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  • My Dec Trip

    REPOST, more details added.

    Last December, I have had the chance to travel around Australia. The trip report has been dragged for too long and now I'm going to do a review of my flights.

    First stop- Melbourne (Virginblue, flight 538)
    Finally, the day came. I flew from Adelaide to Melbourne to meet my family for a trip there. Booked on Virginblue flight 538 on a Happy Hour deal for AUD$59/=.



    Flight DJ538 was scheduled for push-back at 07:10 from gate 13

    I did an online-check-in as I always hate queuing. After security check, I was at the gate well ahead of boarding. Boarding started at 30 min before flight. Very efficient boarding. The flight was ready by 07:00 for 07:10 pushed back from gate 13.

    I was seated on the seat 7F, a window seat. The seat was quite ok. The flight was not full and the seat beside me was empty. The cabin cleanliness was ok, but the toilet was not quite clean. No in-flight entertainment was available on DJ flights. As it's a budget airline, meals have to be paid. The selection is quite limited. I had sandwiches and apple juice for my breakfast.

    The flight landed at 08:35 local time at Melbourne at gate 7.


    My breakfast onboard.

    Overall, the meal serving was a little bit slow. The toilet cleanliness did not meet my expectation and the selection of meal was limited.


    Melbourne Trip
    The flight arrived at Terminal 3 at MEL, and I walked to Terminal 2 to meet my family there. Our airport transfer was ready and we started our tour.

    We reached the city at around 10:00am and started our city tour. We were quite amazed with the public transport system here in MEL. According to the tour guide, Melbourne was the first city to use Tram in Australia. Everywhere in the city, you could see the tram lines. The free city circle provided free tour in the city. Onboard the City Circle, detailed information was provided at every stop to introduce what tourist attraction etc is located around the stop.

    Victorian Market was another attraction we visited. Here, you could find a variety of vegetable/ fruits sold here. The price were quite reasonable. Souvenir could be found here as well.



    The Melbourne City

    We stayed at Batman Hill Hotel, located just opposite the Melbourne Railway/ Coach Terminal. The Crown Casino, Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre were in the walking distance. Federation Square was just few stop away by tram. Breakfast was provided every morning, however, the same dishes were served every morning.

    The trip to Philips Island to watch the return of penguin from the ocean was the most exciting one for this trip. We reached Philips Island in the evening and reached the penguin centre just before sunset. We walked around the penguin centre and reached the beach just before sunset at 8:30pm (note that this was daylight savings time). Photo taking was strictly prohibited at the penguin centre. At approximately 8:45pm, the first group of penguins were sighted. And everybody became very excited. On our way back to the entrance, we could see the penguins just walked nearby!

    The Sovereign Hill at Ballarat was another attraction we visited. Gold was discovered here in the 1850s. It is the largest inland city in the State of Victoria. Steeping into this area, we found ourselves walking in the town of late 19 century.

    We were quite amazed with the view at The Twelve Apostles. Located at the Great Ocean Road, they are limestone that formed naturally. Due to the erosion, four has collapsed.
    Note: This trip report was quoted from my personal blog
    Last edited by Airlineslover; 26 March 2007, 02:41 PM.

  • #2
    2nd stop- Adelaide

    Second stop- Adelaide (Virginblue, flight 549)
    After spending 5 days in Melbourne, we left for Adelaide. I booked myself and 11 of my family members on the flight 549 from MEL to ADL on Happy Hour deal for AUD$59.



    Waiting for take-off clearance. 3 flights ahead of us and another Qantas 747 on the other end of runway. We were on queue number 5 for take off.

    As we were a big group, we couldn't use the kiosk or internet check-in. I apprached one of the Virginblue staffs who organized for the check-in for my group. Check-in was efficient and the wheel chair I requested for my guest was ready when I approached the check-in counter.

    The flight was scheduled to depart from gate 7. Boarding started at 16:30 and was pushed back at 17:15 sharp. As one of my guests was having difficulty in walking, we were given priority boarding. I was seated on the seat 4C on this flight.

    It was the busiest time at MEL airport. Ahead of us, four other flights were waiting for the take off clearance, and another three behind us. Finally, we were airborne at 17:30.

    The flight landed at 18:05 local time at Adelaide at gate 16.

    Overall, the pilots' skills need to improve as the landing was very unpleasant and made most of my guests feeling dizzy.


    Adelaide Trip
    We went for a one-day trip at Adelaide Hills in Adelaide. Here, we visited Geoff Wildlife Park, where we had the chance to see and take photo with koala. The wildlife park was quite big with a wide variety of animals.

    Melba's Chocalate factory was another place we visited where we bought quite alot of chocalates. A variety of chocalate was made and sold here.

    It was a pity that it was raining heavily when we reached the German Town at Hahndorf.
    Note: Repost (more details added) and quoted from my personal blog.
    Last edited by Airlineslover; 26 March 2007, 02:53 PM.

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    • #3
      Third Stop- Sydney

      Third stop- Sydney (Qantas, flight 730)After spending 3 days in Adelaide, we headed Sydney. This was our last stop for our Australia trip.

