On the way to Sorong

Wednesday, April 06, 2016
Kota Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia
Off we went to the airport at 5.00 this morning and made our way through customs and security. We purchased a couple of bottles from duty free to pick up on the way home and then waited patiently with all the families taking their kids to Bali for the school holidays.
Another hour or so and we boarded our Garuda flight which started to taxi out before coming to a halt. After a while they taxied back into the holding bay and finally announced that there was a problem with one of the engines which was to be attended to by their maintenance crew.

Apparently the spark plug was faulty and wouldn't allow the engine to start and they were either going to fix it or we were not going anywhere!
Two hours later and they had managed to fix the fault so we were finally on our way, much to everyone's relief. Our 3 and a half our flight had turned into a 6 hour sitting in a plane 'fun time'.
Lucky for us, they put us down the back of the plane and all the screaming kids up the front.

I managed to watch the whole movie 'Lady in the Van' while waiting for take off which was quite enjoyable, although a bit sad.
We got our 'breakfast ' at 11.00 which was ok and very welcome as we were starving. They were even serving wine and beer with the meal which seemed a bit strange, but since it was almost lunchtime some people were imbibing.

It's amazing flying over the outback of Australia. It is so desolate and is so vast. I'm sure that if prospective refugees saw it they would think twice about wanting to come here.

We made it to Bali and the new airport is fantastic. You can get through all the customs and everything really quickly and everyone is pleasant and helpful. Such a nice change from the first time we went there. Also the visa was free. Hopefully they won't make us pay when we get to Sorong. We are now waiting on our flight to Macassar
Bali is having a kite festival and there are lots of beautiful kites on the walls in the terminal. I might be tempted to get one when I come back..

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