dave_261

Just returned from 2 weeks in Australia, and figured I’d share my flight and trip experiences. For starters, here’s the itinerary for the trip, which as you can see, was quite aggressive:

o Friday, January 13: To Australia: DTW-ORD-ICN-SYD
o Sunday, January 15: Arrive Sydney, on to Adelaide (Qantas)
o Monday, January 16: Fly to Kangaroo Island for 2 days
o Tuesday, January 17: Return to Adelaide
o Wednesday, January 18: Fly to Melbourne (Qantas)
o Friday, January 20: Drive the Great Ocean Road
o Saturday, January 21: Fly to Cairns (Jetstar)
o Tuesday, January 24: Fly to Sydney (Qantas)
o Saturday, January 28: Return home: SYD-ICN-LAX-DTW

Here’s the visual route (from Great Circle Mapper):
http://www.tinyurl.com/cnwrt

In order to make this as interesting and useful as possible, I’ll include lots of flight detail, lounge info (Northwest, Korean and Qantas clubs) and a thorough overview of our Australia experience (hotels, meals, driving on the left side, and more). The downside is that this report is quite long, so perhaps you should cancel your next few meetings (or stop helping your kids with their homework if you’re off the clock) so you can give this report your full concentration.

On we go…

Last year, we redeemed 220,000 Northwest Worldperks miles for 2 Korean Air business class (Prestige Class) tickets to Australia. Shortly after booking, NW upped the redemption to 150,000 per ticket, so I’d like to think we got a good deal.

In any case, as those of you who have significant miles with Skyteam know, the alliance has a huge gap in getting easily to Oz. Unlike Oneworld (Qantas) and Star Alliance (United, Air New Zealand, and now Air Canada), there are no direct flights from the US to Australia. The main options are Continental to Cairns (through Guam with some rough connection times) and Korean Air through Seoul, and NW also offers Malaysia Airlines redemption through KUL. Especially considering that United offers a non-stop business saver award to Oz for only 90k miles, and 1st class for only 120K, the new 150k NW award is absurd.

In our case, the flight times and availability worked best on Korean, so we grabbed those. There’s not a lot of info on Flyertalk on KE, at least compared to airlines like Singapore and Cathay Pacific, and much of the topics on this board mention KE’s safety history or outdated cabins. So before I go into detail about the individual flights, I’ll give my quick overview (using a previous trip on SQ Raffles to Bali as a comparison).

In NFL football terms, KE is the equivalent of a team that’s 9-6 going into the final game of the season, and needs some help in order to get into the playoffs. Teams like that have occasional glimpses of brilliance, are solid performers, but slip occasionally and falter at the wrong times. If Singapore and Cathay are in the Super Bowl, and British Airways and Emirates are Wild Card teams, Korean is on the outside looking in (which should be no shock to anyone).

Nothing was inherently wrong with any of the flights, but it seems that KE is not as consistent or polished as they could be. Things like: using leather bound menu holders on 2 of 4 flights, and paper menus on the other 2; handing out spray water bottles (for cabin dryness) on only 1 of 4 flights; agents telling misleading/conflicting things in different conversations, forgetting to provide napkins with a snack on 2 occasions.

The good news for Korean is that they are in the process of upgrading their long-haul fleet. Of our four fights, ORD-ICN had the new business class cabin, and it was far superior to our other three legs. By 2007, when much of the fleet has been updated, Korean might be in a different place, but for now, they are a bit of a laggard.

Before I go on, a few topline thoughts of Australia, based on our limited 2 weeks in a small portion of the country:
- By and large, the Australian people are a friendly bunch, who unprompted would ask if you need directions if you simply looked lost
- Australia has tons and tons of beautiful sights, with scenic vistas all along the coast from Queensland down to South Australia (not to mention the 99.9% we didn’t see)
- The domestic Australia flights (on Qantas, Jetstar and Rex) are significantly more pleasurable than their US counterparts, which have turned air travel into a Greyhound experience
- Getting around Australia was a breeze. City transit is a dream (especially Sydney, where you have ferries, buses, monorail, trains, cabs, water taxis, etc.). And even though road distances can be far, everything was very well marked and people drove far better than in the US.
- 99% of cars follow the speed limit. Signs warning of speed cameras are everywhere, and we saw some radar shooting. I felt guilty each time I hit 102km/hr in a 100km/hr zone. I’ll probably get a stack of speeding tickets in the mail!
- Most things are considerably more expensive in Australia than in the US. In general, meals were 25-50% higher (with taking the exchange rate into consideration) than you’d find in the US.
- We were generally underwhelmed by the food quality, taste, and restaurant service. That is not to say that the food was bad, but overall, it was nothing to rave about. While I’ve read that food has come a long way in the last 10-20 years, it seems that it still has a ways to go.
- The most memorable parts of the trip were Kangaroo Island, part of the Great Ocean Road drive, the walk from Bondi to Bronte Beach, and probably the tour of the Opera house (which you’ve seen so much of, and doesn’t let down in person).

For a close-up map of the ground we covered via plane in Australia, look here: http://www.tinyurl.com/8za8f

OK… on to the trip!

Friday, January 13: On to Sydney
Arrived at Detroit Metro Airport’s McNamara Terminal around 7:30 for our 9:10 flight to Chicago. Check-in at the international desk went smoothly, and our bags were tagged all the way through to Sydney.

Northwest WorldClub (Main): Detroit
After clearing security in no time, we made our way to the main WorldClub. This is one of the best WorldClubs in the system, mostly due to it being one of the newest and largest. It also happens to be the only domestic NW club with showers, but no use for them on this trip. Breakfast time has some reasonable food in the club, with bagels and muffins available, as well as a nice cappuccino machine. Grabbed a USA Today and WSJ for the flight, and after about an hour in the club, we made our way to gate A49 for our flight to Chicago.


Northwest Flight #1237
Detroit to Chicago-O’Hare
Seats 4A/4B (1st class)
Depart 9:08am/Arrive 9:38am (on-time)
DC9-50

This was a very uneventful flight, with flying time of under an hour. No meal was served. Not much more to say about that.

Upon arrival at Terminal 2 at ORD, we made our way to the ATS train, which whisked us to ORD’s international terminal #5. From deplaning to arrival at terminal 5 took about 15 minutes.

We went to the security check-point, only to be returned to the Korean Air check-in counter to get new boarding passes. Although we had NW-issued passes all the way through to Sydney, security advised us that we needed KE-issued passes. After about 15 minutes getting them printed and letting KE sort out a glitch in the Australia visa computer system, we cleared security and went into the sleepy concourse.


