Qantas - The airline that ALMOST stopped a nation!

G'Day from Melbourne!

And it definitely is a good day in Australia -- Qantas just announced that they will start flying again by noon today.  The strike probably didn't make major news in the US but here it was top priority.  Literally, the Qantas strike could have stopped the nation had it continued much longer.   I don't know all the details leading up to the strike, but Qantas is one of my favorite airlines and I look forward to flying them again.

Many travel agents at Corroboree arrived at breakfast with a huge smile on their face(and this was before they had their coffee) as they could now plan to fly home tomorrow -- that is, if they don't get bumped to accommodate all the stranded passengers whose flights were canceled over the weekend.

The other big news here that probably won't even make the 3rd page of our sports section is THE race tomorrow--Nov. 1st is  the running of the Melbourne Cup.  I am so lucky to be attending it along with 5 other agents who are going with me on the post-Corrobore Famil to Northern Queensland.  I'll have much more coverage of the big event (as us commentators say) tomorrow.

Corroboree ended today -- can't believe how fast it has gone.  Seems like just yesterday I was struggling to get out of the Melbourne airport.  Tonight was the Opal Dinner with tomorrow's race being the theme.
I had been wondering what the mood would be since Qantas Airlines was the sponsor, but, fortunately 'all's well that ends well' and everyone was definitely happy about the outcome. 

The dinner was held in Myer Mural Hall located within a Melbourne department store.  The room was decorated with works by Napier Waller who was commissioned to paint the 10 huge murals as a tribute to women and their achievements throughout history.  What is even more remarkable is the fact that Waller painted these after he lost his right arm in WWI and  retrained himself to paint with his left arm!

Earlier today I bought my 'fascinator' hat for the race and am looking forward to all the excitement tomorrow.  We leave at 11am in the morning and travel to the race via a boat on the Yarra River. Maybe I'll get an insider tip on the way as to which horse to back!
The race will be at 3pm so tune in tomorrow for the results.
Linda