Programs: QF WP, NZ GE, AA -, MH -, DJ -, VS -; HH GLD, PC GLD, SPG -
Posts: 855
It's a Mad, Marvellous, Meticulous, Mileage-heavy May (inc. an Oz Fest 6 Trip Report)
aka anat0l's Audacious Australian and Asian Adventure Aboard Abundant Aircraft, including a trip report for Oz Fest 6 in Cairns.
(Main thread / report title with apologies to Stanley Kramer)
Hint for low bandwidth users: This trip report has a lot of images. You should employ your browser's image blocker (and selectively show images), or alternatively, stop loading this page right now and then click here to open this first post as a single post. Then you can use the jump links below to view the report one post at a time.
This is my first trip report on FlyerTalk; normally I'd post my trip reports only on Australian Frequent Flyer, but since I have a much wider audience for this one, I thought it only fair to post it on both. Besides, with a trip report of this undertaking, I like the fact that FlyerTalk allows more images per post plus (virtually) unlimited edits. (Normally, I'd have to draft my entire trip report first before posting to AFF, because edits are disabled approximately 24 hours after posting - a bit of a bitter limitation.)
So what's this trip report all about? Part of it is about Oz Fest 6 in Cairns, but the rest of it is about my (almost unintentional) status run for the week following Oz Fest.
For those of you who have never read a trip report of mine, some of you may find the content meandering, greenhorn and verbose. For others, you may be annoyed by the volume of pictures (particularly those on limited bandwidth connections and/or small screen devices - please enable your image blockers now!) or the inordinate lengths of some posts (this was a bit hard to plan for, and admittedly many posts could be split up a bit more). But for the rest of you who persist in the reading, I write from my mind without much edit, so I hope you find the report entertaining.
As usual, more photos (including high resolution versions) can be found in my FT Photo Gallery.
Please note that all actual departure and arrival times are sourced from FlightStats.
Status points earned: 24 status points (24 on NZ metal)
First time experiences
First time airports: Alice Springs (ASP), Christchurch (CHC) Domestic, Cairns (CNS) Domestic, Mackay (MKY), Townsville (TSV), Queenstown (ZQN)
First time lounges
Alice Springs (ASP) Qantas Club
Auckland (AKL) Domestic Koru Club
Auckland (AKL) International Qantas Club (First Lounge)
Cairns (CNS) Domestic Qantas Club
Canberra (CBR) Qantas Business Lounge
Canberra (CBR) Virgin Blue "The Lounge"
Christchurch (CHC) Domestic Koru Club
Mackay (MKY) Regional Qantas Club
Melbourne Tullamarine (MEL) Qantas First Lounge
Rockhampton (ROK) Regional Qantas Club
Singapore Changi (SIN) Qantas/British Airways Business Lounge
Singapore Changi (SIN) Qantas/British Airways First Lounge
Townsville (TSV) Qantas Club
First operational upgrade (in fact, four during this trip!)
First international points upgrade on Qantas (which was successful!)
First time flying Air New Zealand
First time flying British Airways
First time on international premium class (other than Trans-Tasman) - OK I slightly lie ... I have travelled J on QF and MH years before (long before I found FlyerTalk and/or AFF), plus I flew Jetstar Star Class this year in January ...
Programs: QF WP, NZ GE, AA -, MH -, DJ -, VS -; HH GLD, PC GLD, SPG -
Posts: 855
Prologue: the Evolution of a Status Run...
Prologue: the Evolution of a Status Run...
The date is mid-November 2008. With attendance at Oz Fest 6 in Cairns pretty much decided but no flights booked yet (holding out for a good sale), Qantas decides - out of the blue in unprecedented (at least in my lifetime) form - to put out a sale advertising 2-for-1 Business and First class fares. Being absolutely single, I thought as much that a lot of great fares were going to go begging. Then a FT PM from Kiwi Flyer asked whether I would like to tag team to fly AKL-SYD-SIN-SYD-AKL in J. At first, the price was fairly attractive, but doing the status credit math it didn't seem to stack up. A bit of ironing out and an intricate payment system and agreement ensued, but we booked the flights and, as it turned out, Oz Fest was merely a week before.
(note that all PNRs are not real - they are only to show the different bookings I made, with which airline, in which country and the order I booked each one)
There was still Oz Fest flights to think about, plus positioning into AKL...
Fast forward a bit...now Oz Fest flights had to be thought about. I always wanted to do the QantasLink milk run up the Queensland coast, which was part of my hesitation in booking so soon, reasons including holding out for a sale (and hopefully a QantasLink one), balancing the payment periods on my credit card, and finally actually deciding whether I would actually fly the milk run because I knew that the milk run would naturally cost much more than any direct routing, let alone single-indirect routing. As well as this, as there was only a week between Oz Fest and my SC run in AKL, I thought as much that there was no point in returning to BNE for a mere week, so I decided to take that whole week off (which also helped smooth things over at home).
I tried all sorts of routing combinations on the Qantas domestic multi-city booking engine (since every savvy QF person here knows that booking each sector separately in Australia will necessarily mean incurring the wrath of the credit card booking charge). Eventually, I found that booking BNE-GLT-TSV-CNS gave the best price (albeit still fairly pricey for what should be a simple BNE-CNS trip); it would only mean 3,000 points and 30 SC, but it would mean another dream fulfilled.
Code:
Date PNR Flight Sector Dep Arr Cls A/C Remarks 22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 BNE-GLT 0615 0720 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 GLT-ROK 0745 0810 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 ROK-MKY 0835 0920 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 MKY-TSV 0945 1035 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 TSV-CNS 1100 1150 Y DH4 op QantasLink
30MAY QFNZ01 QF 142 AKL-SYD 0850 1020 J 763
30MAY QFNZ01 QF 31 SYD-SIN 1625 2230 J 388
31MAY QFNZ01 QF 320 SIN-SYD 1945 0515+1 J 772 op BA15
01JUN QFNZ01 QF 141 SYD-AKL 0715 1210 J 763
So I had a way to get to CNS, now how was I to get from CNS to AKL, as well as how to spend the week I had in between? I tossed up ideas of staying extra days in CNS, as well as going to AKL again. Without much company, extra time in CNS didn't seem very appealing; having been to AKL twice I didn't see a lot of value spending more days there unless I did absolutely nothing (which may not be a bad idea either). There was also the possibility of some SC runs in New Zealand (especially with QFNZ / Jetconnect ceasing NZ domestic on 9 June; it would give me a chance to fly them a last time). I also thought about getting across to AKL from MEL, which would give me a chance to try the MEL T2 QF First Lounge.
So now the plan became CNS-MEL somehow, then MEL-AKL for the SC run. Funny enough at the time, Qantas had a domestic sale on, and I found it too tempting to pass up the opportunity to book a domestic SC run, particularly as this time I could do it during the weekdays rather than weekends. With more time on my hands, I also set up the routing so that I could stay in ADL instead of CBR, where the former was much cheaper to overnight in than the latter. So now I had:
Code:
Date PNR Flight Sector Dep Arr Cls A/C Remarks
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 BNE-GLT 0615 0720 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 GLT-ROK 0745 0810 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 ROK-MKY 0835 0920 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 MKY-TSV 0945 1035 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 TSV-CNS 1100 1150 Y DH4 op QantasLink
25MAY QFAU03 QF 709 CNS-BNE 1010 1215 Y 738
25MAY QFAU03 QF 621 BNE-MEL 1255 1345 Y 738
25MAY QFAU03 QF 693 MEL-ADL 1625 1715 Y 738
26MAY QFAU03 QF 738 ADL-SYD 0930 1150 Y 738
26MAY QFAU03 QF1479 SYD-CBR 1255 1345 Y DH4 op QantasLink
26MAY QFAU03 QF1476 CBR-SYD 1455 1545 Y DH4 op QantasLink
26MAY QFAU03 QF 765 SYD-ADL 1625 1805 Y 738
28MAY QFAU03 QF 680 ADL-MEL 1040 1225 Y 738
30MAY QFNZ01 QF 142 AKL-SYD 0850 1020 J 763
30MAY QFNZ01 QF 31 SYD-SIN 1625 2230 J 388
31MAY QFNZ01 QF 320 SIN-SYD 1945 0515+1 J 772 op BA15
01JUN QFNZ01 QF 141 SYD-AKL 0715 1210 J 763
MEL-AKL was booked shortly after, taking advantage of a Qantas Trans-Tasman sale. The detail still missing was how to get home. At that time I was thinking just to book a AKL-BNE direct to go home, but after searching Qantas for AKL-BNE, I found cheap (sale) Business Saver fares, but more strikingly I also found a routing via MEL, which was also price competitive (the price of AKL-MEL-BNE J was much cheaper than MEL-BNE J alone, albeit the former is J-saver and the latter is full-J). After some thought, AKL-MEL-BNE was booked...
Code:
Date PNR Flight Sector Dep Arr Cls A/C Remarks
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 BNE-GLT 0615 0720 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 GLT-ROK 0745 0810 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 ROK-MKY 0835 0920 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 MKY-TSV 0945 1035 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 TSV-CNS 1100 1150 Y DH4 op QantasLink
25MAY QFAU03 QF 709 CNS-BNE 1010 1215 Y 738
25MAY QFAU03 QF 621 BNE-MEL 1255 1345 Y 738
25MAY QFAU03 QF 693 MEL-ADL 1625 1715 Y 738
26MAY QFAU03 QF 738 ADL-SYD 0930 1150 Y 738
26MAY QFAU03 QF1479 SYD-CBR 1255 1345 Y DH4 op QantasLink
26MAY QFAU03 QF1476 CBR-SYD 1455 1545 Y DH4 op QantasLink
26MAY QFAU03 QF 765 SYD-ADL 1625 1805 Y 738
28MAY QFAU03 QF 680 ADL-MEL 1040 1225 Y 738
28MAY QFAU04 QF 133 MEL-AKL 1930 0059+1 Y 734 op Jetconnect
30MAY QFNZ01 QF 142 AKL-SYD 0850 1020 J 763
30MAY QFNZ01 QF 31 SYD-SIN 1625 2230 J 388
31MAY QFNZ01 QF 320 SIN-SYD 1945 0515+1 J 772 op BA15
01JUN QFNZ01 QF 141 SYD-AKL 0715 1210 J 763
01JUN QFNZ05 QF 134 AKL-MEL 1615 1820 J 734 op Jetconnect
01JUN QFNZ05 QF 636 MEL-BNE 2005 2215 J 738
So now I had an itinerary that gave me a couple of spare days to "relax" before more flying on the SC run. That situation changed very abruptly . A post on AFF revealed a sale around ADL, MEL and ASP; this was Qantas's silent reply to Tiger's sale on their new sectors. With crazy prices to ASP, I thought this gave me a chance to get to the Australian centre at a price I would probably never see again. This would mean usurping another spare day, but the temptation was too great . Things got crazier when I searched ADL-ASP and was presented with a direct option or routing via MEL. I tried to squeeze ADL-SYD-CBR-SYD-ADL on the same day, but even with the first ADL-MEL flight of the day, this was impossible. I also couldn't fly ADL-SYD-CBR-SYD-ADL the next day (28 May) and make my ADL-MEL flight in time; rescheduling ADL-MEL (ponying up the change fee and fare difference in the process) didn't look attractive.
The only option I could find was to fly ADL-CBR direct, then CBR-SYD-ADL the next morning (first flights possible). This would mean overnighting in CBR , of which by that time Hell would have to freeze over before a fairly cheap accommodation in CBR could be found. The only choice I could see would be to stay up all night, but I did book a hire car (and credited to VS Flying Club) as it basically accounted for the taxi fares to get to and from the airport.
Code:
Date PNR Flight Sector Dep Arr Cls A/C Remarks
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 BNE-GLT 0615 0720 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 GLT-ROK 0745 0810 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 ROK-MKY 0835 0920 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 MKY-TSV 0945 1035 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 TSV-CNS 1100 1150 Y DH4 op QantasLink
25MAY QFAU03 QF 709 CNS-BNE 1010 1215 Y 738
25MAY QFAU03 QF 621 BNE-MEL 1255 1345 Y 738
25MAY QFAU03 QF 693 MEL-ADL 1625 1715 Y 738
26MAY QFAU03 QF 738 ADL-SYD 0930 1150 Y 738
26MAY QFAU03 QF1479 SYD-CBR 1255 1345 Y DH4 op QantasLink
26MAY QFAU03 QF1476 CBR-SYD 1455 1545 Y DH4 op QantasLink
26MAY QFAU03 QF 765 SYD-ADL 1625 1805 Y 738
27MAY QFAU06 QF 670 ADL-MEL 0605 0750 Y 738
27MAY QFAU06 QF 796 MEL-ASP 0840 1105 Y 738
27MAY QFAU06 QF 797 ASP-MEL 1145 1450 Y 738
27MAY QFAU06 QF 693 MEL-ADL 1625 1715 Y 738
27MAY QFAU06 QF 708 ADL-CBR 1825 2035 Y 734
28MAY QFAU06 QF 560 CBR-SYD 0645 0735 Y 734
28MAY QFAU06 QF 739 SYD-ADL 0820 1000 Y 738
28MAY QFAU03 QF 680 ADL-MEL 1040 1225 Y 738
28MAY QFAU04 QF 133 MEL-AKL 1930 0059+1 Y 734 op Jetconnect
30MAY QFNZ01 QF 142 AKL-SYD 0850 1020 J 763
30MAY QFNZ01 QF 31 SYD-SIN 1625 2230 J 388
31MAY QFNZ01 QF 320 SIN-SYD 1945 0515+1 J 772 op BA15
01JUN QFNZ01 QF 141 SYD-AKL 0715 1210 J 763
01JUN QFNZ05 QF 134 AKL-MEL 1615 1820 J 734 op Jetconnect
01JUN QFNZ05 QF 636 MEL-BNE 2005 2215 J 738
By now my itinerary was looking precarious in some ways: 40 minutes only between MEL-ASP and ASP-MEL, 40 minutes between SYD-ADL and ADL-MEL on 28 May. Not to mention the killer early ADL-MEL flight on 27 May, plus the prospect of completely staying up all night in CBR.
As if my itinerary couldn't get much more packed, I thought about the last days of Jetconnect, and thus temptation became an unbeatable force and I booked my last flights on Jetconnect NZ domestic. I always wanted to try Jetconnect on other sectors besides AKL/WLG, so AKL-ZQN and ZQN-CHC were added to the list. As well, I wanted to try NZ and my new NZ GE comped status. AKL-WLG was one of the NZ sectors, as it was the earliest flight in the morning, which "worked out" best after my MEL-AKL which arrived in the dead hours of the morning; after all, the first AKL-WLG on Jetconnect gave only a 30 minute connection in WLG. The other possibility was CHC-AKL, since the last such flight on Jetconnect was too tight to connect with the ZQN-CHC Jetconnect flight. I could have flown ZQN-CHC on a NZ ATR, but all was decided based on the balance of fares plus the fact that ZQN KC doesn't sound as forward-looking compared to CHC KC.
As it happened, I also thought about putting in an upgrade request to F for QF31. It would be such a boon if it did happen - QF A380 F - but as every QF flyer knows, QF international upgrades are always a lottery, especially from J to F, and especially where there is more than one person in the upgrade request. After discussing the prospect with Kiwi Flyer, despite Expert Flyer seemingly reporting that an upgrade was unlikely, but seeing as we had nothing to lose, Kiwi Flyer called QF (the only way it could be requested) and requested the upgrade.
Code:
Date PNR Flight Sector Dep Arr Cls A/C Remarks
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 BNE-GLT 0615 0720 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 GLT-ROK 0745 0810 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 ROK-MKY 0835 0920 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 MKY-TSV 0945 1035 Y DH4 op QantasLink
22MAY QFAU02 QF2300 TSV-CNS 1100 1150 Y DH4 op QantasLink
25MAY QFAU03 QF 709 CNS-BNE 1010 1215 Y 738
25MAY QFAU03 QF 621 BNE-MEL 1255 1345 Y 738
25MAY QFAU03 QF 693 MEL-ADL 1625 1715 Y 738
26MAY QFAU03 QF 738 ADL-SYD 0930 1150 Y 738
26MAY QFAU03 QF1479 SYD-CBR 1255 1345 Y DH4 op QantasLink
26MAY QFAU03 QF1476 CBR-SYD 1455 1545 Y DH4 op QantasLink
26MAY QFAU03 QF 765 SYD-ADL 1625 1805 Y 738
27MAY QFAU06 QF 670 ADL-MEL 0605 0750 Y 738
27MAY QFAU06 QF 796 MEL-ASP 0840 1105 Y 738
27MAY QFAU06 QF 797 ASP-MEL 1145 1450 Y 738
27MAY QFAU06 QF 693 MEL-ADL 1625 1715 Y 738
27MAY QFAU06 QF 708 ADL-CBR 1825 2035 Y 734
28MAY QFAU06 QF 560 CBR-SYD 0645 0735 Y 734
28MAY QFAU06 QF 739 SYD-ADL 0820 1000 Y 738
28MAY QFAU03 QF 680 ADL-MEL 1040 1225 Y 738
28MAY QFAU04 QF 133 MEL-AKL 1930 0059+1 Y 734 op Jetconnect
29MAY NZNZ08 NZ 401 AKL-WLG 0600 0700 Y 733 Space+
29MAY QFNZ09 QF2704 WLG-AKL 0830 0930 Y 733 op Jetconnect
29MAY QFNZ10 QF2791 AKL-ZQN 1015 1205 Y 733 op Jetconnect
29MAY QFNZ11 QF2772 ZQN-CHC 1630 1720 Y 733 op Jetconnect
29MAY NZNZ07 NZ 554 CHC-AKL 2020 2140 Y 733 Space+
30MAY QFNZ01 QF 142 AKL-SYD 0850 1020 J 763
30MAY QFNZ01 QF 31 SYD-SIN 1625 2230 J 388 J>F pts-up req
31MAY QFNZ01 QF 320 SIN-SYD 1945 0515+1 J 772 op BA15
01JUN QFNZ01 QF 141 SYD-AKL 0715 1210 J 763
01JUN QFNZ05 QF 134 AKL-MEL 1615 1820 J 734 op Jetconnect
01JUN QFNZ05 QF 636 MEL-BNE 2005 2215 J 738
At this point, I was well warned by Kiwi Flyer of the enigma which was ZQN and the possibility of getting stranded in the South Island. Had that happened, there would have been an expensive exercise in rushing back for the SC run, or perhaps even missing it (which would be even more expensive ). There wasn't a single travel insurance scheme that would cover me in this situation for any delays etc. of the sort. Kiwi Flyer advocated either rerouting or rebooking to avoid ZQN, but my sense of adventure (what sense?) and want to visit ZQN (even for a couple of hours) made me stick to the schedule...
So there we have it - that's how a simple two events turned into a grand scale SC run. There were certainly many tight connections in the schedule. I linked quite a few of the PNRs, as well as sorting out in my mind all my strategies, like when to travel without checked baggage, and how to go about travelling around when I had no choice but to take my checked baggage with me. (No, it was not possible for me to go the whole week with carry on only!)
Now enough with the preliminaries....onto the report....
Programs: QF WP, NZ GE, AA -, MH -, DJ -, VS -; HH GLD, PC GLD, SPG -
Posts: 855
Friday 22 May: BNE-GLT-ROK-MKY-TSV-CNS; Day 1 of Oz Fest 6 (part 1)
Friday, 22 May 2009 (Day 1 of Oz Fest 6)
A More Sane FTer Flies to a Do (with apologies to Kiwi Flyer)
One thing about the milk run is the early start - almost as early as the first flights of the morning to SYD and MEL (QF501 springs to mind). So a couple of hours sleep and I was up at 0330h packing clothes etc. without too much consideration. Luckily this time I had ironed a whole bunch of shirts beforehand so folding them was quick and easy (once I actually remembered the Japanese method of folding a shirt - that took 30 minutes and looking up YouTube to learn again ). A quick face wash and brushing of teeth - shower eschewed until at the airport - 0430h Mum was awake and we were off to the airport.
A quick ride later I was back to the familiar halls of BNE Domestic, although this morning it was uncharacteristically quiet, which I found odd because surely there were enough people on the first flights of the morning (business people, domestic->international transfers in SYD and/or MEL), but the check-in hall was not teeming with pax. Mind you, the regular bag drop line was still long enough to balk queuing in, and come to think of it the premium line wasn't too much better . Still, a few minutes I got to a counter. Now the fun starts...
The check-in agent looks at my booking as I have already OLCI'd for my flight, albeit with the poor seat of 5A. She looks disapprovingly at my seat and my WP status and decides that a better seat could be sought out. We negotiate for 2A all the way (can't seem to get row 1) and now she's having a bit of fun trying to change the seats and print the BPs for the flights. She's offering to change me to the first BNE-CNS direct flight, which would arrive well before the milk run, but I decline and explain to her that I've always wanted to fly the milk run. Surprisingly, she acquiesces and says that it's a great thought, and that perhaps some time when she had time and money she wouldn't mind doing the milk run too. I'm given BPs for BNE-GLT, GLT-TSV and TSV-CNS, then it's through security and up to the J Lounge. That's probably one of the longest check-in procedures I've had to endure.
Once in the fairly quiet J Lounge, first things first is a shower and a shave. The razors handed out in the domestic lounges are much better than the cheap and poor-performing excuse for a manual lawn mower for the face that were handed out several months ago, and I had no troubles getting a good shave without nicks. Once outside, there was only about 10 minutes or so before boarding, so I grabbed a bowl of toasted muesli with skim milk and some fruit (poached plumped apricots and fruit salad - mainly apples, pineapples and honeydew in passionfruit/orange sauce), then proceeded to scoff it down hastily - eschewing a cup of coffee in the process - as a few minutes later my flight was called. So skipped out of the J Lounge and down to gate 3 for boarding.
