The Australian desert - Northern Territory
Sunset over the desert in the Red Heart of beautiful Australia
The most extraordinary sunset drive ever from Uluru to Yulara in NT
That 'Big brown land that is Australia'
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-17/citizen-naturalists-explore-outback-for-undocumented-species/8709262
Our brief flight over the Northern Territory was over all too quickly.
At first WA looked no different from the the NT but as we flew further and further away from the desert, the landscape below us appeared less red and acquired more scorched brown and yellow tones.
As we embarked upon the WA flight path, we enjoyed a delicious Asian Fusion meal on proper china plates with unlimited refills of excellent Australian wines and good coffee which I selected in favour of further alcoholic beverages so as to continue working for at least a few more hours.
As we dined I thought about our trip to WA in January where we met up with our daughter, her partner and their UK friends who were there for Perth's acclaimed Arts Festival and Fringeworld.
It was in WA that we celebrated Australia Day with a wine tasting extravaganza tour along the Swan River followed by a spectacular firework display in the dockland area that same evening.
On our first day in Perth we discovered the Re Store where we enjoyed authentic Italian delights which would have not been out of place in any city in Italy.
We spent a day in Rottnest Island and met the quokkas which can only be seen in the wild in that one unique, stunningly beautiful location.
We learnt about the 'lot' of convict prisoners transported to Fremantle prison from the UK and we quelled our trauma from that experience at the Little Creatures brewery also in Fremantle.
We visited the Caversham Wildlife Sanctuary and spent a wonderful afternoon on Cottersloe's glorious tropical, white sandy beach where we paddled in the Indian Ocean and delighted in sunset views over the bay which we will remember forever.
As we flew over WA that early autumn afternoon the glorious colours of that sunlit tropical paradise engulfed us completely and reminded me of the beautiful changing colours of the sunset sky as we savoured cocktails and sparkling wine overlooking Perth's beautiful harbourside.
When we flew to Perth in January, it was late at night so we saw nothing out of the window then; it was good, therefore, to see it on that final flight in daylight.
We were flying over what looked like an interminable expanse of empty, isolated nothingness and we still had several hours to go before we cleared Australia completely.
It is difficult for us in Europe to imagine the vastness of Australia.
A five hour flight for us anywhere in Europe would take us over many terrains, mountain ranges, seas, cities and landscapes of all configurations and colours but for us on that afternoon and evening we flew for five hours over nothing but outback, desert and more outback.
It was that flight that truly brought home the sheer size of that country and how little of it is actually inhabited or even properly explored.
If Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide are isolated then Perth and other cities in Western Australia are urbanisation miracles.
We had been flying for nearly five hours over nothing but outback and desert and still had not arrived in Perth.
How such a modern, vibrant, colourful city can even exist in such a remote corner of the earth is extraordinary.
I have read since then that large areas of the Australia remain unmapped and so unvisited; consequently it is also likely that flora and fauna unique to those more remote locations remain undocumented.
Our daughter had been fortunate enough to visit the Kimberleys; an outback location of unique natural beauty in Western Australia.
Their guide told them on that trip that there were many remote locations in WA which had not been properly explored and that his aim was to visit as many as he could during his lifetime.
The difficulty of course, is how to visit an area where there are no roads; sealed or unsealed, and no telephone masts, emergency services or modern facilities of any kind.
Few people can travel to such remote, isolated locations but there are some who do - our daughter's guide being one of them.
On the abc.net.au website I read that "a group of 30 scientists and citizen naturalists regularly visit remote outback locations in the hope of discovering undocumented species".
The group referred to in this article organises "an annual event for Queensland Naturalists Club, which is more than 100 years old".
There are similar groups in NSW, Victoria and WA, which would undoubtedly include naturalists and explorers like our daughter's Kimberleys guide.
"These clubs are full of like-minded nature lovers, with a mixture of professional scientists and keen, very fit, hardy amateurs".
The Queensland group were guests at Noonbah Station near Stonehenge Queensland and went on a day trip to Mount Felix to explore the habitat of that very arid zone".
"Noonbah's owner Angus Emmott is a keen naturalist with more than one species named after him".
"There's lots of interesting plants up here that only grow up here on top of these mesas," he said.
"There is a particular shrub that is only known from this mesa and one other further north from here."
