Monday morning, and sadly time to head home from Brisbane.
At home in Victoria it was Kings Birthday (still doesn’t sound quite right), but in Queensland they have that later in the year, so it was a standard weekday. I walked with my sister back to the Cultural Centre bus station again – she was staying one more day, and working in a southern suburb.
It was more chaotic than on the weekend – an upcoming blog post will be all about this.
Back in the apartment I packed up my stuff and checked out, heading to nearby South Brisbane station. It was originally built in 1891, and the next stop at Roma Street opened in 1875… but they were not connected across the Brisbane River until the Merivale bridge opened in 1978. A plaque in the station marks this – and Queensland Rail has a history podcast episode about it.
I was catching the train to the airport. Unlike on our arrival a few days earlier, it was at a time when services were running reasonably frequently, every 15 minutes, making it far more convenient. So I didn’t have long to wait.
It’s not spectacularly fast. 35 minutes to cover 9 stops; what would be 18 kilometres in about 25 minutes by road. But it gave me time to read the fine print.
No shortage of passengers – even with the premium fare.
Coming through security at the airport, I noticed the bloke behind me left his printed boarding passes behind. I called after him. “You’ll be wanting these!”
The flight itself was fairly uneventful – near spill of Coke onto my neighbour was saved by the hostie performing an impressive catch. The passenger seemed impressed.
It was only as we started our descent that I realised we hadn’t been offered a cup of tea. Scandalous.
Back to home via Skybus/train. I got to admire the new bins at Southern Cross Station, and was amused to see a bloke on the adjacent platform with matching cases.
Got home for a well earned cuppa.
Hope to see you again soon, Brisbane.
2 replies on “Monday: home time”
How amazing Sydney is building their second international airport and airport train line before Melbourne gets their airport rail line what a disgrace
One way fare from Brisbane airport to the city is $22. That’s a disgrace.
I betcha a Tulla to Melbourne CBD train will cost more than that when it finally arrives. I won’t be using it!