Flight: QantasLink QF2300 Brisbane (BNE D) - Gladstone (GLT)
Depart: 0615h Sched; 0630h Actual
Aircraft: VH-QOK Dash 8 Q400
Distance: 272 mi (438 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 2A
Upon arriving at gate 3, Michelle (one of the FAs on the milk run up) immediately greeted me and noted that I was going all the way to CNS on QF2300. My affirmative response was followed up with a question as to whether I would be able to disembark at each stop, and Michelle said that "it should be OK". I also was given copies of my GLT-TSV and TSV-CNS BPs again for some reason.
Out onto the tarmac, the walk was straight up following the concourse to the circular remote pier and then a left to the parking space which was a bit of distance from gate 16. I was greeted at the aircraft by Justin. The load to GLT consisted of a mere 35 people. Unfortunately, we were not able to make an on-time departure as the power cart we had hooked up to the aircraft malfunctioned, so the ground crew had to scuttle off in a hurry to locate another one. A bit of fiddling with the power and lights later and the aircraft was able to hook up to a good working power cart and began to charge up. As part of the procedures for the first flight of a Dash 8 for the day, the engines needed a routine test, so for a while we sat at the gate whilst the engines were given a good going over. Once I heard the engines changing in "sound", we pivoted around and finally took off.
Brisbane (BNE) city from the air
A light breakfast was served during our flight to GLT, consisting of a blueberry muffin, a small packet of dried apricots and an orange juice, packed in a strange plastic packaging, which seemed a bit of a step up from the old packaging which was simply a clear plastic flip-up container (similar to the ones used in many sushi shops for takeaway). I opted for a cup of black tea to supplement the light meal.
QantasLink plastic packaging with a light breakfast inside Light breakfast - muffin, apricots and OJ
The flight to GLT is about the same as ADL-MEL, and the ensuing red mud dam of which I know well (part of previous research) appeared below, signalling that we would be landing within minutes.
Red mud (bauxite residue) dam, storing the waste stream of refining alumina
As we touched down into GLT, the sun was in such a position that you could clearly see the shadow of our aircraft being projected on the ground, which looked kind of hauntingly cool as the large shadow ran over scores of houses below. GLT was a terminal of which I had become familiar about three years ago now, and despite the fact that there was no airside security, I was cleared and allowed to disembark, which was just as well, since if I was doing this milk run, a bit of time here and there to stretch the legs was very welcome.
Gladstone (GLT) terminal from the tarmac
Flight: QantasLink QF2300 Gladstone (GLT) - Rockhampton (ROK)
Depart: 0745h Sched; 0750h Actual
Aircraft: VH-QOK Dash 8 Q400
Distance: 59 mi (95 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 2A
A short turn about and it was pretty much time to reboard. The turnaround at each port was a mere 25 minutes, which is the minimum MCT for regional airports.
The load to ROK was only 16, but seeing as it takes approximately 1-2 hours to drive to ROK from GLT, there's little reason why many or any people would want to fly there. Most of the pax were going beyond ROK along the milk run route.
Given the short flight, there was no inflight service, so about half an hour later we landed at the renovated ROK terminal. For some odd security reason, everybody on the aircraft had to disembark at ROK.
Rockhampton (ROK) terminal inside
The last time I was in ROK (Jan 2006), the terminal looked very dingy. The renovated terminal looked much more pleasant, as well as being beefed (no pun intended) up with security screening thanks to jet aircraft now operating flights to ROK. I knew there was a regional QP somewhere, but I forgot where and given that my connection was so tight, there was little time to hesitate. A quick enquiry at the QF service desk directed me to the lounge, which was not guarded, minded or access-limited (cf. regional Koru Clubs which are PIN-protected doors) in any way shape or form.
ROK regional QP door Inside ROK regional QP
The regional QP was a bit bigger than 1-2 meeting rooms in an average office, coupled with a small bar area. The bar had a fridge with a range of drinks (a few beers, water, juice and soft drinks), tea and coffee and some light snacks (biscuits, one type of cheese in packets, nuts and pretzels). I think it isn't bad for a respite stop, although I wish the window blind was opened to give some sort of view. Anyway, I pilfered a couple of packs of nuts and a water before going through security hastily, as my flight was once again boarding and the line going out the gate 3 door to the tarmac was rapidly shortening.
Flight: QantasLink QF2300 Rockhampton (ROK) - Mackay (MKY)
Depart: 0835h Sched; 0835h Actual
Aircraft: VH-QOK Dash 8 Q400
Distance: 174 mi (280 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 2A
Once up in the air, a refreshment of juice was offered. The flight to MKY is longer than that of GLT-ROK, but shorter than BNE-GLT. It wasn't long before the aircraft carrying 50 people from ROK landed in MKY, docking at gate 1, the furthest gate from the terminal.
Mackay (MKY) terminal from outside Mackay (MKY) terminal inside
The regional QP at MKY was even smaller than the one at ROK, and had no windows at all! It did have a slightly different snack selection, i.e. Tim Tams, of which I picked up a couple. (Hard to resist!) Once again, MKY services jet aircraft so it was through security screening before heading out back to the aircraft and onto TSV.
Flight: QantasLink QF2300 Mackay (MKY) - Townsville (TSV)
Depart: 0945h Sched; 0945h Actual
Aircraft: VH-QOK Dash 8 Q400
Distance: 206 mi (332 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 2A
On this flight, Justin and Michelle switched positions (i.e. Michelle assumed the front FA position). Onboard, 57 passengers were served a Tempations cupcake with pink icing, which was to promote research for breast cancer. Tea, coffee and water was offered to complement the sweet cake.
Breast cancer research cupcake refreshment
The approach to TSV was quite picturesque as we circled around the coastline. As we landed into the formerly international-destination-serving TSV, we passed by a few aircraft of the now-defunct regional carrier Macair, as well as some Alliance aircraft, before taxiing and docking at the standoff bay at gate 6.
Townsville (TSV) terminal from the outside, still showing "Townsville International" branding Townsville (TSV) terminal from the inside Entrance to the TSV QP TSV QP food, featuring Nachos
Unlike the previous ports, TSV actually has a real QP at airside, which is probably only getting reasonable load factors due to the volume of mining related travel from TSV (probably a lot of WPs using their any-time access rather than people travelling on QF metal). A nice enough lounge for a regional port; the view simply looks out to the tarmac which was highly shadowed by the aerobridges. The bar wasn't open at the time, so no alcohol, but the all-day menu was already served out. One subset of food which was not offered at other QPs compared to this one was the ingredients for a basic plate of nachos: corn chips, tomato salsa, guacamole and sour cream. Nothing like the restaurant - just basic, but certainly different to other QPs.
I couldn't help but garner a small plate of nachos myself before having to reboard QF2300 for the last time...
Flight: QantasLink QF2300 Townsville (TSV) - Cairns (CNS D)
Depart: 1100h Sched; 1100h Actual
Aircraft: VH-QOK Dash 8 Q400
Distance: 177 mi (285 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 2A
The load going to CNS was 64, which was just about getting to capacity for the Q400.
The flight to CNS took us over parts of the reef; the majestic shades of blue below were a treat for the eyes (and those sporting better cameras than mine) . A mere hour-ish flight ensured and we touched down in CNS, docking into domestic gate 14. We had to walk a bit of a ropy path to the temporary disconnected building which was the Qantas baggage claim. A rather poor greeting for those coming to CNS, however notwithstanding the arrangements at CNS, priority tags seemed to do its job and I picked up my luggage within seconds of the belt being started.
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Friday 22 May: BNE-GLT-ROK-MKY-TSV-CNS; Day 1 of Oz Fest 6 (part 2)
boxo was already at the baggage claim when I was waiting for my luggage to come through. Although I had no numbers and (except for JohnK) had no idea of the other people arriving at around the same time, within about an hour we found chchkiwi and the Falconeas. JohnK finally stopped downing QP beers and joined us at the taxi rank where seven of us (I think Noelene was also riding with us) scrambled into a maxi-taxi and off to the Holiday Inn and Hilton.
Hotel: Hilton Cairns
Room Type: Executive King Single
Room Location: 9th (Executive) Floor
Check-ins were handled efficiently, which was just as well since we were all already running heartily late for lunch (in fact, rather too late). The Hilton Cairns had been recently renovated, which was just as well since I thought it wouldn't be much better than the Hilton Brisbane; how wrong was I. My room faced the city rather than the harbour, but the room had a little balcony and was delivered with the usual Hilton clean, crisp, professional simplicity. It must be the location dynamics or something else but even though the decor is much the same, it doesn't have the very "old" feel that the Hilton Brisbane has. Oh well.
Palm forest in the middle of the Hilton Cairns The harbour, taken from the Executive Floor
I quickly surveyed the room before heading back downstairs to Mondo's, which is very nicely located directly on the waterfront. There, I saw most of the rest of the early birds (amongst them Itsalongwaydown (fellow GCC participant and co-organiser), Sue Oz (WP chaser ), wijomas (who had my new NZ GE pack, and also a WP chaser), f0zzyNUE and others), as well as the locals turtlemichael (fellow GCC participant) and Platy (UQ PhD trench fellow! ). A few scattered plates of tapas and the like adorned the tables; everybody had already had lunch and even though I could have used a bit of a bite, I felt it was too late to order anything so I didn't bother. A good time was had talking to everybody, even though I was a bit tired from the early start. People began to move in and out of Mondo's until about 3-4pm, when the crowd mostly started to break up. I mostly started moving because wijomas had my NZ pack and needed to get some cash. I had to do similar on account of paying for dinner, so I decided to join him.
Looking out to the harbour from Mondo's
wijomas eventually managed to get some cash (thanks to his mum) and in walking around I got both steps and cash (thank you cash-out from Woolworths - sure as hell beats trying to find an ATM, or copping the charge for using an ATM not belonging to your bank ). By the time we got back to the Hilton, it was almost time for the Executive Lounge to open, so a quick shower and change later, it was off to the lounge.
Hilton Cairns Executive Lounge
boxo and I were the first ones in the lounge; we were so early that the food was barely even served yet. We got some drinks for ourselves until some food started to make its appearance. Having not had any lunch, I was a rather ravenous as I collected a plate of food. Not long after boxo and I had started eating, more FT guests started to file into the lounge. It was quite funny in a way that almost all of the Executive Floor guests were from FT.
Food in the Exec Lounge
As more people filed in, gradually some hot food of deep fried chicken bits made their way into the selection. The one guest that stole the show was mini-QF WP, who was at her first Oz Fest along with her parents (QF WP and Mrs QF WP, of course) who were on a well deserved break. A lot of chatter was had in the Lounge until everyone realised that there was still dinner to be had, so with a bit of time in reserve, we all got prepared for dinner and headed over towards the Shangri-la to Norths for the Friday Night Dinner.
Tables set at Norths
Our spot at Norths looked directly at the waterfront, which would be nice except there was no moonlight to enlighten the harbour, plus a whole bunch of ships were docked anyway. Everyone took their spots and soon it was time to choose what to eat. A set menu (which can be found here) was prescribed and everyone chose a starter, main and a dessert, with standard items of a tempter soup, bread and sides of chips and salad provided. (I personally think this is a great alternative to alternate drop set-ups).
Orders were taken and balsamic vinegar / olive oil was poured for all, followed by some nice crusty bread (soft on the inside, crusty on the outside). Soon after, shots of soup were offered as a tempter, with starters coming not too long after that.
Soup shots
I selected the beef carpaccio to start, which was served with a very small, thin French stick. Not a bad number, although some might have thought the dish to be disproportionate in size (value) compared to the other starters.
Beef Carpaccio starter
The starter plates were cleared soon after. Then came a very long wait (at least for our table). Our table seemed to be the last one to be served our mains as other tables had at least finished half of their main course before we were served ours. I selected the spatchcock for the main course, personally not knowing what to expect, however when the dish was delivered I was summarily surprised by the size of the serving. A nicely flavoured dish; the coriander was a very nice touch.
Spatchcock main
A salad of rocket, parmesan and pear as well as a serving of chips with aioli were provided as sides and shared amongst the table.
A couple of desserts (the sorbet didn't make the cut) made for a difficult choice for some to decide, but I settled for the pannacotta, which was pleasant and light. Those who selected the chocolate pudding were amply rewarded as table-wide, dishes of pudding exploding with melting chocolate were witnessed.
Pannacotta dessert
After finishing dessert, a few FT members were seen doin' some conspirin' and soon their motives were made clear, as a grand chocolate cake with candles was brought out to the collective rendition of "Happy Birthday to Sue Oz". Sue Oz was very visibly surprised and her face was awash with the emotions of surprise and delight. With three cheers and a small speech, some people got up to partake in the birthday cake (in particular, one attendee (who shall remain anonymous - no, it was not yours truly) who demolished the remainder of the cake just as the night was rounding up ). Most people started to move back for a good night's sleep within about 30 minutes of the birthday song being sung, mindful of the 8.45am start the next morning. I headed back to my room and packed up a bit (since I'd be having to hop hotels the next day ) before settling in for a good night's rest.
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Saturday 23 May: Day 2 of Oz Fest 6
Saturday, 23 May 2009 (Day 2 of Oz Fest 6)
View from my Hilton room of Cairns city
After a sleep which was (and probably would have never been) long enough, I stumbled out of bed to wash up and hurriedly pack all my stuff, including the complimentary bottle of wine everyone on the TravelZoo rate received. Then it was off to the Executive Lounge for breakfast before rushing downstairs to check-out and leave my bags behind the counter. (My original plan was to drag it all the way to the Holiday Inn that morning, check-in, then come back in time for the shuttle which left the Hilton, but oh well - I had also planned to get up early enough that morning to go walking with turtlemichael... )
By the time I had check-out and the baggage sorted, there were a large number of FTers already in the lobby lounge waiting patiently for the shuttle to the train station. Nothing much happened until QF WP and family arrived in the lobby lounge and once again the perky mini-QF WP was inevitably the centre of attention. The shuttle arrived and all of us poured in (well, almost all - there wasn't enough room in the shuttle for everyone at the Hilton, so the remainder had to wait for a second shuttle to arrive). On the way to the train station, our driver gave us some background information on our tour today, as well as information about timing of the train and Skyrail.
Upon arrival at the station, each of us ambled to the platform to be greeted by many carriages with a distinct, old and graceful feel about them. One of the cars were dedicated for us. The inside of each car had seating consisting of sets of pairs of timber benches which faced each other; each bench accommodated about 4 people.
Train to Kuranda at the railway station in Cairns
The train ride up to Kuranda was a moderately slow but enjoyable one. I sat near the front of the car along with wijomas, QF WP and family, Itsalongwaydown, Sue Oz and JohnK. Some people admired the view from the train as we climbed up slopes, pushed through tunnels and traversed through several tracts of forest growth, all the while as information about various features along our journeyed was chimed over the PA system (in English, Japanese and German).
FTers riding at the front of the FT car mini-QF WP studies what there is to do at Kuranda The Kuranda train passing over a bridge
We had a couple of stops along the way the Kuranda, but everyone took a walking breather when the train at Barron Falls. The falls was a pleasant enough sight as the gentle stream crashed down to the small pool of water below, however it was said that the falls has been seen to be far more magnificent than what we saw that day.
Barron Falls
The stop did well for most to stretch their legs and take in the view, however soon enough passengers platform-wide were told by the train guards to reboard as the train continued on to Kuranda.
Kuranda railway station
Once we arrived at Kuranda and headed upstairs to the street level, everyone split up to enjoy the day. One of the main streets running through Kuranda leads right back to the Skyrail station; it was claimed that crossing the town (assumed from the station to the place where Birdworld and butterfly sanctuary were) took just about 10 minutes (which turned out to be a fair estimate). Having come as a single traveller, I asked QF WP (and Mrs QF WP) if they didn't mind me tagging along with them for the day, of which they said would be OK.
As we walked through the town proper, there were several places where one could sit down and eat, or grab a smoothie (in no shortage of flavours, such as pineapple, mango (the local favourite) and about another half-dozen or so fruits). We also passed by a small shop that sold mango wine. For myself, I couldn't help but have a taste, and after sampling each of the sweet, medium and dry varieties, I bought a bottle of pleasant medium variety, which the shopkeeper kindly put aside for me to collect later.
We reached the other side of the town and made a right turn to go to Birdworld and butterfly sanctuary. A bite to eat was in order before any more touring; we came across a cafe called Annabel's and ordered some lunch. I bought one of their appetising shephard's pies, whilst QF WP ordered a couple of pies for Mrs QF WP and himself, and mini-QF WP enjoyably sipping down on a smoothie.
All the food consumed, we headed to Birdworld, but before going in, QF WP and I had to pay a visit to the crashed C47DL plane which was adjacent to the markets. The markets sported shops selling all various touristy items, from sheepskins to anything made of crocodile to handwoven purses and bags. Beyond the markets was Birdworld, where guests were summarily welcomed by a decidedly loud bird who was perched near the reception.
QF WP purchased a bag of bird feed (consisting of various bird edibles like nuts and seeds) and we went in. What we saw was a very large aviary set up with a very distinct damp rainforest like environment. The small courtyard we saw upon entering had quite a few people as well as birds. I went into the courtyard to see some of the birds when one happened to land on my head and began to scratch around a bit; whether or not it was a good thing that my hair was gelled remains a mystery. As it turned out, it was not unusual for birds to perch on people's heads, as QF WP - amongst several others - duly found out. mini-QF WP was discovering the fun of feeding the birds, as was the rest of us, although in many cases everyone's hand was left with a few bite marks.
A bird perched on top of QF WP
As we continued around the path in Birdworld, we came across many birds both flying and flapping around in the lower lake, as well as the very large Cassowary located in its own enclosure at the lower part of the aviary. As we rounded up our walk around the track, we all fed a few more birds to use up the bag of feed. QF WP attempted to feed the very large bird in the photo below, which he did valiantly but not without coming away with a sore, pinched hand.
The Cassowary anat0l feeds a bird An intimidatingly large bird with a deadly beak (as QF WP found out later)
Our next stop was the butterfly sanctuary, although Mrs QF WP decided to stay in the markets and do some gift shopping. The butterfly sanctuary was virtually next door and was set up in an aviary of similar appearance to that of Birdworld. Butterflies flitzed everywhere throughout the sanctuary as we proceeded at our own pace through the paths. Although it wasn't difficult to have a butterfly land on one's self, the more difficult task was taking a photograph of the butterfly before it flew off. After latching onto an existing tour and visiting the butterfly laboratory, we decided that it was time to leave the sanctuary and at the exit we were greeted by Mrs QF WP.
The butterfly sanctuary "aviary" A butterfly lands on anat0l's shirt
Everyone had a restroom break before heading back through town towards the Skyrail. mini-QF WP was looking a bit famished so QF WP and Mrs QF WP stopped at some cafes until they found one that could do up a cheese sandwich for mini-QF WP. They found a cafe which was about a half-block away from Annabel's that actually made the cheese sandwich and didn't want to accept any money for it, but QF WP wouldn't have any of that. We then joined the leisurely stroll of several FTers back through the Kuranda township. I stopped at a newsagency along the way to grab a large bottle of water, since by that time I felt more parched than the middle of the Sahara. About one block before the Skyrail, we stopped for a round of smoothies at a shop which feature-offered Spanish doughnuts (which were like a regular donut except larger - not thicker!).
At the Skyrail station, people were being loaded into cable cars at four people per car. QF WP, Mrs QF WP, mini-QF WP, JohnSydney2000 and I clamoured into a car as it slowly lurched out of the platform area before abruptly jolting away from the station at full speed. The view from the Skyrail was magnificent, although photos were difficult to obtain due to the afternoon sun and having to shoot photos through the windows of the cable car. JohnSydney2000 and mini-QF WP were having a lot of fun riding the "bumps" (i.e. when the car passed a pylon point), as well as seeing if there were people in the cars going in the opposite direction.
Just one of the views snapped up whilst on the Skyrail
We had a couple of stops along the way back down on the Skyrail, which gave us all a bit of time to stretch the legs. In particular, the second stop was compulsory, since we needed to change cable lines there. Once we had arrived back at the bottom of the Skyrail, we passed through the souvenir shop and cafe outside to our waiting transport back to the hotels.
As soon as I got back, there was no Executive Lounge for me given that I had changed hotels for the night. I got my luggage back from the Hilton concierge and trekked off to the Holiday Inn, which was a decent 10-20 minute walk away (and perhaps a little longer when one is lugging about 20kg of luggage with them). I passed JohnSydney2000 along the way, who was heading in the opposite direction and also hotel hopping (except his planning and strategy was more advanced than mine).
Hotel: Holiday Inn Cairns
Room Type: Standard Double
Room Location: 3rd Floor
Holiday Inn Cairns - inside the hotel My room at the Holiday Inn
Eventually managed to huff up to the Holiday Inn (with one rather sore hand) and bee-lined it to reception. Check-in was completed reasonably quickly and easily, which was mostly helped by the fact that my stay was fully paid for (although the credit card swipe was still needed for incidentals).
The room was mostly clean and there was a helpful notice for those not familiar with the North Queensland environment about the possible appearance of ants. It was a bit difficult to get used to the room considering that a room at the Hilton (as it stood with the special rate found by turtlemichael, combined with HPC discount) was a mere $9 more expensive, but it's the price one pays to get mileage! I immediately plugged in my chargers (especially my cameras, which were getting quite a work out that day in Kuranda) and made myself a cup of tea (although I had to clean both the kettle and a tea cup before use). I partially repacked everything to get a better fit, as well as selecting out the clothes for the dinner cruise in the evening.