Korean Air Morning Calm Lounge- Chicago
We headed down to the Korean Air lounge. The lounge is located directly across from the gate we used, which was very convenient. Because it is a Korean Air owned/run lounge (not shared), and because KE only has one flight a day out of O’Hare, the lounge was nothing to rave about. It held about as many seats as necessary to accommodate all first and business class passengers, and was fully packed as we approached boarding. The lounge is basically one large room, with a few partitions.
The lounge had a decent supply of drinks, but food was almost non-existent. Some packaged cookies, nuts, cracker mix, and that’s about it. There was one internet-available computer terminal, some reading materials, and a TV tuned into the news. (FYI, here are the first of many images... apologies in advance for some of the poor quality due to camera malfunctions, limited use of flash in lounges and some human error).


Entrance to Korean Air Lounge at O'Hare


Inside the Korean Air Lounge at O'Hare

After about an hour in the lounge, the flight to Seoul was ready to board.

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Korean Air #38
Chicago-O’Hare to Seoul Incheon
Seats 9H/9J (Prestige Class)
Depart 11:40am/Arrive 4:55pm (delayed about an hour due to de-icing)
777-200
As mentioned earlier, this is one of the first upgraded planes in the KE fleet, which also service Seattle, and a few LA and NY flights. Seats were the “pod” style seats that many other airlines are using. The seats were electronic with full recline (although at a slight angle). This plane was also equipped with audio-visual on demand (AVOD) at every seat in every cabin, which is a great thing for a 14-hour flight.


Ready for takeoff


Pod-style seats in upright position. These were used as crew rest seats on the flight.

The business class cabin is a 2-3-2 configuration, with 60” pitch in 2 mini-cabins. We were in row 9, which is the bulkhead in the 2nd cabin. Business class was totally full (with 2 seats reserved as crew rest seats), with first about ½ full.

After the doors shut on time, we sat in our gate area for about an hour as we were de-iced. Then we were on our way to Seoul.

As an aside, Korean does not offer amenity kits for business class passengers. Slippers were placed in every seat, along with a pillow and wrapped blanket. Eyeshades and earplugs were available upon request, and the bathroom had most of the other supplies that might be needed (razors, lotions, toothbrush/toothpaste, combs, cologne). While I suppose an amenity kit is a nice premium touch, it’s really not a necessity.

Menus booklets were already at each seat upon boarding. Shortly after take-off, food orders were taken. Here’s the menu for the flight (condensed… if you want to know any of the side dishes or wine listings, let me know):

LUNCH
Pre-Drink Starter: Courgette and cream cheese with roaster pepper
Appetizer: Crabmeat and avocado salad with marinated tomato
Soup: Zucchini soup with spicy lavoche
Main Course: Korean bibimbap, Tenderloin of beef, roasted monkfish or chicken aventino style
Cheese Trolley: Cheddar, blue Costello, saint-andre triple
Dessert: Haagen-Dazs ice cream or passion fruit chocolate cake
Breads and Teas

DINNER (served about 4 hours before landing in Seoul)
Salad: Baby spinach salad
Main Course: Marinated grilled beef brochette sanjeok, Udon noodle soup or Spiced fish cakes
Fresh seasonal fruit
Breads

In general, food quality and service was pretty good. Although it’s been about 2 years since I flew Singapore Raffles Class, I think Korean’s food was equal to or better than SQ in most of my meals.

Snacks were available during the flight, although they were very basic. Ramen with prawns was the only hot option, and there were some crackers and candies available. I suppose I could have asked for any leftover cheese or ice cream as well. On all Korean flights, flight attendants were constantly walking down the aisles with trays of juices and water.

Throughout the flight, I made extensive use of the AVOD system. There were about 20 recent movies… I watched the 40-Year Old Virgin and Wedding Crashers. There were also a bunch of international movies and some classics (I watched Steve McQueen’s Bullitt). Additionally, there were lots of full-length music CD’s, some TV short programs, computer games, and more. This flight was even equipped with Connexion by Boeing in-flight internet.

I also managed a bit of sleep on this flight. The beds, which Korean calls their “Prestige Plus” seat, is very similar to the SQ Spacebed. However, I found a couple of nuances which led this seat to be a bit inferior to the Spacebed (i.e. the armrest does not come down with the seat reclined, so the seat feels a bit cramped for sleeping).

After about 13 ½ hours, we began our decent into Seoul.

Upon arrival in Seoul, we walked about 10 minutes to the transit security area, and back upstairs to the departure concourse and the Morning Calm Lounge. Unlike airports in the US, international transfer passengers do not have to go through customs or immigration, so it’s a very painless exercise to catch a connecting flight.


Asiana plane sitting at Seoul

Morning Calm Lounge (Prestige Class): Seoul
Korean has two lounges at Incheon. One lounge is more of the shared/partner lounge, that Korean runs and allows premium passengers from KE and other select airlines. The other lounge was only for KE/Skyteam passengers. This, presumably, is Korean’s flagship lounge, and it is a bit of a disappointment. Compared to some other flagship lounges (even domestic US lounges, like the DTW WorldClub), this lounge feels small and dark/depressing. It does have a view of the tarmac, but since both times we were in the club it was dark outside, it was by default too dark inside (seemed to be too little artificial light). I’d imagine the club feels different during the day when it’s light outside.

Food is provided by the Hyatt Regency Incheon, and was not too bad. A few hot items (including fried shrimp, meatballs and porridge), some sandwiches, sushi, salads and a few snack foods. There is no full-service bar, although there are several refrigerators with cold drinks, and a self-serve bar.

The lounge has a small selection of newspapers and magazines, as well as a small room with about 8 internet-equipped computers.

Overall, this lounge was a disappointment.

Some lounge and food display shots:








With our late arrival in to Seoul due to our de-icing in ORD, we only had about 30 minutes in the lounge before making our way to our gate for the flight to Sydney.

Korean Air flight# 811
Seoul Incheon to Sydney
Seats 7A/7B (Prestige class)
Depart 7:05pm/Arrive 7:25am (on-time)
Airbus 330-300

After the brand new seats on the ORD-ICN flight, I knew we’d be a bit disappointed with the seats on this flight. These were the old-style seats, with manual seat controls, and a recline of only about 150 degrees. This flight has a pseudo-first class cabin, which is not technically sold as first (apparently full-fare business class passengers are placed there, or can at least upgrade for a minimal fee). That cabin had about 3/12 seats filled, and business was about 15/28. Coach was full.


Seats in the pseudo-1st class cabin

Entertainment on this flight was a major step down. 1st and business have in-seat TV’s. There were about 10 movie options and some other programming, but none was on-demand. You either caught the movie when it was starting, or you had to watch it in progress. Economy class had only the movie and programming shown on the main screen.

