Sydney Airport Message Board - Trip Report: New Zealand Trip (Lots of Photos)

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Trip Report: New Zealand Trip (Lots of Photos)

INTRODUCTION:

At the start of the year, me and a friend from school were planning on doing a trip at the end of the year after completing Year 12. We decided on going to New Zealand and after a bit of planning we decided on the flights, accommodation etc. So we booked it all, around 6 months before the trip.

We would fly Qantas from Brisbane to Sydney on Saturday 24 November on QF8. Stay in Sydney for 2 nights. Then fly on Emirates from Sydney to Auckland on EK412 on the 26th, my first flight on an A380! Stay in Auckland for 3 nights. Then fly with Air New Zealand from Auckland to Queenstown via Wellington on a Boeing 737-300 and then an ATR72-500 on the 29th. Stay in Queenstown for 3 nights. Do a scenic flight and cruise to Milford Sound on the 30th. Then fly Air New Zealand from Queenstown back to Auckland via Christchurch on an ATR72-500 and an Airbus A320 and then Emirates direct to Brisbane on a Boeing 777-300ER on the 2nd of December. We were really looking to the trip, it sure was going to be great!

DAY 1: NOVEMBER 24: BRISBANE TO SYDNEY, SYDNEY AIRPORT, SYDNEY HARBOUR

BRISBANE AIRPORT

I got to the airport at 6am very excited for the awesome trip ahead. I met Josh and we checked in for the flight down to Sydney. A few months prior to the trip we upgraded to Business Class seeing as we both had enough points. Josh chose to sit on the lower deck in Seat 8K while I chose to go on the upper deck in Seat 16K.
After checking in we went to the Qantas Club seeing as we had access being in business class :) We grabbed some breakfast and watched the morning arrivals start. About 30 minutes before boarding was to commence we left the Qantas Club and went down to the departure gates to check out what was at the terminal.

Qantas Club
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Morning flights at the International
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My plane to Sydney – VH-OEG, doing well with the rego’s for QF8, OEI, OEJ and now OEG
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November 24, 2012
Qantas
QF8
BNE-SYD
VH-OEG B744
Seat 16K

Boarding commenced on-time, made our way onto the aircraft, Josh going to the left and myself going upstairs :) Took Seat 16K, it was a bit hard to take photos from the upper deck but I didn’t mind, I was happy being in Business on the top deck of a 747!

Good leg room!
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The view!
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OEJ on short finals for RWY01 inbound from LAX
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Brisbane Airport
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Breakfast was served once we reached our cruising altitude of 40000 feet. There was the option of continental or hot breakfast. I took the continental which was meant to be yoghurt and fruit, however the caterers gave the top deck two bowls of fruit for each tray, I didn’t mind though, it was still nice. During the one hour flight I watched an episode of Hamish and Andy’s Euro Gap Year, which is hilarious; before I knew it we had started our descent into Sydney.

Commencing our descent
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Slowing down on RWY34L
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We taxied to the international terminal after a great flight from Brisbane.

The top deck of OEG!
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SYDNEY AIRPORT

After an awesome flight to Sydney, we disembarked and made our way through customs and boarder security which didn’t take too long. We then went up to the observation deck, seeing as we couldn’t check into the hotel til 2pm.

Malaysian, Garuda and Qantas
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Spotting at the Observation Deck
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At about 12pm I called the Formule One hotel to see if we could check in early, and the room was ready so we caught the train to the domestic and walked 10 minutes to our hotel. The Formule One Hotel at Sydney Airport offers good views of takeoffs on RWY34L/R and landings on RWY16L/R as well as a good overview of the GA Apron.

Air Asia departure on RWY34L as seen from the hotel
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DAY 3: NOVEMBER 26: SYDNEY TO AUCKLAND

SYDNEY AIRPORT

We caught a shuttle bus from the hotel to the international at about 5:30am. We then went to the Emirates check-in desks to check-in for the flight over to Auckland. No problems checking in so we then proceeded through security and customs. We grabbed some breakfast and did a bit of spotting, unfortunately the weather was awful for photography and I accidently switched settings so my photos didn’t turn out very good. It was just the normal stuff at Sydney Airport, Qantas B744 VH-OEB in F1 livery was in and also Thai’s B744 Retro livery which I was very happy about! I was hoping to see this one on my visit to Sydney. Our Emirates A380 arrived a little bit late, and it was A6-EDZ, the newest in the fleet! Anyway here are some of the photos.

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Boarding commenced about 45 minutes late, it sure was exciting about to board an A380 for the first time!

November 26, 2012
Emirates
EK412
SYD-AKL
A6-EDZ A388
Seat 53K

First impressions of the A380 and Emirates were great. The aircraft looked very nice and new. I took my Seat (53K), the seat next to me was free which was good. The load on the flight in economy I would guess was around 70-80%.

Welcome Screen
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The awesome Tail Cam
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Vietnam arrives
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Malaysian arrives, should’ve been the first Malaysian A380 service to Sydney today but they have now decided to keep the B744s on the route!
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OEJ arrives, seems to be following us, OEJ arrived just as we were about to depart 2 days before on QF8 ;)
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Following LAN which was also off to Auckland
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We had to wait about 15-20 minutes for takeoff because there was a queue of about 10 other aircraft waiting for takeoff and constant arrivals! United B744 arrived and also a China Eastern A330 which was the special 2010 Expo livery! I was happy to see it as I didn’t manage to get a photo of her two days ago.

Lining up on RWY16R :D
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After a one minute wait on RWY16R, we were off! I couldn’t believe the A380 on takeoff, I knew it was meant to be quiet but I couldn’t believe how quiet it really was, you could barely hear the engines make a noise as full thrust was applied!

And we’re up! Passing the beach.
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Left turn towards NZ, my favourite photo from the flight.
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Cruising at 41000 feet
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Today’s flight
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I didn’t really use the IFE too much; I watched an episode of two and a half men and watched the flight map and tail cam for the rest of the flight, as well as looking out the window at my amazing view.

About halfway through the flight Josh and I decided to get some cabin shots.

Rear economy section
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Second last economy section
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We then entered some turbulence and had to return to our seats. Pretty soon we had commenced our descent.

Descending into Auckland
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Beautiful green/blue water down there
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Passing the suburbs of Auckland
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Passing Auckland’s main spotting location on Puhinui Road
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Short finals for RWY23L
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My first time in New Zealand
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Auckland Domestic Terminal
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FedEx MD-11 and ANZ B77W ZK-OKQ All Blacks livery
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Auckland International Terminal
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Emirates Boeing 777-300ER A6-ECA
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We join the A380 from DXB via MEL (A6-EDM)
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A380 Interior
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And that was the end of the awesome flight over from Sydney. We went through customs and border security without any worries and then we called the shuttle to take us to our hotel. We stayed at the Jet Park Hotel while in Auckland which was an awesome hotel, very nice place! It is about a 10 minute drive to the airport and a 30 minute drive to the city.

DAY 4: NOVEMBER 27: AUCKLAND CITY SIGHTS BUS TOUR, HARBOUR CRUISE AND SKYTOWER

On our first proper day in Auckland we did a two and a half hour bus tour around Auckland. It took us through the city, showing us the main attractions of Auckland with a few stops along the way. We then did a one and a half hour harbour cruise which took us all along Auckland’s Harbour including under the Harbour Bridge. We then walked to the sky tower and went up there to enjoy the views, here are a few photos from the day.

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