I'd somehow managed to doze off a bit before waking up and realising that the cruise ship was shoving off within the hour, so that meant quickly jumping into the shower and getting dressed in frantic fashion (no pun intended). Even JohnK buzzed me as to where I was and then further chided me for not heading out earlier.
I briskly strided towards the wharf and managed to arrive within the area in 12 minutes. The problem was now trying to find where the ship was, and then how to get to it. The wharf looks really big at night time when it is dark and even harder to pinpoint ships and the routes to individual berths. A call to JohnK was made and after about 5 - 8 minutes of flitzing around looking lost, I found he was waiting on the landside before we walked out to the ship. As I understand, Itsalongwaydown subsequently became annoyed or the like with JohnK for leaving the ship, so I guess I should be apologising to Itsalongwaydown for delaying the ship's on-time departure and apologising and thanking JohnK for holding out to guide me to the vessel. If it was any consolation, I wasn't the last one to make it to the vessel; certainly not the only one to get lost around the wharf!
FlyerTalkers on board
The ship was awash with FT members and even more so than beforehand since some people had only arrived on the Saturday (and some had not gone to Kuranda). On board, all were offered a glass of bubbly on arrival before finding a random table to sit down and have a good chat. After some time, the ship's crew instructed everyone to sit down for a head count (which, even with a group of fairly mature minded adults , turned out to be a lot harder than you think), before giving the safety information and demonstration (courtesy also of our entertainer for the night, although QF WP wisely eschewed to join in the demonstration this time). With all that done, the gangplank was removed and the vessel finally moved off from its berth.
The vessel merely did a small turn about the harbour, which kept the on board experience steady throughout the entire night. The onboard buffet was organised into two sections in an effort to mitigate crowding. On one side was the cold buffet of seafood, salads and desserts, whilst on the other side was the hot buffet of soup (with bread rolls) and hot dishes. Many people piled up on the seafood, with many tables showing piles of prawn and oyster shells heaped up in bowls which were regularly emptied by the crew.
Although our entertainer encouraged people to get up and dance, many people simply mingled around the tables; in any case, the dance floor wasn't big enough to swing a cat. A few of us - yours truly included - also decided to brave the cool harbour breeze and mingled outside on the front deck. Not that there was much to be seen from the deck (let alone from inside the ship), given that one side was simply the harbour side (without the "spectacular" lighting of a big city) and the other was basically shrubbery (which has no lights).
All too soon, our couple of hours on board were exhausted and we headed back to the wharf. Just before we docked into the harbour, the word got around of a small kick-on drinks at the Hilton courtesy of JohnSydney2000, so about two lift-fulls of people scrambled back to room 925 to enjoy mostly a carton of Hahn Premium (the dubious de facto choice of beer for QP stalwarts) as well as bottles of the red offered to all for the TravelZoo promotional rate. How it was possible to squeeze all those people comfortably in a mere Executive King Single room turned out to be relatively simple (the bed providing a good place for comfortable seating for those that chose to utilise it).
I had to admit that I thought management or someone else (non-FTer) on the same floor was going to complain and kick us all out. The odd feeling was duly compounded as a couple of phone calls to the room were made; the resulting silence as the phone chimed was absolutely deafening. However, each time JohnSydney2000 went to answer the phone, it only turned out to be a false alarm and that more people coming up, at which point the crowd went on to resume the same level of conversation.
JohnSydney2000, in his wisdom, decided to lift the mood just that bit more and started a bit of informal trivia, with a few contributions from the crowd. But the mental highlight of the night was a timed exercise where the crowd was directed to line up in chronological order of birthday (in the year, not of age) without using any speech. I've done this exercise before in primary school, although at the time we were also not allowed to write on paper either! (Being savvy flyers, we know all the ins-and-outs of working around terms and conditions, so some of us were savvy enough to pull out a pen and paper....) The challenge could have gone horribly awry, especially considering the split of people in the room who write their dates as DD/MM as well as MM/DD. Eventually, through the wise shoving of some switched on people, our line was successfully completed; JohnSydney2000, who was timing the whole exercise, congratulated the group on doing better than the reported average time for the exercise. Now who ever said FTers weren't a smart bunch?
It was not too long after the exercise that some of us decided it was time to hit the sack. A handful of us at the Holiday Inn summarily bid good night to all before we walked back to our hotel for a good night's rest. Luckily for me, I had a 10.30am start tomorrow, which should be enough time to walk with turtlemichael, pack up, check-out and head back to the Hilton to re-check-in, dump bags, grab Green Island day bag, have a bit of breakfast before heading off to Green Island.............
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Sunday 24 May: Day 3 of Oz Fest 6
Sunday, 24 May 2009 (Day 3 of Oz Fest 6)
Miraculously managed to wake myself up in time to put on walking gear and head out towards the Hilton, where I met up with turtlemichael who was doing his normal daily morning ritual of walking (and more so because he is on our GCC team ). We backtracked to where I came from and beyond, walking the entire length of the Esplanade before heading back. Since I needed to pack and move hotels etc. before Green Island, I had to short circuit the return journey and headed straight back to my room at the Holiday Inn.
Once back at my room, it was a case of collecting the mild chaos in my room and stuffing it back into bags (as well as working out what to bring for the day ahead). A shower, change and room check later, I was downstairs in the lobby checking out hastily and once again dragging my luggage and backpack all the way back to the Hilton. It's a funny thing since driving between the two hotels is trivial, walking between the two with no baggage is moderately pleasant, whilst lugging baggage between the two on foot is not for the weak (especially when one has not had any breakfast as yet!).
Finally lugging up to the Hilton I proceeded somewhat breathlessly to reception where Lena checked me in. Originally, she said that my room, which was an Executive King Single with a view of the city, was not ready yet, however if I was prepared to accept an Executive Double with a view of the harbour then I could have my room straight away. I think that was a no brainer decision. Lena gave me my keys in a green (Welcome Back) paper wallet and also made sure to put in a word to the Executive Lounge that I would be dropping in for breakfast soon.
Hilton Executive Double room View of the harbour directly from my room balcony
After getting to my room (which was pretty much directly opposite the room I had on the first night), I dumped my bags and took a few pictures from the balcony which looked magnificently out to the harbour. The room is the same as the one that I had before, except that there were obviously two slightly smaller beds rather than one big bed, plus since there were two beds there was no space for a writing table, so the cabinet where the TV was placed on top was slightly longer, with an office chair slipped under on one side, making it a somewhat de facto working area (although far too little elbow room unless one shifted the TV a bit to the side). Snapped a few pictures, then changed into beach clothes and proceeded to shove a number of items very quickly into my sports bag, as at that time there was a mere 40 minutes before the vessel to Green Island was heading off.
I proceeded hastily to the Executive Lounge where the staff member there greeted me (as per Lena's pre-emptive action). I took a few items from the buffet and scoffed it down. I ordered a coffee but unfortunately did not get to finish it in time; the lounge staff equally surprised at my short stop in the lounge. Thankfully, even though I was short on time and I had to uncomfortably semi-sprint to the boat, I knew where I had to go (unlike the night before); if knowledge wasn't enough then a large vessel berthed in direct line of sight of the Hilton shore filled with people (witnessing a poor sod semi-sprinting along the shore and then onto the wharf) should convince anyone. I handed over my ticket to the crew who were waiting at the gangplank and I was on board. Refreshments were being served below deck, but I couldn't be bothered, especially in light of the number of people that were on board. Luckily, I managed to bump into the FT contingent who were located on the upper deck, including Bundy Bear who had just arrived that morning. It was only a few more minutes before the vessel roared to life and we finally shoved off to Green Island.
During the somewhat short journey to Green Island, crew went around to all the passengers distributing flyers about what to do on Green Island (and the Outer Reef for those who signed up for that tour). I'd signed up for the Green Island tour that offered both snorkelling and a glass-bottomed boat ride. A lot of people decided to stretch their legs as well as congregate for a good chat near the rear of the upper deck (in spite of the unannounced turbulence ).
Once we arrived at Green Island, the people who wanted to ride the glass-bottomed boat needed to go straight away. A flurry of people moved quickly down the wet stairs and scrambled on board the small glass-bottomed boats.
The vessel to Green Island docked at the Island pier On board the glass-bottomed boat
The boat ride moved off from the pier and we headed a moderate distance out from Green Island. At times we would slow down to snap pictures of the various kinds of coral ("if you think it looks like something familiar, that's probably it's name"), scores and schools of fish and various other aquatic life (including sea cucumbers, sea stars and clams). At one point, our driver and tour guide threw fish food overboard and we witnessed a flutter of fish splash to the surface in a mad attempt to eat the feed.
An image of the sea bed from the glass-bottomed boat Feeding the fish
With the ride over, I headed to the dive shop to get snorkelling gear. It was a bit of a downer that no one else in our contingent was going snorkelling, but I pressed on (it was part of the ticket anyway). I was a bit unsure and felt really naive because I had never snorkelled before, but I changed into my swimming gear, put my bag into a locker and headed to the beach area to the left of the pier.
The tide was quite low and I removed my flippers in order to more easily wade from the shore until the water level was appreciably deeper, although this did involve stepping on some rather rough (luckily not sharp) coral. There were a few people out there snorkelling and I some how managed to deduce how to fit all my gear on, although I think my technique was still quite faulty since I had to keep surfacing quite often in order to empty my mask of water (even though I thought that the mask was on nice and tight). I saw more of the coral that was seen on the glass bottomed boat tour, but nothing overly spectacular; occasionally, I was passed by a small school of fish, as well as spotting the odd clam. I managed to graze my left knee appreciably due to my multiple surfacing incidents and resulting scraping on coral. It was a bit hard to snorkel for a long time when there was no one to talk to, so I think I spent just about over half an hour before I decided to head back to shore. I returned my gear to the dive shop before heading to one of the bathrooms near the ice cream shop to change.
By the time I had changed back and was out and getting my land feet back, I was somewhat hungry, however spurred on by other FTers who were off for some activity, we all followed the paths through the forest which contained many signs explaining the interesting flora and fauna on the island (and indeed characteristic of tropical North Queensland). Green Island is not large by any means - the island is probably 10-15 minutes or so walk at its widest. We followed the path until we hit the beach again, then circled around the Island until back at the pier.
One of the signs in the forest walking path
I walked back to the eatery area (near the pool) to see many FTers relaxing with a drink. I was quite hungry so although some of the prices of food were quite balk-worthy, I purchased a chicken roll and devoured that quickly, not because I was that hungry but the word had got around that we needed to board the vessel going back to Cairns soon.
As the sun began to descend from the sky, the vessel back to Cairns pulled out of the Green Island pier. We arrived back at the wharf and Bundy Bear got the word around to get a group photo at the wharf. There was some logistical fun and acrobatics to be had as cameras were prepared (and timers were forgotten), angles were examined and people forgoed the old tallest-to-shortest sorting method and simply stood where they could be seen (or not seen). Eventually, most of us made it into at least one shot. I returned to my room to find another complimentary bottle of red, three kiwi fruits and a welcome back greeting card; then it was change out of beach clothes to civvies, have a shower and wash my swimming gear. There was still some time before the Executive Lounge was going to open, so I headed out for a walk around Cairns city (town?).
Complimentary wine and fruit, with welcome greeting card Exterior of the Hilton Cairns
The Executive Lounge opened up when I got back to the Hilton and some FTers had wasted no time pulling up to a table and cracking open a beer or helping themselves to a glass of wine. Others were mindful of flights the next day and sagely used the lounge computer and printer to OLCI, of which I did and was lucky (since it was well after T-24) that my preallocated seats were quite favourable for my three sectors the next day (all 738 services; preallocated 4C, 4D and 4C). I was still quite hungry at the time owing to the day's activity with little eaten, so it came to a surprise to some when I tore through a couple of plates of evening canapes.
The FT group in the lounge slowly started to mull over Bellavista's, which was just around the corner from North's, though some had popped over earlier to take advantage of the happy hour specials. When I arrived, the place was pretty packed, which was a big surprise for me since it was a Sunday night. A few FTers were scattered around supping and gulping down on various beverages of the alcoholic kind; when the dinner crowd reached critical mass, we moved away from the outside area to a set of tables that was a little distance away from the blasting music and other masses.
One of the long tables present for Sunday dinner
Menus were spread around the tables offering light and simple meals, but most people decided on the pizza selection, with some sharing between a few (e.g. yours truly) and some tearing into one by themselves. The pizzas ended up being fairly decent in size so if one person was quite hungry then one pizza would easily fill them up but it was also the right size for a couple (or three for light eaters) to share. Some pizzas took a bit longer than tolerable to be served, with some coming with the wrong ingredients.
A pizza that was devoured at Sunday dinner
QF WP came along again to join us for dinner, but this time Mrs QF WP and mini-QF WP also joined us. As with many Oz Fest Sunday night dinners, a nice low key, no-schedule dinner was the way to go and that's pretty much how it went, except we did have another birthday surprise that day. The night at Bellavista's ended relatively early, however a decent number of us were prepared to kick on at Bar 925 (once again courtesy of JohnSydney2000), even the self-proclaimed tired (and some who had to wake up at OMG o'clock the next day).
Just like the simple arrangements for dinner, JohnSydney2000 kept the night nice and simple as well - no quizzes or brain strainers that night; we did welcome and thank Bundy Bear who had only come for the Sunday part of Oz Fest but was most helpful in processing credit card payments for events. The hot topic of the night was where the next Oz Fest was going to be held, with suggestions of Darwin, Alice Springs, Broome, Adelaide and Canberra thrown up in the mix (and a few noting that for some reason the Gold Coast never made the first cut). Most people didn't stay too long and for my part I could not help but go with my good judgement and call it an early night even though I was pretty much next door. I did a little bit of packing (whilst being just a tad annoyed that my wet clothes had not dried much since the afternoon) but I unwisely left most of it to the next morning as I was quite tired.
Oz Fest - Epilogue
Cairns is my second Oz Fest after Hobart from 2008, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. It is difficult to compare the two locations and sets of events, although Sunday seemed a much better and more "together" affair in Cairns compared to Hobart. The weather in Cairns was absolutely superb (and just in time as most of us left before some rain decided to make an appearance). I think everyone has a tendency to agree that annual events get better and better each year. I'll leave that assessment to the Oz Fest stalwarts on this forum.
For me, great weather, great events and great company made for a great weekend away, especially before my status run that was coming up .
To those who've come across the seas, kudos to you for coming to Cairns. Also, big thanks to the organisers, behind-the-scenes workers and researchers - Itsalongwaydown (and Sue Oz), Mwenenzi, serfty, turtlemichael, Platy, Bundy Bear and others that I've surely missed out in those lines. Thanks also to JohnSydney2000 for hosting Bar 925, although can I say why drink Hahn Premium when you could do so much better (with apologies to Bundy Bear) .
Look forward to seeing all of you next year in RADelaide for Oz Fest 7!
Fin. (well, the Oz Fest part of it anyway)
For those of you who are still reading, you can stop here if you just wanted to read about Oz Fest, otherwise if you want to read more about my mad May week of flying, please continue (at your own risk).....
Programs: QF WP, NZ GE, AA -, MH -, DJ -, VS -; HH GLD, PC GLD, SPG -
Posts: 855
Monday 25 May: CNS-BNE-MEL-ADL
Monday, 25 May 2009
If there's one thing that most of you should know or have deduced about me already, it's that I'm not a very good morning person, even though there is clearly a non-refundable airfare on the line. I woke up and had to toss a few things into my bags, but the biggest problem I had was my still wet clothes from yesterday which I had hung on the makeshift laundry line in the bathroom. And then I still had to check out and have breakfast before getting to the airport. Given the tight timing, I would have needed to eschew the option of a possible airport shuttle and cough up the dough for a taxi. But first thing's first....
After packing most of my stuff, I used a hair dryer to get my wet clothes to a point where my clothes weren't perfectly dry but good enough for me - there wasn't a lot of time. I tossed the wet clothes in a double bag and packed it in, hoping like anything that the mouldy wet smell would not disseminate throughout my baggage. I still had two bottles of free red wine plus a bottle of mango wine I had purchased which I could barely fit in my backpack, but after a quick room check I was out the door and down to reception.
I checked out without a hitch and left my bags with reception whilst I went to the hotel's internal restaurant for breakfast. I had gotten the word that QF WP, Mrs QF WP and mini-QF WP would be there nice and early for brekkie, so when they weren't there I was afraid that I had missed them. In any case, Noelene was by herself at a small table so after picking off quickly at the buffet I decided to join her. Our flights weren't at similar times, so sharing a taxi was out of the question. We had a nice chat over breakfast and then I saw QF WP and family drop in, joining Itsalongwaydown and Sue Oz, who all had plenty of time up their sleeves, unlike yours truly.
As I finished demolishing breakfast, it became very much apparent that I had little time to waste before getting to the airport. However, during that morning, it occurred to me that during my SC run there would be international travel, and I have three bottles of wine with me. Although that wouldn't translate to hell at customs, it would definitely be a red flag. All this because I was lugging three bottles around with me. There had to be a better way. That better way was courtesy of QF WP, who after some discussion and with the kind additional permission of Mrs QF WP, agreed to carry my three bottles with them back to BNE. QF WP and Mrs QF WP - a very special thanks to you for that favour.
We went back to concierge so I could give QF WP the bottles and call a taxi. Thank goodness for the time in the morning combined with the size of Cairns contributed to a fairly quick arrival time for the taxi. I clamoured into the taxi and we were off for the fairly quick and surprisingly not too expensive trip to the airport, which I unusually paid in cash. Once at CNS, I went to QF bag drop and found only a couple of people in the premium line. Once at the desk, I got my BPs for all my flights, except the first thing I noticed which was unusual was that one of the BPs handed to me was labelled "Business". As I walked away, I checked all my BPs and saw that my CNS-BNE was in 2A rather than 4C as I had originally checked-in with, then it suddenly really dawned on me. I had been operationally upgraded. My first one. I could not believe it, I almost pinched myself.
Inside airside area in CNS domestic
I went through security and looked around the small-ish open area for chchkiwi, who was going to be on the first two flights I was also flying today. I didn't find her but I found the CNS QP, so I proceeded in and found tom911 and company enjoying a few morning refreshments. I left my bag in the QP and proceeded out to the public area again to look for chchkiwi and eventually found her. When we went back into the QP, I tried to negotiate a better seat for her on the CNS-BNE flight as well as trying to get adjacent seats for the BNE-MEL flight. Not too surprisingly, after we all reconvened in the QP, our flight was being called. In true flight-experienced fashion, we waited for a bit until the final call was made in order to give the plebs a chance to board first. As we exited the QP, the lovely agent at the front desk gave back chchkiwi's BPs. Whilst she didn't have any better seat for the CNS-BNE flight, we did manage to get adjacent seats for the BNE-MEL flight, which was much better than the seat she was originally given.
Inside CNS QP
CNS domestic is unusual in that the terminal has only one level. We proceeded through gate 18 and had to negotiate a ramp going up to the aerobridge which lead to our aircraft. It's a bit like a standard terminal set up for an airport which only has standoff bays and airstairs, but in this case, the aerobridges are fixed and people are channeled from the relevant gates to the correct ramp leading up to the aerobridge.
Flight: Qantas Airways QF709 Cairns (CNS D) - Brisbane (BNE D)
Depart: 1010h Sched; 1011h Actual
Aircraft: VH-VXN "Fremantle" Boeing 737-800
Distance: 865 mi (1,392 km)
Class: Business (operational upgrade from Red e-Deal)
Seat: 2A
I settled into my seat still beaming over my first operational upgrade; so much so that once seated I called Bundy Bear to tell him the "news" . Just as the J FA helping the CSM started offering pre-flight drinks of juice or ice cold water. I selected a water and noticed that J was only about half full. A Qantas Boeing 717 was parked adjacent to us, as well as a number of Dash aircraft nearby. We soon pushed back and took off without any fuss.
QantasLink aircraft parked near us as we pushed back
The flight this morning was a refreshment flight, but most people know that a refreshment in Business is anything but. The offerings today was a sweet onion and egg pie or fresh fruit and yoghurt. Being that a nice warm refreshment on board is rare and trumps even QP offerings most of the time, I went for the sweet onion and egg pie, which was sided with a single piece of bacon and a tomato. For the sharp ones amongst us, you would have easily deduced that the long-winded name was merely the cover for a quiche, however when I mentioned this to the CSM she merely laughed and insisted that what she had said was duly the name of the said dish. I then proceeded to amuse her by regaling the classic quiche mispronounciation joke (one of many versions puts the joke on former US president George W Bush). A fruit danish was offered as a side along with a small bowl of fruit.
Domestic Business refreshment (warm choice) of quiche (or sweet onion and egg pie)
I decided to skip an alcoholic drink and instead stuck with a glass of water with tea to follow later. When the trays were cleared, I couldn't help but ask for some more fruits. The CSM instead came back with the full, colourful tray for the alternate refreshment, i.e. fruit and yoghurt. The yoghurt was natural and plain, clearly not everyone's cup of tea, but having not had much fresh fruit in the past few days, this was very much a blessing. A bit later after the main cabin service had been finished and cleared, the main cabin supervisor came back up through the Business cabin to offer National Breast Cancer pink cup cakes. These are a bit more grandeur than the ones I had tasted in the past; these ones had small pink sprinkles on them, in addition to being slightly larger and presented in a trendy compartmentalised box (cf. the old style where every cup cake was individually wrapped in plastic).