'Nature Pokemon' hunting
"The climb to the top of Mount Felix was a five minute scramble, and the top of the mesa is only 100 metres across and offers stunning outback views of the surrounding plain", claims Angus Emmott.
"But the journey up to and along the summit took the entire morning as members stop to look at plants, birds, insects and reptiles".
"Members joked that it was a cracking pace, because covering 800 metres in a day in locations where there are no paths, trails or roads is considered a success".
"I am really into bird watching," club member Cathy Clark said.
"Some people call it nature Pokemon."
Former club president and zoologist Harry Hines said "work by amateurs in observing, cataloguing and obtaining specimens was invaluable to scientific understanding".
"There's a huge network of people across Australia who are slowly contributing to our knowledge of wildlife" Mr Hines said.
"There are still new species of wildlife to be discovered out there."
Mr Hines set up audio traps in dry spinifex country on Noonbah Station in the hope of finding evidence of the elusive night parrot.
The critically endangered bird was considered extinct until recently being rediscovered.
Another population of the parrot was recently discovered next to Noonbah in the Goneaway and Diamantina National Parks, giving hope that there may be more isolated pockets of the bird in areas unaffected by bushfire.
'Big brown land that is Australia'
The Hines family have a long history with this particular club.
Barney Hines is Harry Hines's brother and analytical chemist for the CSIRO.
Both men and their other brother now take their children, who are fourth-generation members, on all the outings.
"I think it's really important for kids that they have that connection to the big brown land that is Australia," Barney Hines said.
"There is such a big world out here, and you don't need iPads and electronic things to appreciate it."
Those are sensible words indeed.
If we do manage to make it back to Australia one day and if our health and fitness levels remain good, a foray into unexplored areas of the Australian outback with one of these excellent naturalist groups would be something we would dearly love to do.
Nothing would be more satisfying or completely fulfilling than witnessing the documentation of a previously undiscovered specimen in Australia's vast natural wilderness.
I am sure we are not alone in hoping that every single specimen in that 'big brown land' down under is seen, documented and valued before future 'black summers' drive them all into extinction.
Excellent Emirates meal whilst flying over Western Australia
Meeting koalas at Caversham Wildlife Park WA
Watching seals swimming in the distance on Rottnest Island
Quokka encounter on Rottnest Island WA
The white sandy beaches at Cottesloe
Firework extravaganza in Perth’s Harbourside on Australia Day
Our own foray into one of Queensland’s unique wildlife locations on Whitsunday Island
Swimming with fish on Whitehaven beach Queensland
The unspoilt spectacular perfection of Whitehaven Beach Queensland
"How lucky I am to have found something that makes saying goodbye so painful and hard.”
A.A. Milne (Winnie-the-Pooh)
https://www.australiasnorthwest.com/explore/broome-dampier-peninsula/broome/pearling-broome#no-back
It did not take long to reach the far flung isolated city of Broome in the northern most point of Western Australia.
We could not see it from our window but it was clear from the Emirates flight path map that we would soon be approaching it.
Our window view at that point was of a very charred, dark brown section of outback which we assumed had been totally engulfed by wildfires earlier that year.
Unless, of course, it was just the fading evening light with its longer shadows and autumnal evening penumbra, although that was unlikely as WA is 2 hours behind Sydney so it should only have been 5:30 pm at that point.
Either way, the darkness engulfing the outback views below us at that moment reflected our mood as we approached that northernmost tropical coastline of Australia which represented our final departure from that land which had been our home during one of the most extraordinary periods of our planet's recent history.
At the actual moment our aircraft finally cleared Australia completely and headed towards Indonesia over the Indian Ocean, our view was completely obscured by mist and darkness so we only knew we had finally stopped flying over Australia by looking at our flight path map on the screens in front of us.
We felt sad that we couldn't say a final goodbye but then an extraordinary thing happened.
I don't know if it was due to a change of direction or whether we were entering a different time zone or just an improvement in the weather, but as the aircraft turned, a bright ray of sunshine penetrated through our window and when we looked back we saw the Australian coastline in the distance bathed in the most glorious early evening light.
It was truly magical.
What had looked dark brown, charred and engulfed in darkness just a few minutes earlier was at that moment as resplendent and as colourful as we would always remember it.
We watched it for several minutes totally mesmerised by the beauty of that WA coastline.
