Prologue

The big trip finally arrived for me and my 2 fellow companions on an annual pilgrimage to the east coast. Usually I am very excited when it comes to flying. But not this time. It was by no means going to be a 100% relaxed city escape. It was a 1 day health workshop/meeting organised by an important world organisation based in Geneva. Being residents in the west of this huge island called Australia, this meant flying to the east coast 1 day prior to the meeting and flying back home immediately after the meeting finishes (in other words, I would only be spending 1 night in Sydney). . Summertime is in full swing, which meant 3 hours of lost time due to time difference between the west and east coast and a flying time of 3.5 hours, it really meant I would be losing about 8 hours of a day if you include travelling to airport and settling into the hotel. What it means is we only get to see Sydney at dinner time and after that straight back to the hotel for a rest before business begins the next day.

A rather tiring journey to spend just 1 night in Sydney with a need to adjust my body clock. On the other hand, being a confessed airline nutter, an oppurtunity to fly to the east coast where normally I (and the majority of West Australians) would fly to Indonesia or Singapore instead (Bali is only 3.5 hours flying time).

The Journey - Perth to Sydney

21 Nov 2011
Qantas VH-OGS “Roma” Boeing 767-338 ER
QF576

Dep 08:05 on time
Sched Arrival 15:20 -Actual Arrival 14:55

Flight time 3.5 hours




So here we are, at Perth Domestic Airport on a Monday morning. I was expecting check-in queues to be snaking around the terminal. Where are all the cashed up miners getting ready to jet off to work? Normally you'd hear horror stories in the papers of the overcrowded domestic terminal.

A cabin luggage more than sufficed for the 1 night stay and having done an on-line check in the night before, I headed straight to security and the gates.


Time for plane spotting like any airline nutters would do – sorry, it is a must on any travels.














I'd love to holiday in Western Australia flying Skywest, but the reality is, I'd rather fly to Bali becauses it is cheaper!
The international terminal (which I tend to use more) as you can see is well and truly separated from the domestic terminal.


Still handsome as ever - the plane that would carry me to Sydney




the old and new Virgin Australia liveries

Virgin Australia's new livery – obviously the designers were working on a very tight budget that moths flew out.
In my opinion, just bland.

The flight safety video shown on Qantas flights to me feels very clinical. It is like being a lectured in an emergency drill classroom by a pilot who has a monotonous and authoritative voice. I just don't feel the warmth of the welcome greeting in the safety video nor can I recall being shown closing greetings by smiling Qantas flight attendants. Yes, this is serious business and we are talking about what to do in an emergency situation, but the safety video does not have the welcoming or closing greetings of TG, SQ, CX or GA.




Perth CBD in the background


Skippers aviation doing the intrastate runs


Perth's domestic terminal scene






sun parched land typical of WA at this time of the year- just wait until you reach more inland



the view to the Swan Valley - Perth's wine region


the unforgiving and harsh landscape






I counted myself fortunate on this flight as there was no neighbour sitting next to me fighting over the arm rests (the joys of flying cattle class). Movies were shown on ancient TVs hanging from ceilings, felt like being in a museum from a bygone era, so I just did not bother watching. Looking around the cabin, there were only a few empty seats left. The 767 interior was starting to look tired. The floor, well, better not to take too much notice of it. Sand and hard to reach dirt by the walls cleaners can't be bothered or just don't have time to clean (time is money in today's corporate world). And w.c? Well, what do you expect, sticky floors.

Let's check out the facilities:





Approximately 45 mins into the flight, it was time to say goodbye to Western Australia:


near Experance, before crossing the Great Australian Bight




Breakfast was a choice of continental (cold serving of cereal and milk) or English Breakfast (we don't call it American Breakfast here). Hhhmmmm, a no brainer really, I'll go for the hot English breakfast. I just love the Main Affair, it is just so cute! Just barely enough to fill your rumbling tummy that makes one feel guilty when eating a Weight Watchers meal. Have to admit though, QF really serves up a nice brekky: a succulent scrambled egg that is not overly dry nor tastes like plastic; baked beans; a sausage; and a bacon. The smell of bacon permeated through the cabin, Who would want to choose the other option? Knowing what to expect with Qantas' "Weight Watchers"sized portions, out came the container my mum very kindly prepared – perkedel (Indonesian potato and meat pattie which I am sure the Dutch left their culinary trademark also known as frikadel - its just the Indos who can't pronounce 'f' and instead subtituted it with a 'p' and an 'e' between two consonants) and low GI red rice ( I ate ony some of it, really!). At least it will satisfly my hunger for the rest of the flight (after all, I will be missing lunch because by the time I check in to the hotel in Sydney, it will be dinner time and they are 3 hours ahead of Perth).








landfall near Port Lincoln, South Australia





Time was spent recuperating from the satisfying meal that actually makes you full. I was feeling a bit tired post meal (most likely due to blood being diverted from the brain to the gastro-intestinal system where it was needed most). So I just spent the remaining time reading the inflight magazine, trying to stay awake to taking some light naps- like a palliative patient going from a state of semi-consciousness to unconsciousness. Then 2 female flight attendants, donning the beautiful looking indigenous inspired design uniforms (not to be outdone by the exotic kebayas worn by SQ, MAS and GA FAs), were doing service runs ….”Ping” rang loudy in my head, and miraculously I woke from my semi-comatosed state.






Oh dear, not sure if you can fit in a SQ kebaya

Note: the above three pics were taken from an earlier flight which I never came around to writing a TR. I just love the indigenous motifs on the tie and long dress as long as they are worn by the right people  


We were surprisingly served a nuts and seeds, blueberry and choc bar and a bottle of water. Tasted fabulous. By this time we had just flown past Canberra.
Not too bad for a domestic flight. If this was in Europe, or heaven forbid the US, we would just be offered a cold roll or a cookie.

Looking out of the window, what a contrast the south east of Australia is to the west. The parched dry inhospitable land has given way to lush greenery:



Time for descent and we flew over a national park (sorry, I am not really familiar with the east coast locations) and then it looked like we flew along the coast past a beach (?Cronulla), a white hotel and finally landfall at the airport.















Welcome to Sydney!


Flying back - Sydney to Perth

22 November 2011
Qantas QF 583 Boeing 767-336 ER reg VH -ZXE
ETD 19:20
ATD19:45
ETA 21:15
ATA 21:40
flight time 4 hours 55 mins

Headed straight to the airport immediately after the meeting finished. :
At the airport, had plenty of time to do some window shopping and spotting. Our plane arrived late from Melbourne, which meant a delay in our departure to Perth.

















my plane that would take me back to Perth

Upon entering the aircraft, J was very full with paid businessmen making the trip down west. Felt a bit weird as most of them stared at incoming pax trying to make their way to the back of the plane " hello, look at me, I am flying business class!''. I could not care less.
J seats were old business style reclining seats and it felt more like an upmarket cattle class. None of the luxurious and spacious feel of business class at some of the renowned airlines. I know this is a domestic flight, but flying time to Perth is almost 5 hours and can be the equivalent of an international flight. Qantas has perfected the art of seat management as most of the flights I have been on from Perth to to Sydney and back, Economy Class has always been very full.

This time round, no video safety demo was shown, but a manual one.
An uneventful flight, so not much to report.




some kind of chicken curry

Knowing what to expect from a Qantas meal, luckily I had some left over perkedel to keep me going.

Arrived in Perth, only had a hand carry bag, which meant I walked straight out to the exits and this ended my quick trip to Sydney.