Joey Air

Thursday 17th

You know it's going to be a small plane when they transport you across the tarmac in a little bus, when you get a proper lungful of aviation fuel and your hair gets blown about by propellors. Still, I've never been on a plane that was the same size as the bus itself, not even when we flew to Ulhuru with Ansett (who've since gone bankrupt) and the plane leaned to the left as all the passengers strained to get a view of the rock.

After entertaining Ella for a while in one of the playgrounds by the broadwater, we drove back to Brisbane airport and dropped the hire car back where it came from. And then we boarded the smallest plane in the world. Well ok, not the world, but the smallest plane in the entire Qantas fleet. Less "flying kangaroo" more a little joey. Actually it's called a Dash-8, which is ironic given how slowly it flies.

As for size, it had nine rows, including the back seat. There were two pilots but only one member of cabin crew, who wrote down the orders for tea and coffee on a little pad and returned to the flight kitchen when the kettle's whistle started blowing. Honestly.

Here's the view. And here's the view of the wheels as we came in to land at Hervey Bay. Not the greatest view in the world if you're not too fond of flying. I mean, where's the bloody cross-tread?