The seat pitch in business class was abysmal. Thankfully we had bulkhead seats, which had decent room, especially with nobody to recline into us. However, KE’s website shows the pitch in business class as 41”-42”, which is really poor.

Unfortunately, I didn’t grab a menu on this flight… sorry! But there was a meal served after takeoff (I had the Korean bibimbap), and a breakfast before arrival.

Flight took off a couple minutes late, and we were on our way in darkness. Because this was an overnight flight, and without AVOD to occupy us, we did sleep a bunch.


Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport

After about 30 hours of travel, we arrived in Sydney. 7:30am seemed to be prime-time for arrivals, as we saw several other jumbos landing around our arrival.

Proceeded through customs and picked up our bags. After clearing the quarantine police, we made the long march down the hall to the Qantas domestic transfer desk. We checked in for our flight to Adelaide, and waited a few minutes to catch the transfer bus to Terminal 3. The transfer bus took us through the proverbial bowels of SYD, and after about a 5 minute ride around the terminals, we arrived at T3.


The Qantas Club- Sydney Domestic Terminal 3
As an American Platinum (OneWorld Sapphire) member, I was able to use the Qantas Clubs on my domestic Australia travel. The Sydney club in Terminal 3 is very impressive. While it was quiet there on a Sunday morning, the club is huge, well-laid out, and well appointed.
Huge business center, showers, TV’s everywhere, a newsstand/shop, food, full-service bar (although not open at 9am), and tons of seating.



Entrance to Qantas Club


Inside the Qantas Club

Qantas Flight #747
Sydney to Adelaide
Depart 10:20am/Arrive 12:10pm (On time)
Seats 9A/9B (Economy)
737-800

After leaving the club, we waited for a few minutes in the boarding area. Interestingly, there was only one boarding call for this flight, for all passengers. No pre-boarding for elites or business class, no boarding by row numbers. Just one call. And, even more interestingly, the whole plane was loaded and ready to go in about 20 minutes.

Qantas does not pre-allocate any seats. Apparently the computer system automatically assigns seats the night before the flight, with preferential seating going to Qantas and OneWorld elites. On all 3 Qantas flights we took, we were seated in the first 9 rows. On this flight, we had seat 9A, which does not have a window, so not a recommended seat.

Snacks and drinks were offered, and the in-flight entertainment was available for the fairly quick flight to Adelaide. Upon arrival, we picked up our bags and hopped a cab into the city center of Adelaide.

dave_261

Day One: Adelaide and the Majestic Roof Garden Hotel
So we were officially now on the ground in Australia. We chose to start in Adelaide so we could get to the destination we really wanted to get to, Kangaroo Island. My take, which was confirmed by our taxi driver, was that for tourists, Adelaide seems to be more of a hop-of point than a “real” destination (no offense to any Adelaide residents). It is a good jumping off point for visits to Kangaroo Island, the South Australia wine regions, beaches, or even the start of the Great Ocean Road drive towards Melbourne.
We arrived at the Majestic Roof Garden Hotel, which is a nice, relatively new (opened in 2004), boutique hotel a block from the Rundle Mall shopping street. It was about 1pm, and since our room wasn’t ready, they reluctantly gave us an upgraded room so we could shower after our 30+ hours of travel. The room was nice, with a large bathroom, balcony and great bed/sheets. The staff was very friendly and we would definitely recommend this hotel. Like the name, this hotel has a nice garden area on the roof, which are used for receptions/events, and lounging around (although it was empty when we checked it out).
Although we were a bit tired, we did a bit of touring around the city center, which was a quiet as it was a Sunday. After heading back to the hotel for a quick rest, we went back to “Chinatown” and had an early dinner at T Chao’s, before heading back to the hotel for bed at around 7pm. Our first of many ‘adequate’ meals.

Day Two: Off to Kangaroo Island/Hotel: Stranraer Homestead
We began the day very early, and arrived at the Adelaide Airport at around 6:15am for our 7:05 flight to Kingscote, Kangaroo Island on Regional Express (Rex).
Rex is the only domestic carrier operating from the new Adelaide Terminal, which has had some fuel line issues which has prevented the other carriers from moving in. Thus, this was a big, beautiful terminal with almost no activity.


The new Adelaide terminal


Adelaide Airport empty concourse


Flight info screens

We proceeded through security to the end of the terminal, where Rex had about 6 regional flights getting ready to depart.

We walked down to the tarmac, and then had to walk for about 5 minutes behind some fencing before we got to our plane. A very strange set-up for a brand new airport.


Rex jet getting fuel

We boarded the Saab 340 for the 25-minute hop to Kingscote, and were served cookies and water while in the air. The only other method of getting to Kangaroo Island is to drive about 2 hours south of Adelaide to pick up a ferry, but since Adelaide Airport is only about 10 minutes from downtown Adelaide, this seemed to be the far easier option.

For those who don’t know, Kangaroo Island is a small island off of the coast of South Australia which has an abundance of wildlife and outdoor life.

Upon arrival at Kingscote, Tim, our tour guide for 2 days from Adventure Charters was there to pick us up. We had debated for weeks the option renting a car and doing a self-tour, but this seemed to be a good place to rely on an expert guide to point out the things we would have otherwise missed.

Before we picked up another couple who was joining us for the day, Tim took us to a quaint spot for a “cuppa” (coffee) and a fresh-baked lamingtons, and for some wildlife spotting.

Day one of the Tour was the “Flinders Chase Focus”, which took us to the far western end of Kangaroo Island. We stopped many times along our journey, including “Lucy’s Farm” to see lots of kangaroos (who apparently are even more plentiful during the cooler winter season). Also saw some koalas.


Some roos

Tim took us to a cliff overlooking the ocean where he prepared a gourmet lunch, and from there we went to Admirals Arch to view the fur seals.

After about 9 hours of touring, Tim dropped us off at our lodging for the evening, the Stranraer Homestead. Stranraer is an 80-year old homestead on a large working sheep farm, which offers 3 delightful guest rooms. Our room had an adjacent private bathroom (not en suite). The room had a great bed, linens etc. We highly recommend staying here. After cleaning up, we moved to the elegant dining room for dinner ($50/person, not included in the room rate). There was one other couple staying at Stranraer that evening, but they chose to dine in the main town of Kingscote, so we were all alone for the 3-course meal, which includes a glass of local wine. All meals are home-cooked by Lyn Wheaton, one of the property owners. Lyn had presented us some dinner options, and we both chose a cheese soufflé and a lamb entrée (a bit underwhelming, but breakfast made up for it).