      We were booked on Qantas 730. This was the earliest flight departing Adelaide Airport. We left our hostel at 0430 for the 0600 flight.

      Sydney trip was not initally on our itinerary. However, as my family couldn't book on a flight depart from ADL, they made a transit here and took a chance to stop by for 2 days.


      The cabin was quite empty.

      We arrived at the airport at 05:00. Check-in was fast and efficient. After the security screening, we were waiting at the boarding gate. Boarding started at 05:35. I was seated at 25C but then moved to the empty seat at 24A. The flight was ready at 0550 and pushed back at 05:58. The flight was quite empty with only approximately 50% load.

      Soon after take off, the breakfast was served. The meal was ok, but the portion was small. The in-flight entertainment was available but it was fitted as one for couple of rows. At approximately 08:05 (Sydney time), the captain voice appeared and informed us that they were making intial descending soon and we would arrive Sydney 20 min before scheduled time. The flight landed at 08:35 at Sydney.



      Breakfast onboard QF730.

      Overall it was a very pleasant flight. Thumbs up.


      Sydney Trip
      We stayed at PanPacific Hotel in Sydney. It was quite near to China town.

      I would say that the Sydney trip was not the most pleasant one. First of all, I think that some of the public facility such as the public toilet here in Sydney was not quite clean as compare to those in Melbourne and Adelaide. It was quite crowded here as well. And finally, I think that the trip was quite rush due to time limitation here and we were generally not statisfied with the irresponsible driver guide.

      The first day, we visited The Rock, Sydney Opera House and went on the Captain Cook Cruise where we met a very unhappy incident.

      Onboard of Captain Cook Cruise, we were queuing for our lunch when this Korea tour leader led his group and jumped the queue. We were not quite happy with his action and my aunty warned him not to push her. However, instead of stopping to do so, he started to push us, making three of my guests fall down. The incident has been reported to the relavant authorities and I believed and hoped that the appropriate action was taken.

      We visited Sydney Fish Market the next morning. Here, you could buy quite a wide range of fish or fish products or order a fresh fish meal here.



      Blue Mountain, Sydney


      After visiting the Sydney Fish market, we headed Blue Mountain. Blue Mountain was located at approximately 80km West of Sydney. The scenery here was quite nice and the weather was quite cold here. My heart beat increased when I looked down the extremely steep cliff.
      NOTE: Repost (more details added) and quoted from my personal blog

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      • #4
        Did you visit Transport bar at Fed Sq?
        Crazy place!
        All opinions shared are my own, and are not necessarily those of my employer or any other organisation of which I'm affiliated to.

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        • #5
          The return

          The Return (Jetstar, flight 610)
          It was the end of my Dec trip. I booked on Jetstar JQ610 heading home.

          I reached the airport at 11:40am for 13:05 departure. Check-in was slow and took approximately 20 min.

          As I had a invitation from Qantas, I visited Qantas lounge at SYD Terminal 2. The choice of food in the lounge was not much but the food was ok. Internet access was available here and I took the chance to check my email my bus-timetable here. Meeting room and shower were also available here.



          Lunch bar at the Qantas lounge (SYD, Terminal 2)



          Qantas lounge in SYD Terminal 2



          Computers, printer and internet access were available here.


          I headed the boarding gate after being called for boarding. Boarding has started when I reached the gate and the flight was ready well ahead of scheduled time for pushed back. In-flight entertainment was available on request and charged at a low price. As I was pretty tired after the journey, I did not try on its in-flight entertainment. As it's a budget airline, meals have to be paid. I was sleeping throughout the flight and didn't take any meal in-flight.

          The flight landed at 14:35 local time at Adelaide at gate 16. The luggage handling was fast and I get my bag within 5 min since I reached the belt.
          Note: Repost (more details added) and quoted from my personal blog.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by KeithMEL View Post
            Did you visit Transport bar at Fed Sq?
            Crazy place!
            Heyo.. No. What do they have there? Hmm.. quite a pity we missed it then.. However, I get quite a lot of brouchures at the tourist info centre outside the Federation Square.

            Basically, we spent a day walking around the city, visiting places by using the city map and spent few hours at the musuem. The musuem was quite nice.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Airlineslover View Post
              Heyo.. No. What do they have there? Hmm.. quite a pity we missed it then..
              An expansive beer menu spanning 150 local and international selections.
              It's the bar with a big 'T' spinning at the top. There's a good fusion restaurant upstairs, Taxi Dining Room. And finally a beer garden at the top for a nice summer day - Transit. Haha you can see where this is going. All owned by the same people.

              They went for the 'transportation' theme as the place is located opposite Flinders St station, the orange building in your picture with the caption 'The Melbourne City.' In line with the theme they have screens showing depatures and arrivals at MEL. Rather quirky as the hotel is neither near the Skybus terminus nor the airport. Great for SQTers running into town for a drink in between flights I guess.

              For next time:
              http://www.transporthotel.com.au/
              Last edited by KeithMEL; 27 March 2007, 09:19 PM.
              All opinions shared are my own, and are not necessarily those of my employer or any other organisation of which I'm affiliated to.

              Comment

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