Leaving Dili

Leaving Dili turned out to be easier said than done. I had been booked on a flight departing 16 Dec, but late on Friday 4th received a message from the travel co-ordinator saying that it had been cancelled and my booking moved to the 9th. Andy had originally been booked on the 23rd, but they were saying it was possible that flight might be cancelled too. Over the weekend we talked with management and got approval to move both of our flights to the 9th.

On the morning of Wednesday 9th we both packed up all of our stuff and brought it to work. When we walked across to the terminal to check in, we were told that we had been given the all-clear from Australian immigration to board the plane, except that the flight hadn't been approved by the Minister of Transport. Long story short it ended up being cancelled, with the possibility that it might be rescheduled the following day. (It had been confirmed that there were no other flights to Darwin scheduled before the end of the year.)

So we took all of our stuff back home, unpacked a minimal amount for the night, and came back the following day. In anticipation that the flight might not happen at all we started brainstorming alternative solutions, including flying ourselves out. In the late afternoon we were told that they were working on arranging the flight for the following day. In the evening, after I got home, a message came through saying it had been confirmed. Then another message saying it had been cancelled again.

On Friday I didn't bother wearing my uniform to work, or packing my bag. I contemplated unpacking it, but figured it would still be there when I got home, and would give me something to do later. We continued assessing alternatives in order to present a case to management, when at 12:00 we got a phone call saying the flight was on with check-in at 1:30 pm. Cue jumping in the vehicles and racing home (not easy in Dili traffic), getting changed and packing, racing back to the airport (still not easy in traffic), and presenting ourselves at the airport. This time confirmation from Australian immigration took a lot longer, but finally we were cleared to leave. We said goodbye (again) to Ameu, Imelda and Aldo and boarded the plane.

The fallout from our rapid departure is still continuing as I write this, but we had little choice due to lack of flight options, our visas expiring on 31/12, and me having commitments in January meaning that I needed to be out of quarantine by a particular date. On one hand it feels like we left a lot of unfinished business behind; but on the other we know that we gave our best and gave our all, to the point of exhaustion.

We are now in Darwin for two weeks of mandatory quarantine at the Howard Springs facility. I'm actually looking forward to it - two weeks to unwind, mentally and emotionally unpack the good and the bad, rest, and start preparing for returning to Mareeba and my duties at the Flight Training Centre.

Farewell/Christmas dinner, wearing the tais given
to us by Aldo and Ameu. Obrigada maun!