheeling me through the airport was lovely and really helpful. Emptied my water bottle for security and refilled it on the other side,  re-packed my hand luggage after checks. She was saying that the heavy rain  and electrical storms the day before had messed up the electrical door mechanism and they wouldn't close, the amount of rain that came down then flooded the airport as they couldn't shut the doors.  

The girl doing the body searches was a bit snappy and short tempered, transpires she had a toothache and was struggling to talk, she was almost in tears, bless her, I felt so sorry for her. It could have been worse though, it could have been me with a toothache! Which reminds me, the filling I had replaced before I came out has bloody broken off. Shoddy workmanship for sure.

My hand luggage and documentation had to be checked twice which was a bit weird and a i was also security checked twice. I'm not sure what was going to happen between one secure area and another nut that what we had to do. Finally airside I was parked by the departure gate and waited to board. As usual I boarded first. The cabin crew were fantastic, although I remembered very quickly why I don't like flying economy class anymore… too peopley, and they sit way too close to you.  Also the man sat next to me? Well the way he was eating his ready packed snacks made me gag. It was grim .  He was literally shoveling it into his mush, and if that wasn't gross enough to view and sit next to,  more food fell out of his open masticating mouth than he managed to swallow. FFS, just shut your mouth when you're chewing and for god's sake can you please make a lot less noise and eat quietly?? cretin.  The flight was full, and there were an awful lot of little kids, almost every row had a kid in it. I plugged in the headphones and turned the volume up really loud for my films of choice, Avengers Infinity Wars followed by Endgame. And yes even that made me cry, when Tony Stark died. 

The inflight food was ok and served soon after takeoff, choices of, beef stew, a vegetarian dish or chicken salad, with Cheese and biscuits to finish. Or so I thought, then they bought round Lamington ice creams, just slinging them out of the freezer bags as they walked down the aisle. As I said the cabin crew were brilliant and really helpful when it came to getting my sticks for me and helping me get around the cabin. All things Si would have been doing for me, I hated having him do so much for me,I always felt he had the shit end of the deal in our relationship but I would give anything to have him sat next to me on this adventure holding my hand knowing instinctively what i needed and just quietly doing it without a fuss  or drawing attention to me . It was a  pretty uneventful flight which I suppose is a good thing in the grand scheme of things . 

Much Love 

Mrs Leaonard

x