QF709 Domestic Business refreshment (light choice)
Breast Cancer cup cake, "improved" version
After all of that eating and my cup cleared, it was almost time to get ready for landing, so it wasn't until long that we landed in BNE and had an effortless taxi to gate 20. We disembarked and bid farewell to tom911 and company who were spending a few days in south-east Queensland, whilst chchkiwi and I headed to the J Lounge for a refresher. Since our connection was the bare minimum 40 minutes, we didn't have a lot of time for a breather anyway. I finished off a water whilst we had a bit of chat, but before long our flight was called and so with nothing better to do (apart from ensuring that we got some overhead bin space), we headed over to gate 22 to board our flight to MEL.
Flight: Qantas Airways QF621 Brisbane (BNE D) - Melbourne Tullamarine (MEL T1)
Depart: 1255h Sched; 1253h Actual
Aircraft: VH-VXB "Yananyi Dreaming" Boeing 737-800
Distance: 859 mi (1,382 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 4D
From the gate to the plane our flight was looking fairly full. Luckily there was still some overhead space left when we got to our seats: chchkiwi in 4E and myself in 4D. When we departed, the aircraft was full bar a few middle seats near the front and peppered around the place.
Lunch was served at the usual timing after take off and as with most usual lunches on QF domestic, sandwiches were offered today (sometimes it is a sandwich or a salad). My LFML lunch was carried on the trolley rather than specially brought out. The LFML sandwich turned out to be lettuce and tomato on wholegrain bread. Yep, that's all. Lettuce and tomato...oh, I almost forgot, and butter. Rather disappointing effort; it was enough to keep anyone from starving for sure, although perhaps using lean meat or cheese would have been more reasonable. Even if QF wanted to keep the "one size fits all" approach (i.e. LFML, vegetarian etc.), then perhaps adding more (different) veggies would please the palate a bit more? But perhaps I'm asking too much (although for a LFML it still behooves me why you would still add butter). A bottle of water and tea topped it all off.
Contents of my LFML sandwich (you can just make out the butter on the bottom slice of bread)
chchkiwi and I chatted for the whole 2 hr-ish flight; at lunch, she made the comical remark at the cleverness of the QF tablemats (i.e. contains utensils and then can be used as a bag). Something different, I guess.
We touched down to a rather wet MEL and taxiied to gate 1 for disembarkation. chchkiwi was staying in MEL for a few days before heading back across the Tasman, so after leaving the gate area into the terminal proper, we said our parting remarks and I headed straight to the J Lounge to catch up on my emails, since I only had just over an hour's connecting time to my next flight.
Qantas 738 VH-VXB "Yananyi Dreaming" parked at gate 1 (photo from the MEL T1 J Lounge)
I grabbed a cup of green tea, sat down near the magazines and fired up my eeePC. I had a quick look at my emails and saw that I had a whole stack load of unread messages, of which I marked off about 15% of them and went through another stack load. With still about 25% of the emails to read (mostly AFF and FT ), I decided to tackle something else - downloading pictures from my camera to eeePC. Whilst power wasn't a problem (since I was recharging my battery on the camera every day, or at least that), space was sure to be one. I did a bit of fiddling on my eeePC to try and get my camera's drivers, which downloaded at a stupidly slow rate for some odd reason. It was so slow that it only finished at merely T-12, where after I immediately shut down the computer and packed up my things as I raced out of the lounge and down to gate 2.
As is usual in MEL for some odd reason, as I made my way from the upper concourse down the stairs towards the low-number gates, I managed to read the flight information monitors along the way and although it was about T-8 minutes to go the flight had been marked as closed. I picked up the pace and ran towards the gate to find I was one of the last few passengers to board the aircraft. The FA saw me running like mad and sympathetically smiled at me as she took my BP and put it into the scanner. The scanner spat out the BP and beeped, red lights a-flashing. OK...this is a new one for me. The FA sent me to the gate counter as the desk agent was trying furiously to reorganise BPs for a few pax (including me). Didn't help, of course, that his computer had crashed and needed rebooting, and then following that the BP printer was jamming and basically being a <insert appropriate word here>. Eventually, short of booting both the machine and the printer (as in, literally), the desk agent jogged over to another gate (or perhaps the CityFlyer service counter) to get our BPs. When he came back, I realised why I was red beeped: another operational upgrade!
Flight: Qantas Airways QF693 Melbourne Tullamarine (MEL T1) - Adelaide (ADL T1)
Depart: 1625h Sched; 1654h Actual
Aircraft: VH-VYJ "Cann River" Boeing 737-800
Distance: 400 mi (644 km)
Class: Business (operational upgrade from Red e-Deal)
Seat: 1F
As I took my seat, I was glad that I had made the flight and feeling more like pinching myself at a second operational upgrade in the same day. Outside the heavens started to open again, blanketing MEL with a light sprinkling. Turns out that I wasn't the only one that was late for the flight. Our on-time departure was very much in vain as the captain came onto the PA to announce that a connecting pax was listed as on this flight but hadn't boarded yet. They went so far as to search for his luggage from the hold so they could unload it and we could be on our way, but the luckily for the b*****d he turned up just in time and was allowed to board. Once the tardy pax was seated, we pushed back and was on our way. We had quite a bit of turbulence during our ascent, so the seat belt sign wasn't turned off for some time. Nothing unusual, except that some idiot in Y needed to be prompted repeatedly by the CSM to sit down with his seat belt fastened.
MEL-ADL is a short 1 hr 10 min flight, but that doesn't mean that you don't get a decent "refreshment" in J! Once again I selected the warm choice for a refreshment, which was a steak sandwich. Although ugly by appearance, the sandwich of steak with spinach, tomato and onion on white bread was actually not too bad at all; if I really wanted to be critical then the steak was slightly chewy. I partook in a glass of red to accompany the meal, along with the sweet side which was a small Manna from Heaven tea cake with a bit of cream. The warm bakery of rolls was offered, but in this case was quite unnecessary.
Steak sandwich "refreshment"
I chatted a bit with the pax in 1D, who was returning home after a meeting in MEL and also expressed intrigue when she saw me photographing my meal before I ate it. The trays were cleared just as the cabin was to be prepared for landing.
Once we touched down into ADL, we docked into gate 23 and it was off to the baggage claim. Once again, priority baggage was quite patchy but I at least managed to find my bag with only a few orange tags passing by. Next, it was up the stairs back to the departures floor and then all the way to the end of the departures drop-off concourse to catch the Jetbus into the city.
For those that have never travelled to ADL before, ADL airport is pretty close to the city centre. The Jetbus is cheap and a great way to get into town. I ran all the way to get the bus that was already waiting at the stop (you never know when it is going to leave!) and asked the driver for a ticket. Funny enough, he asked whether I was a concession card holder and I mentioned I was merely a university student from Queensland, but he still offered me a concession rate! I lugged my checked bag on board and we were soon on our way. I alighted the bus just a bit beyond the tram line; once again, for those that have never travelled on a bus in ADL before, with some of the older buses (not sure of the new ones), if you disembark via the rear doors, they do not automatically open - once the bus has stopped, the doors get "released", then you must pull apart the doors in order to open them (although after that they remain open until the driver "unreleases" the doors before moving off again). This proved a bit difficult when carrying a bag on the back plus a ~20 kg baggage down a few steps and using one hand to push open the doors...
Next part of the journey to my accommodation was to walk back to the tram line and take the tram to the South Terrace. Travel within the city centre between the North and South Terraces is free on the trams. I made my way on board amidst the latter part of the evening rush hour. Once I got off the tram at South Terrace, I finally had to walk another 400 m or there abouts to the Country Comfort Adelaide.
Hotel: Country Comfort Adelaide
Room Type: Standard Double
Room Location: Ground Floor
The Country Comfort motel has two floors of rooms and is situated right next to The Chifley, who are both part of the same hotel group (Constellation Hotels). The Chifley reception is used to manage both properties.
I was glad to finally make it to my accommodation because, somewhat surprisingly, I was getting quite tired of lugging my baggage (I'm putting this also down to lack of sleep, but I digress). Strided up to reception and received my room key in little time, so I picked up my bags again and lugged it over to the motel complex to my room, which was luckily on the ground floor since I'd probably be buggered lugging my baggage up the stairs.
My room at the Country Comfort Adelaide
For the price I paid, the room was fairly modest. When I was selecting out where to stay in ADL, I rubbed out the major hotels after checking their prices and balancing out the times that I would actually be staying at the hotel itself. There were a few more options closer to Rundle Mall, but in each case the photos didn't tell a great story, although I should have been more sage like and read Trip Advisor before I jumped and booked (not to mention that the Constellation Hotel group charges 3% for Amex ). Nevertheless, I comforted myself in that I was really only there to sleep, and the sort-of dingy bathroom issue was easily accounted for by the showers available at the QP.
I put my bags down and unpacked my still-partially-wet clothing from my bag and spread them out to dry. There was no free wireless in the area, but I used part of my phone credit to get a bit of internet time (the wireless provider they had allows payment via premium SMS). I was tempted to grab something from the in-room dining, but after scanning through the range in the disheveled menu, I decided against it (prices for the stated food were enough to balk at - might as well have the Hilton's room service!) After putting some of my other devices on charge, I headed out for a walk, since I hadn't really done enough steps that day.
Being a small city, ADL is fairly dimly lit at night in some areas, more so on the edges of the city centre (e.g. South Terrace) since the city centre is encircled by a green belt (of trees, parks, grass, etc.). I took the tram back up to the street where the Jetbus runs along (Currie St). Had a walk around all over the north side of the city centre, clocked up some steps and walked all the way back to the South Terrace and back to my room.
Once back inside, I started fiddling on my eeePC to try and get my camera talking, and in the process managed to stuff up Windows from starting up; great, more problems to deal with. At least an hour later, I decided to do something else about it the next day, so soon enough I drifted off to sleep.
Programs: QF WP, NZ GE, AA -, MH -, DJ -, VS -; HH GLD, PC GLD, SPG -
Posts: 855
Tuesday 26 May: ADL-SYD-CBR-SYD-ADL
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
With the first flight of the day leaving at 0930h, I woke up at 0745h and it only dawned on me slowly that "anat0l, do you realise you have a non-refundable booking this morning?!" I guess the proximity from the city to the airport had dulled my sense of judgement. I showered and got dressed quickly and prepared my back pack for the day before heading out the door and off towards the tram stop. I had to wait about 8 minutes until the next tram arrived; about 5 minutes later at Currie St, I strided to the Jetbus stop. The Jetbus timetable isn't printed on the bus stop signage (only a notice saying that there is at least one bus every 15 minutes); I think I ended up waiting the full 15 minutes for the next bus to arrive! When I finally got to ADL airport, it had taken anywhere between 45 min and 1 hr for me to get from accommodation to airport.
Luckily I only had carry-on bags for the day and had OLCI'd for my flights, because as I started moving through security my flight was being called, which meant there was not even any time for me to head into the QP to grab a bite to eat for breakfast, although I did stop at the front desk to grab my BPs for the day, then it was off in full stride to gate 21 for boarding.
Flight: Qantas Airways QF738 Adelaide (ADL T1) - Sydney (SYD T3)
Depart: 0930h Sched; 0929h Actual
Aircraft: VH-VZB "Lake Macquarie" Boeing 737-800
Distance: 725 mi (1,167 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 4C
All my flights for the day were marked as "Refreshment" flights, which meant no breakfast until I arrived in SYD two hours later!
After take off, the morning refreshments were handed out, once again featuring a choice of either National Breast Cancer cup cake or apple tea cake, served from the elaborate box. I chose the tea cake and a cup of black tea and as I was regaling to the FA that I was quite tired and hadn't had a bite for breakfast as of yet, on her suggestion I also requested an apple. Upon returning to clear the rubbish, the FA asked if she could get me anything else. She suggested another apple or pretzels, but I just replied to her that some more fruit if there was any (besides another apple). She disappeared for a bit and some minutes later returned with a small side bowl of fruit from one of the J refreshment trays. It wasn't a lot more to eat nor was it any sort of standard practice, but I thanked the FA all the same for going through the hassle.
Morning refreshment of tea cake and apple
Fruit bowl from a J refreshment
I caught up with a bit of sleep on the flight and woke up just as the seat belt sign was reactivated. We landed into SYD; as we passed by SYD T1, I noticed a parked QF 744 which had been repainted with oneworld livery. Eventually, we pulled up at T3 at gate 8.
Qantas Boeing 747-400 in oneworld livery
I disembarked the aircraft and did a round of the airport before making a bee line to the J Lounge. Once inside, the all-day menu had already been put out, so I heaped on a plate of ham, salad greens and cous cous salad plus a glass of water with lemon. I couldn't find a table next to a window with a spare power socket, so I had to use one of the bench areas where there are telephones. Luckily this was also near a coffee machine, so I made myself a cup of green tea, whipped out the eeePC and plugged it in. I eventually managed to find another way to get photos off my camera, which annoyed me heartily because it would have meant a lot less stuffing around (although it was not an obvious solution at the time), plus now I still had a bricked Windows to deal with.
I decided to leave some time before boarding calls were made because I needed to get some steps for the day, so I did a couple more rounds of SYD terminal before heading down to gate 16 to board my flight to CBR. (Gates 16 and 17 of SYD T3 are used for the QantasLink Dash 8 shuttle services between SYD and CBR; they are the only QantasLink (indeed, Dash 8) flights to leave from T3).
Flight: QantasLink QF1479 Sydney (SYD T3) - Canberra (CBR)
Depart: 1255h Sched; 1259h Actual
Aircraft: VH-QOM Dash 8 Q400
Distance: 148 mi (238 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 5C
I tried to get a more forward seat than 5C, but OLCI wouldn't let me select anything else. When I got onto the aircraft, the load seemed fairly light, more so when only a peppering of passengers assumed the seats in rows 1-4. Then just before I thought it was time to depart, a whole bunch of people clamoured on board and the first four rows filled up without so much as a blink. Only one conclusion: they must be CLs...
There isn't enough room at SYD for the Dash 8 aircraft to simply turn out of the parked position, so aircraft need to be pushed back. Our pushback was slightly delayed, much to the annoyance of some of the operational vehicles attempting to cross the tarmac (who ended up having to line up and wait whilst pushback procedures were being organised). Luckily, there wasn't too much more dramas after that so we took off soon after for the short hop to CBR.
SYD/CBR flights are always small refreshment flights; in this case, we were offered a "light lunch", served in the usual elaborate travel box made by the Sydney Biscuit Company (sbc). The contents of the box ended up being a small sundried tomato and cheese loaf, accompanied by a mini-tub of chilli jam (and an obligatory plastic knife). The texture of the loaf was not unlike that of a scone, but being that it had to be stored before serving it was still a bit cool and moist, which isn't completely a bad thing. The chilli jam had a bit of zing in it, thank goodness.
QantasLink and sbc lunch box with sun dried tomato and cheese loaf with chilli jam
A 55 minute flight doesn't exactly leave one a lot of time to eat and appropriately enough after tea and coffee service the rubbish was cleared and we touched down into a rather cool CBR and parked at one of the far stand-off bays, entering the terminal at arrival gate G.
Instead of heading straight for the J Lounge, I decided to walk a bit and do a little exploring. I strided off to the non-Qantas end of the terminal (where DJ and TT have check-in and gates). I went through security to an area which looked larger and more open than the waiting area at the Qantas end of the terminal. I found the Virgin Blue The Lounge near the far end of the terminal on the upper floor, just beyond one of the few aerobridges on the non-Qantas side of CBR terminal.
The Lounge was...how should I say this simply...deserted, save for a couple of people. The lounge attendant was on the phone but she still greeted me as I glanced around. I said I was just having a look and I wasn't a member, but she said if I wanted to I could have a better look and wander around (I assume this means welcome in but get out soon). So I went inside to survey the facilities. The bar and food offerings weren't any more exciting than the QP or QF J Lounges; computer workstations were located in a compact, separate room with dividers between workstations. I snapped a few photos inside, then went out back to the terminal.
Images taken of the Virgin Blue The Lounge in CBR
I had a wonder in the upper floor of the non-QF end of the terminal, which sported a cafe (supposedly for those who wished to pay a little less for refreshments than that on board), which the QF end did not have. In any case, it was getting close to boarding for my return to SYD, so I headed back to the QF end and up to the J Lounge.
Ramp walkway leading up to QF J Lounge at CBR
Once in the J Lounge, I asked the desk agent whether I could improve my seat from the one I had been given at OLCI; when she looked at my current BP, she gave me a very odd look and replied that I had already got a fairly good seat for such a flight and a further check on her part confirmed this fact. I went into the lounge and grabbed some food and a cup of green tea. I then spent the rest of my time in the lounge on my eeePC trying to get Windows going again from a backup, eventually without success . Just as I was about to leave, I saw the first bits of some hot food come out - it was a Malay curry that could be eaten with rice. I grabbed a small bowl to try and washed it down with a sparkling water with lemon from the bar. I could only manage a bit of it because it came out so hot and time was not on my side. I left the lounge and headed down to gate 16 with still a decent boarding line extending out from the gate. Then it was down the stairs and out of the terminal onto the tarmac.
Flight: QantasLink QF1476 Canberra (CBR) - Sydney (SYD T3)
Depart: 1455h Sched; 1505h Actual
Aircraft: VH-QOH Dash 8 Q400
Distance: 148 mi (238 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 6B
I had seen VH-QOH parked at SYD earlier; VH-QOH is a special DH4 due to it being painted in a special pink livery supporting the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Our flight was quite full, and as usual some fat cats (in some cases, literally, except for the cats part...oh, wait a minute ) decided to board fairly close to the flight closing. Perhaps it was for this reason that our flight departure was slightly delayed.
QantasLink Dash 8 Q400 VH-QOH as seen earlier in the day at SYD T3
Once everyone had been located and seated, we taxiied out and took off without fuss (as it should have been since there were virtually no other aircraft at CBR at the time). Refreshment on the flight was a couple of small sbc lemon and lime biscuits. Many people must have had a case of the afternoon sleepies, because plenty of people (my fellow pax in 6A included) simply slept most of the flight. A quick flight (and/or a quick nap) later, we thudded into SYD again (waking up the sleeping pax in the process) and parked at gate 16.
Given that my connection was only 50 min, there wasn't a lot of time to do much, but I did manage to go to the J Lounge to get a green tea and surf the web. Then it was back out of the lounge and onto gate 9 at the far circular concourse to board my flight back to ADL. Well, it would be as straightforward as that if my BP didn't red-beep me at the gate....
Flight: Qantas Airways QF765 Sydney (SYD T3) - Adelaide (ADL T1)
Depart: 1625h Sched; 1626h Actual
Aircraft: VH-VYK "Moree" Boeing 737-800
Distance: 725 mi (1,167 km)
Class: Business (operational upgrade from Red e-Deal)
Seat: 1A
I was sent to the gate desk and with a bit of fiddling behind the counter, new BPs were issued and found myself with, to quote the desk agent, "a much better seat" . I was greeted on board warmly by the CSM and accompanying FA as I took my seat and thankfully managed to find space in the smaller row 1 overhead locker for my bag. It's always nice to fly the longer domestic flights in J; this flight being just under two hours in flying time (and according to the captain, a bit faster that day due to favourable conditions).
Once we were airborne, orders were taken for pre-meal drinks. I asked for a sparkling water with lemon, which came back with a packet of nuts. Once again I opted for the warm refreshment on this flight, which turned out to be a lamb curry pie, sided with a wholegrain roll and the usual small tea cake from Manna from Heaven. The pie was actually quite good, with the lamb curry having a bit of spice in it (although I also did empty my sachet of pepper into it as well). I took up the offer of a glass of red wine to go with the meal, and a pleasant glass of Innocent Bystander Shiraz-Viognier 2005 was poured and imbibed.
Pre-meal drinks on the way to ADL, served with a packet of almonds and cashews
Business refreshment of lamb curry pie
Innocent Bystander Shiraz-Viognier 2005
Trays were cleared soon after and I opted for a few more cups of tea. Before we had to prepare for landing I went for a bathroom break and on the way back to my seat I thanked the CSM and her fellow FA for their immaculate service during the flight. They were both attentive and friendly from boarding, but I wanted to let them know rather than at disembarkation, when it would be almost too difficult to thank them.
By the time we landed in ADL, it was already dark. The aircraft pulled up at gate 21 and as soon as I got back into the terminal, I made a bee line for the ADL QP so that I could catch up on more emails and OLCI for my flights the next day. I managed to get 4C for every flight the next day except for my MEL-ADL flight of which I selected 4A, as well as my ADL-CBR flight which I had to settle for 6A (obviously a 734 which had 5 rows of J configured). I managed to stay in the QP and get some emails sorted out before closing time.
Once back at my accommodation, I thought about the next day: 0605h was my first departure . Although the first Jetbus would get me to the airport on time, there wasn't a tram that would get me to Currie St in time to catch it. The idea of walking 1.5 km with a ~20 kg bag at around 3.30am - 4.30am in the morning was balk-worthy, so I asked at the front reception to book a taxi for me the next day, as well as a wake up call. Although I had the wake up call, just for extra insurance, I set my phone alarm before packing up as much of my stuff as I could, followed by drifting off to sleep.
Programs: QF WP, NZ GE, AA -, MH -, DJ -, VS -; HH GLD, PC GLD, SPG -
Posts: 855
Wednesday 27 May: ADL-MEL-ASP-MEL-ADL-CBR
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
I woke up only slightly earlier than the wake up call I ordered, so when the phone did ring to wake me I rather tiredly answered and thanked the caller for the reminder. Then I put the last of my clothes in my baggage and packed up my items on charge (making doubly sure that I packed all of my chargers). I didn't bother with a full shower given that I could have one in the warmth of the ADL QP (it was cold as a witch's teat that morning, even in my room with the heater - well, the bathroom doesn't have a heater!). After a double check of my room, I went to reception to check-out, seeing the taxi I ordered had already arrived.