Beyond that coastline was the huge expanse of land which we had been flying over for more than five hours since setting off from Sydney that afternoon.
It felt good to see it like that for one last time.
I thought I caught a glimpse of the Broome and Dampier peninsula which our daughter had told us about, but after looking on the map later I wasn't so sure.
In fact I wasn't even sure we flew over Broome at all at that point.
Our daughter and her partner had spent a few days in Broome prior to setting off from there for the Kimberleys with their excellent guide and 10 other adventurous outback travellers.
They had told us about Broome's pearling industry which they had learnt about when they were there and which I had never heard of before even though it is likely that products on shop shelves in the UK from this thriving industry have been part of our lives for longer than we can imagine.
"Broome’s story is forever entwined with the pearling industry".
"For many years the town’s rhythms were marked by the departure and return of the pearling luggers on the ebb and flow of the 10m tides".
"Their cargo was the prized Pinctada Maxima mother of pearl, used to make buttons and fine cutlery".
"Today, Broome is still known for its pearling industry, which produces some of the finest pearls in the world".
Our daughter and her partner were able to secure a last minute booking on one of Broome’s extraordinary pearling heritage tours where they visited a pearl farm, and even tried their hand at pearling themselves.
Before leaving they were able to browse the pearl jewellery showrooms in Broome's Chinatown where they bought us mother of pearl earrings which we wore at our younger daughter's wedding a few weeks ago.
"Founded as a pearling port in the 1880s, by the turn of the century over 300 luggers were plying the rich waters of Broome’s Roebuck Bay".
"Thus began the boom times, but a massive decline in production occurred during World War II when Broome’s foreign labour was sent to indentured camps and much of the pearling fleet was torched to save it falling into enemy hands".
"In another blow, the world discovered plastic in the 1950s, marking the end of demand for mother of pearl shell, in particular for the production of the delicate buttons used as standard in clothing in years gone by.
"Cultured pearling techniques were introduced by the Japanese soon after and quickly took off in Broome, which continues to produce the majority of the world’s finest quality cultured South Sea Pearls".
It was good to remember that as we said our final goodbyes to our beloved Australia.
As we flew further and further away from it, that coastline, still bathed in sunlight, looked smaller and less prominent than it did when we first turned and saw it
After a while all we could see was sunlight, sea and cloud.
That big, vast land which is Australia was just a distant silhouette in the horizon and then suddenly we could see it no more.
But we had said goodbye and that felt good.
It was sad, very sad indeed but as A.A. Milne said in his acclaimed children's tale:
"How lucky are we to have found something that makes saying goodbye to it so painful and so hard".
Broome and Dampier peninsular WA (photo courtesy of https://kashelicopters.com.au/helicopter-tours/dampier-peninsula-discoverer-broome/)
The Pearl Divers of Broome WA (photo courtesy of https://millineronthemove.com/tag/hard-hat-pearl-divers/)
Memorial to the indigenous female Pearl divers in Broome (photo courtesy of https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=broome+pearling+history&client=safari&hl=en-gb&prmd=inmv&sxsrf=ALeKk02BIHgpOkjO_r9RZVGzBG17XWEZ8Q:1626224454984&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJgNuXruHxAhVUgFwKHeKQD7oQ_AUoAXoECAIQAQ&biw=375&bih=553#imgrc=5Jt0-HT9J3rC5M&imgdii=6SLBuyeCwGHOeM)
The beautiful Maxima Pearls of Broome (photo courtesy of http://maximapearling.com/about/)
Farewell beautiful Australia - we will be back one day soon (photo courtesy of https://www.qantas.com/travelinsider/en/explore/australia/western-australia/perth/where-to-watch-the-sunset-in-broome.html)
'Boxing Day' is BACK
Our delicious Emirates Asian Fusion meal which was served soon after we flew over Broome whilst watching Australia fade away in the distance behind us, was the last meal we ate for several days which made any sense to us.
We certainly couldn't fault Emirates on their generosity.
We had been told in one of their pre flight emails that the usual Emirates food and drinks service would be limited on their flights from that week to reduce contact between staff and passengers and to encourage all passengers to keep their masks on at all times.
It is for that reason that we indulged in those excellent steak baguettes which we had bought from one of the only food outlets open at that time and which we knew were delicious as we had eaten them before en route to New Zealand.
