As someone interested in Eithad F and who's been to Sydney and other parts of Australia, I want to compliment you on both counts. Your TR provides a good sense of F and your Australia photos are great.

Love your comment re District 9
And the tilt-shift photoshop work (railway station)

I am glad this TR got bumped. In part this TR has prompted me to 'push the button'. My trip home to Oz for Christmas will be in the lap of luxury you describe so beautifully in both words and pictures. I only have to wait another 6 months.

Great report so far, I`m happy you enjoyed the place I call home. Come back anytime

Thank you for sharing!! Lovely photos -- I REALLY need to try Etihad. I had a similar deal on mile earning with Gulf Air. I became ill in BKK and had to forfeit my onward ticket so I had to purchase a one way back to London. Bought a one-way business class ticket and with a triple mile promo for signing up for the GF FFP plus triple miles for Business class plus some other bonuses I had enough mile on one trip for another business class ticket or 2 First class tickets BKK-KUL. Ended up using them for BKK-KUL, route ended up being cancelled so GF routed us BKK-BAH-Muscat-KUL!!

Great report. Thanks for sharing. Really enjoyed reading this.

Do you have any additional details on the hotels or other parts of your journey up to the northeast that you could share?

So Etihad now ows me some kind of commission?
Have fun in Australia - and enjoy your flight.

Thanks - i really enjoyed my time in Australia. And i would love to come back soon Only problem is, that right now i cant take a vacation for more than a few days - and as much as i love flying - its a little too far...

If your are interested in any particular place i visited just ask.
The complete itinerary in Australia was:
Sydney - Hervey Bay with a Virgin Embraer 190
Hervey Bay - Brisbane with a Qantaslink Dash 8-300
Brisbane - Mackay with a Jetstar A 320
Mackay-Cairns with a Qantaslink Dash 8-300
Cairns-Sydney with a Jetstar A 320
all the flights booked in Economy Class - and to be honest - i don`t remember much about them.
As for Hotels - i experienced the whole range on offer: for example the Hilton in Sydney, a Backpacker Hostel in Brisbane (the bed was smaller than on the plane ), a Motel in Mackay, a Resort on Fraser Island and a furnished Appartment in Cairns.
Most of the hotels i simply choose because of the location - aside from the first days in Sydney - and three nights in Cairns at the end of the trip i only stayed for one night in most places.

I flew business class Etihad LHR-Abu Dhabi-BKK last year, and gained 20k miles. As I was unlikely to use those miles in the forseeable future, I was happy to find that you can use your miles to buy goods on the Etihad webpage.

I got a totally free pair of excellent Ray Ban sunglasses...and guess what, they arrived 2 (yes TWO) days after ordering them online all the way from Dubai!

Excellent service! (And the flights were mostly good too).

thanks for your report I'm considering EY for my trip down under.

Outstanding photography!^

I am so happy this thread got bumped, otherwise I would have never had the chance to appreciate the excellent photography.

Thank you - and what a coincidence that it got bumped right now when you are writing about a trip that also took you to Australia! Did you also have a chance to visit Sydney during your trip?

Unfortunately I did not make it to Sydney or Melbourne. I was so tired and also needed to be in Singapore for a couple of meeting after visiting Brisbane. Hopefully, I will get a chance for a relaxing trip to the land down under soon!

Lovely photographs! Need to do this journey too!

Ya know having done allot of searching now at Ethiad and Emirates...sure Emirates has allot of gold everything in their suites but I think I much prefer Ethiad with it's understated look. Opulence need not be gaudy or flashy. ^

I'm glad this got bumped, too. Don't know how I missed it the first time.
You've done a fabulous report...many thanks.