Check-out was quick and I gazed at my credit card receipt as I strode back out into the cold to my waiting taxi only to find that they had not added on the Amex surcharge. Oh well - score! The ride to the airport was just as quick as the Jetbus (only that I did not need to make my way to Currie St); I had a good chat with the driver, which woke me up a bit.
Once inside ADL airport, I was surprised to see the bag drop lines. 'Long' seemed an insufficient word; even the premium line was rather unsightly (at least for a "small" airport like ADL). I suppose it must be due to the mining traffic heading out to places like OLP, which was later compounded by the announcements advising those not checked in to break the queue. I finally got to a check-in desk (I was already checked in online, but I like getting the cardboard BPs, plus I had to drop my bags).
Now things get interesting. My final destination today was CBR, but the agent (and later his supervisor) could not check my bags all the way to CBR, as the tagging system would not allow them to route through a stop which had already been traversed (in the case of my travel that day, MEL). The only option was to check my bag to ASP, claim my bag at ASP then recheck at ASP all the way to CBR (final destination of the day). I didn't really want to leave my baggage at ADL due to the cost of storage, but as the day unfolded, dear reader, you'll see that discretion is the better part of valour....
Absentmindedly (or not) I agreed to have my bag tagged to ASP. I received my five BPs for the day and headed to the ADL QP with some 40 minutes until departure. First stop was obviously the showers for a shower, brushing of teeth and a shave. Some might argue that the said process (especially for a male) should take all but 10 minutes (or even shorter), however in my tiredness and thoroughness I ended up spending 20 minutes in the bathroom, which necessarily meant boarding was called just as I had left the bathroom. I wanted to grab some breakfast but the lines for food were looking harrowing, so with my flight now at final call stages, I left the QP and hurried to gate 25, which was conveniently located at the far end of the terminal.
Flight: Qantas Airways QF670 Adelaide (ADL T1) - Melbourne Tullamarine (MEL T1)
Depart: 0605h Sched; 0604h Actual
Aircraft: VH-VYA "Narooma" Boeing 737-800
Distance: 400 mi (642 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 4C
CSM Penny greeted me as I shuffled to my seat; "shuffled" being the correct word as the plane was looking very much full as pax slowly filed down the aisle. J was fully loaded and I had to put my backpack in the row 5 overhead locker. We were locked and ready to go on time just as the sun was starting to make the slightest peek over the horizon.
Continental breakfast was served soon after a non-eventful take off and swing around. Although the flight was merely an hour (a bit less), the crew managed to serve breakfast and clear the trays with ample time for the pax to eat and for the crew to tidy up. We touched down in MEL and docked at gate 7.
I headed to the J Lounge to check my email, call the credit card companies about my upcoming travel, pay off a credit card, move some money...well, you get the idea. I also then only had a big think about how I was going to successfully turn around with baggage in ASP, since there was only a 40 minute connection time there, but baggage acceptance cuts off at 30 minutes . QF796 was called for boarding and I enquired at the J Lounge counter whether anything could be done about my precarious connection. Neither member at the counter was sympathetic in the slightest regard to my situation (which is expected). One of them suggested that I go to the gate with my "checked" bag and negotiate a gate check if I don't make the bag drop cut off. With that in mind, I headed out of the QP and down to the lower numbered gates concourse, where FIDs all around were announcing that QF796 was closed. At that point I sprinted to gate 9 in hopes that some pax would hold up the FAs at the gate.
Flight: Qantas Airways QF796 Melbourne Tullamarine (MEL T1) - Alice Springs (ASP)
Depart: 0840h Sched; 0840h Actual
Aircraft: VH-VZE "Bunbury" Boeing 737-800
Distance: 1,156 mi (1,862 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 4C
"You again?!"
That was the first remark I heard from the gate FAs as I approached the gate. I could hardly believe it myself, it was the same crew who I had just had for the ADL-MEL sector. CSM Penny gave me the same remark as I boarded the aircraft, which, at least compared to the ADL-MEL sector, was looking relatively empty; I saw only three people in J and I had a spare seat beside me (although 4A was taken).
We took off on schedule without any hitches. As the seat belt sign went off, we were informed that brunch would be served during the flight. The official meal that I read from MMB and the QF timetables was breakfast, but nevertheless we were later served "brunch", which turned out to be a sandwich (i.e. lunch).
Sandwich served for "brunch"
Rubbish was cleared as the crew went around offering second sandwiches for anyone that wanted one. After finishing going for a bathroom break, I had a nice chat with Penny and another FA in the forward galley. That's when I told them about my status run (I said "mileage run", since a status run sounds more obscure than mileage run). I told them all about how I developed the long run of flights, with their eyes marvelling as I continued talking. They had a look at my flight list that I produced out of my pocket, one FA commenting that it was more intense than her work schedule. The first officer later came out to use the bathroom and Penny invited him to look at my flight list. Needless to say, he was close to flabbergasted as well.
I left the galley to give the crew a bit of time for themselves, so I rested until it was time to prepare for landing. I went up the front for another bathroom break and had a chat to Penny about my tight turnaround. She reckoned that if I explained my story to the ground crew, they might be able to be a bit more forgiving. Add to this that the baggage should not take long to come out on the belt and I should just be OK. Soon enough, the aircraft came to land at ASP amongst the colourful landscape of earthy red and scattered grasses.
ASP is expectedly a fairly small airport which only has stand-off bays. When we arrived, there was only one other aircraft - a QF 717 - docked at the bays. The aircraft parked at bay 5, then with a quick "see you again soon" to Penny and the crew, I hurried down the stairs, through the barrier gate and into the terminal. Baggage claim was on one side of the terminal; check-in and customer service on the other side. Seeing as bags hadn't made their way out yet, I headed to the check-in desks to explain my case.
Just as in MEL, the lady at the counter was (not unexpectedly) sticking to the rules, citing that if she checked me in any less than T-30, the bag cart would have already been sent to the aircraft, or in any case would delay the on-time departure of the flight. Heart sunk, I asked her that if (somehow) in the next two minutes, I could get my bags, could I check in, of which she thankfully replied in the affirmative. I raced over to the baggage claim to wait for my bag.
At moments in your life when even seconds matter to timing, minutes seem like a very, very long time. About two minutes after I arrived at the belt, safety sirens wailed and the belt lurched to life. My bag was within the first six that appeared; I grabbed my bag, retracted the handle and sprinted across the Aboriginal-design carpet back to the check-in desks. Did I make it in time???
Inside ASP terminal front section, showing the intricate Aboriginal art designed carpet
ASP terminal check-in and bag drop
When I got to the bag drop line, the lady who had earlier talked to me was checking in a pax who needed some assistance (he had a walking cane). I stood anxiously in the line tapping my feet, when the male behind the customer service counter called me forward. I explained to him that I was checking in to CBR and much to my relief, he printed the bag tag to CBR, slapped it onto my just-claimed baggage and said, "have a pleasant flight".
I had done it - I made the connection! Woo hoo!
I went through security and was selected for explosives testing. Not that I cared - I was glad to make this flight with my bag! I even managed to have a nice chat with the officer who tested me.
ASP airside, showing a FID
ASP airside outside area (does that make sense?)
A few more pics were taken of ASP airside, then I went to the QP located next to gate 9. The ASP QP is a "proper" QP - not a regional one - but as to be expected it is quite small. There are sit down tables and chairs as well as high tables for standing around; when I arrived there were no sit down spots left. A modest selection of alcohol was available as well as some cold snacks of the usual kind (including sandwiches). ASP also has an outside area just beyond the airport cafe, which is fenced off from the tarmac. The entire terminal building is visually separated from the tarmac by trees and shrubs, although from the QP, one can just make out the tails of the parked aircraft.
I grabbed a quick snack and a glass of Bickford's cordial on ice; it had to be quick because just as I was gobbling up my snack, the boarding call at gate 7 for my MEL flight was made. I reached into my pocket to grab my BP, when I realised that I had not been given my bag tag number at the check-in counter. I brought this to the attention of the QP desk agent, who managed to look up and give me the bag tag number for my luggage.
ASP QP entrance
ASP QP food......
......and alcohol selection
Another view of ASP terminal outside, this time from inside the QP. You can see the covered pathway which channels passengers between the terminal and the tarmac.
As I exited the QP, I saw a long line at the door and thought why the boarding call had been made some time ago yet there was such a long line. I waited next to the line so that I would join it when the line had sufficiently shortened to a point, then it only dawned on me when I asked someone in the line whether the pax in that line were going to MEL. How shocked was I when someone told me that I was waiting for the line that was boarding a flight to DRW, whilst the line for the flight going to MEL had all but disappeared! Luckily, boarding was still at final call stages so the FA at the gate saw me jog towards her and took some playful apprehension at the fact that I had almost missed my flight due to waiting in the wrong line .
Flight: Qantas Airways QF797 Alice Springs (ASP) - Melbourne Tullamarine (MEL T1)
Depart: 1145h Sched; 1150h Actual
Aircraft: VH-VZE "Bunbury" Boeing 737-800
Distance: 1,156 mi (1,862 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 4C
Headed out to bay 5, through the barrier gate and up the stairs to once again greet CSM Penny, who seemed to show a sigh of relief that I had made this connection. I sat down in 4C again and this time no one occupied 4B or 4A. The early start this morning was starting to take its toll on me as we took off.
Lunch was served during the flight, which consisted of another sandwich (luckily of different filling). Another light load on the flight ensued that the crew were able to once again offer seconds to pax.
Sandwich served for lunch
After lunch, I wanted to chat some more to the FAs, but I was so tired that I slept all the way until we landed in MEL. We docked into gate 4 at MEL and I said goodbye to Penny and thanks for the great service for three flights that day.
My longest connection for the day was between my ASP-MEL and MEL-ADL flights, which was 1 hr 35 min. I did a bit of walking around MEL terminal before heading up to the familiarity of the J Lounge. I had a few refreshments as I checked my emails and got Windows on my eeePC more or less working again. When your computer is running fairly slowly (or at least slower than what you're used to), it's not difficult to watch time whizz by you. I moved out of the lounge at T-10 and was once again shocked and in sprinting mode when I reached the central concourse and the FID showed my ADL-bound flight at gate 1 was closing.
Flight: Qantas Airways QF693 Melbourne Tullamarine (MEL T1) - Adelaide (ADL T1)
Depart: 1625h Sched; 1622h Actual
Aircraft: VH-VXG "Port Douglas" Boeing 737-800
Distance: 400 mi (642 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 4A
As I approached gate 1 which had no line, I jokingly remarked the the FA at the gate that they always seem to close the gate earlier at MEL. The FA replied tongue-in-cheek that they like to do it because it forces people like me to board faster.
Once on board I had to scoot past the pax in 4C in order to get to my seat. There was no space in the overhead lockers, but there was no one in 4B, so I managed to slip my bag in the large area underneath the Millennium seats in row 3.
Loadings were fairly full but there were a peppering of middle and aisle seats not occupied when the plane took off. Refreshments were served on the flight, which consisted of rice crackers and a spicy eggplant dip. It was a most unusual concoction which is definitely an acquired taste, since the eggplant dip contained a decent amount of pepper and spice; in addition, the natural bitter edge of an eggplant was present, which I'd imagine might put some off.
Refreshment of spicy eggplant dip with rice crackers
The afternoon sun beamed prominently into the aircraft on our descent into ADL, which was a small annoyance to some pax who were unable to draw their window shades. Lucky for them there was not too much more to endure as we touched down in ADL and parked at gate 23.
The Coorong - geographical water feature - seen on approach to ADL
After disembarking, I headed to the ADL QP. The QP was reportedly so full that only one guest per pax was allowed in, even for WPs. I found this out when a WP entered with two guests and was duly told at the counter that due to space restrictions he could only let in one. Two the the pax said goodbye to their fellow pax. I offered to the remaining pax to guest her into the lounge, since I had no guest, but they didn't seem to mind, so she left and went without.
When I went into the lounge, hot food was being offered already, however it is well known by all QP stalwarts and especially in ADL that hot food never lasts longer than a few minutes after being put out. Needless to say, I loitered around the food area like some of the other snipers and waited until a new batch of hot snacks were put out to the buffet. Like feeding animals at the zoo, a crowd of people flocked to the buffet and grabbed platefuls of hot snacks, which befittingly disappeared once again in a flash. I took my food and a cup of green tea to a computer where I unsuccessfully tried to OLCI for the next day's flights. I also rechecked the history of flights in the last week going to and from ZQN, since I was well aware that I would need to be prepared to fly in and out of the airport in just two days.
The flight to CBR was called on time at gate 25, however the BP readers at the gate were malfunctioning, so boarding reverted to tearing off counterfoils on cardboard BPs and tearing off bottom sections on paper OLCI BPs.
Flight: Qantas Airways QF708 Adelaide (ADL T1) - Canberra (CBR)
Depart: 1825h Sched; 1826h Actual
Aircraft: VH-TJU "Currawong" Boeing 737-400
Distance: 605 mi (971 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 6A
I would have liked to fly to CBR normally via SYD as it is about the same price as a direct but gives extra SCs, however there wasn't enough time and flights left in the day in order to achieve an extra indirect routing. So I had no choice but to take this direct flight to CBR then an indirect back to ADL.
TJU was configured with the maximum number of J rows - five rows - for this flight, which meant that the first row of economy was row 6 - a regular economy row with ordinary leg room. Needless to say, as with many flights to and from CBR (for reasons that will continue to escape me), the flight was completely filled up, although some of the pax (including my seat mate in 6B) were deadheading crew.
We took off for the 1 hr 40 min flight and dinner was served soon after the seat belt sign was extinguished. I had a bit of a chat with the deadheading FA in 6B, who had finished quite a hectic day at work (early start, flight cancelled and repositioning in CBR was required). Dinner on the flight was a lamb curry with rice, peas and lentils. Noticeably absent from the sides was the bread roll and small chocolate square, instead having their places taken by cheese and crackers, as well as a mini cake-bar of apricot and honey. The lamb curry was actually quite tasty with a hint of spice in it, so it wasn't completely lame in taste.
Dinner of lamb curry with rice
The FA in 6B tore through his meal and finished the entire tray in no time, then sat back and relaxed through the in-flight entertainment of Thank God You're Here. The cabin occasionally broke out into patches of laughter as the program rolled on. I couldn't help plugging in and listening to the program as well; besides, there was nothing to be seen outside except black. As the main screened entertainment finished, the cabin was prepared for landing and the first few specks of light began to appear amongst an otherwise sea of black.
Touch down into CBR was uneventful as we taxiied to the remote stand normally reserved for turboprop aircraft. Once we came to a standstill, the airstairs were moved into position and we entered into the terminal at arrival gate G. Bags took about 10 minutes after the start of disembarkation to begin appearing on the belt. Luckily mine was both there and was nice and early in appearance thanks to priority bag tags. I then strided over to the Hertz counter to get my rental car.
Car Rental Company: Hertz Canberra Airport
Vehicle Type: Standard Car, Automatic
Vehicle Make and Model: Toyota Aurion
I had initially booked a compact automatic car; the automatic was imperative since my license restricted me to auto cars, but I like compact cars since they are easier to drive and handle around the place. It was then a surprise at the counter when I was cheerfully advised that I had been upgraded to a standard size car. I told the Hertz lady that I would prefer to stick with the compact car, however she told me that they had run out of compact cars, so my only option was the standard size car. I collected the keys for my car and headed out into the CBR chill to the rental car parking lot, which was located close to a good 100 m away from the terminal.
When I arrived at the parking lot, I found my car and did a quick check of the condition and condition report. The cars were parked very close to each other; luckily I was not any more roly poly otherwise I wouldn't have been able to even slither into the drivers seat without letting the door hit the adjacent vehicle. I took a few minutes to get comfortable and get used to the controls, including the unusual placement of the park brake which was located under the left foot (in a manual car, this is where the clutch pedal would be). Once I was comfortable with the controls, I started the car and with careful learning on-the-fly of the handling (as well as driving a larger car again), I exited the parking lot and eventually the airport (which, considering that there was a decent amount of construction around the complex coupled with very low lighting and poor signage, was no trivial task).
An All-Nighter in Chilly Canberra
I followed all the signs to the city centre fairly well, but when I was getting close to the city I missed my exit and ended up driving a bit further out to the suburbs. I eventually found my way back and into the city, which I thought wasn't an easy feat given that there was little lighting, little helpful signage and I had forgotten to check for a map book or obtain a map from the Hertz desk. I then spent a bit of time surveying what was open late (or otherwise) on a Wednesday night in CBR. Not surprisingly, there wasn't much open at all. However, I did manage to find a McDonalds in Belconnen which was open 24 hours, so I found a place to park around the corner (it was a loading zone which didn't come into effect until about 6am or 7am).
Upon entering the McDonalds, I found that it was teeming with people. So much for a not-so-surprising Wednesday night in CBR. I ordered a coffee from the McCafe just as it was about to close. The McDonalds had free wireless inside, however the signal was very weak, and the battery on my eeePC was down to around 40% - not a good mix at all! I found I had to get a table closest to the service counter to get even a smidgen of decent signal. There was only one power point in the whole restaurant area; that socket was already taken by someone else.
I sat in my corner and tried to do some browsing and reading, trying to take my mind off the fact that I had to endure some 6-7 hours before I could drive back to the airport and check-in. I was tempted at times to just drive to a hotel or motel and pay walk-up rates for a room and bed, but I managed to control myself. I just didn't feel like paying a big sum of money for a room where I would not be spending even close to a decent amount of time in. I thought about sleeping in my car, but I was a bit afraid of either being disrupted by passers by, or by the police.
My boredom was broken a bit when a few men walked in and ordered some food before pulling out a chessboard and a bag of pieces. Being a former chess player at high school, curiosity got the better of me and I headed over to have a look. The men continued as normal, discussing their previous games and commenting on tactics. I gave my two cents at one point, and a more senior man (probably the coach or master) agreed with my point as I sat down to join the discussion. Turns out that the men had just come from a meeting of their local chess club and were just rounding out the night. We discussed tactics and openings for about 1.5 hours, the senior/coach marvelling at laying questions on me and listening to my justifications with keen interest, even though he was usually suggesting more useful moves than I was and the fact that I hadn't played chess in earnest for more than 8 years. Eventually, the men packed up and left to go home, leaving me once again to deal with boredom.
I decided to get some exercise to give myself something else to do, so I packed up my belongings, turned on my iPod and started walking. I'm not sure where exactly I walked, although along the way in the fairly dark streets, I managed to pass a performing arts complex, a library, a long shopping mall, a very, very large shopping complex that spanned blocks and a casino. The streets were all naturally deserted, save for a few people going places at this unusual time of the night. I think I walked for just over an hour or so before I returned to the McDonalds to find the same person who was using the wireless still there!
I got myself another cup of coffee and set about straightening out some of my paperwork (i.e. travel documentation and the like). I contemplated my next day of travel and occasionally zoned out in small fits of microsleep. It was only after a fair number of microsleeps that I realised that the person who had the position next to the only power point in the restaurant was gone! His place was a bit messy due to all the food and drink he had during his sitting there, but nothing that a few cloths and wipe overs couldn't fix. I grabbed the position, then was slightly annoyed that my supposedly long cord just barely allowed me to plug in and charge my eeePC, albeit sitting in a slightly awkward position. I managed to preoccupy myself for most part of the rest of the morning by catching up on some of my emails and reading more FT and AFF, although I could clearly start to feel tiredness affect my thoughts and actions.
Programs: QF WP, NZ GE, AA -, MH -, DJ -, VS -; HH GLD, PC GLD, SPG -
Posts: 855
Thursday 28 May: CBR-SYD-ADL-MEL-AKL (part 1)
Thursday, 28 May 2009
I was somewhat pleased that the hubbub during the late night had all but faded at around 3 am or so. 3 am - less than two hours to go! Some more coffee and water was ordered and after checking some emails (reading needs brainpower which is severely lacking when one is pulling an all-nighter) just over another hour had passed. I decided it was time to go; I said goodbye to the counter staff and said I'd be finally out of their hair, although (I guess out of more sheer customer service sake) they remarked that they didn't mind.
Getting back into the car, I headed roughly towards one end of the city that I knew had a sign mentioning airport on it, but I missed the exit so I ended up in the Parliament area instead. I drove around there for a bit, kinda like getting a drive by tour but in the dark (really useful - not). I ended up getting a bit lost since I was driving around by feel; it wasn't until I set my mind straight (as well as shaking it to keep from fatiguing) that I managed to navigate back to the city and this time I didn't miss the correct exit to the main road towards the airport. Driving to the airport in the dark of the early morning isn't necessarily an easy feat, given that the road is poorly lit and the first signs of traffic (in the form of early risers, truckies and the like) are out and about, compounding the inherent difficulty. Then there was entering in the correct lanes once arriving at CBR.... but I made it - thank goodness! All-nighter over!
I parked the hire car back into the lot, glad to find that there were a decent number of empty bays so I ended up not having to attempt getting out of the car in a sardine can situation (the parking spots were really, really narrow! It's worse than the parking lots in Chinatown BNE). Bags were taken out of the boot and a quick spot check for all my belongings before locking up and shuffling in the bone-chilling cold towards the terminal.