After dinner, Lyn’s husband Graham took us to Penneshaw (about 40 minutes from Stranraer) to watch the nightly ritual of the fairy penguins making their way out of the water for the evening (this was also not included in the nightly room rate).

Interior and exterior of Stranraer Homestead:






Day Three: More on Kangaroo Island and a return to Adelaide
Day two started with a homemade breakfast from Lyn, including fruit salad, buttermilk pancakes, pears, prune soufflé and cranberry muffins, and then roasted tomato omelettes (needless to say, we did not leave hungry). At around 9am, Tim picked us up for day 2 of our tour. Although the tour groups can range up to 10 people during peak times, we lucked out in that we were the only people touring that day.

Day two on K.I. was called the “Island Life” focus. Tim took us to a honey factory, where they process the many honey combs from across the island. We also toured and walked around the main town of Kingscote, which is very quaint. After a few other sites (a salt lake, some more beautiful cliffs overlooking the ocean, and a bush walk to see wallabies and kangaroos), Tim took us to a private site where he grilled us fresh fish for lunch. From there, on to seal bay for, as the name implies, seal watching.



After another full day of touring, and a last-minute koala sighting and visit to a local goat cheese plant, Tim dropped us off at Kingscote Airport for our 6:35pm return flight to Adelaide.


Koala

After check-in, which took all of 2 minutes, we joined Tim out in front of the airport for one last cup of coffee before boarding was called. Shockingly, there were no airport police telling cars to keep moving from in front of the terminal!


Kingscote Airport

This turned out to be the most interesting flight we had on our trip. After we boarded and the door was shut, we sat there for about 5 minutes as the interior plane temperature seemed to rise to about 85 degrees. Some of the aircraft lights (overhead, seat belt sign, etc.) would flick on for a second, and then go off. After a few minutes, the pilot came out of the cockpit and said that they were having some electrical issues, and we'd be more comfortable deplaning and waiting in the terminal.
As we all walked back to the terminal, which was now locked since we were the last flight of the day at a very small airport, the pilots, flight attendant, baggage loader and the check-in agent were huddling around the plane, presumably working on the electrical system. Fortunately, someone nearby had a master key to let us back in. After about 10 minutes, they suspected they had fixed the problem, and we reboarded and went on our way.
Some of the passengers seemed a bit wary, but I figured that as long as the propellers started spinning, we'd probably be OK to make it back to Adelaide.

After arrival in Adelaide’s totally empty airport, we walked inside the terminal, and interestingly, we had to go through a security checkpoint (metal detector and bag scanner). Since this was not done in Kingscote, we apparently needed to be screened before entering the main airport terminal. While I understand the logic, there is a certain absurdity about going through security AFTER a flight, while entering a terminal with nobody around, that no other domestic airline uses.

We picked up a cab and headed back into Adelaide to the Majestic Roof Garden Hotel, which was mostly selected again as we had left our larger suitcases there while we were on K.I.


Our 2nd room at the hotel (1st room was nicer...)

As an aside, Kangaroo Island is not always on tourists list of places to see, but this was probably our favorite part of the trip. The scenery was unbelievable, it was a great place to see wildlife and the food was the best on the trip. We had been debating doing a tour, as it seemed fairly pricey, however, we would definitely recommend Adventure Charters. The tour was personalized and individualized and was a great overview of the island. We saw numerous things that we wouldn’t be able to on our own. Not to mention, two wonderful lunches in beautiful locations.

Day Four: Off to Melbourne and the Park Hyatt
We awoke and made our way down to the restaurant in the Majestic Roof Garden Hotel for breakfast, which was included in our room rate. It was a pretty good meal, with a buffet (including some wonderful parfaits), as well as made-to-order eggs. Given that the breakfast would have been $40 for 2, and our room was only a $10 increase over the standard room rate, this was a good deal.

After that, we checked out and took a taxi back to the Adelaide Airport (our 4th visit there in 4 days).

dave_261

Qantas Flight #678
Adelaide to Melbourne
Depart 11:10am/Arrive 12:50pm (On-time)
Seats: 6A/6B (Economy)
737-800

After a quick check-in, we proceeded up to the Adelaide Qantas Club. This club showed signs of age, although I suspect there’s a sparkling new club in the new Adelaide terminal that will be used once the terminal finally opens.


Adelaide Qantas Club

After waiting in the club for a bit, they made a boarding call for the flight to Melbourne, and we proceeded to the gate.

This was a very short flight, but snacks and drinks were still served.

After arrival into Melbourne, we took a taxi and made our way to the Park Hyatt. The Melbourne Park Hyatt is a phenomenal hotel, probably the leading hotel in the city (or at least close). Through a business colleague, we received a preferred rate, as well as a room upgrade, and had a fruit plate waiting for us upon arrival. The hotel was totally full as it was Australian Open time, and the check-in agent hinted (at my request) that some players were staying at the hotel.

We went up to our room, which was stocked with everything that makes a luxury hotel what it is. Great linens and towels, comfy bed, nice work area, and lots of extras (bathrobes, slippers, in-bathroom TV, huge bathtub, etc.).





The Park Hyatt Melbourne


Being that it was already about 2pm, and we only had 1 ½ days in Melbourne, we ventured out to tour the city. The Melbourne city center is very compact and easily laid out, and offers a fantastic tram network to get around. In terms of location, the Park Hyatt is in a very secluded street about a 5 minute walk to the eastern edge of the city center. I suppose if you wanted to be right on top of the action, you could pick a more central location, but we had no complaints.

We spent a few hours walking around Brunswick Street, a hip shopping street near the hotel, then through Chinatown and some other popular shopping streets. While in the city, we stopped at Myer’s food court for a smoothie (lots of other, more filling options there as well.

For dinner, we were hoping to go to Grossi Florentini or their Cellar Bar, which were recommended in a number of places. However, it was closed for a minor renovation (and the chef was apparently on vacation).
So, we went back up to Brunswick Street and wandered into Café Nova for dinner.

Day Five: More Melbourne
We started the day by going up to the Victoria Market, where we had breakfast that we purchased at a couple of the varied food stalls. The market has sections which have competing stalls selling meats, cheeses, fish, produce, and even a flea market. From there, we went to the Old Melbourne Gaol, an old prison now turned into a museum.
We then took the tram to the south of the city, and popped into the Botanical Gardens for a look around. Then, back on the tram, down to the beach and small town of St. Kilda for lunch.
Took the tram back into Melbourne, and went to the ½ price theater tickets outlet, where they had tickets available for that evening’s “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” show, which is currently on Broadway, and had just opened in Melbourne.
After that, we hopped back on the tram, and made the quick trip to the Tennis Center to catch some of the Australian Open, which had started about 5 days earlier. We bought the grounds pass, and joined the masses in the heat (which would continue to rise after we left Melbourne). After a couple hours there, we headed back to the Park Hyatt.


