Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you.

To travel to my home town, the place of my birth, would take a number of days by car. For a family with small children that journey would likely stretch to over a week. When I was a child, the cost of plane fares was also exorbitant, hence our family rarely visited our relatives in Far North Queensland. I remember a special occasion when our family did make the trip by plane. Perhaps it was my first plane trip. It was very exciting.

Image courtesy of clipperarctic, CC BY-SA 2.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Unlike today, the plane trip from Cairns to Sydney had to be taken in a number of hops. Our first leg on the return flight was from Cairns to Townsville. The landing certainly made an impression, most probably literally, as the plane slammed on the runway with a huge thud, causing some passengers quite some consternation. The captain of the plane clearly thought that a few reassuring words were warranted.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Captain speaking. I apologise for the bumpy landing. The co-pilot would like me to tell you that he was responsible for the landing.”

The passengers chuckled good-humouredly.

The next leg was from Townsville to Brisbane. The landing was elegant, oh-so smooth.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the co-pilot speaking. For the benefit of passengers travelling from Cairns, I hope you found this landing more to your satisfaction. The Captain would like me to tell you that he landed the plane. If you are disembarking in Brisbane, please remember to take all your personal items with you. Enjoy your stay.”

Much clapping from the passengers ensued.

After a lot of arm twisting, the Aussie government announced this week that it would adopt a target of net zero emissions by 2050. Round of applause. It has been reported in the media that the net zero target will not be legislated in the national parliament. Boo, boo.

A promise is a promise. So very transactional. You know, do that which prevents international trade and investment retaliation against businesses operating in and/or from Australia and no more. As with its response to the pandemic, I suppose the national government can rely on state governments to do all the hard emissions reduction work for them. Yes, I know the national government paid for the vaccines and in the same way, it will likely incentivise gas projects and experimental carbon capture and storage projects, as well as chucking a bit of money at regional electorates for carbon offsets. Credit where credit is due. But someone has to deliver the goods and I’m not sure that the new-old plan will get us there. Sometimes I wonder who is captaining our country. Who? The Deputy PM. That explains it then. We are in for a bumpy landing, that’s if we can land this baby at all. Who knows, a lot can change in 20 or 30 years. Sheesh, a lot can change in two years. Governments can change, and I don’t mean the Australian government.

We must learn to fly this bloody emissions reduction plan fast. 2050 is too late to get the job done. We had better shut down a few aging coal plants in good faith. Store farts in a jar. Onya ‘Straya.

Shall we have the Foo Fighters performing Learn To Fly for the Friday song? It kind of fits. Warning – the video is very un-PC. Take your seats and buckle up. We’re in for the ride for our lives.

Take care, everyone. Reduce your carbon footprint. Fly less.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

Note: Ansett Australia went out of business in the years following the scrapping of the two-airline policy in Australia.

35 thoughts on “Landing It”

  4. Absolutely no flights during the sixties for our family of five kids and two adults, I shudder to think how that would’ve turned out. Perhaps with the door being opened and us kids learning to fly without parachutes.

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    1. Kids have to try out every button. When I travelled with a 9 month old and I was a bit hypo ( low blood glucose), my young one tipped a cup of lemonade over the gentleman next to me. All of a sudden the flight crew miraculously found him a spare seat. Meanwhile said child was handed over to the large number of Chinese tourists. He had a lovely time. 🤣

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      1. My cousin married an American guy. At their wedding, the American contingent talked about how Americans are much more effusive and talk about feelings a lot more than Australians do. I can’t imagine that scene from Dead Poet’s Society ever taking place in Australia… except maybe sarcastically. We’re too understated.

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  7. I well remember the small plane with flew our family of 4 from Melbourne to Devonport in Tasmania as a child. We also took our car and caravan on the overnight ferry The Princess of Tasmania (at least once). We didn’t have much money back in those days so I’m sure it was very expensive and required saving all year for the school summer holidays on my maternal Grandmother’s dairy farm where my mother grew up.

    The large dairy farm was a magical place when I was young. Everything from butter, cheese etc was handmade and 3 cooked meals a day.

    We lived in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne and my father built our first 2 bedroom weatherboard home. Life was good pre modern technology. Hard, but good and deeply satisfying.

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    1. It definitely would have been expensive, Vicky. Probably still is. I’ve lived on a few properties in my childhood and yearn for those wide open spaces. Ee had a cow which we milked by hand. Most of the milk eent down my gumboot. You must have worked up an appetite. Freshly made butter, sigh. Truly magic to spend that time with your grandmother.

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  8. It always takes a while to wrap my head around how big Australia is and how challenging it must be to get from one city to another. Singapore is, after all, tiny, and it’s international travel in all directions.

    I recall some decades ago, when I spoke with business person whose travel itinerary read: Singapore-Perth, Perth-Singapore, and immediately transiting Singapore-Sydney. He said it just worked out cheaper that way.

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    1. Every now and then there is talk of Western Australia receding from the federation, Ju-Lyn. Can’t blame them. It is cheaper for people in the west to holiday in Bali than over here in the east. It is also a huge commitment for those elected to national parliament to make the trek over here every time parliament sits. Fortunately there is a direct flight now from Perth to Canberra.
      Domestic flights are much cheaper when they are attached to an international leg, or at least they used to be.

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