Although check-in opens two hours before departure, the Hertz desk doesn't open until at least 6.30 am - a mere 15 minutes before departure, i.e. no thanks. There was no signed "after hours" key drop, but another couple who had arrived as early as I did simply dropped their key into the slot on the desk, so I ended up doing the same, dropping with the key my wallet with fuel and mileage information filled in. Even with my fluffing around the previous night, the fuel needle hadn't budged from Full, so I didn't need to fill up. After dropping the key, I had to do a little bit of repacking between my checked and cabin baggage to satisfy LAG rules, which I managed to do on a spare bench. As I did this, the terminal slowly but surely began to rise with activity as the pax for the early flights of the day started to file in. (There was a QF flight to SYD earlier than the one I had booked, but at the time I purchased the fare it wasn't included in one of the routing options to ADL). I fronted up at the premium line and was soon attended to - not bad given the pax "traffic" in the morning.
It would probably not surprise the reader - nay, any FTer for that matter - that the check-in agent was most puzzled by my routing for the day. I kindly requested if my luggage could be routed all the way to AKL, and although he was still puzzled he agreed that it should be OK. BPs for all my flights for the day were produced (including getting 4C on MEL-AKL) and magenta bag tags were attached along with a very convoluted routing tag. My routing was so extensive that the information could not be contained on one bag tag sticker, so I received two stickers of information for one piece of baggage. A green departure card was included in the pile of collateral I received, along with an express departure pass, which I won't think I really needed but just might be useful anyway. I cleared security and was soon ramping up (pun intended) to the CBR J Lounge.
One of the antidotes for sleepiness is a refreshing shower and I somewhat unwisely eschewed breakfast to use a shower room instead. I had a very long shower as the torrent of warm water attempted to rejuvinate my cold-blasted cells and induce some vitality back into my well-being. I spent quite a bit of time in the bathroom getting ready for the next long day ahead - so much so that as I left the bathroom it was time to board. So no time for breakfast, just straight out of the lounge to gate 14...sigh, a jet flight being serviced at a standoff bay...
Flight: Qantas Airways QF560 Canberra (CBR) - Sydney (SYD T3)
Depart: 0645h Sched; 0645h Actual
Aircraft: VH-TJU "Currawong" Boeing 737-400
Distance: 148 mi (238 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 6D
I plodded up on board and proceeded to my seat; as usual, the front section of the plane was not duly filled until the last minute, of which it literally was as we took off right on time. Once in the air, food was served in the form of a cookie. I thought that was rather inappropriate given that it is a morning flight. Perhaps not a full breakfast (even though that is remotely possible), but even an energiser juice or a muesli bar might be more in order? Being so tired, I really just wanted some shut eye, so I held back my tired-induced ranting and politely declined the food service, then went to sleep. I didn't wake up again until we were mere seconds away from touchdown, whereupon we were greeted by the morning sun of SYD and glided into the far side gate 1 of T3.
My next flight to ADL was only 45 min from departure; I thought that exercise might not be a bad idea so I did a few rounds of T3 before making a brief green tea stop at the J Lounge and then proceeding to board my next flight that was being called in at gate 9.
Flight: Qantas Airways QF739 Sydney (SYD T3) - Adelaide (ADL T1)
Depart: 0820h Sched; 0825h Actual
Aircraft: VH-VXG "Port Douglas" Boeing 737-800
Distance: 725 mi (1,166 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 4F
I was still very tired when I boarded my ADL-bound flight and although I had only chosen 4F purely because it was the only favourable row 4 seat remaining at the time, it ended up being a blessing in disguise as it meant I could get more sleep on the just under 2 hour flight. 4E ended up being free, so even better.
Breakfast was served and although I took the tray I only managed to eat the fruit and drink the milk before I became far too tired to bother with the rest. I put the half-eaten tray on the spare 4E's table and dozed off. I woke up just in time to hear the seat belt sign being illuminated for landing. We glided smoothly into ADL and docked into gate 24 on time.
Once again I had another tight connection at ADL of merely 40 minutes, which was probably my biggest fear since my CBR-SYD-ADL, ADL-MEL and MEL-AKL flights were all on separate PNRs. (In fact, if you saw in the Prologue, my CBR-SYD-ADL was part of a PNR which was in the middle of the flights of the PNR that concluded with my ADL-MEL flight!) If it wasn't for the operational logistics of being able to connect and through check my bags on all of these different (albeit linked) bookings, then I can't also imagine what this means for my baggage being transferred successfully all throughout!
I would have had some breakfast in the ADL QP except that the lines and crowd were too much to tolerate in my state of mind; in any case, I had errands to run before my MEL-AKL flight, one of which was calling my credit card companies to tell them that I was going overseas (and we all know why we should do that). I also logged onto the internet (once I could find a computer where the LAN cable had not been unplugged ) to check the weather history on ZQN and check-out the propensity of being caught in the drink the next day. Weather and FlightStats check for the last week showed that all QF flights in and out of ZQN had minimal if any delays except for the previous Friday, where one service was diverted to Invercagill. So not such a big deal, except that my AKL-ZQN flight is on the next day, which is...yep, you guessed it...a Friday! I was also somewhat annoyed that I was not able to OLCI for any of my QFNZ flights, which had been open for a bit and usually means that - even for a WP - the good seats could easily be snapped up, of which I would be further fuming if any of the operating aircraft that day were equipped with J seats...
I left the lounge to make a stop at the shop Chocolat in the airport, which has IMHO some of the best chocolates in Australia that I've had so far, including the lovely pair of signature truffles entitled Guilt and Innocence. I wanted to buy a gift for each of the three crews I would be flying with for my "farewell" QFNZ flights the next day; it was an expensive exercise but I didn't mind too much. I had the shop attendant box up my gifts and wrap each one in ribbon with artistic flair...but it only became apparent that time was now not on my side! (So, what else is new?) Boarding started as only one box of three was finished. I frantically watched the clock tick down as slowly but surely the shop attendant did an excellent job with her handiwork and finished the three boxes. I hastily paid for my purchases and raced out to the gates as my flight was now in final call stages, and once again it was at a gate which was quite far from the central concourse!
I was surprised to find that the aircraft operating my flight to MEL was the same as the one I had just deplaned from ex-SYD, though the crew were different. I plucked up a bit more energy to radiantly say hello to the FA at the gate as she scanned my BP, only to have it spit out again with loud, red beeps. I was directed to the gate counter where a gentlemen tapped away before offering me another BP, with the remark, "that should be a lot more comfortable".
Flight: Qantas Airways QF680 Adelaide (ADL T1) - Melbourne Tullamarine (MEL T1)
Depart: 1040h Sched; 1048h Actual
Aircraft: VH-VXG "Port Douglas" Boeing 737-800
Distance: 400 mi (642 km)
Class: Business (operational upgrade from Red e-Deal)
Seat: 1C
It would have been nice to ride the SYD-ADL flight in J rather than this short hop, but an op-up is an op-up. As I looked around, many of the riders in J turned out to be crew that weren't on duty (since they were not in uniforms); I could tell they were crew by the way they were greeted by their on-duty colleagues. A man in a suit had assumed the 1A seat position as I stowed my bag away in the row 2 locker.
Once we took off and settled into flight, the man in 1A remarked, "Travel a lot?" I replied in the affirmative, which I confirmed he learned by virtue of my WP tag on my backpack plus the status being printed on my BP. I couldn't help but return the question, where he proffered the answer, "You could say that". Being slightly unusual in response, I followed up with an inquiry as to what he did for a living. It was then that I learned that he was a cabin crew manager working for QF. Turns out that he was on his way to MEL for a meeting (in the airport), of which the few crew sitting in the J cabin were also heading to.
Refreshments were served, the choices being either fresh fruit only, or warm refreshment of banana bread. I opted for the banana bread, which was served with a couple of poached, spiced fruit, a small bowl of fresh fruit and a choice from the warm bakery of mini quiches. The bread was good in flavour and not bone dry although I tasted more coconut than banana. I remarked this to my seat mate in 1A when he enquired as to what I thought of the dish.
Warm refreshment of banana bread with poached, spiced fruit
The cabin crew were very professional at their jobs, serving and addressing their colleagues in the same way as they serve customers. My seatmate in 1A was served last in the J cabin (I guess intentionally) and he opted for the fruit. We had a very good discussion about various things about QF operations - much the same discussions we have on AFF or FT - like upgrade policies, status effects, cabin crew hours, Marc Newson and QF designs......
We both had a cup of tea when it was offered. My seat mate couldn't help but notice my odd reaction when I supped some tea, which I had noticed for flights flying in and out of ADL. He pointed out that it must be the water in ADL, which is relatively notable for its chlorine smell. A cup of coffee, being stronger in smell, would probably be mask the chlorine except to the sharpest of tastes, but with the tea it was clearly there. Well, if having too much coffee could give you cancer, looks like having too much tea just might, too....
We didn't stop talking until we landed in MEL and docked in at gate 2; I did apologise as I probably distracted the man from reading important material that he had intended to do before arriving in MEL, but he said that was not necessary. I entered the terminal and said goodbye to him. Thinking that I had time to get some steps before transferring to T2, I strided to the end of the low numbered gates wing of T1 and back (passing the said manager and a few more of his crew in the process), then repeated the exercise for the high numbered gates wing. By this time it was approaching 1 pm or thereabouts, so I proceeded to T2.
As this was the first time I was on the landside of MEL since becoming WP, I thought I would have a bit of fun and seek out the QF F international check-in. Even though I didn't need to check-in or drop any bags, I thought it'd be nice to know what to experience if I ever have to check-in at MEL.
Qantas First check-in at MEL (kerbside)
Inside QF F check-in at MEL, showing the regular Marc Newson furniture and disctinctive white marble QF walls
The QF F check-in is a small room in the corner of the international check-in area with glass doors adjacent to the drop off kerb as well as to the side leading out to the main international check-in area. Inside, the dullness of the main area outside is contrasted with the subtle lighting and Marc Newson (of course ) decor. As I walked in, I was greeted by a porter who asked whether I was checking in, to which I replied that I was just looking around. I confirmed with all who were inside that this was OK and why I was doing it; in fact, the said porter was happy to introduce me to each of the staff. Basically, porters meet all pax either kerbside or as they enter the check-in area and handle their bags for them. Bags are weighed and tagged inside the area, but they are sent to the aircraft by the porters who cart the bags off on their trolleys (i.e. there isn't a direct belt from F check-in to the sterile baggage area). A few couples walked in to check-in for various flights, and I was amazed and impressed every time how the desk agents would efficiently handle the check-in (as it turns out, BPs etc. were all preprinted and were laid out in folders on a nearby desk) as well as how the porters were lightning quick in attending to the bags, getting them weighed and tagged. I asked if I could stay a while inside whilst I filled out my outgoing departure card and checked my LAG baggie, of which they were only happy to oblige, as well as my request to snap a piccie of me in the F check-in area.
Me inside the QF F check-in area at MEL T2
After collecting myself, I bid farewell to the staff inside and headed towards immigration. It's a bit odd leaving the F check-in then having to navigate through the hustle and bustle of Plebiansville and the obligatory MEL landside shopping mall before finding the departures channel.
As predicted, immigration was pretty bare so no need to use the express pass. Even security screening afterwards was breezily negotiated, which was just as well because I'd hate to see how bad the small area can get at the worst of times. As with its bigger brother SYD and smaller brother BNE, the duty free shop is "strategically" placed directly after outgoing immigration, which requires one to necessarily pass through it in order to access the main gate concourse. In SYD, one can employ a side staircase to dodge the duty free shop, but in MEL there is no such escape. The QF international lounges in MEL T2 are located beyond the shops, with the QP (or QF J Lounge) being downstairs whilst the QF F Lounge was upstairs. Upon ascending the escalators to the upper level, on one side is the opulent entrance of mahogany and gold that is the EK F Lounge, whilst on the other side of simple marble and patterned glass was the QF F Lounge.
Entrace to the Qantas First Lounge Melbourne (Tullamarine) International
Qantas First Lounge Melbourne (Tullamarine) International
The Qantas F Lounge in MEL T2 is not surprisingly smaller than the same lounge in SYD T1, but that is a plus as much as it is a minus; the smaller lounge felt a bit more crowded in places but has an atmosphere of being cosy and intimate. When the SYD QF FL becomes full, it almost resembles a small shopping mall food court / public area. First stop was the spa to make an appointment, although I was disappointed to be told that due to appointments on QF9 taking priority coupled with a shorter operating time for the spa, appointment times were scarce if not unavailable. I was told that there was a possible cancellation of an appointment so I was advised to take a seat first and I would be told if it was possible to slot me in. With that in mind, the first place I naturally headed to was the restaurant.
Various photos of the inside of the MEL T2 QF F Lounge
Programs: QF WP, NZ GE, AA -, MH -, DJ -, VS -; HH GLD, PC GLD, SPG -
Posts: 855
Thursday 28 May: CBR-SYD-ADL-MEL-AKL (part 2)
The restaurant area only has large tables next to the windows, which showed a splendid view of the MEL tarmac. Tullamarine isn't near the city compared to how SYD (Mascot) is, so the view apart from the airport activity isn't all that varied, unless you would prefer to stare at simple greenery rather than buildings and bridges for a change. The restaurant was about 80% full and I was lucky to be directed to a small table that was one of the few left. A glass of sweet and heavenly Devaux Blanc De Noirs was poured before a menu was offered and I had a flick through the selections, which you can find here (food and drink). The daily specials didn't jump out at me, so I decided to try some options which I had often seen on the menu but had never tried before. I was quite hungry even though still a tad tired, so I didn't hesitate to order up.
Table set for a meal with a glass of Devaux
Whilst I waited for my food, the lounge manager Brad found me and told me that there was indeed a cancellation at the spa and offered a short session appointment and a consent form to fill out. Brad was quite well-versed at the features of the spa and explained the different treatments, although I still had to talk to the spa manager before we negotiated my choice of a facial which would suit the limited time of my appointment.
No sooner had that all been sorted out that my first course had arrived. I must admit I have a weakness for crumbed calamari / squid, and this time was no exception. The squid came with a side wedge of fresh chilli and a lime half. I have to shamefully admit not being game enough to try the chilli (instead resorting to simply brush it on top of the squid) but the lime was a nice touch.
Chilli Salt Squid
Next course was the pear and blue cheese tart, served with baby spinach. The tart was nice and crisp, with the saltiness and strong flavours of the blue cheese clashing in a symphony with the enhanced sweetness of the pear; caramelised onion and walnuts playing second fiddles to the feature ingredients. This is one dish that is sure to polarise a few tastebuds, but I thought it was a nice course.
Pear and Blue Cheese Tart
Following the tart was one of the daily specials, which was the pedestrian mainstay of many a restaurant - Caesar salad. The light crustoni was buttered quite liberally with hints of garlic, which wasn't a bad change from simple crutons. The prosciutto was appropriately salty but complemented well with the rest of the ingredients. A light (cf. liberal) dressing and the soft poached egg finished the dish nicely, so not a bad edge on a stalwart dish.
Caesar Salad
The final course I indulged in was the pappardelle, which was pretty much a longer and wider ribbon-like version of fettucini. The tomato-based sauce had all the right flavours, including fresh basil, plus the ricotta added a neutral dimension to the dish.
Pappardelle
I was quite full after all the food and the timing couldn't be any better (or tighter) as I finished up and had to wonder to the spa to make my appointment. I was escorted to a room with a much higher ceiling than the rooms at the SYD T1 FL. The room normally looks out to the tarmac but of course the curtains were drawn to create the right mood. I let the spa therapist do what she does best and for the next half hour my face was gently massaged, lathered and infused with grapeseed and other aroma-filled substances. A hot towel was draped over my face signalling the end of the session and I thanked the therapist as I left the spa radiating in spa-clean goodness (get it? Sparkling? ).
As I left the spa and wandered into the computer area, Brad managed to catch up with me and had a chat about the spa treatment. He then went on to remark whether I would like to get some work done, of which I answered yes (I love how some people can "read" these things). He then offered one of the private work suites for me to use; I could not thank him enough! The seculsion of a private room equipped with all the necessicities - desk, computer, TV (with multiple inputs, including PC if desired), children's toys (not that I needed them, but a nice thought for others!) and stationary. Brad was about to leave as he showed me to the work suite, but I asked him to place an order for green tea, a glass of De Bortoli and one of the delicious tiramisu desserts to be sent to the suite. I then thanked him profusely for his assistance during the afternoon as I settled into work mode.
Tiramisu and Green Tea
My desk in the private work suite
I managed to get on top of my emails, read a few articles from my news feeds and generally get everything online in control again. I was still a wee bit tired so the said work only proceeded at about 80% efficiency, hence why it was quite a while (until it became dark outside) before I packed up and left the suite in search of some food before I had to board QF133. (Expecting a spectacular Y meal on board was not on my cards!) But first things first...
I wondered over to the F Lounge desk to enquire why I still could not OLCI for any of my QFNZ flights the next day. On a look up of my particulars, they couldn't see why I could not check-in, although for what is was worth it seemed that I was preallocated row 1 for all my flights, so that wasn't such a bad thing. The second bit that they happened to notice was...once again, avid reader, you are right...the wierd flying patterns (i.e. WLG-AKL-ZQN-CHC all in one day)! When the lounge manager Mark asked why the funny routing, I was about to pipe in an answer when he proffered, "Mileage run?" Now it was my turn to be amazed.
Turns out Mark is a bit of a lurker amongst some boards like AFF and FT (I didn't ask which ones), so he wasn't much of a stranger to the idea of a mileage run. We actually got on quite well and even exchanged name cards. Anyway, after I was somewhat assured that I was going to get a good seat on my QFNZ flights, I wandered over to the restaurant to make good some dinner. This time I went for a less rich selection, including a pass up on another glass of wine and instead stuck to water and green tea.
First course was the mushroom soup, which didn't sound impressive on the menu and didn't look impressive either. However, it was quite satisfactory - certainly better than any of the mushroom soups I have had in any of the QF lounges.
Mushroom Soup
The next course was the oddly named "Petuna Smoked Ocean Trout with Fennel Remoulade and Crostini". OK, I know what trout is (although I didn't know you could serve it filleted and sliced), and the only reference to fennel I can think of was that Don Burke (for those that know the former gardening show Burke's Backyard) oft remarked his dislike for the vegetable. Don't even get me started with what in good name is remoulade, but it was served and I have to say it was quite a nice dish. For the diet conscious, the dish could have been eaten well enough without the crostini (which was prepared like very thin garlic bread). I had a side of steamed greens to boost up my vegetable intake, which I had asked to be prepared sans oil.
Smoked Trout with Fennel Remoulade and Crostini
Steamed Greens
The final course of cheese was well presented and looked appetising, but I only managed to get about half of the cheeses and barely touched the bread. I did eat all the fruit and the quince paste was a nice touch up, especially to the slightly overpowering blue cheese.
Cheese Plate of the Day
As I tucked into the cheese plate, I looked at my watch and was surprised that the boarding call for my flight was not yet made. After I finished up at the restaurant, I wandered back to the front desk to see what was going on, since I didn't want to think that I am missing my flight because there was no boarding calls being made. A quick check with Mark confirmed that the flight was merely delayed and that boarding would start soon, so I retired back to the restaurant to have another pot of green tea. I didn't have to wait long, fortunately, until the flight was called, so I said goodbye and thank you to Mark before I headed out of the lounge and towards gate 2, which is whimsically located almost on the opposite end of the concourse compared to the location of the QF F Lounge and is non-trivally hidden in the plethora of shops.
Old style departures board in the MEL T2 QF FL, finally showing my flight as boarding
Flight: Jetconnect (Qantas) QF133 Melbourne Tullamarine (MEL T2) - Auckland (AKL I)
Depart: 1930h Sched; 1918h Actual
Aircraft: ZK-JTR Boeing 737-400
Distance: 1,643 mi (2,640 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 4C
As I approached the aircraft door, I looked up at the registration plate at the roof of the door and noticed that the aircraft was JTR. CSM Sebastian welcomed me on board as I noted to him that we were on JTR; I think remember remarking that the aircraft was being / had been refreshed, and now I can't remember whether that was even true or not.
In an odd turn of events, QF133 was very lightly loaded. I had a whole three seats to myself; for the front half of the Y cabin everyone had spare seats beside them and the pattern was mostly true also in the back half of Y. There were only three people in J. For this reason, boarding finished quite early and we were approved for an early departure. Unfortunately, we ended up sitting at the gate for a while as aircraft pushed back and passed us by. By the time we were finally allowed to push back, our early departure time advantage had all but evaporated.
The baby TT-hopping 734 sped down the runway and took off as we began our journey towards AKL. Once the seat belt sign was off and the usual post take-off speech was had, the IFE was switched on. The IFE onboard is overhead monitors in the central aisle. For passengers in J and the first few rows of Y, personal DVD players were offered with noise cancelling headsets and a set of DVDs.
Personal DVD players offered to J pax and the first few rows of Y pax
DVD selection wallet
Before getting settled in, Sebastian came to have a chat. I seemed to have piqued his interest as I was entering, which was probably "helped" since he noticed my yellow FlyerTalk tag and he remarked that he's seen it around in various places. We had a bit of a chat about my mileage run, FlyerTalk, QFNZ and the domestic routes changing to JQNZ, amongst other things. He was quite an interesting chap to talk to, and to top it all off, he offered me a drink from the J range. Not being prepared for that offer, I simply asked for a glass of Champagne. It was only the reguarly offered Charles Heidsieck, but it was a nice gesture all the same.
