I left work around 2:15pm, drove home, packed, did the washing up, and called a taxi. I got to the airport around 3:15pm, checked-in, and spent the next hour-and-a-bit upstairs in the Qantas Club. There wasn't much food on offer, but I did have a couple of Hahn Premiums and a glass of red. I like the view from the Perth Qantas Club overlooking the runways. There wasn't much activity while I was there, it was mostly regional flights operated by National Jet and Skippers Aviation.

We boarded a bit late. Ladies and Gentlemen, today you are travelling on a Qantas Airbus A330-200. Subtlely every aircraft is different, that's why it's important that you watch this demonstration. Etcetera. I had an aisle seat in row 33, which is 10 rows back from the front of economy. The flight was reasonable, I watched Raising Helen, ate Basmati Chicken, and drank Hahn Premium Light.

We arrived a few minutes late. The luggage was available quite quickly. Priority tags are good. I was surprised to see that our flight was the last flight of the day for Sydney domestic. They don't go very late over late. Surprisingly, the taxi system was working well on this occasion. Lots of taxis and a small queue. It took about 20 minutes to get to the Crowne Plaza Darling Harbour. I had never stayed their before, but our usual Holiday Inn was fully booked.

My room was on the first floor, with a view of the Cross City Tunnel construction site which was just outside. I ordered some room service, watched some TV, and slept.

Wednesday

The room on the first floor turned out to have authentic construction site noise, in addition to the view. I slept on and off through until 9:30am, then went for a walk. I bought some snacks from Woolworths, then lunch from a little cafe whose incompetence caused them to undercharge me.

Back at the hotel, I requested a room change then went off to work. The first day in the lab was a bit of a disaster. Nothing was working properly and we found several major problems with the other vendor. I spent nine hours doing very little, with a brief intermission walking down to Harry's Cafe de Wheels for a hot dog. I'm not a big fan of Harry's.

We left work just before 10pm. Back at the hotel, I checked out my new room. It was on the 10th floor, and afforded a far better view of the construction site. I went for a brief walk, then spent some time in the bar with three Cooper's Pale Ales and a pizza.

Thursday

Without the sounds of the construction site, I slept through until almost 10. Since it was too late for breakfast, I ate some of the food I'd bought the day before from Woolworths, then went for another walk. Lunch was at Subway, then back to the hotel and off to work again.

The day was far more productive. One of the other vendor's problems had magically resolved itself overnight, so we were able to do some real testing. I ran through all of the test procedures I'd been given, with some major procedural changes to work-around the various problems that we had.

We had dinner at the Golden Century Seafood Restaurant in Chinatown, with Pippies in XO Sauce being the highlight. Back to the hotel at 11, and the bar was closing so there was no chance of a Grolsch before bed.

Friday

Up early at 6:30am for the final day gave me my first opportunity to sample the hotel restaurant's breakfast offerings. At $16 for a continental breakfast, I wouldn't be paying to go there. It was quite basic but pleasant enough, and from my table I had yet another view of the construction site.

I checked out, then headed off to work around 7:30am. I spent the day doing some further analysis of the problems we had discovered and raised some problem reports (3 on us, 5 on the other vendor). By 2pm I didn't have much left to do, so after another hour I left early to go to the airport.

All the self check-in machines at Sydney Airport were out of action, so I queued to check-in with a person instead. The agent was friendly but slightly incompetent, and it took a good five minutes to put me onto the earlier flight.

I got my excitement for the day when I was subjected to a random explosives check. I've never had that done before. Then it was up to the Qantas Club, which was a bit busy for my liking. I had a few snacks and a couple of Hahn Premiums, and read a book.

We boarded on time, and I found myself in an aisle seat in row 45 of a Boeing 767-300. This time I watched The Stepford Wives and The Ladykillers, ate fish in ginger and shitake mushroom sauce, and drank Jacob's Creek Chardonnay.

As we descended into Perth my ears went unusually funny. Mostly in my left ear. Perhaps it was worse than usual, because I noticed a few other people having trouble as well. Or perhaps I normally don't notice other people. We landed on time, luggage was available promptly, and then it was off home.

Three days, 7,764 frequent flyer points. Not too shabby.