Trip Report: JQ OOL-SYD-OOL (Photos)
Introduction:
On Thursday 28 June I went down to Sydney for a couple of hours. School holidays had started and I was thinking of things to do, I decided to look for some cheap fares down to Sydney. Everything from Brisbane down to Sydney was pretty expensive, Brisbane to Newcastle was cheap however I am going down to Newcastle in August so I didn’t want to do another trip there. I looked up flights from the Gold Coast to Sydney. And found that they were quite cheap. I could go down to Sydney for under $200 return with Jetstar which I thought was good for a flight only a few days away. I searched for the Thursday and saw that I could go down to Sydney on JQ20 (depart 1005, arrive 1135) which continues on from Osaka and is operated by an Airbus A330-200, and it was only $59! And for the return flight I would come back to OOL on JQ408 (depart 1430, arrive 1550) which is operated by an Airbus A320 which was $99. When I went to book though, the return had gone up to $109 which is still alright. All up with taxes, fees and seat selection it cost about $200. It would be a long day though having to catch two trains and a bus down to OOL taking about 2 and a half hours. And then the same on the way back up. Gold Coast Airport Got up at 0430 and was driven to Lawnton on Brisbane’s north side at 0500 for my 0515 train to the City. From there I caught another train down to Varsity Lakes on the Gold Coast and then a bus to Gold Coast Airport. I arrived at Gold Coast Airport at 0830 and went to the Jetstar international check in for the flight down to Sydney. After that it was on to security, then another security check and then customs to get into the international departure lounge. I just sat at Gate 9 waiting for boarding to commence. A fairly quiet day for internationals, no Air Asia X flight or Scoot flight, just Jetstar flights to Tokyo, Auckland and my flight to Sydney. At 0930 boarding commenced. June 28, 2012 Jetstar JQ20 OOL-SYD VH-EBD A332 Seat 25A As I walked out I saw that we would be getting VH-EBD and that VH-EBK would be doing the flight to Tokyo. Was hoping for one of the new ones (EBQ, EBR or EBS) but I didn’t mind, was happy it wasn’t EBA or EBB which I flew on with Qantas back in 2004. Boarding finished pretty quickly, it was a light load. Row 23 had 1 person, 24 was empty and my row, 25, had 2 other people in it (25J and K). And further back it looked quite empty too. We were delayed a little due to baggage still being loaded and also a computer in the cockpit needing to be reset, we pushed back a little behind schedule at 1030, but our 1 hour 10 minute flight time would make that lost time up. Taxiing out to RWY14 passing VH-EBK which was off to Tokyo-Narita http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8144/7...2363aa5f_z.jpg Climbing out after departure off RWY14 http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8025/7...446a883b_z.jpg Above the clouds http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8006/7...6552a12a_z.jpg Awesome view from 25A http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8003/7...0f64ec57_z.jpg Row 25 http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8006/7...094f81b2_z.jpg We climbed up to 40000’, it was a pretty short flight, and we were soon commencing our descent into Sydney. Before we started our descent the Captain said that they were expecting lots of turbulence on our way day. About half way down we had quite a few bumps, but nothing that bad. On descent http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8150/7...d3ddc5e1_z.jpg We came out of the clouds as we were flying past Sydney Airport so I knew we would be landing on RWY34L. Finals for RWY34L http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8003/7...1c722c3c_z.jpg Almost down passing a Singapore A380 holding short http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8145/7...0a717d91_z.jpg Reverse thrust http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8160/7...4bceb18e_z.jpg United Boeing 747-400 http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7277/7...81f92be3_z.jpg Two Garuda Airbus A330-200’s (PK-GPJ and PK-GPH) http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8151/7...fd366bc5_z.jpg Aircalin Airbus A320-200 F-OJSB http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8003/7...258e0ccc_z.jpg Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 9V-SKQ http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8145/7...ee3852a7_z.jpg Virgin Australia Boeing 777-300ER’s VH-VPE and VH-VPF http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8151/7...9bcbc24e_z.jpg |
Sydney Airport
