I pick up where I left off in Hong Kong Airport, where we made the transfer from the arrivals to the departures area and waited for boarding. During that time, I took some plane geek photos. There were quite a few A380s, as well as an area where you could see the planes right as they touched down:
Plane geek photos in Hong Kong
We were introduced to the new liquids rule for flights into Australia - now it's identical to the US, you can't even refill water bottles after security, as there is a second check at the airbridge. I have no idea why, that's the whole purpose of security screening is it not?
We got access to a small priority queue as premium economy passengers, although we were basically lumped together with everyone at the liquids checking area halfway along the airbridge. The Cathay flight was on an A330, so a bit smaller and a few less people to deal with. The flight left late, but we managed to 'make up time' by the time we arrived in Cairns and then Brisbane. They are on time 80% of the time for a reason...
Our ride back to Oz
They served dinner - the only meal offered on the flight, despite the fact that we would arrive a few hours after breakfast. The food was a vast improvement on Air France's offering:
Dinner on Cathay
I know that people don't always like Asian food when they have just spent two weeks on Asian food, but it was quite nice having come from European foods. Bok choy and chicken with rice and Haagen Dazs was just the ticket! Cathay was much better and came around much more frequently with drinks and the like.
We arrived in Cairns a bit before 4:30. The airport was completely dead, but the security staff were surprisingly perky, and were up for a good chat while we waited for all the people in front of me to empty their bags of their stuff like amateurs. Dad made the observation on the way over that all the Asian tourists seemed to go to Tropical North Queensland, and indeed the flight was decidedly more empty after the Cairns stop.
Just after departure in Cairns, I managed a really nice photo of the sunrise with my phone. It never ceases to impress me:
Sunrise over the Pacific Ocean
Our entertainment system from Cairns to Brisbane consisted of watching the entertainment system being reset, and watching the Linux OS start up. Not so amusing for several other people, but surely you don't need entertainment on a less-than-2-hour flight?
Entertainment
In fact, I lie. We got a small breakfast pasty. Quite delicious too. They even came back with a hot chocolate after they said they couldn't source me one. They shouldn't have bothered - it was hot but it wasn't chocolate - it must have had a quarter-shot of chocolate in it.
Arrival in Brisbane, and fast forward to, well, fast-forwarding through the ePassport section and bag pick-up. Again, our 4 bags were literally in the first dozen to come out. My luggage has shown up early for the entire trip!
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