Ten Days in Tasmania

[yflyer]

We landed at SYD just as the morning's Scoot flight was taxiing for take-off, bound for Singapore.



We deplaned at the Domestic Terminal...



And after a short wait, took the free shuttle to the International Terminal (No need to pick up luggage, which was checked through to SIN.).

I have always enjoyed this shuttle ride...you get a free airport tarmac tour...





Nancy-Bird Walton looking good that morning...



After going through immigration and security, we were in the international airside departure area...



We headed to the QF Business Lounge for lunch...

[yflyer]

While the QF Business Lounge is not as jawdropping as the QF International F Lounge in SYD, which I regard as one of the nicest airport lounges in the world, the Business Lounge is still a fairly comfortable place to spend time in transit.





Views from the lounge were good, with both runway and city views.



SQ 77W (77WN?) departing for Singapore...



There was a decent beverage selection and bar in the lounge, as well as a buffet section with a salad selection, soup, and a very tasty beef stew.







There was also hand-scooped gelato and freshly brewed coffee.

[yflyer]

Boarding for QF5, bound for Singapore, commenced on time...

This was still the old config A330 -- the new config A330's have not yet been launched on the SYD-SIN route...perhaps in a few tantalizing months' time...

Skybed Mk I (Angled Lie-flat) in J...





We were flying Y today, but during the flight, we were given a J amenity kit by one of QF's wonderful cabin crew members, as service recovery because one of our Y IFE units was out of action...

The QF J Amenity Kit bag was designed by Kate Spade...







Indeed, throughout this flight, QF service was warm and extremely thoughtful. We felt very well taken care of in QF Y.

[yflyer]

The Y cabin today...



VH-OJU, a 15 year old 744, at a nearby gate...



VH-TQG, Bombardier Dash 8 Q200 ...



UPS MD-11 (Or at least part of it...)...



Jetstar 787...



Does anyone else think that the 787, in this silver Jetstar colour scheme, reminds you of the De Havilland Comet?

[yflyer]

Like QF82 on our SIN-SYD sector, we had a choice of 3 courses for dinner on QF5 SYD-SIN...



Along with dinner, there was an impressive selection of small bottles of Australian wine (I counted at least 6-7 different red and white wines available to choose from...)





I chose the chicken with rice for dinner...



Cheese and crackers...



Chocolate mouse with salted caramel for dessert. Delicious...make sure you dig your spoon right to the bottom to reach the caramel sauce...



Coffee and tea, with hot chocolate also served later during the flight...

[yflyer]

Some spectacular scenes of sunset as we flew towards Singapore...



An ice cream bar was served as a snack...



And just prior to landing, pulled beef sliders were served...



These were delicious. The portion of pulled beef in each slider was not particularly generious, but the sliders tasted really good. Far tastier than the pizza singles that they used to serve as the 2nd meal on this route..

[yflyer]

Those on the left of the aircraft were treated to wonderful views of the Singapore skyline as we approached Changi Airport for landing...



The sharp-eyed among you may be able to pick out the Singapore Flyer and the Marina Bay Sands in the picture below...



Arrival formalities were lightning quick, as you would expect at Changi T1, and we received all our luggage without much of a wait either.

Overall, a great flight on Qantas, with wonderful inflight service and catering. When the new A330 interiors are deployed on this route, SQ will have stiff competition to SYD!

We headed out to the new Changi T1 arrival area (Moved from the old area to make way for the new Project Jewel development at Changi) for our ride home...





<RANT>If anyone is being picked up, or picking someone up, at T1 Arrivals, do yourself, and the other pax, a favour by waiting towards the middle or far end of the pick-up area...try not to clog up the front of the arrival lane and worse still be a bottleneck by waiting and blocking the road (Some of that sort of behaviour apparent that evening -- thankfully not enough to be disruptive...). There is lots of space further up!</RANT>

But it would take more than a bit of congestion at the arrival area to dampen our mood that evening.

It was a great holiday in Tasmania, and at the same time, it was great to be back in hot, humid Singapore as well.

Thanks for reading!

[yflyer]

Thanks for this! Studied in LST for 5 years and it has been 10 years since I've been back. Good memories... At LST airport, we had to collect our checked-in luggage from a trailer... Not sure if it's still the same?

Thanks, Pinkfloyd! There are a surprising number of people in Singapore (and Malaysia) who have links to Tasmania...many acquaintances of mine have studied or spent time there.

There is a proper baggage carousel at LST now...a small but very modern terminal.

[yflyer]

Welcome to Launy.... home of the world famous Australian Maritime College.

I actually did a round island caravanning trip some years back and enjoyed every minute.

Thanks, kapitan! That must have been fun...we encountered lots of families and couples caravanning around Tasmania. Never tried it myself though...

[yflyer]

Keep the TR coming.

Brings back memories of my trips to Tasmania. I also drove a similar route starting in LST although I have yet to see a couple of places in this TR.

Rather surprised that Cradle Mountain wasn't included in your route.

Thanks, SQGamespeed! I actually quite enjoyed reliving my vacation while writing up this TR, which ended up being kind of long (as usual...)...

Yes, Mrs yflyer did ponder over whether or not to include Cradle Mountain, but in the end we decided that within the 10 day duration of the trip, including Cradle Mountain would have been made the trip a little too rushed for our liking.

We are the kind of travellers who enjoy sleeping in late...on most days of this holiday, we didn't have any set start time for each day, and basically woke up when we woke up...usually around 8am or just before 9am. My older kid was in WhatsApp contact with one of her schoolmates, who was on a conducted tour in China, who was complaining that she had been waking up at 6am each day of her tour...

We are definitely planning to be back in Tasmania and some point, and decided to save Cradle Mountain for a future trip...

[yflyer]

great TR as usualyflyer. Despite to & fro-ing Australia for the past 3 - 4 yrs, I have yet to set foot on Tazzie, but yr TR does make me want to head south. I was on the same QF SIN-SYD and can attest that the A330 J seat is nothing to shout abt - seats are rather dated by now and except for a set of PJs and an amenity kit, is no competition for SQ

Thanks, jammed! This was my first time to Tasmania..and I really enjoyed it. I was starting to get used to the lack of crowds, the open spaces, the fresh, clean air.

I'm looking forward to the new QF A330 J and Y products, which I believe they will be introducing some time in 2015. SQ will have some breathing space until that time, then the competition on this route will really heat up!

[ycp81]

Nice trip report! Makes to wanna go Tasmania some day as well.

Agree that Qantas provides very friendly and warm service, but in a casual sort of way, unlike the Asian carriers that most of us are used to. Through my past experiences with them, only on Qantas will you get addressed as "Honey" or "Darling"!!

[SQueeze]

Wow, the new seats on QF's 717 are really stylish. Totally love it.

Is it nice to sit on as well as it is looking good?

[yflyer]

Nice trip report! Makes to wanna go Tasmania some day as well.

Agree that Qantas provides very friendly and warm service, but in a casual sort of way, unlike the Asian carriers that most of us are used to. Through my past experiences with them, only on Qantas will you get addressed as "Honey" or "Darling"!!

Thanks, ycp81! Yes, Tasmania makes for a great holiday destination, either on its own, or combined with a visit to either Melbourne or Sydney.

Yes, agree that Qantas cabin service is friendly and sometimes informal, usually in a good way. I'm a fairly informal traveller myself, and this style of in-flight service suits me very well.

[yflyer]

Wow, the new seats on QF's 717 are really stylish. Totally love it.

Is it nice to sit on as well as it is looking good?

Yes, very comfortable to sit on! Exceeded my expectations...