Australian Open grounds

For dinner, we walked to Chinatown to a Malaysian place called Banana Palm. This was another average meal.
From there, we took the tram down to the Arts Center to catch the play, which was very entertaining. After that, took the tram back towards the hotel for the night.

Day Six: Driving the Great Ocean Road
In the morning, I walked over to the Grand Hyatt (about 10 minutes from the Park Hyatt) and picked up the Avis car (a Holden Commodore) I had previously reserved. As it was my first time driving on the left side of the road, Melbourne city driving during rush hour was probably not the best time to get used to things. But after managing one-way streets and Melbourne’s strange “move left to make a right hand turn” move, I made it back to the Park Hyatt to collect our bags and my wife.
From there, we started the drive down through Geelong to Torquay, the official start of the Great Ocean Road.
We stopped numerous times on the drive, in small towns and for scenic vistas. Had lunch in one of the main towns along the drive, Apollo Bay, and saw popular attractions like the Twelve Apostles.


Twelve Apostles

We ended the drive at around 6:30pm in Port Fairy. Port Fairy is a small fishing community about 20 minutes past Warrnambool, which is roughly the end of the GOR drive. Some of the guidebooks and web forum postings imply that Port Fairy is a beautiful charming little town. Unfortunately, it looks like it’s also a town that time has somewhat forgotten, as the main street has seen better days.

Our lodging for the night was the Shearwater House B&B, a relatively new 5-room B&B on Gipps Street, just a few minute walk to the main street. Our room was rather spartan, and had very little charm that B&B’s usually have. It was really just a room in a house. It does offer a large deck which overlooks a waterway behind the house.


Shearwater House room

We walked to Bank Street for dinner, and a large crowd was seemingly enjoying the Caledonian Inn, and the adjacent bar, The Stump. We got the last table at the restaurant, which appeared to have the entire town crammed in there. This is somewhat of a “do-it-yourself” restaurant, with orders placed at the cashier, and meals delivered to the table when they’re ready. Customers make use of the salad bar, which also has several side dishes for the main course.
I decided to try kangaroo for dinner, which, as everything does, tastes kind of like chicken.
I give the Caledonian Inn a 9/10 for atmosphere, and a 4/10 for food.

Day Seven: Driving back to Melbourne and heading to Cairns
We had a quick breakfast at the Shearwater House before departing and making our way towards Melbourne airport for our afternoon flight to Cairns, in northern Queensland. We decided to take the inland route back, The Princess Highway, which is a far more direct route than the Great Ocean Road (albeit a more boring route).
After passing through several small towns along the way, we took a lunch break in Geelong, which is about an hour south of Melbourne. Had some fish & chips at Gilligan’s along the water, before making our way up to Melbourne Tullamarine Airport.

After dropping the car off with Avis, we went to the Jetstar check-in counter.

TIP: We loved driving the Great Ocean Road, however, if we had to do it again, we would skip the 12 Apostles (this is personal opinion) and do the road from Melbourne to Apollo Bay. The premier views on the drive are from Melbourne to Apollo Bay. After Apollo Bay, which is about ½ on the GOR, with the great views behind you, you have 50+ km of inland driving to the 12 Apostles, the next major attraction.. I would do that and back in one day, saving the extra day for somewhere else, or perhaps even choose Apollo Bay as a stopover point. The 12 Apostles were beautiful, but not worth turning it into a full day and all the extra driving.

Jetstar Flight #902
Melbourne to Cairns
Depart 4:15pm/Arrive 6:40pm (delayed about 90 minutes)
Seats 1A/1C (Economy)
A320-200

Jetstar is the low-cost subsidiary of Qantas, and was launched in 2004 seemingly as a primary competitor to Virgin Blue, Australia’s other LCC. Since Qantas offers only 1 non-stop between MEL and CNS, which didn’t work due to our schedule, we chose the Jetstar flight.

We checked in at the Jetstar desk, and were told that our flight was running about an hour late. We were pleasantly surprised that we were not charged any baggage fees, as Jetstar has a fairly restrictive maximum baggage weight (which the scale showed we exceeded). Like Southwest, Jetstar does not offer assigned seats, but rather boards in groups. Group one is for premium fare passengers and those needing extra time to board (i.e. us, since my wife is pregnant), with groups two and three for the discount fare passengers depending on check-in time.

With about 2 hours to kill, we went to the Qantas Club, and had no issue gaining entry with my American Platinum card and Jetstar boarding pass.


Melbourne Qantas Club

This club was another great lounge, with a decent complement of food (which would be our dinner due to our late arrival into Cairns), as well as a staffed bar. Interestingly, the bar staff at MEL happily took tips, while the CNS lounge bar staff refused.

After proceeding to the gate area, we were first in line as they called for the orange boarding group, and wound up in row 1 (left side), which had great legroom as it was where the boarding door is located.

The flight was an uneventful 3+ hours. Jetstar sells food and drink, and rents digiplayers for $10 which offer movies and entertainment.

dave_261

We landed in darkness at the sleepy Cairns airport, and proceeded down the boarding stairs and across the tarmac to the quiet terminal. While waiting for our bags, I went to the Hertz desk to pick up the keys to the Toyota Camry I had rented.

After picking up our bags, we hit the Cook Highway on our way to Port Douglas/Mossman and the Marae B&B.

The first 10 or so km of the Cook Highway involve about 8 roundabouts (you get up speed---you slow down--- repeat), which get old rather quickly. Then the road changes, and throws 30km of tight curves and slow speeds at the driver, which was not a great road to be on in darkness (perhaps a bit of advice to try to do this drive only during daylight). In a BMW z4 in daylight, I (or a professional driver) could have ripped up that road, but at night, the Camry was kept safely below the speed limit in an affort to not die.

We finally arrived at Marae, which is about 10km past the turnoff for Port Douglas, and went to our room. Marae has 3 rooms, but ours was the only one occupied during our 2 nights there. We had the downstairs room, behind the car port and overlooking a lovely pool. January being the rainy season in the Cairns area, tourism seemed to be rather light during our brief stay.

The hosts welcomed us up for a welcome drink and to provide some driving directions, and we arranged breakfast at 7:15am so we’d be in Port Douglas in time for our Great Barrier Reef trip.