A glass of Charles Heidsieck with a couple of packs of nuts
Dinner was served soon after, the choices being...*drumroll please*...Chicken with Kung Pao Sauce or Beef Stew! Two stalwart dishes that I've known well round out the seventh time that I had been offered the selection. I chose the chicken, which was served slightly differently to how it is given on the domestic flights to and from PER, with a side salad and dressing, plus it was served in a different tray (compartmentalised rather than completely flat). Apart from that, it was exactly the same, right down to the tiny square of Lindt chocolate.
Chicken with Kung Pao sauce, served Jetconnect style
Tea and coffee were offered as per usual, then the trays were cleared so that some people could try and get some sleep. I watched a bit of IFE, flicking through the comedy DVD and not really being intrigued by much else. I put away the player and filled out my immigration forms (including the new convoluted passenger information form instigated in response to the global swine flu scare) before getting some sleep. I woke up just as we were about to start descent in AKL. DVD players were collected as we glided downwards into an otherwise indistinguishable landscape of blanket darkness below (save for a few distant lights of Auckland city).
Touch down was an easy non-affair as the tired looking pax (hey, it was 2 am in the morning!) shuffled off into AKL international terminal via gate 7.
Programs: QF WP, NZ GE, AA -, MH -, DJ -, VS -; HH GLD, PC GLD, SPG -
Posts: 855
Friday 29 May: AKL-WLG-AKL-ZQN-CHC-AKL (part 1)
Friday, 29 May 2009
It was a fairly decent walk from the gate to incoming immigration (which had the Australian-style obligatory wander through the duty free shop). There were hardly any people at this time of the morning, so immigration would have been a breeze although the officer got a bit snitchy when he looked at my filled immigration card and it said "Estimated Length of Stay: 1 day". I simply said that I was on a mileage run and supplied the short definition for the term, he dryly replied, "You must really like flying", handed back my passport and sent me on my way.
Baggage wasn't on the belt when I arrived at the belt, but within around 10 minutes the belt went into action. My bag was thankfully near the lot at the beginning, although my magenta tag with complex routing and been removed and in its place was a single-routing RUSH tag. I guess there might have been a small hiccup with the transfer process, but I was glad it came through! The Kiwi customs decided not to play Big B**t**d so it was a simple x-raying of my bags and I was into the arrivals hall in the chilly wee hours of the morning.
AKL international is open 24 hours so it is not unusual to see a decent number of people wondering around at any time. In this case, many were present to meet and greet friends or relatives off QF133 or other late night flights. Others were strewn around sleeping as they waited for their OMG o'clock flights in the morning (AKL airport is fairly far from the city proper - getting up early in the morning to make a 0545h or the like flight is a killer!). Unfortunately, AKL domestic is not 24 hours, plus the domestic QP would not be open at this stark time of the morning, so there were no good showers available nor a nice place to relax.
I dropped my bag off at the i-Site tourist information centre (which is also open 24 hours) and paid the fee for 24 hours of storage. When I was prompted how to spell my name, I thought I'd save my sanity a bit and whipped out my drivers license for the lady at the counter to copy. I then went to the gallery level (one floor above departures) and played a bit at the arcade. Bored with that, most of the rest of the morning involved walking around gaining steps; I did go to the sky deck to see some of the aircraft outside, including a NZ 747-400 parked in a remote part of the tarmac and seemingly looking a bit worse for wear. I also walked all the way to the domestic terminal and back, which killed off another 20 minutes or so.
An amusing cartoon plastered along the outside walls of a restaurant on the gallery level of AKL international. I think most people can "relate" to the top cartoon.
My state of boredom was broken when I got an SMS from wijomas. He was catching a very early flight across the ditch and asked if I was interested in meeting up for a drink. I don't think you, the faithful reader, would have to think twice as to what my response was. So surely enough, wijomas turned up at the airport nice and early for his flight. Shops were only barely starting to open at that time of the morning (outgoing immigration less so). Apart from McDonalds, there was a small coffee shop on the departures level that had opened, so we went there for a drink - myself a coffee, whilst wijomas had a Coke. It was refreshing to talk to someone that time of the morning, especially given I was so tired. For his part, wijomas couldn't help talking about his famed BGI run he was looking forward to in late August (and believe me, from a SC run point-of-view he bagged a real winner). We could have talked for much longer, however I was interested in getting to the domestic terminal and having a look around the AKL D Koru Club before needing to depart.
Air New Zealand, being the national flag carrier, obviously takes up the majority of the space at AKL D; QFNZ (now JQNZ) has only two jetway gates and DJNZ has only one standoff gate. NZ had recently changed their check-in procedures as well, completely eliminating check-in desks (except for a premium desk/service counter) and instead leaving just check-in kiosks (with scales next to them) and a large belt next to the wall that was being minded by a NZ staff. Basically, you use the kiosks to check-in and obtain your boarding passes (duh!), but if you have baggage you also use it to get bag tags. You attach your tags onto your bags yourself, then you bring it to the belt and drop it on so it will get sent to the aircraft. I'm not sure how the Kiwis took in this new approach, though personally I think it's great, since you don't have to wait for staff. I'd imagine there'd be some klutzy people that might just stuff up attaching their bag tag, plus I'm sure there's got to be some illiterate or uppity people who can't seem to use the self-apparent check-in system, or believe that it's not their job to check-in, prepare and drop their bags. Anyway, I digress...
Check-in was pretty simple, in fact given that I was a NZ GE (thank you status match!), had already preselected my seat and had no bags to drop, there were so many ways I could have handled check-in and seat selection, but I decided to take the tried and trusty way: swiped my card into the kiosk and obtained my thermal-paper BP, which looked a little more interesting than the QF issued BPs (even those that are issued on cardboard). As I was checking in, a PA announcement that flights to CHC today may be cancelled or delayed due to inclement weather was made, which sent a bit of a shiver down my spine (no pun intended)......
After passing through security, I went up the stairs and in the twisty halls of the dark side of the terminal ( no, I mean that literally - there is more lighting on the QF side compared to the NZ side), I found the AKL D NZ KC.
Entrance to the Air New Zealand Domestic Koru Club, Auckland Domestic Airport
KC entry is regulated by an attendant who stands next to an electronic reader where one places the barcoded BP, elite ePass RFID tag or mPass barcode on a reading area which lights up green if all is good (i.e. you have enough status and your next flight is on NZ leaving from this port). I didn't quite tick to this immediately but this was mainly only because it took me greater than two seconds to realise what I had to do as the attendant quickly went to aid me. I told him that this was the first time I was flying NZ from what would normally be all-out QF; upon telling him this, he took my hand and gave it a hearty shake with a jolly, "welcome to Air New Zealand! You've made a great choice." He then led me into the club and gave me the quick ten second point and see tour. Although I believe we are easily attracted to things which we have never seen before, the KC was certainly a very refreshing difference to the QPs (especially the domestic ones in AKL and WLG). In contrast to the reds and greys that define the QPs, the KC was plush with shades of green and blue (aqua) and dark tones.
Various views of the AKL D KC
Breakfast selection at the buffet wasn't any different to the QP's range, although it was helpful and professional that signs indicating each of the foods were provided. I didn't have a lot of time to fluff around anyway - there wasn't even enough time for a shower - given that boarding was due to start fairly soon, plus since I was on a Koru Hour service, there was going to be some decent food onboard anyway. Sure enough, my flight started boarding at gate 32, which was pretty much around the corner from the lounge - yep, whilst AKL D looks big on the NZ side, it really isn't all that huge at all!
Flight: Air New Zealand NZ401 Auckland (AKL D) - Wellington (WLG)
Depart: 0600h Sched; 0555h Actual
Aircraft: ZK-NGJ Boeing 737-300
Distance: 299 mi (481 km)
Class: Economy (Space+)
Seat: 2D
Boarding is done with the same reader machines as that at the KC. Once on board, I was greeted by a sea of aqua seats. My seat was one of the "special" Space+ seats with extra leg room (similar to that of row 4 on a QF 738). A lovely lady obviously on her way to WLG for work assumed the 2F seat, with 2E remaining empty. As for the rest of the aircraft, it was a fairly full load except for the Space+ region.
NZ seating in row 2 of a 733
Leg room in Space+ seating
Quote:
Originally Posted by Purser (translated)
Ladies and gentlemen......please sit back, relax and let us take care of you on our short flight this morning to the capital.
OK a couple of things there (apart from the hidden joke ). First, QF have a CSM, but NZ stick to the age old position of purser. Secondly, QF (even on NZ domestic services) always qualify WLG as Wellington, however it seems that on NZ they are a bit more laid back (a rapport thing no doubt) so they simply say "the capital". (I believe in AU no one calls CBR "the national capital", probably because there is a sizeable majority in AU that would be confused and think of SYD if everyone starting saying "the national capital"!).
In pitch darkness, we pushed back as the safety video came on the air. Unlike QF, NZ FAs do not demonstrate the safety procedures whilst the video is being run; the only time they twitch is to show the location of the exits. Also, for those of you in the know, at the time of writing this report the 733 safety video has been updated with the new "risque" version from Air NZ's Nothing to Hide campaign, however at the time I was flying I had to watch the old boring version. Take off at AKL in the dark is always odd since the runway is adjacent to water, which makes the whole take off experience quite eerily dark save for a few runway bulbs here and there.
Another difference between NZ and QF: it was probably only about 20 seconds after take off and we were still climbing, but the captain turned off the seat belt sign! The purser made her usual announcements about the service, and at that moment I got up to use the bathroom, strangely whilst the aircraft was not even level yet. Nothing too special about the bathroom, so we won't go there (*ba doom tisssh* ). Upon assuming my seat again, I was just in time for the Koru Hour service to begin. Morning Koru Hour service consisted of a choice of muesli with yoghurt or a muffin, with tea or plunger coffee. I selected the muesli and plunger coffee; the muesli was quite nice with the yoghurt complementing the very fruity muesli.
Morning Koru Hour muesli and plunger coffee on NZ domestic
IFE was...well...not present. There were no inflight programs on offer - not even the news; all that screened was a continuous feed of trivia Q&A, with an occasional break in the feed to invite passengers to submit their own Q&A. No headlines, no weather summaries, nothing else. Pretty bland, but I'm guessing most people couldn't give half a stuff, especially at this stark hour of the morning.
The crew came around in time to collect rubbish and offer boiled sweets. Not sure what was with the boiled sweets and my mind simply shrugged and said "meh" when I saw the simple array, so I kindly declined a sweet. I've since learned from various reports that the boiled sweets are a signature of the service on NZ and some people even like them (or at least have become adept at knowing which colours/flavours they regard as good). Within time, the fasten seat belt sign was switched on as we descended into WLG, thankfully with the sun peeking over the horizon. I can't remember which gate we docked into, but I do remember it was a jetway gate on the same side as the WLG D KC entrance. From a terminal map of WLG, I'm guessing it was gate 16.
When I entered the terminal, I went up to the KC and scanned my ePass only to get a red rejection light. The two kind ladies who were monitoring the entrance to the already quite busy KC tried again and then prompted for my flight number. It was only then that I remembered (and was reminded) that the KC does not allow any time access, even to GEs (cf. QF WPs are allowed any time access to domestic QPs). The ladies were quite forgiving and said that the next time I was flying NZ that they'd see me again.
First things first, as I remembered, I proceeded back to check-in in order to obtain my BPs for my QFNZ flights. The check-in agent (a NZ staff, not QF) managed to give me BPs for my WLG-AKL and AKL-ZQN flights, but not my ZQN-CHC flight which I would need to check-in for later in the day. I couldn't be buggered to work out why that was the case, but on assuming I would get a decent seat anyway I set off for the WLG D QP.
The double doors leading to the WLG D QP, with a less than pleasing sign on it
The first thing I did when I went in was to request a shower pack. Luckily the QP was fairly empty and the shower was free because there is only one shower in the lounge. A refreshing shower and a change of clothes later, I set about scouting the breakfast food on offer at the buffet. Along with the usual continental variety, there were mini-sausages and baked beans available. One notable absence was the famed cheese scones cooked by one of the beloved staff of the QP kitchen. When she came out to replace some items on the buffet, I asked her about them (as well as thanking her for the many times they have been out there). Turns out that budget cuts had resulted in no more cheese being available; she added on top of that that there will be no more flour orderded either so it seems that scones will also be becoming scarce very soon.
WLG QP food: plain scone, baked beans and sausages
Requests to go to gate at WLG were made earlier than usual owing to the fact that security screening only takes place at the gate, which adds a bit of time between the lounge and the point of boarding. The vessel parked at gate 21 that was to carry me on one of my last flights on QFNZ domestic was JNC, which was unfortunately an all Y configuration (JNC = no C (business)), but at least the bulkhead has cut out sections at the foot level which meant satisfactory leg room for those in row 1 (as well as being able to stow baggage in the cut out).
Jetconnect 737-300 ZK-JNC at gate 21 at WLG
Flight: Jetconnect (Qantas) QF2704 Wellington (WLG) - Auckland (AKL D)
Depart: 0830h Sched; 0835h Actual
Aircraft: ZK-JNC Boeing 737-300
Distance: 299 mi (481 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 1D
On boarding, CSM Karen greeted all and I assumed my seat in 1D. 1E ended up being unoccupied so not too much to complain about. We pushed back pretty much on time and set off for AKL.
We had the somewhat uninteresting item of a ham and cheese croissant for a snack.
Jetconnect domestic snack of ham and cheese croissant
Before we were due to land in AKL, I gave one of the boxes of chocolates I bought at ADL to Karen and explained that it was my way of saying farewell to QFNZ domestic and the friendly cabin service. Even though the planes were really starting to show their age, the cabin crew on domestic services have never wavered in their friendliness and efficiency - probably a good rival for QantasLink crews of which I also enjoy the service of. I also explained that I was on a long journey today as part of a mileage run and farewell to QFNZ, then was just a bit surprised when Karen mentioned that she and her crew along with JNC were servicing my ongoing flight to ZQN. (Oh well, so I saved one box of chocolates).
Once we landed at AKL, we were supposed to assume one of the jetway gates, but there was construction happening around the QF end of the terminal and working out how to dock in and disembark with the construction vehicles in the way and not seemingly willing to budge caused our arrival time to be delayed immeasurably. Lucky that my connection was on the same delayed aircraft! We ended up assuming gate 22, a standoff bay normally reserved for DJ aircraft. Airstairs were connected and the understandably frustrated passengers deplaned onto the tarmac and headed into the building.
I proceeded without delay to the AKL QP to check weather conditions in the South Island to find that there was quite a bit of cold weather about and some delays and cancellations. Still, whether it was just blind bravery or otherwise, I decided to press on to ZQN. I had a glass of water with lemon from the AKL D QP buffet, which was otherwise a very sorry selection. I'm not sure whether they were transitioning between breakfast and all-day, but when I had a look at the buffet the only things available were fruits and basic savouries. Pretty disappointing.
The delayed disembarkation of the previous passengers necessarily bowled over any chance of an on time departure for the AKL-ZQN service, despite the ground crew doing a fairly good job to turn around the plane in 20 minutes. A PA announcement was made for all ZQN bound pax to proceed to the central security screening point in order to reach gate 22 for boarding. A long line had already formed at the screening point as boarding calls were already being made for the ZQN flight. Thankfully the line moved fairly quickly and it was off to gate 22 and out onto the tarmac for boarding.
Programs: QF WP, NZ GE, AA -, MH -, DJ -, VS -; HH GLD, PC GLD, SPG -
Posts: 855
Friday 29 May: AKL-WLG-AKL-ZQN-CHC-AKL (part 2)
Flight: Jetconnect (Qantas) QF2791 Auckland (AKL D) - Queenstown (ZQN)
Depart: 1015h Sched; 1042h Actual
Aircraft: ZK-JNC Boeing 737-300
Distance: 636 mi (1,026 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 1C
CSM Karen once again greeted me on board for what turned out to be a completely full flight! Must be the tourism numbers (or the fact that there is only one AKL-ZQN flight on QFNZ per day). Luckily we were not much more delayed than our original arrival delay, as we took off on the "perilous" flight to ZQN.
The snack served was a vegemite and cheese scroll, which on first appearance probably looked a bit worse for wear, plus the vegemite ensured for a fairly salty snack. A cup of black tea was quite a welcome treat to wash it down; alcohol was available but given that it was not after 4 pm, alcohol was not complimentary.
Jetconnect domestic snack of vegemite and cheese scroll
After the main service had cleared, Karen came up to me to thank me for the chocolates. She then offered me a complimentary selection from the alcohol, so I selected a white wine.
White wine from Marlborough, part of the mainstay wines on Jetconnect domestic
I got a quick nap just before we began descent into ZQN. The tops of snow-capped mountains could be seen amongst the low cloud as we began the complex approach path into ZQN. Landing in ZQN is normally flagged as quite an attraction, though naturally it's not as tight as some other precarious landings around the world (including the old HKG Kai Tak). Unfortunately, not being in the window position hindered my efforts to get a video on landing, so I simply enjoyed the swinging experience of gliding into the small airport at ZQN. Like many small airports around the world, ZQN has only standoff bays. We did a 180-degree turn at the end of the runway and taxiied back to the tarmac. Stairs were in position as I said goodbye to Karen and the crew and headed into the terminal building.
Inside Queenstown terminal
Outside Queenstown terminal - a lush green and snow capped mountain meet in flat perspective
Although this is probably true for most airports in NZ's South Island, ZQN has to be one of the most picturesque airports, the hills around the airport forming a beautiful landscape with some bathed in radiant sunshine and others gracefully capped in snow. I headed outside to be immediately spotted by a shuttle bus driver-operator. He pointed me to a shuttle which was legit, but I almost did a double-take when he revealed the fee of NZD 15. Still, it was probably going to go earlier than the next Connectabus.
A Quickie in Queenstown
ZQN airport is about the same distance away from town as WLG airport is away from its city centre. Throughout the trip I could not help phasing out in fits of microsleep, even though our driver was consistently piping in with information. I somehow miraculously woke up just as we pulled up to a spot in the city centre.
Two views from downtown Queenstown
Now with about 3 hours up my sleeve, it was time for some exploring. A few things for those who have not travelled to ZQN. First, in the city centre, there are no traffic lights. Second, there are hardly any locals - most of the faces you see around ZQN are tourists! No joke. As I walked around in the picturesque little town, I marvelled at the mosaic of randomly shaped and styled buildings as well as the multitude of people wandering around. It was as if the entire city centre was a giant mall with a few vehicles going around and about. I'd managed to forget to bring my scarf with me (it was sitting snug in my baggage back at the AKL airport i-Site), but somehow it wasn't piercingly cold so I managed to get by solely with my tough jacket from Rivers Australia.
Unfortunately, that day the Queenstown gondola was closed for maintenance (it was closed for a good month and for another week after), so that rubbed out one big attraction I would have liked to have experienced. I was told of a place called Fergburger and upon inspecting their website and the comments, it seems everyone had to try a Fergburger when you're in ZQN . Well, whatever - I could use a bite. Being the foolish daring person that I am, I selected the "Big Al", which from the description looked like a burger with the works and the lot. The photo below isn't very telling, but let's just say they weren't lying at all (but big kudos to an otherwise fresh and tasty burger!).
The Fergburger "Big Al" - truly a concoction of worthy challenge
It was when I was paying for my burger that I realised something was wrong: my drivers license was missing from my wallet. Where did I lose it? The avid reader has probably connected the pieces and realised that I must have left it at the i-Site in AKL airport. I called the AKL i-Site (thank you roaming, but no thank you to the exhorbitant charges, oh well) and they reported no licenses had been handed in. I thought not to worry about it any more and in case it was really lost I would just have to call Queensland Transport to get a new one. I'm not one that lets go of worry very easily, but somehow I managed to successfully justify to myself that there was no use feeling stunted in worry and just to continue the day. After finishing my massive burger, I went outside again and headed through a warren of malls and shops until I found the ZQN waterfront. What a sight for sore eyes: all at once, the word "picturesque" had been completely redefined.
Various shots of the absolutely gorgeous eye-candy, Queenstown harbour
Fatigue was starting to creep up on me again, so I set out to find a coffee shop to get a caffeine hit. I found a lovely small cafe near a park next to the harbour which doubled as a shop selling ice cream and chocolates. It was a bit hard to resist so I ordered a slice of white chocolate with apricots as well as the largest latte they could make. The largest size of coffee was termed a 'soup bowl'. I laughed this off at first, but found myself soon eating my own words (no puns intended).
White chocolate slice with apricots
Soup bowl of latte
The cafe had free wireless for customers, so I managed to fire up my eeePC and do a bit of surfing whilst supping on my coffee and nibbling at the chocolate. I polished off the coffee and chocolate before deciding that I should probably see a bit more of ZQN before I have to head back to the airport.
I went out to another square which was next to the harbour and once again could not help but marvel at the sheer beauty of the setting; some may say this sounds really dopey, but I was snapping photos like I was working for a company that sold picturesque postcards. There was a statue of a moa (an extinct bird) at the edge of the square next to the harbour. A kind passerby took a photo of me in front of the beautiful harbour.
Statue of the moa
Me in front of the Queenstown harbour with a boat at its berth.
I did a bit more random walking around ZQN, which really was liberally littered with souvenir shops and stores stocking plenty of gear required for hiking, cold weather, camping and the like. Amongst the plethora of stores were backpacker hostels abound. There wasn't much more to see (most of the attractions about ZQN need a decent bus ride or the like), so I set about trying to get back to the airport. At first, I thought I was going to call the shuttle bus company again to arrange a pickup, but then I saw the Connectabus pull up at a stop just a block away from the tourist centre, so I quickly ran for it and just managed to board in time.
