Adelaide - The capital of South Australia. Home to more than 1.2 million Adelaideans, it is the fifth largest city in Australia. Founded in 1836, it is also ranked as the most liveable city in Australia according to recent research.
I have certainly heard of Adelaide since young. However, I have never really seen any pictures or researched on the city before my visit. Somehow, this beautiful city has become one of my favourites in the world just after a short 3 day stay there. You may ask, how did this city become one of my favourites? Read on to find out!
My Stay in Adelaide
It was sure a whirlwind trip, as how my Adelaidean friend, Ish put it. I am staying in Adelaide for less than 36 hours before heading back to Singapore. Yes, that's after flying SIN-SYD-MEL-ADL and then heading back home routed ADL-SYD-SIN!
Right after arriving into ADL on DJ 243, my awesome Adelaidean friends namely Ish, Lorrae (Ish's girlfriend) and Preet (a wonderful lady from Great Asia Trip) brought me to one of Adelaide's most famous pancake restaurants, The Original Pancake Kitchen. I must say, this is certainly one of the best pancakes I've ever had in my entire life! That being said, my only experiences with pancakes are from McDonalds and some random hotel buffet breakfast.
My first encounter with apple cider
German Feast
A happy reunion!
Ish and Lorrae, the recently engaged couple
The pancake went really well with all the other dishes from sausages to bacon. This is a place I would recommend people to come! After dinner activity consisted of a simple city tour and some night photo taking around the city centre. I was pretty lethargic at this point in time so we made it short and headed back home for a good sleep. Upon entering the house, I was greeted with this hyperactive dog whom I guess its hobby is to lick people everywhere. It's fun, but certainly pretty disgusting! Thankfully, the dog does not bite!
The Adelaide Festival Centre, if I am not mistaken
Victoria Square Fountain. This fountain holds a special meaning to us!
Quiet streets of Adelaide at night
Our trusty car!
The next day, we headed out to East Terrace Continental located at East Terrace for a nice breakfast with Preet. Somehow or rather, I was attracted by the Turkish option and went for it. After the first mouthful, I decided that I have made a wrong choice. Not that it did not suit my taste, but I'm sure the smoked salmon omelette would have tasted much better! It was some driving around to pick up Lorrae and Ish's nephews before heading to our next stop. I must say that roads in the Australian countryside are simply beautiful! It was certainly an eye opener for me seeing such beautiful roads!
Turkish breakfast
Sheep grazing.. Certainly something new for me
If only we had such beautiful roads in Singapore!
Our next stop on the list was Cleland Wildlife Park where I had my first sightings of a kangaroo, wallaby, koala and lots of other animals which are not commonly seen in Asia. The park itself was simply like a landmine field. The ground was filled with droppings from various animals and we had to be very careful not to step onto any of them or it would be a nice washing time for our shoes!
Sleeping like a boss!
Even Wallabies will feel the itch, here's one scratching its stomach!
A colourful bird takes a rest after a short flight
A bird guards the place while its other companions enjoy the food
How about some more birds?
Kung fu pelican
Phantom of the Opera?
These are some cute little stuffs!
Looks pretty fierce!
We walked through almost the entire park which took at least 2-3 hours and it was around 2pm when we left and most of us were hungry. Lunch was a pretty rewarding one at Hahndorf German Arms Hotel located at Hahndorf, a German village in the community. For some reason, I am getting more German food here in Australia compared to anywhere else!
View of the streets of Hahndorf
Pioneer Memorial Gardens
Where should I go?
Our dining place
The apple cider seem to have done its job. I crashed straight away upon entering the car and was unaware of what is happening around me, although I was sort of half awake throughout the journey. Guess the lack of sleep for the previous 2 nights (one on TZ 2 and the previous night) contributed to it too.
Apple cider, once again
Followed by some fresh and succulent South Australian oysters!
Top it off with a generous Bavarian grill platter
And let's end it off with a nice and hot apple strudel which goes perfectly well with the ice cold ice cream!
The day ended pretty early. We reached home at around 5pm and had a little rest before Ish bought some pizzas back for dinner. I must say Australian pizzas are one of the best! There's this pizza called "Reef and Beef" which I still remember the taste of the fresh and succulent prawns and flavourful beef combined. Certainly a must try once again!
Finally, it was time to head to the airport the next day at 4.30am for my flight back home.
Pre-Flight
I arrived at ADL at around 5am, 90 minutes before my flight. It was certainly sad to be bidding farewell to Ish, who sent me to the airport just after 3 days (or to say, less than 24 hours) but I'm sure we will have more chances in the future!