We assumed that there would be no food or drinks available on that flight or limited choice at least.
But we couldn't have been more wrong.
We were offered drinks on arrival, then afternoon tea which though we passed on we could see was more than just tea and biscuits, then at around 8:00 pm Sydney time, we were served a copious and very tasty evening meal.
Our body clocks were still on Sydney time so although that evening meal may have been served at 8:00 pm Sydney time, in actual fact it was really only 6:00 pm in that northernmost point of Western Australia which is where we were flying over at that time.
As time went by any snacks and meals we were served felt increasingly out of sync with our body's rhythms and that was physically quite difficult to deal with.
By the time coffee and mints were served, which was approximately 1 hour after our starter, we were flying over the Indian Ocean with Jakarta being the closest city to our flight path so to us it felt like 9:00 pm but in actual fact it was still only 6:00 pm.
After dinner drinks were served when we were flying parallel to the Sumatran coast so although my Cointreau felt like a night cap to me, in reality I was drinking it at just after 6:00 pm local time.
So we were living our own version of Groundhog Day; it was clearly going to continue being 6:00 pm for hours.
However, the strangest meal on that particular flight was served several hours later when we were flying over India.
It was 6:00 am for us on Sydney time but local time had somehow jumped from 6:00 pm to 2:00 am when we were flying over Mumbai so what that meal actually was is anybody's guess.
Traditional breakfast dishes were available like scrambled eggs, fried mushrooms, tomatoes, hash browns, toast, butter, marmalade, croissants but guests could also opt for a beef or vegetable rendang curry with rice and flat bread.
We opted for tea, croissants and toast though when it came I only managed the tea and a morsel or two of croissant.
On our flight to Sydney on 25 December, we left from Heathrow at around 10:30 pm
Our flight to Singapore took approximately 13 hours so for us it felt like 11:30 am on Boxing Day morning when we landed there but in reality it was almost 7:00 pm in the evening local time so when we set off several hours later for Australia it was after 11:00 pm
When we arrived in Sydney 7.45 hours later, to us on UK time it felt like 10:30 pm on Boxing Day but by the time we met up with our daughter and her partner it was after midday on 27th December so we had completely lost the evening of 26th December and the morning of the 27th.
That felt very odd at the time but what felt equally strange was all the gaining of time on our return flights home.
We definitely appeared to stay on 6:00 pm for hours from Broome onwards.
Of course seasoned travellers accustomed to switching hemispheres on a regular basis would find all this rather amusing but for us first timers it was an eye opener.
We had travelled to KL a few years earlier to a wedding but that was just 7 hours ahead much like travelling back to the UK from California.
But when you switch hemispheres and you end up with a 12 hour time difference with seasons and daylight hours totally reversed, it is a different sensation altogether.
It should be noted that we spent over 15 hours in that plane in the end and for most of that time we were wearing masks and latex gloves (which was the recommendation for travel at that time).
We removed the masks to eat and drink but apart from that they stayed on.
It isn't easy keeping masks and gloves on for such a long time when you're not used to them.
Apart from anything else it was hot and my attempts at working on my laptop for a few hours after dinner were stressful and hard.
I gave up in the end and joined my new friend for a turn around the cabin to stretch our legs.
At the far end of our cabin was what looked like a bar but all the lights were off so we assumed it was closed.
We walked over to it and a stewardess confirmed that every area on all Emirates aircraft which encouraged mingling between groups would be closed until further notice.
We asked if we could do some stretching exercises there for our legs and backs and she agreed we could providing we maintained social distancing and did not make too much noise as many were sleeping.
We each did our own stretches at different ends of that bar area; I did a 20 minute Yoga routine which was perfect for my lower back, neck and shoulders.
I certainly didn't think earlier that week that I would have been able to do a full Yoga routine in an aircraft in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
After that we said goodnight and thought we would try the flat beds.
My husband had been asleep for several hours already so he was certainly happy with his.
I proceeded to lift the lever and recline my chair until it flattened altogether and then I placed the sleeping pad they gave us onto the seat as a mattress and tried to sleep.
