Circling The Pacific: The Long Way To Down Under - LAX-HKG-SYD-BNE-LAX on CX F/J QF J
Sep 14, 2014, 10:42 pm
#31
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Southern California
Programs: Alaska MVPG; Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 223
Sydney
Sydney:
We left our flying hotel room from the front door, feeling somewhat refreshed from being able to get some decent sleep. Immigration was a breeze, and fast track passes were not even necessary.
We opted to take the Airport Link to Circular Quay, which cost about $32USD for two of us. The train took roughly 20 minutes from the International terminal to Circular Quay.
From Circular Quay we walked 10 minutes to our home for the next three nights, the Park Hyatt Sydney. We arrived on the first day of spring, and the weather was nearly perfect.
I'm sure there have been many reports covering the Park Hyatt Sydney, but you really don’t realize how stunning this property is until you've seen it. It’s situated right under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, with views of the Opera House from nearly every room. It’s also the only hotel in this area, and is really unique in that it also sits right on the water. Literally every time we walked back to our hotel from the city, I wanted to pull out my camera and snap a few pictures, like these:
We stayed in an 800sq ft Opera King room with a stunning view of the Opera House. Literally every morning we'd wake up, fire up the Nespresso, and enjoy the view for a good 30 minutes.
Still stunning, even with the giant crane slightly blocking the view.
The rooms also have a very large bathroom with double sinks, and a shower room, that includes the shower and bathtub.
On the first day we explored the CBD and Darling Harbour. I was feeling the effects of the long redeye slightly and didn't think to take many photos of Darling Harbour. I also didn't find it all that interesting, considering it was afternoon in the middle of the week and wasn't particularly crowded or happening.
The second day we ventured out to the Surry Hills neighborhood for brunch, taking the free CBD shuttle from Circular Quay to Central Station, then walking a few blocks east.
Outside Central Station.
Surry Hills Library, where we hid out from the rain, and used the free Wifi.
On the way back we stopped by Hyde Park.
And tried out the Aussie version of Din Tai Fung at the Westfield Sydney mall.
More dumplings.
On the third day we opted not to do the bridge climb, as it was cold, windy, and rainy, and instead chose to walk across the bridge to North Sydney.
The Rocks neighborhood, on our way to the Bridge.
North Sydney, on the other side of the Bridge
View from the other side of the Bridge.
Afterwards, we decided to head to Chinatown for (in my opinion) the absolute highlight of our Sydney trip: Malaysia Hawker Food at Petaling Street.
This bowl of laksa essentially convinced us that our next trip needs to be Singapore and Malaysia
Hainan Chicken
Roti
And we found a place that sells green tea soft serve for $1AUD
Having loved our room so much, we splurged and went for room service the last night. Being in Australia, of course we ordered burgers, fries, milkshakes, and a smoked salmon ceasar salad.
Silly Americans...
And finally, after 3 wonderful nights, it was time to check out and say goodbye, but not without enjoying the view one last time...
We left our flying hotel room from the front door, feeling somewhat refreshed from being able to get some decent sleep. Immigration was a breeze, and fast track passes were not even necessary.
We opted to take the Airport Link to Circular Quay, which cost about $32USD for two of us. The train took roughly 20 minutes from the International terminal to Circular Quay.
From Circular Quay we walked 10 minutes to our home for the next three nights, the Park Hyatt Sydney. We arrived on the first day of spring, and the weather was nearly perfect.
I'm sure there have been many reports covering the Park Hyatt Sydney, but you really don’t realize how stunning this property is until you've seen it. It’s situated right under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, with views of the Opera House from nearly every room. It’s also the only hotel in this area, and is really unique in that it also sits right on the water. Literally every time we walked back to our hotel from the city, I wanted to pull out my camera and snap a few pictures, like these:
We stayed in an 800sq ft Opera King room with a stunning view of the Opera House. Literally every morning we'd wake up, fire up the Nespresso, and enjoy the view for a good 30 minutes.
