19 May 2007 - It's fast !

Back in the Barron today - just the usual run over to the Tiwi Islands - Snake Bay to be precise, but in the Barron it was a little more exciting. It's only 10 to 15% faster, but with more leavers and dials, the speed difference seems even greater, so it really keeps you on your toes - great fun.


The flight was booked not through us, but through a subsidery that departs from another building, and does not to 'charter' (on demand) flying but generally 'Regular Passenger Transport' (aka, RPT, or what the airlines do). The original flight was booked for 3pm, but I was told earlier in the afternoon that if I was ready, so where the passengers - yea, right...


So I headed around at 2pm, to be told the passengers had left, and would return about 2:30. No problems, I can wait. Also, because one of the passengers had a 'history' of taking drugs over to the island (get this - they hide them on the children...), we had the sniffer dogs stop by for a look & sniff session. Come 3pm, the passengers had still not returned, so I'm getting suspicious, and impatient, thinking they've done a runner. But at 3:30, they turn up, get sniffed by the dogs (along with everybody and everything else), and we get ready to go. I load the plane, stuffed full of bags and food, and we depart.


Anyway, the trip was ok. Somehow they managed to eat all the supplies - mints, biscuits, everything, but that was ok, they didn't argue all the way over, which I thought might happen at one stage. And the trip back was all by myself, which is always fun to just have a go without bothering about other peoples comfort! Not a bad day.