I did not succeed; the flatbed was a very uneven hard surface and not at all comfortable for my back; I tried various positions and asked for another sleeping pad but nothing helped so I then thought I should change the recline a little, maybe bring it up more - this I did and I eventually found a position which worked well and which was quite comfortable; I felt a little guilty though as I was almost upright again and not making the most of the business class perks we had paid extra for but experience had taught me to listen to my back when it came to sleep; forcing myself to sleep in the wrong position on a lumpy, uneven surface could never end well for me.
I eventually dozed off while watching Lord of the Rings and was woken up by the sound of breakfast trays several hours later when we were flying over India.
We would be landing in Dubai in approximately two hours so after breakfast we could ablute (as much as possible in a plane), make a start on packing up our stuff - you tend to spread out a little on 15 hour flights, and gear ourselves up for the next stage of the journey.
Dinner at 6:00 pm over Broome WA (photo courtesy of https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g255102-d4790643-Reviews-KAS_Helicopters-Broome_Kimberley_Region_Western_Australia.html)
Coffee and mints over Jakarta, Indonesia ( - also at 6:00 pm) - photo courtesy of https://www.colourbox.com/image/jakarta-aerial-view-image-15109751)
After dinner drinks over Sumatra….at approximately 6:00 pm (photo courtesy of https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=sumatra+coastline&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiCqqK5teHxAhUEcxoKHcoIBB0Q2-cCegQIABAC&oq=sumatra+coastlnr&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQARgAMgQIHhAKOgcIIxDqAhAnOgQIIxAnOgQIABADOggIABCxAxCDAToECAAQQzoHCAAQsQMQQzoFCAAQsQM6AggAOgQIABANUNdvWOHlAWDs9AFoA3AAeACAAUqIAcwIkgECMTeYAQCgAQGwAQXAAQE&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=5D7uYIKoGITmacqRkOgB&bih=553&biw=375&client=safari&prmd=inmv&hl=en-gb#imgrc=DV43sYjbYoDRtM)
Breakfast or lunch or dinner as we fly over South India (photo courtesy of https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=aerial+view+of+South+india&client=safari&hl=en-gb&prmd=imnv&sxsrf=ALeKk027HLT7AIiu1cWkdTWhCufnmAYCXw:1626226772803&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiorffotuHxAhXNOcAKHSp_CxUQ_AUoAXoECAIQAQ&biw=375&bih=553&dpr=2#imgrc=RIAXZz60C6Vn9M)
Morning coffee /late night cuppa in Dubai
It would have been approximately 7:00 am in Sydney when we landed in Dubai that morning after what was undoubtedly the longest single flight we had experienced in our entire lives.
But in Dubai it was 1:00 am or maybe midnight; either way it was still the middle of the night so not morning at all.
Over 16 hours we were in that plane in the end, including time before takeoff and all the taxiing after landing.
When we did eventually disembark my legs felt like jelly.
We had two hours in Dubai airport before boarding our Emirates flight to London Gatwick.
How we would spend those two hours was anybody's guess.
It had been announced in our plane before we landed that Dubai was already in lockdown so we should listen carefully to all announcements once in the terminal and if our connecting flight had been cancelled we should report to the Emirates Help desk immediately where we would receive further information on where to collect our checked in luggage and what we should do next.
As the country was in lockdown leaving the airport was not an option unless we would need to go to a Quarantine facility.
That last sentence was not part of the announcement but by the look on everyone's face after the stewardess stopped speaking, we were certainly all thinking it.
When we left the aircraft we were led to the main terminal building where we could see how lavish and grand that terminal actually was.
Unfortunately most of the shops, cafés and restaurants were closed, whether that was due to the lateness of the hour or lockdown we did not know.
It was a busy terminal though; flights were coming from all over the world and people were connecting with other flights which fortunately for us were still operating.
We realised later that there must have been thousands of people there that night; we didn't feel it as the social distancing guidelines were pretty stringent and crowd control was extremely well managed.
We also noticed quite a few people in full PPE; the pharmacy on the lower level which happened to be open was actually selling full PPE kits to anyone who wanted one.
I bought an extra bottle of sanitizer and some wet wipes which I thought would be useful if lockdown lasted a while when we did eventually make it home and we finished all out Canberra stock.
Once we disembarked we had to proceed to the gate we would need for our next flight and once there we would have access to toilets, a café and a few seats where some had been blocked off.
As we walked off the plane we could see our gate number immediately so we said goodbye to our fellow travellers and proceeded to the gate.