Still stunning, even with the giant crane slightly blocking the view.
The rooms also have a very large bathroom with double sinks, and a shower room, that includes the shower and bathtub.
On the first day we explored the CBD and Darling Harbour. I was feeling the effects of the long redeye slightly and didn't think to take many photos of Darling Harbour. I also didn't find it all that interesting, considering it was afternoon in the middle of the week and wasn't particularly crowded or happening.
The second day we ventured out to the Surry Hills neighborhood for brunch, taking the free CBD shuttle from Circular Quay to Central Station, then walking a few blocks east.
Outside Central Station.
Surry Hills Library, where we hid out from the rain, and used the free Wifi.
On the way back we stopped by Hyde Park.
And tried out the Aussie version of Din Tai Fung at the Westfield Sydney mall.
More dumplings.
On the third day we opted not to do the bridge climb, as it was cold, windy, and rainy, and instead chose to walk across the bridge to North Sydney.
The Rocks neighborhood, on our way to the Bridge.
North Sydney, on the other side of the Bridge
View from the other side of the Bridge.
Afterwards, we decided to head to Chinatown for (in my opinion) the absolute highlight of our Sydney trip: Malaysia Hawker Food at Petaling Street.
This bowl of laksa essentially convinced us that our next trip needs to be Singapore and Malaysia
Hainan Chicken
Roti
And we found a place that sells green tea soft serve for $1AUD
Having loved our room so much, we splurged and went for room service the last night. Being in Australia, of course we ordered burgers, fries, milkshakes, and a smoked salmon ceasar salad.
Silly Americans...
And finally, after 3 wonderful nights, it was time to check out and say goodbye, but not without enjoying the view one last time...
Last edited by bhamsan01; Sep 29, 2014 at 11:25 pm
Sep 15, 2014, 4:07 pm
#33
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Southern California
Programs: Alaska MVPG; Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 223
Sep 16, 2014, 6:00 am
#34
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Oxon, UK
Programs: Mucci des canapes, Skywards Gold, BAEC, IC Plat Amb, LH FTV
Posts: 1,952
The Hyatt-Regency in SYD does have a great position - the only problem is that on occasions they berth a large cruise liner at the quay in front of the hotel - this changes the view somewhat!
Great TR though. Thanks
Great TR though. Thanks
Sep 16, 2014, 6:50 am
#35
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Nottingham
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 1,326
Also, lovely pictures of Sydney. Just returned from there myself. Absolutely loved Chinatown. It's usually the best value grub in most of the main cities.
Sep 16, 2014, 7:58 am
#36
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,723
Great and enjoyable report
Sep 17, 2014, 6:04 pm
#40
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Southern California
Programs: Alaska MVPG; Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 223
We had to venture into a bar to get it. Worth the hunt, and super delicious.
I miss the Laksa too.
Sep 17, 2014, 7:03 pm
#41
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Southern California
Programs: Alaska MVPG; Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 223
QF516 Business Class B767-300 Sydney to Brisbane (SYD-BNE)
Sydney to Brisbane:
With our time in Sydney coming to a close, we checked out of the Park Hyatt Sydney and opted to take a cab to the airport.
Check-in was a breeze, and we were issued boarding passes and passes to the domestic Business lounge.
The SYD domestic Business lounge literally blew every Admirals Club I’ve ever been to out of the water. They had a full breakfast spread and barrista making drinks to order.
This breakfast probably would have cost about $25AUD in Sydney.
Like I said before, not great at taking lounge pics. Maybe next time.
The lounge even had wifi, which for folks without an international data and phone plan, is like crack. The wifi login even provided stats for your flight, including how long it would take you to walk to your gate. Very useful for maximizing your time before a flight.
And thanks to my phone, we left the best domestic lounge I’ve ever set foot in and walked the whole 2 minutes to our plane waiting to take us to Brisbane.