Marae B&B

Day Eight: The Great Barrier Reef
The morning started with Marae’s tropical fruit breakfast, with yoghurt, honey, oatmeal/museli and fruit (which became my breakfast of choice on the trip) and eggs. We then drove the 15 minutes into Port Douglas to the Wavelength snorkel office to sign in for the 8:30am departure. While we are certified divers, my wife is pregnant, so no diving this trip. However, we wanted to get out to the reef, so we decided to take a snorkel tour. Several companies offer reef trips, with some boats holding up to 400 people. We wanted a smaller, more personal experience, so we went with Wavelength. The boats allow up to 30 snorkelers, but our trip had just 8.

The trip started with a 90-minute ride out to the reef, helped out by some nice swells to make some people wish they had taken the seasickness tablets. Fortunately, no buckets were harmed during this day, so everyone was able to keep things under control. Once there, we had 3, 1-hour snorkel sessions in 3 different sites, with lunch served on the boat after the 2nd swim.
The reef was beautiful, but snorkeling is just not diving!

After we returned to Port Douglas, we walked around the shops and selected a restaurant for dinner, before returning to Marae to clean up. While we were gone, Marae had washed our dirty clothes (extra $$) from week 1 of the trip, and they were folded and placed in our room.

We went back into Port Douglas for dinner at the Ironbar restaurant, where we got the Aussie BBQ platter, which included croc, kangaroo, emu, barramundi and some other less exotic foods. It was Ok, again nothing special.

Day Nine: Silky Oaks Lodge
After breakfast at Marae, we departed and visited the Mossman Gorge, and up to Daintree Village for an early lunch. We then headed back south to the Silky Oaks Lodge.
We had read a lot about the Silky Oaks Lodge in Mossman, which is about 15 minutes from Marae. This is a rather pricey 50-room property (about US$525/night), which is set among the trees of the rainforest.
We only had one night to stay there before we wanted to get to Sydney, and frankly, that was probably enough.
We got to the Lodge around noon, and made our way to our room, which was set up in the trees. The rooms are each in single-cabin buildings, and each has a balcony with hammock (ours with a tremendous view of the tennis court, which would have been a real annoyance if people had been playing… fortunately, as mentioned, it was the rainy season, so that was not a real option).
The rooms reminded us of camp cabins, and while they were fine, they had no real element of luxury. And they desperately needed updating.
We spent much of the afternoon using the kayaks on the river, lounging by the pool, laying on the hammock in the room, and sitting on the veranda of the main building overlooking the river and trees.

Here are some Silky Oaks shots, from the walk from the main building to our room:









A 4-course dinner was included in the rate, which was a nice gourmet meal in a nice outdoor setting (although a bit humid). Menu as follows:
Soup: Sugar roasted tomato tom yum with tiger prawn
Entrée: Poached freshwater crayfish set on cold asian salad or open vegetable lasagna
Mains: Barramundi fish & chips, chargrilled sirloin beef or roasted pork cutlet
Desserts: Iced mint parfait, black sapote chocolate fondant w/ muscatel ice cream or selection of ice creams and sorbets

Day Ten: Returning to Sydney and the Marriott Sydney Harbour Hotel
We awoke and wandered down to the Silky Oaks Restaurant for breakfast, which is also included in the rate. For a while, we were the only people in the place, as a large group had apparently been there at 6am before they left the hotel. Breakfast was lots of fruits, pastries and yogurts, and some hot foods. We played some board games in the veranda, and before long, it was time to leave Silky Oaks (in a driving rain). In general, we thought Silky Oaks was a very poor value for the money. While the property was nice, the rooms were not. The food was good, but nothing great. I personally, wouldn’t stay there again.

Around noon, we left on our way back to the airport. We stopped off in Port Douglas for lunch at Salsa’s, which is another highly recommended restaurant. Food was good, but like a lot of our meals in Australia, was overpriced compared to a comparable meal in the U.S.

Following that, we headed back down the Cook Highway, filled up the Camry (almost $1.30/liter, or about $5/gallon) and dropped it off at Cairns Airport.

Qantas Flight #927
Cairns to Sydney
Depart 4:10pm/Arrive 8:10pm (on time)
Seats 8A/8B
737-800

We checked in for our Qantas flight to Sydney. I knew that baggage restrictions in Australia were much stricter and more enforced than in the U.S. However, this was the first time that an agent asked me to weigh my carry-on bag, which turned out to be 15kg, well over the 7kg limit. Since there was nothing fragile in it, I decided to check it.

From there, we went to the quaint Qantas Club to await our flight. Although this club was small, it still had the seemingly usual Qantas Club things: food (sandwiches, fruit, cheeses), staffed bar, computers, TV’s, and even showers.


The Qantas Club- Cairns

I decided to inquire about an upgrade on the flight given my AA status (even though I’ve read that Qantas doesn’t even offer complimentary upgrades to their own FF elites), and the agent took my boarding passes and said she’d see what she could do. Unfortunately, she tracked me down a few minutes later and said that since there were no extra business class meals loaded on the flight, she unfortunately couldn’t help us out. Well, it was nice of her to try.

We boarded the flight and had nobody else in our row, although the flight was mostly full.

On the 3-hour flight down to Sydney, a full dinner was served (I had a lamb dish), and the flight attendants even passed out chocolate ice cream bars after dinner was cleared. Entertainment on screen included that day’s news update, as well as a movie, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride.

Landed in Sydney and took a cab to the Marriott Sydney Harbour Hotel, which would be our hotel for our final 4 nights in Australia.

Check in was quick, and we were given an Opera House view which I had booked. I asked for a club floor upgrade (w/ Marriott Silver status), but was told that they only upgrade golds and higher.

Room was a fairly typical business hotel room, although this one did have a reasonable view of the Opera House.

As an aside, the Marriott has a great location, within a stone’s throw of many of the key places: Circular Key (the main ferry and transit terminal), The Rocks (shopping/sights), the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, and is a reasonable walk from places like Darling Harbor and the Botanical Gardens.

This hotel is apparently available as a 5-star on Priceline for about US$160/night with taxes, but I booked a great discounted entertainment card rate (interestingly, the only rate code which worked out of the 20 or so that I tried), and was even able to use 2 Marriott “Premium Pounds” certificates as well.






View from room at Sydney Harbour Marriott

dave_261

Day Eleven: Touring Sydney
This day included what felt like 10 miles of walking. We had debated taking the Sydney Explorer hop-on/hop-off bus, but once we started walking, we decided just to keep going.
Unfortunately, this was one of the worst weather days we had for the trip, with a light rain and grey skies pretty much the entire day.
We started by heading up to the Rocks, where we walked around and had an OK breakfast at Pancakes on the Rocks. From there, we walked up to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We had planned to walk all the way across the bridge and up the pylons for a good view, but with the nasty weather and poor visibility, we didn’t get very far before turning around. We used the Cahill Walk and wandered over to the Sydney Opera House, where we took the obligatory tour.