I entered the terminal, ready to check in for my flight. To my delight, the Virgin Australia check-in was pretty empty so I joined the queue and got served in less than a minute. I had to pick my seats at the counter for this particular flight as I bought an emergency exit row seat and the website did not allow me to choose my seats online. I was also not allowed to do OLCI as the agent needed to physically see me. I approached the counter to be greeted by a cheerful ground agent.
"Good morning Sir! May I have your passport please?"
"Yes, here it is"
"I see you have booked an emergency exit row seat. Are you willing to assist our crew in case of emergencies?"
"Yes, I am"
"Thank you Sir"
"May I have a window seat please?"
"Ah, you are assigned to seat 14A which is a window seat by the system, enjoy your flight!"
"Thank you!"
I guess even DJ's reservations system knows that I would certainly not be pleased if I do not get a window so it already assigned me a window seat in advance! Security was pretty relaxed in ADL compared to MEL or SYD and soon I was airside. Speaking of airside, anyone can just enter airside by passing through security, even without a boarding pass. Ah, the wonders of Australian domestic flying!
Virgin Australia's stronghold in ADL
Having lots of time to burn, I decided to have a quick breakfast at Hudson's Coffee. The service here is normal and I can see that they are trying their best to deliver the orders as fast as possible. After a quick breakfast, I headed down to Gate 15 where my flight was scheduled.
Quick breakfast
The Flight
Virgin Australia Flight DJ 403 - 28JUN12 Origin: Adelaide Airport (ADL/YPAD) Destination: Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport (SYD/YSSY) Registration: VH-VUF (Hobart Honey) Aircraft: Boeing 737-800 Scheduled Time of Departure: 6.30am Actual Time of Departure: 6.40am Scheduled Time of Arrival: 8.55am Actual Time of Arrival: 8.37am Airborne Time: 1h 27m Class of Travel: Economy Seat: 14A
As I sat down at the boarding gate, something caught my eye. One of the most beautiful 737s in the world, Yananyi Dreaming is in town at the Qantas side! I got super excited but sadly, I was unable to take pictures of it. Here's a picture of it in the a.net database though.
Boarding was called at 6am sharp and it was separated into jetway and tarmac boarding. As lucky as I would get, guests seated at rows 14 and above would get to board via the tarmac so there I go! I would have went for the tarmac boarding no matter what anyway, being a true blue a.netter! As I exited the terminal, Yananyi Dreaming was pushing back for its MEL flight. Sadly, even using ISO 1000 I got a very blurry image so I shall not be sharing it here. However, it was still a wonderful sight!
No doubt on the aircraft I'll be flying!
Ready?
As I entered the aircraft, I noticed that the interior looks pretty new, probably due to the new seats and each seat is equipped with a PTV. This would be my very first narrowbody flight with PTV! Something new on every flight of this trip, how wonderful can that be? Sadly, the flight today would be packed so I will not be getting an empty middle seat, much less an empty row. The middle seat was however left empty till the last minutes of boarding, talk about getting mind screwed!
I simply love sitting at the wing!
Legroom was more than sufficient for a 90 minute flight
PTVs! Would be my only flight with PTVs on this trip
Unfortunately, my entire row consisted of tall and broad shouldered men (yes, all 3 of us!) so it was a pretty uncomfortable flight in terms of shoulder room. The purser came onto the microphone and announced that there will be free Live2Air TV for everyone, on top of free coffee, tea and water. No announcements of BOB food to be sold onboard so I guess they are only providing food for those on the flexi fare. This is something I find it pretty annoying on DJ. Instead of going for a mixed concept of Flexi and Saver fares, why not make it free food for everyone, or make it such that we can pre order our meals online? I'd be fine with either!
We finally pushed back and headed off to runway 05 for takeoff. It was pretty amazing to see MH's new A333 land right before our takeoff roll. It looks beautiful in the new livery! We commenced our takeoff roll at 6.40am, signalling my farewell to my favourite city in Australia. So long, Adelaide! Thanks for a wonderful whirlwind trip!
Live2Air TV screened shortly after takeoff
The sun rose shortly after our takeoff and at the same time, cabin service started. The f/as on this flight seem pretty unfriendly. Not much of a smile on their face or cheerful tone. Guess they are still in sleep mode! I wandered around the cabin and tried taking some cabin shots but to be tapped on the shoulder by a flight attendant (who, coincidentally is the prettiest of the lot but seem to be the most rude too) and got told, "Excuse me, no photos" in a pretty stern tone. Not the best impression for me!
Good morning Mr. Sun!
Service on this flight
Cabin view
Some dramatic views along the way
I love when the aircraft is banking too!
Almost there...
Touchdown!
It was a pretty scenic approach to SYD's runway 34L and soon we touched down and taxied to the domestic terminal. As fate would have it, we have arrived too early at 8.37am (STA was 8.55am) and our gate was still occupied so we held on runway 07/25 while awaiting for our gate to be cleared.
