what to do in transit in darwin.
 

hi all,

im in a situation such that i have to transit in darwin on sin-sydney this saturday. Could i solicit opinions as to what to expect at darwin between 0430 and 0730 in the morning. im not qf club member so i won't be able to use the lounge.

Thank you

Very little unfortunately except for deligent and polite AQIS officers looking for wooden articles brought in from Indo and SEA. The terminal offers little, even during civilised hours. Head for a space invader machine or a water cooler for entertainment. Alternatively read about crocodiles in the local newspaper.

Meloz

Watch the sunrise?
As meloz says there is very little to do in Darwin at that time and even less at the airport. I doubt that there is even activity at the air force base across the tarmac to look at.
So find a place to snuggle up and rest.

Spend the time wishing you you didn't have to spend time in transit. If you are lucky, your inbound flight will be very late so you can spend the time in SIN.

I thought SEA was more famous for planes of the metal kind rather than the wooden sort. :)

South East Asia. :D

Yeah, I was just having some fun. I've been away a few weeks and needed to get back into the FT swing. Although, for our NA (that's North America not Not Applicable) based Ft'er, Seattle would be the first thing to come to mind.

:( thanks for the responses... not exactly the response i wanted to hear but oh welll....

There are always PSP or DS to play with.
Otherwise, read or book or hit the sack.

On the plus side, be glad you get to get your Immigrations and Customs formalities out of the way in DRW, because as uninteresting as the main terminal is in DRW (with a small selection of shops to choose from), I can assure you it's even bleaker remaining in transit in the international side of the terminal (which contains one cafe stall, and a small duty free shop).

If you haven't already taken a look, it's worth taking a peek at http://www.darwinairport.com.au/DIIndex.htm to see all the wonders on offer at DRW. At least changing from International to Domestic terminals is a breeze in DRW (well they're one and the same there), which can't be said for the likes of SYD or PER in comparison.

im not sure what to think of transiting in darwin... good to know its a small airport... but when it comes to customs and immigration, the question will then be will they be more strict than sydney or melbourne. Usually in sydney or Melbourne, they just put my bags into the x-ray machine and they can't even be bothered to look into my bag of food since its just chocolates.

I hate to dread the though that some super zealous female customs officer will want to tear thru my bag and go thru my underwear :D :D at 4 am in the morning...

but thanks anyway for the input.... this is why flyertalk is so good... ^ ^

I've been through DRW customs twice and remember them being quite thorough.

Meloz

Do you have a problem with your underwear is being checked at 4 in the morning? ;)

Do you even wear underwear at 4 in the morning? :p

I presume you are taking the QF82.

I thought that service changed to SIN-DRW-ADL and won't goto SYD?

I took that flight from DRW to SYD(via ADL) in March.

I thought even for the SIN bund pax who are going to SYD they will need to clear immigration and customs @ SYD as I remember I needed a D sticker and the flight arrives at the international terminal in SYD?

So, I think you will only clear customs/immigration in DRW if that is your final destintion.

As for the DRW airport. If you don't have QP access it can be a quite a bad place to be as the boarding/gate area is quite small and almost impossible to find a chair to sit on.