Sydney Harbour Bridge- look closely at the top of the bridge to see the people on the Bridge Climb

After that, we started our walk down to Darling Harbour, the restaurant and entertainment district, and went to the Sydney Fish Market, one of the largest fish markets in the world.
Had lunch there inside the crowded main building (I think this building can safely be called the fried fish capital of the world), and then headed across town, through Hyde park, to the Art Gallery. We then trekked over to the Woolloomooloo area, to dine at the world-famous Harry’s Café de Wheels, which is a small trailer which sells meat pies and other assorted foods.



Harry's and the meat pie

We also walked into the W Hotel which is right next door, which is an awesome hotel built into an old wharf complex, and wins the coolest hotel in Australia award (well, from me at least). Unfortunately for SPG members, it’s changing hands to the Taj Hotels group in February…


W Hotel

We finally made our way back to the Marriott, and then back out to The Rocks to Phillip’s Foote for dinner. At this touristy place, you basically buy a piece of meat, and cook it yourself on their grill, as you help yourself to the salad and side dish bar.

Day Twelve: Sydney on Australia Day
Today was Australia Day in Sydney, which celebrates their beginning as a British Settlement in 1788. We started the morning with breakfast at City Extra at Circular Quay (mostly tourists dining there), and then took a 1 hour 15 minute Sydney Harbour Highlights cruise with Captain Cook cruises. The harbour was already getting crowded with Australia Day activities.


Sydney Opera House taken during harbour cruise

After the cruise, we took the bus to Bondi Beach, the most famous of the many Sydney-area beaches. We grabbed lunch at a deli, and ate it on the grassy area by the beach. We then walked along the 3km coast walk to Bronte Beach, before heading back to Bondi for ice cream and the return bus to Sydney. This walk was another highlight of the trip. It was absolutely beautiful.


Bondi Beach

After relaxing at the Marriott, we headed to Circular Quay to catch the ferry to Darling Harbour, where the main Australia Day evening activities would take place. The ferry was jam packed, and we were the last 2 people allowed on board before they closed off the line.
The ferry took about 30 minutes, and we got off on stop #5 at the Aquarium at Darling Harbor.
Darling Harbour was already teeming with people watching the festivities, and people were staking out their places for the evening fireworks.
We had a good dinner at the Malaysian restaurant Chinta Ria at Cockle Bay Wharf, and then got our places for the fireworks, which started around 9:20 and lasted less than 10 minutes. In general, they were somewhat underwhelming, compared to big fireworks in the US. (although we had heard that they were quite spectacular).


Australia Day fireworks

After herding with the masses out to the main roads, we walked back to the Marriott in about 15 minutes.


Day Thirteen: Driving to the Blue Moutains
After two days walking around Sydney, we decided to venture out to the Blue Mountains for our final day in Australia. We had planned to take the train to Katoomba and use the explorer bus to get around there, but we figured that a car would give us more flexibility to see more of the sights. The explorer bus does pick up at the Katoomba train station and hits 30 “attractions”, but only in the 2 towns of Katoomba and Leura, and none of the other Blue Mountain areas.
The Marriott has an Avis outpost in the building, so I was waiting there when they opened at 7:30am, and picked up a Toyota Camry.
We headed west and made a bunch of stops from Glenbrook to Katoomba, and headed north at Mt. Victoria to come back east on Bells Road. Saw some of the main attractions, including the Three Sisters, Govett’s Leap and Scenic World (which has the steepest train in the world which takes you into the ancient rainforest). Near the end of our trip to the mountains, we went to Glenbrook National park where there were dozens of kangaroos relaxing in the fields. We just sat and watched them as they ate dinner. It was quite relaxing and beautiful.

Since we had the car, we decided not to eat in downtown Sydney, and instead stopped in Little Italy, which is right on the way back to town, about 10 minutes from the city center. We ate at Jovanotti Café (decent food,) before heading back to the Marriott to pack up for our trip home.

Day Fourteen: Leaving Australia
Avis was closed by the time we got back to the Marriott, and they had already advised me that I could return the car at the airport for no additional fee. Since I was still within my 1 day rental period, we checked out of the Marriott around 6:45am, and drove the 20-minutes to Sydney Airport.

After dropping the rental car, we hauled our bags to the Korean Air check-in counter and checked in 2 bags through to Los Angeles, where we’d need to pick them up and clear customs before re-checking in for our final flight to Detroit.

After check-in, we were directed to the Air New Zealand lounge, as Korean does not operate a lounge in SYD. On most days, the ANZ lounge is within a short distance of the Korean gate, but today, the lounge was in the other international wing from where our plane would be departing.

Air New Zealand Lounge: Sydney
Another impressive lounge, which was pretty sleepy on this Saturday morning. A decent selection of food to start the day, as well as a large business center, some TV’s (which had loud music videos playing), a well stocked children’s room, showers, and some very cool bathrooms.








After about an hour in the lounge, we made the 10-minute trek back to the other wing, and found the gate for our flight to Seoul already boarding.

dave_261

Korean Air #812
Sydney to Seoul-Incheon
Seats 7A/7B (Business)
Depart 9:10am/Arrive 5:40pm (On time)
A330-300

Once again, we found ourselves in the A330 with the old business class seats. At check-in, I had requested and received the bulkhead row again. On this flight, the “first” class cabin had about 3 people for the 12 seats, and business class was less than half full (as was coach).

In addition to the poor seats and pitch, this specific plane did not even have in-seat screens for business class passengers. During an in-flight conversation with the purser, he told me that they usual ICN-SYD plane (the one which got us to Sydney) typically did turnarounds between the 2 cities (since the flight is about 10 hours, it gives 2 hours on the ground to ready it for the next flight). However, that plane was out for service, so we were actually using an A330 which typically does domestic flights. And, despite what I had previously read, no DVD players were available for business class passengers.

So, a 10-hour flight, with nothing but the main screen available for movies. One of the movies was a Korean movie, and the other was a 77-minute Disney movie, “Valiant” (which I reluctantly watched). Shortly after the conversation with the purser, our FA brought by a bottle of wine, saying it was from the purser for our inconvenience.

Now… I’m fairly certain this is not a high-revenue business flight for Korean (at least evidenced by the poor upfront loads on both ICN-SYD and SYD-ICN), but a world-class airline (or even 2nd tier) needs to have more than just the main screen entertainment on a 10-hour flight. Just my opinion.