Qantas 516
Sydney (SYD) – Brisbane (BNE)
B767-300
Thursday, September 4, 2014
10:05AM – 11:35AM
1hr30min
Seats 4J, 4K (Business Class)
We entered through the first door to a completely full business class. Even on a short domestic flight, Qantas unleashed a wide body 767, which was completely full.
And shame on me, I didn’t take a seat pic. I would describe it as a much cleaner and newer version of a domestic AA F seat with a leg rest.
No amenity kits (not like I was expecting to get one), but we did receive pre-departure beverages.
And iPads for everyone, tucked away in the seatback pocket.
Some views leaving SYD:
Impressively, within the hour and a half, Qantas served a full breakfast to about 30 business passengers. Having stuffed myself full in the lounge, I passed and just had some coffee, which tasted like the FAs mistakenly threw dirt into the coffee maker instead of coffee grounds.
But in all other respects, Qantas really put AA to shame as a domestic airline. Too bad they’re losing so much money.
Within no time, we arrived in Brisbane. For the first time ever, I think my bag was the first one out on the baggage carousel. My first impression of Qantas was very good!
Brisbane:
We took the train into Central station and walked literally through half of downtown to get to our airport. Being roughly 450 miles north of Sydney, Brisbane had quite a different climate. We only had about 23 hours in Brisbane, and wanted to see as much as we could. Also, our hotel room was pretty much the opposite of the Park Hyatt Sydney in terms of elegance and luxury, so we just decided it was best to spend as little time there as possible.
We first walked across the bridge from CBD to South Bank, which is described as “Brisbane’s premiere lifestyle and cultural destination.” I would love to take my kids here someday.
View of South Bank from the hotel.
View of CBD from South Bank.
Plus, a neat public urban beach pool, right on the river.
And having had such wonderful Malaysian food in Sydney, we wanted to give Brisbane a try. It wasn’t quite as good as Petaling Street, but still good nonetheless.
We ventured through the Royal Botanical Gardens and Queen Street mall, where most of the stores closed around 6:30pm. It was still quite busy, even much later than that. We bought some clothes for our son from Target, of all places. We really have a serious addiction to Target.
Later that night, we opted for sushi at Sono in the Queen Street Mall. This was the first place I’ve ever seen where the sushi chefs pull live lobsters from a tank and chop them up right in front of the diners to serve as sashimi. We weren’t that extreme (or rich), so we opted for the chef’s choice, sans live lobster.
Thank you, friend, for being so tasty!
We turned in for the night looking forward to our next flight, while learning that profanity is not censored on Australian TV, apparently. My overall impression of Brisbane was very positive, and I would love to come back and visit the Koala Sanctuary and ride the ferries up and down the river to explore different parts of the city. The weather was very mild and people very friendly. And, considering BNE-LAX is a somewhat easy award flight to book in J, I imagine I will likely be back. And next time, I'll pick a better hotel.
With our time in Sydney coming to a close, we checked out of the Park Hyatt Sydney and opted to take a cab to the airport.
Check-in was a breeze, and we were issued boarding passes and passes to the domestic Business lounge.
The SYD domestic Business lounge literally blew every Admirals Club I’ve ever been to out of the water. They had a full breakfast spread and barrista making drinks to order.
This breakfast probably would have cost about $25AUD in Sydney.
Like I said before, not great at taking lounge pics. Maybe next time.
The lounge even had wifi, which for folks without an international data and phone plan, is like crack. The wifi login even provided stats for your flight, including how long it would take you to walk to your gate. Very useful for maximizing your time before a flight.
And thanks to my phone, we left the best domestic lounge I’ve ever set foot in and walked the whole 2 minutes to our plane waiting to take us to Brisbane.
Qantas 516
Sydney (SYD) – Brisbane (BNE)
B767-300
Thursday, September 4, 2014
10:05AM – 11:35AM
1hr30min
Seats 4J, 4K (Business Class)
We entered through the first door to a completely full business class. Even on a short domestic flight, Qantas unleashed a wide body 767, which was completely full.
