On the morning of wednesday 23rd (having flown in from Christchurch on the 22nd) I and millions of others in Sydney and eastern Australia awoke to the biggest dust storm in around 70 years, the whole sky was an ochre red colour, and dust was settling on everything and getting into the lungs of anyone who ventured outdoors. Supposedly 75000 tonnes of red dust was being blown into the tasman sea every hour, although one wonders who such a figure was arrived at. I had a flight to Vienna booked for thursday, or so I thought until I recieved a called from my panicked travel agent who told me my flihjt had been resceduled and was due to leave in two hours. I had booked my ticket in Australia, but had left to spend two weeks in New Zealand, and poor old travel agent was unable to reach me! It was then a mad rush to grab my bags, hail a taxi and get to the airport, which I managed to do just in time. Although many flights were delayed due to the storm, my flight departed only half an hour late, not due to the storm, but to the pricks you often have to wait for to board the plane. Do you know I have actually met people who will only board thier flights when they have their names called out on the public address system? Makes them feel good to have people waiting for them, and to not have to queue. Wankers. The plane took off. We got some really good lift on take off, and at least three people near me threw up. The plane stunk of vomit, and the air stewards couldn't clean it up until the plane had levelled off. The flight went through quite a lot turbulence actually, especially over Irian Jaya and the Phillipines.
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