In any case, the flight took off on time, and brunch was served about 40 minutes after lift-off. Here was the full menu for the flight:

BRUNCH:
Fruit Yoghurt
Main Courses: Korean Style Porridge, Cheese Souffle, Stir-fried chicken Chinese style
Freah Fruit
Breads/Coffee

HOT MEAL (served about 3 hours before landing)
Appetizer: Pepper crusted tuna with shrimp
Main courses: Bibimbap, Marinated Spring Lamb, Fried Baramundi Fish
Cheese and Fruit
Desseat: Panna cotta or ice cream
Breads/Coffees

Surprisingly, the flight went by fairly quickly, even with the poor seats and even poorer in-flight entertainment.

Landed at Incheon about 15 minutes late due to some strong headwinds, leaving us about 1 ½ hours before our flight to Los Angeles. We passed through transit security, and went to the Korean lounge for about an hour (where more food awaited us), before heading to our gate.

Korean Air #11
Seoul to Los Angeles
Depart 7:30pm/Arrive 1:20pm (On time)
Seats 7H/7J (Business)
747-400

Our final Korean flight was on the jumbo 747, which, as expected, had the old-style 1st and business class seats. The plane was mostly full, and we took off on time. With some strong tailwinds, flying time was under 10 hours, and we would wind up landing at LAX about 45 minutes early.

We had a bulkhead on this flight (as we did on the other 3 Korean legs), which is nice to have nobody to recline into you (although the seat pitch is about 50”, better than the A330).

I wound up sleeping for much of this flight, and slept through the 1st meal service. Meals were:
Pre-Drink Starter: Marinated feta cheese with kalamata olive and sun-dried tomato dip
Appetizer: Mixed green salad with shrimp
Soup: Champignon cream soup
Main Course: Bibimbap, Seared beef tenderloin, Chinese style cod, teriyaki chicken
Cheese Trolley
Dessert: Haagen-Dazs ice cream or pear cake
Bread/Coffee

Shortly before landing, breakfast was served:
Seasonal Fresh Fruit
Yoghurt and cereal selection
Main Course: Korean style porridge, lyonnaise omelette, steamed dumpling
Continental breakfast: seasonal fresh fruit
Breads

This flight did have in-flight entertainment units in 1st and business class, but again, not the on-demand type.

Finally made the approach south towards LAX, and passed by the airport on the right before making a U-turn and landing to the west.

We walked for a few minutes to immigration, and only waited a couple minutes before being cleared through. After picking up our bags, we passed through customs, and walked from Tom Bradley International Terminal to Terminal 2 to catch our Northwest flight back to Detroit.


Northwest WorldClub: LAX
After about a 5 minute walk outside to Terminal 2, we checked in for our flight to Detroit. Upon passing through security, we went upstairs to the Northwest WorldClub, where we would spend about 3 hours waiting for our flight home. As is fitting for an airport that is cramped and aging, the WorldClub is cramped and aging. To make matters worse, the club also serves Air France and KLM, which both had flights to Europe leaving about 90 minutes after our arrival in the club. Needless to say, the club was packed.
As with other WorldClubs, food selection was sparse. Prepackaged cheese and crackers, packaged baby carrots, and Pepperidge Farm cookies. Open, self-serve bar was available.

The club had some newspapers, one TV showing the college football Senior Bowl, and lots of people. Bathrooms in the club are no better than your typical train station.


LAX WorldClub

Somehow, the 3 hours mercifully came to an end, and we made our way to gate 24.


Northwest Flight #326
Los Angeles to Detroit
Depart: 5:30pm/Arrive 12:45am (on time)
Seats 1C/1D (First Class)
A319

As you can imagine, by this time, I was ready to be home, but still had 4 more hours to go. As with all NW domestic flights, there was no IFE, and we were lucky to grab 2 of the few blankets we saw on board.
FA’s came around to take pre-flight drink orders, and soon, we were on our way. Flight was totally full in first and coach.
First did get a decent dinner, with salad, chicken stir fry, and cheesecake.
I slept for part of the flight, which was frequently interrupted by a seemingly constant minor turbulence.
We landed at a totally quiet Detroit right on time (as the last flight of the day), and picked up our bags for the ride home. The bright yellow priority tags apparently aren’t visible to the baggage handlers at night, as our bags came out relatively late.


So, the trip was over. Over a span of about 2 weeks, we flew (according to the Great Circle Mapper) 29,021 miles over 12 flights. We also rented a car 3 times, and tallied 860 miles.

Well, hopefully this has been somewhat informative, entertaining or both. I’ve got lots of even more detailed info I didn’t include, so if you’re planning a trip and want some more insight, feel free to ask.

olafman

Great trip report!!

There is nothing more frustrating that flying an airline in the midst of upgrading their cabins. I can't tell you how many flights on CX where I had the old FC LONG after they had introduced it. As soon as you know there is something better, the old version just doesn't cut it!

I've never made it to Australia and your report encourages me!

mach92

I'm tired just reading it Been down under 4 times always a good time.

BA747-436

Hi, great report ... Hope you had fun Down Under ! I will be travelling to Sydney and Melbourne, March end on SQ... any places of interest worth looking forward to ?>

Could i get the full menus ... and alcohol (more importantly) if it is not too much trouble ...

either here or [email protected]

thank you ...

hope you have more great and memorable trips in 2006 ....
Take care,

J

Teacherflyer

Awesome trip report!! Very enjoyable to read.

Seat 2A

Nice trip report!

It's been so long since I've flown in a premium cabin that now I want to drop everything and just go somewhere. Glad you had a good time in Australia, always amongst the friendliest of countries. I don't think I'd personally want to fly there on Korean though...

rot8

Hey Dave, that was a really interesting trip report, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Great to see a report on someone coming downunder via "not the usual" airlines and also going to not the usual places. Kangaroo Island doesn't get too many mentions in trip reports to Oz! Glad you enjoyed it.

What I also liked was the fact that you posted it so quickly as the Australian Open only finished last weekend, making the report very topical (and even tropical in parts).

Well done and well written.

6andy6

Great review - good to read an opinion of ones own country from an outsiders viewpoint. Interesting coment about the tips in the Melbourne Qantas lounge vs the Cairns one.
Interesting in that I dont think anyone (or rarely anyone) in this country tips barmen (particulary not in pubs) and specially not if the drinks being serviced were included as part of the lounge.

guy44134

Great trip report! I'd love to know what the wine (esp. champagne) selections were on the various flights.