Day 16 Sunday 4th August 2019:
A lie in!! We don’t have to be in breakfast until 9am. Most are there before that-same fare as normal.
Just fruit and yoghurt for me but most of the group go for the ‘full english’.
Miss Morgans struggles with the tomato sauce sachets-she misses her intended target, her toast and only manages to splatter Mrs O’Sullivan and Mr Meredith instead. Mr Meredith said “It’s not a problem, it’s a lot better than sitting next to Mr Mason in the staff room when he’s eating an orange.”
Joe Hawkins-Cole has had a restless night and is still suffering back spasms. Billy Davies also has a headache. Will Steadman is feeling better and Kian Webb (sore ribs) and Alfie Woodcock (sore shoulder) both seem to be improving. Chloe Collins is still in a leg brace and is showing remarkable fortitude in continuing to keep mobile without seeking support.
Cameron Clayfield’s ankle was much better and he said he wanted to play against St. Augustine yesterday, however, that was almost scuppered because he left his boots on the bus. Luckily he was able to borrow a pair and was able to take part.
We are on the coaches and arrived at the airport at 10am. When we arrived both Joe and Billy said things had improved.
At the pre-flight weigh in Charlie Catto has obviously taken Brianna Richards’ advice and packed his case more tightly because its weight had decreased to 13.7kgs. Some cases are starting to bulge and Lucy Steadman (22.3kgs), Miss Morgans (22.5kgs), will Steadman (22.7kgs) are all well over the allowance. Amy Tomkins is starting to develop muscular shoulders having carry her case around which now weighs 23.5kgs. The stewardess phones ahead to the fuel attendant and advises that they put extra fuel on board to allow the plane to get off the ground.
Check in goes smoothly until right at the end. Leah Hyatt attempts to check in and the computer tells the flight attendant that she has already booked in. They have wrongly tagged one of the earlier bags as belonging to Leah. They have to relocate the bag bring it back to check in and get the owner to come back through security to check it in. It takes over an hour, but when it is back it belongs to Noah Myerscough-how they got him down as Leah Hyatt when he had to use his passport to check in is anyone’s guess.
Whilst we are waiting to sort that out, Will Steadman and Alfie Woodcock come to see me. Will has left his wallet and Alfie his phone on the bus. I phone the bus company and they contact the driver who checks the bus but can’t find them.
Will’s wallet only has his two cards in and doesn’t contain any cash. He cancels his cards and we’ll arrange to lend him some money for the remainder of the tour.
Alfie’s phone will need to be reported as lost when we arrive in Sydney.
Ben Cort’s name is then hailed over the tannoy. He needs to report to the desk urgently. They had found a dangerous item in his case-a lighter. It has to be binned.
We go through security and meet up with the rest of the group by midday, have time for a quick cup of coffee before boarding is called.
We are on the plane by 12.30pm and take off quarter of an hour later. We have asked one of the stewardesses if it’s OK to sing happy birthday to our ‘birthday boy’ Kian Webb who is 15 today – she said she will ask the captain to announce it during the flight.
As we circle Cairns we get one last look at the heavily forested hillsides that surround the town – with those on land and the Barrier Reef offshore, we have certainly been privileged to spend the last 3 days in such a beautiful environment.
The captain of the flight wishes Kian a happy birthday as we start our decent into Sydney, but most of our group are either sleeping or so engrossed in their electronic handheld devices that they don’t react with a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday – we’ll have to save it until we land.
We land on time at 3:40pm. In the airport Mr Thomas conducts the Donkey of the Day:
1. Miss Morgans for her antics with tomato sauce at breakfast.
2. Cameron Clayfield, for nagging to play the next game and then leaving his boots behind on the bus. The excitement was clearly too much for him.
3. Will Steadman, for losing his wallet.
4. Alfie Woodcock, for losing his phone.
5. Iwan Jones, for not understanding that in order for a dryer to work, pressing the start button is crucial.
6. The steward who checked in Noah Myerscough as Leah Hyatt. What a Muldoon!
The winner by a country mile is Iwan Jones. A valuable life lesson learned of how to correctly wash and dry his clothes.
We collect our luggage. Avia Schuster is our ground agent, he meets us and takes us to our buses which transfer us to the hotels.
We check in to the Travel Lodge at 5pm and arrange to meet the group in the foyer at 6pm. We walk as a group into World Square which is about a 5 minute walk away. There are a large number of restaurants there for them to buy a meal. They have to be back at the hotel for 10pm.
We tell them that breakfast is at 8am, we are to meet in the foyer at 9:45am and travel to Mater Maria to play our final fixtures.