And shame on me, I didn’t take a seat pic. I would describe it as a much cleaner and newer version of a domestic AA F seat with a leg rest.
No amenity kits (not like I was expecting to get one), but we did receive pre-departure beverages.
And iPads for everyone, tucked away in the seatback pocket.
Some views leaving SYD:
Impressively, within the hour and a half, Qantas served a full breakfast to about 30 business passengers. Having stuffed myself full in the lounge, I passed and just had some coffee, which tasted like the FAs mistakenly threw dirt into the coffee maker instead of coffee grounds.
But in all other respects, Qantas really put AA to shame as a domestic airline. Too bad they’re losing so much money.
Within no time, we arrived in Brisbane. For the first time ever, I think my bag was the first one out on the baggage carousel. My first impression of Qantas was very good!
Brisbane:
We took the train into Central station and walked literally through half of downtown to get to our airport. Being roughly 450 miles north of Sydney, Brisbane had quite a different climate. We only had about 23 hours in Brisbane, and wanted to see as much as we could. Also, our hotel room was pretty much the opposite of the Park Hyatt Sydney in terms of elegance and luxury, so we just decided it was best to spend as little time there as possible.
We first walked across the bridge from CBD to South Bank, which is described as “Brisbane’s premiere lifestyle and cultural destination.” I would love to take my kids here someday.
View of South Bank from the hotel.
View of CBD from South Bank.
Plus, a neat public urban beach pool, right on the river.
And having had such wonderful Malaysian food in Sydney, we wanted to give Brisbane a try. It wasn’t quite as good as Petaling Street, but still good nonetheless.
We ventured through the Royal Botanical Gardens and Queen Street mall, where most of the stores closed around 6:30pm. It was still quite busy, even much later than that. We bought some clothes for our son from Target, of all places. We really have a serious addiction to Target.
Later that night, we opted for sushi at Sono in the Queen Street Mall. This was the first place I’ve ever seen where the sushi chefs pull live lobsters from a tank and chop them up right in front of the diners to serve as sashimi. We weren’t that extreme (or rich), so we opted for the chef’s choice, sans live lobster.
Thank you, friend, for being so tasty!
We turned in for the night looking forward to our next flight, while learning that profanity is not censored on Australian TV, apparently. My overall impression of Brisbane was very positive, and I would love to come back and visit the Koala Sanctuary and ride the ferries up and down the river to explore different parts of the city. The weather was very mild and people very friendly. And, considering BNE-LAX is a somewhat easy award flight to book in J, I imagine I will likely be back. And next time, I'll pick a better hotel.
Last edited by bhamsan01; Sep 18, 2014 at 9:03 pm
Sep 18, 2014, 10:37 am
#42
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Nottingham
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 1,326
QF domestic J service is very good from what I experience as well. Although, everyone on the 767s gets an iPad!
They also run a 767 between SYD and MEL (as well as the 737). Think there's something like 15 return flights a day which are all pretty busy, especially early morning and late evening.
Shame you didn't get to the Koala Sanctuary. It really was amazing, but you do need at least half a day to do it.
They also run a 767 between SYD and MEL (as well as the 737). Think there's something like 15 return flights a day which are all pretty busy, especially early morning and late evening.
Shame you didn't get to the Koala Sanctuary. It really was amazing, but you do need at least half a day to do it.
Sep 18, 2014, 2:08 pm
#43
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Texas
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 279
I would have loved to fly JAL F, but only CX was available at the time. Some say CX is an upgrade, and I wouldn't disagree, but I would have loved to try JAL considering how relatively easy CX award seats are to come by. What products are you flying to get to Australia?
I haven't booked my SYD-BNE flight yet... given 3 full days traveling with your wife, would you recommend tilting the time more towards Sydney or Brisbane? I imagine anywhere in Australia is pretty laid back, and the food looked awesome both places.