We felt bad for the English couple sitting with us on our flight from Sydney as they did not have a gate number so had to wait in the main concourse until it appeared.
It was not long after we said goodbye to them that we heard the dreaded announcement informing all those passengers that their flight to London Heathrow had been cancelled.
I can only imagine how stressful that moment must have been for our two travel companions who had already been through so much since leaving the UK barely a week earlier.
We decided to wait in a deserted corner of an open plan café area near our gate where we had teas and coffee to enable us to stay awake and where we could wait in relative isolation until we could board our next Emirates flight to Gatwick and then drive home.
Arrival in Dubai
The deserted shopping concourse at Dubai airport
Deserted Dubai Airport in lockdown
World in Lockdown
Those two hours at Dubai airport felt long and stressful; it was nothing like the happy go lucky holiday lounges we treated ourselves to on Christmas Day when we set off from Heathrow to Singapore.
This was a very different experience indeed.
Everyone in Dubai's international terminal that night was on tenterhooks: dreading the awful flight cancellation announcements which came as regularly as clockwork, trying as much as the terminal space permitted to stay as far away from others, wondering who amongst us had the dreaded virus, terrified at the thought of catching, so ensuring that masks, gloves even full PPE for some stayed on throughout even though they rendered our time in Dubai's departure lounge hotter and more fraught than without them.
This was a very different airport experience from any other we had ever had or indeed anyone had ever had before that week
This was what the world in lockdown looked like.
As I glanced up at the departures board, I spotted a large group of people walking towards us in full PPE and I couldn't help but wonder just for an instant if we had been transported into a parallel, dystopian reality somewhere where nothing made any sense anymore and the familiar and normal were suddenly and abruptly replaced with the bizarre and the grotesque.
But I told myself that was the triedness talking; we had always managed to stay calm and positive through all the various schedule changes we had experienced since our arrival in Australia in late December.
After all, we hadn't been to Dubai before so if we had to lockdown there for a while it could be a good thing; we would see a new city in a new country with a new cuisine to sample and new places to visit after our quarantine period was over.
That is what we told ourselves and I did actually really believe it but whenever a new cancellation was announced we couldn't help but feel relief and sadness virtually simultaneously.
Relief as it wasn't our flight that was cancelled and so we wouldn't be carted off to some quarantine facility somewhere, at great personal expense to us.
And sadness at the thought of those poor wretches whose flights were cancelled and who probably would be.
So many people wept that night whenever those dreaded announcements were made; people of all ages from every corner of the globe already apprehensive to be travelling with a deadly virus on the loose not knowing when they would be safe and when they would see their homes and families again.
Ironically the majority of all cancelled flights that night were to Australia and New Zealand.
It felt strange to think that having just flown from Sydney after spending so long living and travelling in Australia and New Zealand, we wouldn't be permitted to go back there at that point if London closed its airports and stopped people travelling to the UK.
We had even received a message from our Belmont South landlords who told us that if we couldn't get back to the UK for any reason we should return to Australia and spend the lockdown period with them, but that safety net would now no longer be open to us.
We remembered how deserted Sydney's international terminal was when we were there the day before with all the cancelled flights on the information board.
We could see the consequences of that now.
I often wonder what became of all those poor Australians stranded in Dubai airport that evening.
We read later that Europeans, Americans, Asians, Africans were all able to be repatriated eventually; if not immediately after a flight was cancelled, at the most a few days later, but many Australian and New Zealand travellers are still not able to return home now over a year later so how those poor stranded passengers coped when they were stuck at random airports all over the world and how the 30,000 Australians still unable to return home are coping with it today is a stressful thought indeed.
First Class Upgrade?
Having survived over two hours of continuous cancellation alerts on the airport's sound system, we were surprised when we were eventually invited to board our flight to London Gatwick.
It was actually one of very few flights where passengers were NOT notified of cancellations or long delays.
So much so that some passengers on cancelled flights nearby looked in our direction begrudgingly.
At least that's how it felt to us.
It didn't help that the boarding process seemed to take an age to start after it was announced so we really did feel that all eyes were on us.
We then discovered that Dubai's international airport took social distancing very seriously indeed so boarding would certainly not be rapid once it commenced even though our business class upgrades meant that we were among the first few to be boarded.
When we reached the Emirates person inspecting passports and tickets, all of us checking in on business class tickets were told that we had been upgraded to a different section of the aircraft to enable more passengers to join our flight.
