Skip to main content

Outrunning the storm

Another trip to Canberra! Well it is over 6 months since my last flight down there for work and again it was work that called me back. My original intention was to get a lift by car and catch the train back, but a change in meeting times scotched that plan. So last Tuesday it was another day trip by plane.



This time I caught the QantasLink Dash8 Q400 turboprop to Canberra and the 737-400 jet on the way back. The flight to Canberra was wonderfully smooth and scenic. I spotted our house, the Alfords Point bridge duplication, ANSTO site and much more below. I had been told that Lake George held water again, but all I saw was a rather large puddle.



The flight back was much more dramatic. The Bureau of Meteorology had predicted an afternoon storm for Canberra and they were spot on. I watched it approach the city as I was returning to the airport, hoping that I would escape before it struck. Unfortunately, my plane took off directly towards the storm (against the wind, as is normal) and we flew right through the front as we curved our way back towards Sydney.



I was clinging on to my seat willing myself to cope with the bumps and drops. Thankfully I had booked a seat over the wing and I think I did pretty well, especially considering that last flight back from Malaysia. Eventually we escaped the storm and settled back for a far more gentle flight back into Sydney Airport.

I've written up a much more detailed account at airliners.net. Photos are also available.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

IKEA Museum

We have a packed itinerary today. Flat packed and assembled with an Allen key. There are patches of snow on the ground that weren't there the previous evening. We are a bit sad to leave the Duxiana after the comfy beds and the breakfast of cold cuts, fruits and hot waffles. I tried the Swedish caviar on my boiled egg. It was... Interesting. I was very disappointed to realise that, after talking it up for months, I had forgotten the Disgusting Foods Museum in Malmö yesterday. Too late now. We catch another Oresundstag train, for a bit over an hour. Past yesterday's Lund, past increasingly white fields and towns to Älmhult, home of IKEA. The conductor warns us that the train will split in two so we have to move carriages forward. Unfortunately, there we no spare sets of chairs for all of us. The IKEA Museum showcases the history of the furniture company, along with temporary exhibitions. One of these was "Hacking IKEA," about using IKEA ob...

Asagaya and heading home

How can I be happy? I am about to return to a country where the toilets have at most two buttons and no seat warmers. But the tickets are booked and there are no cyclones, typhoons or other disasters standing in our way. It's almost time to go back to my first home. First B wants to do some "local shopping". So we catch the Chuo Line up a few stations to Asagaya, a residential area with a number of Shotengai, covered and uncovered arcades leading away from the station and narrow alleys lined with bars. It is an interesting area for a wander around. We are mainly looking, do some shopping for toothbrushes and sweets from Seiyu, a Wal-Mart owned supermarket/minor department store. We skipped breakfast and lunch is ramen and gyoza at a small restaurant near the entrance to the Pearl Centre shotengai. With the help of a staff member, I manage to purchase tickets at a branch of Lawson to the Ghibli Museum for a friend travelling to Japan in May. There are some...

One night in Canberra

It's the April school holidays and we are too busy to have a break but need one because of that. And because it's the Easter weekend the options are limited, so we just drive down to Canberra for the night. No, this isn't our first trip for 2023. I wrote about Japan on another site .  I refuse to wake up early so we depart after 8.30 AM. There is not much to say about the drive except that the clouds seem so low and Lake George is very full. We stop at a rest area and at the lookout up the hill to take it all in. Everyone is hungry so we first stop in Dickson and then can't think of anything to eat, so I drive us to Civic, where we can't decide and end up eating at the Singaporean Killiney Kopitiam branch.  The Canberra Centre has nice shops. I dream of getting an iPad from the Apple Store, we buy a blanket and toothbrushes from Muji and wish that Lego wasn't so expensive. Nothing we can't get in Sydney, but then we rarely go out shopping in the city. It...