Well after a good flight from the Gold Coast I went through customs and quarantine and then up to the observation deck. I didn’t stay long, but here are some of my photos. Qantas Boeing 737-800 http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7251/7...973e16c0_z.jpg Qantas Freight Boeing 767-300F VH-EFR http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8007/7...863173b6_z.jpg Qantas Airbus A330-300 VH-QPG http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8005/7...f72b3dd0_z.jpg After that I caught the train across to the domestic terminal to grab some lunch and do some spotting before my flight back up to OOL. Virgin Australia Airbus A330-200 VH-XFB http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7108/7...1bfd73ed_z.jpg Virgin Australia ATR72-500 VH-FVI http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8155/7...08ddca21_z.jpg Air Pacific Boeing 737-800 DQ-FJH http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8156/7...727d920b_z.jpg Scoot Boeing 777-200ER 9V-OTC http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8018/7...2e799bdc_z.jpg Jetstar Airbus A321 VH-VWY http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8150/7...97c833db_z.jpg Qantas Boeing 767-300ER VH-ZXB http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7120/7...e719dec3_z.jpg Virgin Australia Airbus A330-200 VH-XFB http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8004/7...fd81a5d2_z.jpg Scoot Boeing 777-200ER 9V-OTC http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8002/7...15195129_z.jpg QantasLink Dash 8-200 VH-TQG http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8012/7...e4d6bc7d_z.jpg QantasLink Dash 8-Q400 VH-QOW http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...bec4ce8f_z.jpg Aerolineas Argentinas Airbus A340-200 LV-ZRA http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8155/7...10acbb66_z.jpg Virgin Blue Boeing 737-800 VH-VOX http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7262/7...70644c21_z.jpg |
Virgin Australia Airbus A330-200 VH-XFB
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8163/7...d010dc0d_z.jpg Aerolineas Argentinas Airbus A340-200 LV-ZRA http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7115/7...e5704d36_z.jpg At about 1350 I went to Gate 49 for the return flight. VH-VGT was parked there which had just arrived from Melbourne-Tullamarine. At about 1400 boarding commenced. June 28, 2012 Jetstar JQ408 SYD-OOL VH-VGT A320 Seat 19F On-board in Seat 19F was a full flight! http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7124/7...fea38473_z.jpg Malaysian Boeing 747-400 departs http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8021/7...e3674e78_z.jpg We were joined by another two Jetstar A320’s http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8023/7...9d85b2f6_z.jpg We pushed back pretty much on time, we taxied to RWY34R and after a bit of holding we were off. Climbing out http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7121/7...a505d9c6_z.jpg Passing Bondi http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8165/7...864b4d51_z.jpg Left turn http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8143/7...b76cc1bf_z.jpg Cruising at 35000’ http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8002/7...127ae523_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7115/7...0de86590_z.jpg Another quick flight, it only lasted 1 hour. The captain on this flight also warned there would be turbulence, again it wasn’t too bad. Weather on the Gold Coast had worsened; there was very low cloud and heavy rain. As we were on finals you still couldn’t see anything outside, we got under the clouds and landed safely on RWY14. Exiting RWY14 http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8159/7...0692ffb8_z.jpg Parking next to Tiger http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8152/7...a1e1bf00_z.jpg Disembarked on time, here is VGT after the flight. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7140/7...974e6ca2_z.jpg After disembarking I made my way outside to the bus stop to begin the long trip home. Conclusion: Jetstar was good, A330-200 was nice and comfortable but the A320 had rubbish leg room and was a bit cramped. It was good flying out of the Gold Coast for the first time, it is a nice airport. And enjoyed my time in Sydney, just not enough of it! Looking forward to my two days there in November. Thanks for reading! Next flight is a joy flight in an Antonov AN-2 at Caboolture on Sunday 22 July, then a daytrip to Newcastle on Saturday 4 August with Virgin Australia and Jetstar and then the big trip in November and December to Sydney and New Zealand! :D |
All times are GMT +10. The time now is 03:18 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright © Sydney Airport Message Board 1997-2022