I was sure I recognised some of the people queuing from the gate of the cancelled Heathrow flight.
We wondered if our fellow passenger friends from our previous flight were in that queue as well but we couldn't see them as the two metre gap between groups was enforced pretty rigorously by airport staff that night in Dubai so we could only see those immediately in front or behind us.
When we boarded we were directed to the front section of the upper deck of that Dreamliner aircraft.
The section we were in I discovered later was for private suites and first class cubicles only.
I hadn't seen private cabins in an aircraft before, in fact I didn't even know they existed; we walked past those cabins as we were led to our seats and they were very impressive, some even had their own ensuite bathrooms.
We were not accommodated in one of those unfortunately but we were shown to what looked like individual suites.
Our last seats may have been impressive, but these were extraordinary.
We had the usual reclining flat bed seats but we also had our own mini storage units where we could unpack what we needed for the journey and put them away neatly for ease of access if and when required.
We each had what looked like a computer storage unit, a book shelf for reading materials, our personal overhead locker, a shelf for toiletries with another bag each of complimentary products, an area for shoes with complimentary slippers and other sections I probably didn't require so didn't bother checking.
Whether this was a first class suite or Business Class Dreamliner style I don't know but it was amazing.
As before I used my antiseptic wipes to clean every area of my cubicle which I felt I would use throughout that journey and my husband did the same with his.
While we waited for the remaining passengers to board we were served champagne and mixed nuts.
It would have been around 2:00 am local time then so some people reclined their seats straight away and went to sleep, others watched films, others accepted more champagne while they settled down with a good book whilst I set up my laptop and decided to do a few hours work.
A light snack was served soon after take off which consisted of sandwiches, cheese, crisps, fruit and a chocolate bar.
We had been told that the 5 star cuisine usually served in this section of the aircraft would not be available on that flight but we were certainly not going to complain about that.
Having had 'breakfast' on our last flight just before landing, I had absolutely no idea what this meal even was as it was around 1:00 am local time when we boarded that flight even though it would have been mid morning for us; but I was happy to nibble at it while I worked and the stewardess checked on me regularly to ask if I needed more tea which was very kind indeed.
After a few hours of work at my laptop (not easy in latex gloves), I packed everything away, reclined my seat as much as my back could bear and dozed off.
How Dubai airport passengers looked that night while we were waiting to board our flight to Gatwick (photo courtesy of https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.outlookindia.com/photosamp/topic/airports/101692))
First class cubicles on our Emirates flight to London Gatwick
Waiting for others to board while relaxing in style in our 1st Class cubicle to London Gatwick
Chaos at Gatwick
Sleeping in a plane for any decent length of time, albeit on a flat bed in a first class cubicle is not an easy thing to do, at least it wasn't for me on that 8 hour flight from Dubai to London Gatwick.
I alternated between napping, working at my laptop, reading or watching films and box sets in the Emirates media collection.
Just over an hour before landing at Gatwick, the lights came on and breakfast was served.
I believe it would have been 9:00 am in Dubai at that time though in London it was just 6:00 am.
But our bodies were very much still on Sydney time, hence to us it felt like 3:00 or 4:00 pm in the afternoon so that meal was a late lunch, afternoon tea or an early dinner.
We had already gained 6 hours travelling from Sydney to Dubai but when we set off from Dubai to London we gained a further 3 hours.
After an 'afternoon tea' of egg white omelette and croissants we prepared for landing.
We abluted, changed into warmer clothes and packed all our personal effects away as best as we could.
Just before landing we were informed by the pilot that as the UK was in full lockdown, we could be questioned at border control as to why we were travelling to Britain at that time, where our final destination would be and how we were planning to get there.
We had heard that public transport was reduced to a skeletal service and that taxis may not be operating at UK airports as they usually did.
We had hired a car for 24 hours online so all we could do at that point was hope that the Gatwick hire car outlets were still open.
We really didn't know what to expect on arrival in Gatwick; we had left the UK three months earlier when the world was a very different place; what we would be returning to was anybody's guess.
As much as we had tried to stay abreast of developments in the UK since early February, we had had our own challenges to deal with in both Australia and New Zealand virtually from the moment of our arrival in late December; first with schedule changes due to wildfires all over Australia then flooding in New Zealand and finally Covid.