Just like my ride from the airport, there was much beautiful scenery to see outside, but I phased in and out in microsleeps until we arrived back at the airport. As Kiwi Flyer had cautioned me before, if it isn't entering ZQN that I should be scared about, it is getting out of ZQN. Although it was still quite bright when I arrived at the airport, all it would take is a quick retreating sun and my plan of getting out of ZQN on the same day would be doomed.
Outside ZQN showing low cloud amongst the hills
Three person statue with a green stone - an exhibit in front of the entrance to ZQN airport
I approached the check-in counters for QFNZ and got my BP, the male agent at the counter confirming that there was a bit of delay to the incoming aircraft for my service to CHC. I could only hope that it wasn't significantly delayed so that we could make the sun down closure of ZQN.
ZQN has a large common landside area with security screening leading to the gate area which has no facilities (except for toilets and a couple of vending machines), so most people stay landside until they are told to go through screening. ZQN has no QP but it does have a regional KC, however just like I found out that morning, even as a GE since I was not flying with NZ out of ZQN I could not access the KC. So I managed to find a seat adjacent to the very large glass wall separating passengers from the tarmac. I watched the FIDs and the skies carefully hoping that the Jetconnect aircraft taking us to CHC would arrive soon. I watched a NZ ATR touch down as the minutes ticked by; it is interesting to see how aircraft approach the runway and you can actually see all of the action as the plane turns carefully within the hills as it glides into position, lining itself up with the runway before touching down.
Afternoon at ZQN airport tarmac - a critical time for flights
Finally, the aircraft that would convey passengers on QF2772 to CHC came into land at ZQN...
At this point, passengers on the CHC flight were told to proceed through security into the gate lounge; probably not a bad idea since any further delays caused by waiting for tardy pax might just shut off any possibility of leaving ZQN altogether. A long crowd-snake queued and trudged slowly through the screening point and as I sat inside the gate lounge, I saw one of the potential sources of additional delay: there were three disabled pax that needed to deplane at ZQN. Each one - one at a time - was escorted off the aircraft in a special lift; a slow process that ate up valuable time. Add to this the requirements of QF2772, which had one disabled pax and one UM. Would we make it out of ZQN in time???
Finally, a general boarding call was made at gate 6, and it seems we were just going to make it out of ZQN before lights out...
Programs: QF WP, NZ GE, AA -, MH -, DJ -, VS -; HH GLD, PC GLD, SPG -
Posts: 855
Friday 29 May: AKL-WLG-AKL-ZQN-CHC-AKL (part 3)
Jetconnect 737-300 ZK-JNB parked at ZQN ready for boarding
Flight: Jetconnect (Qantas) QF2772 Queenstown (ZQN) - Christchurch (CHC M)
Depart: 1630h Sched; 1651h Actual
Aircraft: ZK-JNB Boeing 737-300
Distance: 216 mi (348 km)
Class: Economy
Seat: 1A
I strided out onto the tarmac in the face of the cool ZQN weather, then bounded up the airstairs to be greeted by the bright and beautiful CSM Chelseye. This time I managed to get a window seat, which I usually prefer when I'm travelling new routes and/or to new destinations. As the time ticked closer to 5 pm, there was always the fear that we might not make it out of ZQN on time, however with a handful of minutes to spare, the front door was closed, we pushed back and took off from ZQN just as the hour ticked over.
w00t! I did it! I went to ZQN and got out on the same day! (Absolutely no offence, disrespect or frivolty to your advice, Kiwi Flyer, but I guess as a consolation, I did come very close to being stuck in ZQN).
Soon after levelling out of an interesting climb from ZQN, refreshments were offered in the form of a white chocolate chip cookie or an apple. I decided to give the cookie the flick in favour of some fruit, which I had been neglecting for the day and made a note that I would need to rectify this when I got to the CHC KC after this flight.
ZQN-CHC is a mere 50 minute flight (about the same time as SYD-CBR), but we left ZQN with the sun just setting and approached CHC in close to pitch darkness. So much for the window seat, but I could make out a bit of landscape just before the outside started to get quite dark. Christchurch barely sparkled in the distance as we descended into CHC; once we landed with a thud, we taxiied from the very dark runway area towards the speckle of light coming from the terminal and we docked at gate 3.
Once the plane was at the gate, I stood aside in the galley as passengers disembarked, then offered my second box of chocolates to Chelseye. I quickly explained why I was giving the gifts and she couldn't help but give me a big hug. She mentioned she was going to leave them in the crew room, but I warned her that unless she wasn't interested in sharing the chocs with her fellow crew that that may not be such a hot idea. I said goodbye to the lovely Chelseye with her parting remark being that she'll probably still be around in Jetconnect for a while.
I would have liked to visit the CHC D QP once I was inside the terminal, but unfortunately the QP was closed already (since the last QF departure had already gone). So there was no point staying in the QF side of the terminal and I quickly headed downstairs and towards the NZ check-in. Like AKL and WLG, the CHC check-in area for NZ is set up in the same self-service-centric fashion, although it appeared a lot more crowded with more "islands" of kiosks (the crowded feeling was probably not helped by the fact that the ceiling was a lot lower than that in AKL). Most of the shops in CHC are located landside; CHC D airside is pretty bland. The KC is located beyond security on the upper level.
Air New Zealand Domestic Koru Club Christchurch (looking back at the entrance from the inside)
As I went in, I was greeted by the female lounge attendant who helped me scan me in after, once again, I had failed to do it myself completely in 2 seconds (it's not that I didn't know, it just seemed that I was a bit too slow ). She had a look at my BP and gave me a wry look and said perhaps I could go home on an earlier flight. I mentioned to her that my fare was a restrictive Smart Saver, but she simply remarked that I was an 'Elite' so she had a look at whether a change was possible. Turns out that it was possible, but at the cost of about NZD 150; we both looked at each other and jointly remarked that the decision of whether to change or not was a no-brainer. So she welcomed me into the lounge and I plonked myself on one of the large benches that had power points underneath the table; mainly because I wanted to do some internet surfing, but also that the rest of the tables around the KC were pretty much occupied, plus there wasn't much view to speak of outside.
The evening selection of food in the KC is very much superior to that of QF, with a diverse array of hot food that was regularly topped up; one of the feature dishes was a fish pie, which was really just a misleading name for a creamy bake of fish combined with vegetables. It was sided with rice mixed with a bit of spinach, plus there was plenty of other food available, both sweet and savoury.
KC food - rich tomato soup (of correct consistency, may I add!) and a cheese scone. The QF thing you can see in the bottom right corner is a BP wallet which I used to put my NZ BP in.
KC food - fish pie with spinach rice, plus three kinds of salad
I ate so much that night; the richness and fat hopefully mitigated somewhat by the promise of exercise that night (i.e. dragging my bag through AKL to my accommodation) plus copious amounts of green tea and water consumed (and not a single sip of alcohol). As I ate dinner, I checked up on my PMs on FT to communicate the good news about ZQN with Kiwi Flyer as well as discuss about our possible upgrade tomorrow. Our chances for an upgrade according to Kiwi Flyer were mixed, with Expert Flyer loadings going hither and thither, so his assessments were varying between "impossible" and "too close to call". Either way, it looked like Kiwi Flyer would be going without checked baggage the next day (and not-too-silently wished I was also travelling the same way), plus we would be meeting someone else in the SYD T1 FL the next day, igel. I think we were also settled on accommodation arrangements in SIN (more on this the next day).
It was getting close to boarding time, however propagated delays throughout the day had pushed my departure time back by quite a bit, so I thought it was not a bad opportunity to have a shower. Somewhat sheepishly, I walked up to the front counter and started by admitting my being a greenhorn to the KC and asked how does one go about having a shower (it didn't come out exactly that way, but you get the idea!). The male desk agent jovially led me to where the showers were, remarking cheekily on the way as to what in the world was my NZ BP doing in a QF BP wallet ("What's your boarding pass doing in that?! (points to my Qantas BP wallet) It'll (my NZ BP) self-destruct in there!" ). Basically, KC showers are completely self-contained. Towel packs are included on a shelf and there is a hamper basket to put used towels. Amenities like shampoo etc. are included in pump bottles in the shower, as well as moisturiser was provided near the vanity sink. A nice refreshing shower later, my flight was being called, so I bid farewell to the jovial front desk attendant and proceeded around the corner to gate 16 to board my flight back to AKL.
Flight: Air New Zealand NZ554 Christchurch (CHC M) - Auckland (AKL D)
Depart: 2020h Sched; 2036h Actual
Aircraft: ZK-NGM Boeing 737-300
Distance: 463 mi (746 km)
Class: Economy (Space+)
Seat: 2F
I was a bit absent-minded when I booked this flight as I wanted to try the evening Koru Hour service, but instead I had booked this flight by mistake. Oh well, at least I got a long stay in the KC to make up for it (along with all that delicious food). The flight was the last direct CHC-AKL flight for the day, which might have explained why the aircraft was pretty much full with only a few seats empty.
Once we were in the air, the standard non-Koru Hour service was offered. It took me a little bit to understand what my options were (hey, I was translating into English on the fly), but eventually I think I heard out "crisps, choc-chip cookie or lollies". I selected the chocolate chip cookie, which was satisfactory enough for the purpose at hand. It is kinda odd and cool in a way how NZ package their food with their own branding.
A flight from CHC to AKL is similar in length to a flight between SYD and MEL, but it is the longest flight in the NZ domestic golden triangle (i.e. AKL/WLG/CHC). We landed into AKL and docked in at gate 29, whereupon the several tired pax filed off the plane.
I had to head back to the international terminal to get my bag; whilst I could have left it at the airport (for an additional fee, since I would be over 24 hours), I needed to repack a little bit, so I had to retrieve it. In hindsight, I could have saved all of this trouble by staying at the airport and bunking it for a night; ah well, lesson learned. But I'm digressing....I got back to the i-Site and handed over my bag reclaim tag to the lady at the counter. She soon came back out, and lo and behold, what is that laying in the hole where my baggage handle is stowed away? Yep, you guessed it, my drivers license! The lady this morning must have realised I left it behind and put it with my bag. I'm guessing that the reader is smart enough to realise the amount of relief that washed over me when I found my license there.
Anyway, next stop was the bus rank to get the last Airbus to the city. The Airbus was running a bit behind schedule but when it arrived I stated where I was going only to be told that the bus doesn't run fairly close to my accommodation. I realised this and told the driver, then I stowed my bag away and we were soon off to Auckland city.
The last Airbus wasn't full, but we still managed to stop at many of the stops as we traversed through the city. Eventually, I was the only one left on the bus, so the bus driver, being ever so kind, dropped me off about a block away from Nelson St where my accommodation was. I couldn't thank her enough in the end, since carting my 23 kg bag plus my backpack up and down the hills of AKL was starting to be a real challenge (normally it wouldn't, but I was rather tired and sleep deprived). I eventually found my accommodation on Nelson St; it just so happened to be on the far, high end of the street (near K road).
Hotel: Quest on Nelson
Room Type: One Bedroom Standard
Room Location: 1st Floor
Although the Qantas ReadyRooms site touts that the Quest on Nelson serviced apartments has a 24 hour reception, in reality the "reception" outside of normal hours is handled via an intercom to the caretakers. I used the intercom to retrieve my keys from the locker box as well as confirm procedures for checkout the next day, since I needed to leave before reception would open.
My room at the Quest on Nelson
For the price that I paid for the room, the space was quite generous and quite well furnished and clean, although I was not quite impressed by the bathroom/laundry, which looked very much older than the simple splendour of the living area and bedroom.
For the rest of the night and into the first couple of hours of the next day, I set about straitening and preparing things. Devices were put on charge, clothes were sorted out (some washed and dried thanks to the washing machine and drier in the bathroom, although I do have to admit some reservation running the machines so late at night in case someone decided to get livid with me), bags were strategically repacked and so on. It was only after I had handled quite a few things that I started to get really tired and although there were still quite a few of my belongings strewn about, I eventually crept into bed and fell asleep.
Programs: QF WP, NZ GE, AA -, MH -, DJ -, VS -; HH GLD, PC GLD, SPG -
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Saturday 30 May: AKL-SYD-SIN (part 1)
Saturday, 30 May 2009
Now, you're probably thinking, "This crazy person has gone two days without much or any sleep, and now you're telling me he only gets another two hours now?!! How does he do it??" Truth be told, I don't know the answer to that question either.
Now there are two kinds of early morning flights at AKL: those that are too early to take the Airbus to make it in time, and those which you can take the Airbus and make the plane. Although early morning flights are never a great joy (unless the airport experience makes up for it), I was lucky that my flight fell into the latter category. I was still quite tired when I woke up, so everything fell into place a bit more slowly than usual. I dreaded the possibility of having a shower given that it was so early in the morning and it was freezing, plus the shower was not in the greatest state (coupling that with the very old fittings), so I decided to defer that until I got into the AKL FL or SYD FL (depending on how much time I have up my sleeve).
I was so slow with getting ready and packing up (mostly because, given my tired state, I had become quite paranoid of checking that I had all my belongings, but in particular I was checking for all of my electronics and their chargers) that I didn't get the Airbus that I had planned on catching to the airport (which was the first Airbus of the day). The next service was the last one I could possibly catch before I either had to resort to a taxi to get to AKL airport, or miss my flight - both undesirable options. And walking from Nelson St to the Civic Theatre on cnr Queen and Wellesley Sts was no easy feat in the morning, especially when tired and hungry.
I left the room key on the table as instructed and proceeded with my 23 kg luggage in tow into the cold. Although normally walking the distance with a bit of weight in tow is not a problem for me, this morning the combination of cold, tiredness and hunger ensured that the journey was not without difficulty. I had to stop quite often to give my weakened hands a rest, or to keep pressing on by pulling the luggage with the other hand. You get the idea. Eventually I got to the Airbus stop near the Civic Theatre with a few minutes to spare.
Now there's another scare: did the bus come early? Having to rely on buses for a long time, I've come to know that services in hours without traffic have a notorious reputation for being early, and not waiting for pax unless the stop is a designated 'timing point', which is probably why there is always the hidden disclaimer to arrive at the stop at least five minutes in advance of departure. As I watched the few people stumble around (mainly drunks and couples going home after a good night out, or finding somewhere to demolish something for breakfast), my mind raced with contingency plans in case the Airbus didn't arrive. I didn't have to worry too much longer, for within a few minutes (which felt like a few hours) the Airbus finally pulled up approximately six minutes late. I got on board, showed my return pass and was finally off to the airport. Time for a sigh of relief.
At the airport, I proceeded to the QF premium check-in area. There was already a little bit of a queue developing at premium check-in, but I was attended to within a few minutes. It was nice to have a "rational" day schedule for a change, mainly because the check-in agent, although kind, didn't have to ask where the hell I was flying and why. I was checked in and was very disappointed to be handed a BP printed in the new cardboard barcode style rather than using the former premium BP stock (e.g. with the slate-coloured stripe top for Business). Actually, what had happened is that the BP stock was supposed to be for the old regular BP but the computer printed the text on the BP as if it were supposed to be the new style with a barcode, so most of the information on the BP appeared in the wrong areas/fields. Magenta bag tag was added to my routing tag on my luggage; since there are no F flights out of AKL, even as a WP the agent said I could not have a yellow tag on my bag. Someting else was also rather different...my ongoing SYD-SIN BP had seat 5A assigned...
Oh yes, I could not believe it - the F upgrade had gone through! I was travelling First Suite today!
My BP proudly displayed "First" at the top. I remarked my surprise and delight to the agent, but she seemed a bit too tired or uninterested to care or even flinch, so I left things as they were and wished her well for a good day. Pre-cleared immigration in the premium check-in area and got my BP stickered before it was up to the departures level. Pre-clearance pretty much saves around 3 minutes at this time of the morning when it wasn't awfully busy, so then it was through security screening before heading up to the Qantas lounges. AKL has a First lounge, but it's not as good as the famous creations in SYD T1 and MEL T2; instead, it was simply a separate area of the lounge with much the same facilities, decor and food, so nothing really to write home about, although I guess there was some comfort in being somewhere away from the QP (a.k.a. Qantas Plebians - don't worry, I can say that, because I was a pleb for a long time...)
Once I was directed to turn left into the First area, I had no trouble finding Kiwi Flyer in the small lounge, who was taking care of business (as usual) in the business centre. Joining him in the centre was serfty, who I can't remember if he was on his way home or away for another of his signature KUPP/YUPP runs. serfty had one look at me and proclaimed, "Geez anat0l look at you! You look so jaded!" (I later looked up what "jaded" meant in this context...) All I could do in my tired state was shrug.
We ended up having a nice catch-up and chat, so I didn't have a shower in AKL nor did I eat anything for breakfast (not that I was concerned anyway - I had at least two opportunities that morning to have breakfast!), and Kiwi Flyer ended up not getting much work done. For my part, I really just wanted to have a nap on the flight coming up (which should be comfy enough in J), so when our boarding call was made at gate 3, we didn't flitz around but instead said goodbye to serfty and made our way to the aircraft.
Flight: Qantas Airways QF142 Auckland (AKL I) - Sydney (SYD T1)
Depart: 0850h Sched; 0843h Actual
Aircraft: VH-OGJ "Port Macquarie" Boeing 767-300
Distance: 1,341 mi (2,162 km)
Class: Business
Seat: 2K
Not many people in J for this flight, although I'm still glad that a 763 operates on this sector as I'm not the biggest fan of the 737 aircraft operating Trans-Tasman (just as much as I'm not the biggest fan of 737 flights to and from PER). The rest of the plane must have been lightly loaded because boarding was completed fairly quickly. Noise cancelling headphones, blankets and pillows were pre-distributed on each J seat; Kiwi Flyer took the aisle seat and I took the window. Kiwi Flyer managed to flick through the reading material he had at the time (I can't remember whether it was a magazine or newspaper) before we took off. Menus were distributed before take off; the menu can be found here. The menu presentation was pretty disappointing; it was just plain type on a white piece of cardboard with some sort of border that was only slightly more fancy than a plain double line - any decent schlub would be able to whip up the menu on Microsoft Word in five minutes. Probably the most lame professional touch effort since putting flowers in the J bathrooms .
Hot towels and pre-breakfast drinks were served soon after levelling out and the seat belt sign being switched off. Kiwi Flyer selected his mainstay tomato juice, whilst I selected my trusty green tea. Breakfast was soon being offered, and normally I would select one of the warm options since I readily dismiss the continental option as being pretty standard and pedestrian, but I wanted to get more sleep on this flight, plus none of the hot options really jumped out at me as being worthy of trying, which meant I could probably get a better selection at the SYD FL. So I selected the continental breakfast with the muesli option; I was quite impressed that I was asked to choose which kind of milk I'd like, as I would have thought that would have required special prompting, but not to be as the FA kindly asked "skim or full cream milk" and I was happy to select the former, which was promptly served up with a croissant from the bakery tray and a packet of vegemite.
Pre-breakfast green tea. Looks a bit underfilled, doesn't it? I hope they weren't thinking that I might want to add milk or sugar to it...and no, I hadn't drunk any of it at this point...
Qantas Trans-Tasman Business Continental Breakfast
The muesli was very nice, although it was a bit awkward eating a shallow amount of muesli in a relatively deep bowl using a big flat head spoon. Also, I probably should have waited for the muesli to soak a bit more, because although I was alright, other people might have found the multitude of seeds, nuts and grains a bit too crunchy for their liking (and I would not recommend this for anyone with weak teeth unless you really soak the muesli!). The croissant (amongst most of the other items in the bakery tray) was rather burnt on one side, so much so that instead of splitting the croissant open I simply spread the vegemite on the hard side and ate the croissant like a piece of toast!
Kiwi Flyer selected the cheese omelette with a side of raisin toast. The cheese omelette didn't look very appealing, sort of resembling a piece of yellow rubber not unlike that of yellow gumboots (or galoshes as known to some). Luckily it didn't seem to taste that way, although Kiwi Flyer later said that it was still a disappointment.
Breakfast was soon cleared away and Kiwi Flyer kept himself busy for the rest of the flight by watching the IFE, whilst I got some shut eye. Once I woke up, we were beginning descent into SYD, landing shortly after without delay to dock into gate 34.
Kiwi Flyer wanted to get a flying start towards the international transfer point since he warned me about the possibility of all the transfers arising from people arriving on all the early morning flights. We proceeded briskly to the fairly empty transfer point as Kiwi Flyer characteristically plonked his bag on the belt and beat a hasty retreat before he got selected for secondary. I, on the other hand, went through slower and was pulled aside for a secondary check (not that I minded - I had a nice chat with the bloke who was patting me down, and no do not start making up stuff or getting any ideas!!!) It was then up the stairs to the main oneworld concourse, then another floor up to the Qantas lounges. While Kiwi Flyer opted for the lift, I went the long way and took the escalator.
(*sigh* Smart Saver fares)
Prologue: the Evolution of a Status Run...
before more flying on the SC run. That situation changed very abruptly 
. A post on AFF revealed a sale around ADL, MEL and ASP; this was Qantas's silent reply to Tiger's sale on their new sectors. With crazy prices to ASP, I thought this gave me a chance to get to the Australian centre at a price I would probably never see again. This would mean usurping another spare day, but the temptation was too great 
). A few scattered plates of tapas and the like adorned the tables; everybody had already had lunch and even though I could have used a bit of a bite, I felt it was too late to order anything so I didn't bother. A good time was had talking to everybody, even though I was a bit tired from the early start. People began to move in and out of Mondo's until about 3-4pm, when the crowd mostly started to break up. I mostly started moving because wijomas had my NZ pack and needed to get some cash. I had to do similar on account of paying for dinner, so I decided to join him.
). By the time we got back to the Hilton, it was almost time for the Executive Lounge to open, so a quick shower and change later, it was off to the lounge.
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