Thank you, VH-VUF!
Disembarking was pretty fast and soon I was landside.
Conclusion
I was not particularly satisfied with Virgin Australia. Their call centre service was sub-standard and their on-board service leaves much to be desired. However, one point to give them credit was that their ground service was awesome, both in MEL and ADL. Also, they should standardize their on-board service. If you want to provide meals, provide for everyone or for none. No point serving those on a Flexi fare or whatsoever as that will make things very complicated. Pricing on Virgin Australia was no way cheap but I guess that's the sad reality of Australia domestics. Despite all that, I still do not mind trying Virgin Australia in the future and hope that their service improves by then.
SRQKEF From Iceland, joined Jun 2011, 694 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (10 months 2 weeks 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 4467 times:
Hi Daniel!
Nice report with great crystalclear pictures! Those wingshots are awesome. Totally agree about loving the wing! Maybe (and hopefully) I'm visiting Oz net year with my family, fingers crossed!
aflyingkiwi From New Zealand, joined Nov 2010, 488 posts, RR: 3 Reply 4, posted (10 months 2 weeks 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 4041 times:
Hi Daniel,
Nice report. In January I flew VH-VUF from SYD-MEL. Back then it still had the old interior with blue leather seats though it's nice to see they've refitted the cabin. It looks very slick!
Lovely pics of Adelaide, I've yet to visit South Australia though I really want to..
777ish From Australia, joined Mar 2011, 1 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (10 months 2 weeks 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 3971 times:
Hi Daniel,
I told you my first post would be on a report of yours! It was a pleasure to share in your South Aussie adventure with you. It's always nice to see your hometown through someone else’s eyes.
Thanks for the report coupled with the amazing pictures!
QantasA333 From Australia, joined Jan 2007, 531 posts, RR: 4 Reply 6, posted (10 months 2 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 3664 times:
Great report! Feels weird knowing you went to the exact same places I went to yesterday with friends. I hate that road you drove up on, especially coming down the hill Did you visit the Mt Lofty Summit? Amazing views from there!
Initious From Singapore, joined Dec 2008, 1011 posts, RR: 16 Reply 7, posted (10 months 2 weeks 6 hours ago) and read 3201 times:
Hi robert,
Quoting roberts87 (Reply 1): Nice short report, thanks for sharing.
Adelaide looks like a nice place indeed!
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!
Hi SRQKEF,
Quoting SRQKEF (Reply 2): Nice report with great crystalclear pictures! Those wingshots are awesome. Totally agree about loving the wing! Maybe (and hopefully) I'm visiting Oz net year with my family, fingers crossed!
Thanks! Glad that you liked the pictures. Do visit ADL if you are visiting OZ, you won't regret it!
Hi Marc,
Quoting MSS658 (Reply 3): Nice report, ADL scenery is amazing. Nice too see Virgin Australia had a decent product as well on the ADL-SYD flight.
Thanks for reading!
Hi aflyingkiwi,
Quoting aflyingkiwi (Reply 4): Nice report. In January I flew VH-VUF from SYD-MEL. Back then it still had the old interior with blue leather seats though it's nice to see they've refitted the cabin. It looks very slick!
Yes, I read from your report that you flew VUF too, what a coincidence!
Quoting aflyingkiwi (Reply 4): Lovely pics of Adelaide, I've yet to visit South Australia though I really want to..
You should! Should be easier for you compared to me.
Hi Ish,
Quoting 777ish (Reply 5): I told you my first post would be on a report of yours! It was a pleasure to share in your South Aussie adventure with you. It's always nice to see your hometown through someone else’s eyes.
I never thought that I would be writing this to you on a.net! What a wonderful surprise! Hope you liked how I portrayed Adelaide through my eyes!
Quoting 777ish (Reply 5): Thanks for the report coupled with the amazing pictures!
Welcome, hope you enjoyed it!
Hi QantasA333,
Quoting QantasA333 (Reply 6): Great report! Feels weird knowing you went to the exact same places I went to yesterday with friends. I hate that road you drove up on, especially coming down the hill Did you visit the Mt Lofty Summit? Amazing views from there!
Wow, great to know someone else has visited the wonderful city too! I did not visit Mt Lofty, too little time.
abrelosojos From Venezuela, joined May 2005, 4917 posts, RR: 55 Reply 8, posted (10 months 2 weeks 2 hours ago) and read 3116 times:
Thanks for the report. I recently flew DJ and found the crew frazzled with the "Flexi-Fares" confusion. Having flown several airlines in my life, the service seemed all over the place. Worse, the manifest was old, and the crew did not know the people who had new seats allocated at check-in. Overall, a service that needs a lot more refinement. And you're lucky. I did not even get through their call center!