We had not thought about the situation in the UK for over a week at that point due to the particularly challenging situation we found ourselves in when all our original flights were cancelled; as everything was constantly changing, one never really knew what to expect on arrival anywhere during those very fragile early weeks of world lockdown.
Based on our recent experiences in Auckland, Sydney and Dubai we were expecting rigorous checks, stringent social distancing laws, temperature checks and possibly even compulsory Covid tests at the Gatwick airport border.
But we couldn't have been more wrong.
Our arrival at Gatwick was totally different from anything we could have imagined and nothing at all like our airport experiences in New Zealand, Australia and Dubai.
When we landed and made our way from the aircraft to passport control we saw no evidence at all of any covid prevention strategies.
There were no social distancing signs, no face coverings imposed, no sanitizer stations, no temperature checks and no airport staff anywhere to be seen.
We even wondered whether the airport was actually closed at one point and that our flight had landed there in error.
Once we reached the digital passport control gates, it was total chaos.
Everyone was crowding around everyone else in an attempt to get through the few digital gates that were still working.
The only human beings on duty in that area were the ones checking passports from non EU countries which inevitably quite a few with British passports ended up joining.
And what a scrum that was.
Fortunately for us we did manage to get through the digitised gates but those that didn't were not happy at all at the prospect of having to join a long, unmonitored queue at such a volatile time.
As for the luggage hall, that was even worse than passport control.
The usual rotating luggage belts appeared to have been shut down so the bags from our flight were just left in a large pile in a corner of the luggage hall.
It was mayhem with people charging towards the pile as soon as it appeared, hastily pushing others out of their way to access their bags.
I had never seen anything like that at an airport anywhere before; far from extra care being taken to ensure social distancing was maintained throughout as we had witnessed in Dubai just a few hours earlier, it could be argued that Gatwick on that day was actively spreading the virus.
We decided not to join the angry throng of travellers scrambling over each other to find their bags.
We had spent over 24 hours travelling and sitting in airports, if we had to wait another hour, so be it.
We kept an eye on it all from a safe distance to make sure no one went off with our bags by accident then when things had calmed down we went to collect our two medium sized suitcases.
Once we went through the arrivals gate into the terminal, we noticed that everything was closed.
All the usual cafés, restaurants, book stores, designer boutiques that one associates with modern airports had clearly not opened at all that day.
An M & S food outlet near the arrivals gate was the only store which appeared to be open so I tried my luck at buying some bread, milk and fresh vegetables.
There was no fresh or frozen produce there at all sadly but I did secure some tinned vegetables, soya milk, bread rolls which needed baking at home, several packs of Chinese noodles, a pack of three walnut whips, a tub of spread and a jar of marmalade.
As we made our way out of that terminal we realised that the only other people in that airport were all passengers from our plane.
There was an entire group of older tourists who had booked a two week holiday in London but had no idea how they would get to London as there were no trains from Gatwick at all that day.
We were approached by their group leader who asked if we could help so I directed them to a man at a desk near the closed gates which would have led to the station who appeared to be advising stranded passengers and booking taxis for them as required.
Apparently Gatwick Airport was going to close for lockdown at 11:00 am that day; our flight was the very last one that would be allowed to land there for the foreseeable future and they had all been told that it had been cancelled which is why there was a skeletal staff presence and no trains or buses to London at all.
Things started to make a little more sense now though for security reasons if nothing else, a stronger staff / police presence should have been in evidence there, even on that day in lockdown.
The hundreds of stranded passengers from our plane were being directed to a long queue at the exit where they would be able to pile into various taxis which could take them to stations which were still open.
I did wonder though what that large group of holiday makers from Dubai would do once in London with everything closed.
They would also be obliged to stay in their hotel rooms all day as it was lockdown so on balance, not a good decision to embark upon that trip at all.
We made our way to the Avis hire car office on the ground floor which was in a separate building from the terminal so fortunately for us it was still open.
It would be closing at noon that day though so we would need to return the car to their Sutton office the following morning and not to the airport.
It took a while to get everything sorted especially as we hadn't been able to print our voucher after we hired the car in Bondi a few days earlier, but we managed it all eventually, then we loaded our luggage into the boot and headed home.
Deserted Gatwick Airport on our return to the UK in March 2020