Taking the Q & NT in Qantas to Darwin

A bit of a delay for my next flight, but that’s okay as the Brisbane lounge was dead quiet and relaxing. Actually, most of Brisbane Airport was quiet tonight. Seems 7:30 p.m. is a bit late to have shops open in the terminal. With the delay, I can tell you what an older lady told me as we were approaching to land in Brisbane. “When I lived in Brisbane, I bought my house here for $21,000. I just sold it for $2.1 million.” Thanks for sharing, boomer!

While waiting in the lounge, I grabbed another meal, this time a chicken curry. There is something about airports and flying - I seem to just eat so many meals. Hungry? Nope. Just can’t seem to turn down a free meal. Oh well, will walk it off on the train later in the week?

Boarding was delayed as the inbound plane from Perth was late. Like my last flight, I’ve also been on this plane twice before. Once to Auckland and once to Sydney. I love these little facts that the Flighty app tracks about me. Once onboard, there is a blanket and pillow waiting for me at my seat, a nice touch for a domestic flight. This time I’m flying in business class, using some points to upgrade to the pointy leg for this longer flight to Darwin. Our flight time is about 4 hours across to Darwin, arriving at the ungodly hour of 12:45 a.m.!

We taxi out to the new runway and depart out of Brisbane, heading around the city and then northwest towards Emerald. The crew begin the service with 3 choices for mains. Beef Ragu, a Roast Chicken with mushroom sauce, or a Chicken salad. I opt for the beef Ragu which comes with some pasta. It’s my 4th hot meal today! It’s served with cheese and crackers, bread and delicious butter, and a side salad topped with smoked salmon. I don’t really eat fish, so I give the side dish a miss. I notice that the other 5 seats I can see also skip the side salad.

The meal was nice enough, washed down with a glass of Chardonnay. A dark chocolate bar from Koko Black makes a nice dessert while watching Wicked on the in-flight entertainment. A lot of airlines, Qantas included, are moving away from inbuilt seatbelt entertainment on newer narrow-body planes. Yes, they now offer wifi and streaming to your own device, but I do like having the seatback screen as an option. I watch Wicked for the second time while finishing off my wine and enjoying the chocolate.

As I said earlier, the flight is a little over 4 hours today. I’ve been looking at intra-European flights lately, none of which will be as long as this hop between 2 states. (Well, actually, a state and a territory, if I’m being a pedant.) Australia is a really big place, and aviation plays a very important role. While I’m being a nerd and contemplating the size difference between Australia and Europe, the crew comes by with ice cream. I don’t need or want ice cream, but I eat half the mini tub anyway. I’ll be the tubby one by the end of this flight.

I finish up Wicked and still have 45 minutes left of the flight, so I decide to try a new comedy. Coming from America is the choice. Not sure if this is reality tv or comedy. Anyway, it filled in the last 45 minutes as I skirted the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria and then made landfall again approaching Darwin.

I start to doze about 30 seconds before the lights are turned back on for our approach. It’s past both my bedtime and pumpkin o’clock. The flight was pretty good, and I’m glad I upgraded for the extra space. Sure, it’s just a recliner seat that could use a little more arse padding, but it was nice to have leg and elbow space.

Checking in on FlightRadar24, there are 7 arrivals, including 2 from Singapore landing into Darwin between 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. Seems like I’m arriving at Darwin’s peak hour. And I wasn’t wrong. Darwin airport was pumping when I arrived - so much busier than Brisbane was and had shops open. I’m glad I didn’t check a bag, so my landing I could go straight for an Uber.

With now 2 flights completed in this frequent flyer year, it’s time to head to my hotel and get to sleep. Let’s see what Darwin has to offer me tomorrow. Goodnight for now.もっと詳しく