What a wet day! Quite a bit of rain had come to Northern NSW/Southern QLD! “We need it though” said one lady as we splashed across the tarmac to our waiting aircraft. Northern New South Wales and Southern Queensland were in for a drenching over the next few days, so we were kind of glad we were leaving after a week of fine weather.

If you know me, you would know I was ecstatic when I saw we would flying on the “Retro Roo”. If you flew with Qantas in the 70’s or 80’s you’d remember this livery. The burnt orange cheatline and the winged ‘flying’ kangaroo are two of the stand out features of this retro design. The aircraft was delivered to QANTAS in 2014 and usually they would name their new aircraft after an Australian place but this particular aircraft was named James Strong – the late CEO of QANTAS from 1993 to 2001. James was also at the helm during the successful merger of the then international QANTAS with the domestic Australian Airlines.

Prior to boarding, Fly Well Packs with sanitisers and masks were available at the gate for all. We both donned on a mask for the flight, although I think only half the aircraft wore one as it was not mandated in NSW at the time of the flight. All of the crew wore masks.

So there I was, completely wet, sitting amongst the drenched. The Captain came over the speaker and said ” I guess most of you didn’t need to take a shower this morning!” The plane roared with laughter. The captain then advised our destination of Sydney was sunny and dry. My seat neighbour turned to me and said “We need it though”, while wiping his face with tissues.

Matty Somewhere paid for his flight independently.