QantasA333 From Australia, joined Jan 2007, 531 posts, RR: 4 Reply 9, posted (10 months 1 week 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 2971 times:
Quoting abrelosojos (Reply 8): Quoting QantasA333 (Reply 6):
Great report! Feels weird knowing you went to the exact same places I went to yesterday with friends. I hate that road you drove up on, especially coming down the hill Did you visit the Mt Lofty Summit? Amazing views from there!
Wow, great to know someone else has visited the wonderful city too! I did not visit Mt Lofty, too little time.
Aww, I should go there. Look how close you can get to the kangaroo’s.
Quoting Initious (Thread starter): as I bought an emergency exit row seat and the website did not allow me to choose my seats online.
Hmm, why’s that?
Quoting Initious (Thread starter): I wandered around the cabin and tried taking some cabin shots but to be tapped on the shoulder by a flight attendant (who, coincidentally is the prettiest of the lot but seem to be the most rude too) and got told, "Excuse me, no photos" in a pretty stern tone.
Airline policy may differ, but this is just rubbish!
NZ107 From New Zealand, joined Jul 2005, 5672 posts, RR: 40 Reply 11, posted (10 months 1 week 4 days 10 hours ago) and read 2715 times:
Hi Daniel,
Nice job! Looks like you guys enjoyed yourselves over that very short time you were in SA for.
Quoting Initious (Thread starter): The purser came onto the microphone and announced that there will be free Live2Air TV for everyone
Good that they've made it free for some segments. Though if there was nothing else on, I'd be satisfied following the airshow.
Quoting Initious (Thread starter): tried taking some cabin shots but to be tapped on the shoulder by a flight attendant (who, coincidentally is the prettiest of the lot but seem to be the most rude too) and got told, "Excuse me, no photos" in a pretty stern tone. Not the best impression for me!
Probably another reason why I like Qantas more.
Thanks for reconfirming that Qantas still remains on top of the Australian domestic airlines in my view. I don't really notice the changes since I last flew with them apart from the fact that you had old FAs and I remember mine being young.
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Reply 12, posted (10 months 1 week 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 2536 times:
Hi Dan
Shame that Airgin Australia didn't wow you too much. Still, by the looks of the photos, you had a great time in OZ! I've only been to Darwin for a few days, but I really should get down to South Austraslia sometime.
Initious From Singapore, joined Dec 2008, 1011 posts, RR: 16 Reply 14, posted (10 months 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 2003 times:
Hi Alex,
Quoting abrelosojos (Reply 8):
Thanks for the report. I recently flew DJ and found the crew frazzled with the "Flexi-Fares" confusion. Having flown several airlines in my life, the service seemed all over the place. Worse, the manifest was old, and the crew did not know the people who had new seats allocated at check-in. Overall, a service that needs a lot more refinement. And you're lucky. I did not even get through their call center!
Thanks for reading. I guess DJ certainly has several areas to improve in. I waited a pretty long time in the queue on the phone too!
I am unsure about this. They wrote that you can "buy and select your seats" on the website though.
Quoting akhmad (Reply 10): Airline policy may differ, but this is just rubbish!
I was pretty disappointed to say the least!
Hi Nicholas,
Quoting NZ107 (Reply 11): Nice job! Looks like you guys enjoyed yourselves over that very short time you were in SA for.
Thanks, we certainly enjoyed our short time!
Quoting NZ107 (Reply 11): Good that they've made it free for some segments. Though if there was nothing else on, I'd be satisfied following the airshow.
Funnily enough, I was unable to find the airshow even after flipping through all the channels, even after waiting for the ads to go off.
Quoting NZ107 (Reply 11): Thanks for reconfirming that Qantas still remains on top of the Australian domestic airlines in my view. I don't really notice the changes since I last flew with them apart from the fact that you had old FAs and I remember mine being young.
Glad to see QF is one of your favourite!
Hi Gabriel,
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 12): Shame that Airgin Australia didn't wow you too much. Still, by the looks of the photos, you had a great time in OZ! I've only been to Darwin for a few days, but I really should get down to South Austraslia sometime.
Yes, I had a wonderful time! You should seriously visit SA one day, you'll love it.
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 12): great report with many ncie pictures once again! Virgin Australia is a nice airline, but it has become too white!
Thanks!
Hi PH,
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 13): Apple juice...sorry...cider in a Löwenbräu mug? You aren't joking, are you?
Well, I'm not really sure what's the issue seeing I'm not German, but I guess they did something wrong there... :P
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 13): Interesting, I have never seen anything like that here in Bavaria.
It was similar to what I had in Singapore. How do they serve that in Germany?
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Did you visit the Mt Lofty Summit? Amazing views from there!
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