Winter Holiday with Qantas

[Zac M]

Hello and welcome to my first trip report in a very, very long time. The purpose of this trip is to enjoy my time off work somewhere not as cold as Canberra and I will be updating it as I go along. Some of the pictures featured in this report are from my phone (non-watermarked) and some on me EOS60D (watermarked).

Hope every one enjoys.

Routing:
This trip will take me from Canberra to Cairns via Sydney, and then to Brisbane again via Sydney before returning to Canberra, you guessed it, via Sydney. Final routing for the trip looks like this:


August 10 2014
Well today started a little earlier than planned, was hoping to be up at 5 but I was wide awake at 4....got to the airport at about 6am and after checking my bag in I made my way straight to the Qantas club prior to my 0715 flight to Sydney. Routing for the day was pretty straight forward:


Whilst in the club I enjoyed a quick brekky and browsed the net on the wifi, the Canberra lounge is not very busy at this time of the morning so I had plenty of space to myself.




After finishing my breakfast I decided to make my way down to the gate a bit early.

Qantaslink Flight 1464 10 August 2014
STD 0715 STA 0810
Aircraft: DHC-8-402Q VH-QOX 'Cradle Coast'
Seat 1A


QOX on the bay out of maintenance.

Boarding was delayed slightly due to CASA conducting drug testing, once underway the 53 passengers were quickly boarded and the door was closed just a few minutes behind schedule, a quick taxi for a Mike Intersection runway 35 departure before climbing up to 19000ft trekking via Bindook and O'Dale for a runway 34L arrival at Sydney.

Refreshment today was the standard breakfast box, accompanied by a coffee, very quick flight time today, cabin crew only just got the service out.


Close to cruise altitude


Plenty of legroom in 1A!!


Top of descent in the Bindook area.

No photos were taken during the departure or approach phases of this flight as I was in an exit row and obviously the mobile phone was off On arrival into Sydney there was a nice quick taxi to gate 16 where we disembarked right on time.


Leaving QOX behind.


And that folks is where I will leave this for the next few hours

[Zac M]

HAVING ISSUES UNLOADING THE PICS, COME BACK LATER!!!

Sydney Airport 10 August 2014
After arriving from Canberra I made my way directly to the Qantas Club where I had a coffee and wrote the first part of this report, by the time I had done that my flight was called for boarding.




Qantas Flight 924 10 August 2014
STD 0915 STA 1220
Aircraft: Boeing 767-338ER VH-OGO "Unity"
Seat 23K

OGO at gate 18 undergoing final preps.
100% full today, after making my way down from the club I waited around the gate lounge for the large line to dissipate, once onboard I made my way to seat 23K, the first row of economy onboard the Qantas 767s. Shortly after boarding the forward door was closed however there was a slight delay due to the loading of the bag, ending up leaving the bay 10 late.


Onboard

Plenty of legroom in the bulkhead row

Takeoff today was from runway 34L departing via Richmond and then onward to Cairns, once thought the lower levels of cloud the seat belt sign was out and the Q-Straming inflight entertainment was activated. Shortly after a breakfast consisting of egg, corn cake, sausage and a bean mixture was handed out accompanied by yogurt, OJ, a sweet loaf as well hot beverages.

[img][/img]
Nearing the top of the climb

Breakfast
[img][/img]
The packed rear economy section

The flight went by un-eventfully, toward the end of the flight the cabin crew served a Weiss ice-cream which was unexpected as the flight was a breakfast service.
[img][/img]
Icecream

Decent today started pretty early and we popped out under the clouds quite late onto final approach for runway 15


Top of descent

about to hit the top of the clouds

around the mountain range

Still above a lot of cloud

On the ground with a bit of water getting lifted off the runway

Taxi to the gate was fast arriving bang on time.

Arriving next to VZM
[img][/img]
OGO undergoing preparations for her return to Sydney

Next flight will be on Saturday when I head to Brisbane via Sydney, stay tuned for the next instalment then!

[Zac M]

The missing photos in order....would add them to the report but I forgot about the lock pout function on editing the posts....if one of the mods wants to open that one up for me and delete this post it would be appreciated.

top of climb

rear cabin

ice cream

OGO at the gate

[Sarah C]

Love the report so far Zac!

[Todd Steele]

Marvelous report, always enjoy reading these!

[Dave Dale]

Zac, great report.

[Jacob L]

Great Work Zac,
Can't wait to see the next part.
Shame to see the QF 767s go.

[Zac M]

Thanks guys!

Accommodation
During my 6 nights in Cairns I have stayed at the Cairns Colonial Club Resort which is located pretty close to the airport, to get here I paid $22 for a taxi however through a third party they also offer a coach transfer for $15. During my time in Cairns I shared the twin share room with my friend Ed who drove from Canberra.

The accommodation at the resort was quite basic, however the staff were incredible and the resorts facilities whilst dated are great. The resort features three pools, a spa, a games room featuring arcade games as well as a poolside cafe and a restaurant which also hosts breakfast. All up I paid $567 for the accommodation over the 6 nights which included a full buffet breakfast for the two of us.

The bedding, this was after Ed had left on his 28hr return drive to Canberra so one of the beds was not made up.


The rest of the furniture in the room essentially, also features a small space for making coffee and a fridge, the bathroom was just a standard hotel bathroom.

Plane Spotting Cairns Monday August 11
On Monday the two of us walked up to the lookout which I believe is on the Red Arrow Trail (I might be wrong), its quite a hike but the views are great. Unfortunately at the time I was up there the lighting wasn't the best but here are some photos:



[img]https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3889/14901376676_20480266da_z.jpg/img]





As can be seen I managed to get a pretty good variety of aircraft including both aircraft I had flown on the previous day. I was particularly stoked to get the Airfast MD83 which was noisy and smokey and had one of the steepest climbs I have ever seen, unfortunately the picture doesn't do it much justice!

Green Island 12 August 2014
Visiting the Great Barrier Reef is a must do when in Cairns, there are many different options however as both of us are pretty weak swimmers we chose to go to Green Island which has a variety of options for viewing the reef and has shallow water. We booked with Big Cat Green Island Cruises who offer two different packages for the reef itself as well as bundle deal with other Cairns attractions. We chose to go for the full day on Green Island which includes a semi-submarine viewing session, a choice of glass boat or snorkelling (you can get both for an extra $16) as well as a full buffet lunch onboard the boat, we also chose to bundle this with a trip to Kuranda on the historic railway and Skyrail the next day costing us $330 per person.

On the morning of the cruise we drove ourselves to the Reef Fleet Terminal, having checked in the previous day whilst paying we proceeded directly to the boat which commences boarding at 0815 for a 0900 departure, the cruise out to Green Island on the Big Cat takes about an hour and 20 minutes however if you do the half day tour you get a much faster boat and I believe it is done in about 30mins.


Boarding the Big Cat

Upon arrival at the island we had about an hour to burn before our slot on the glass bottom boat, there is plenty of activities to do on the island ranging from shopping, a crocodile show or just simply walking the boardwalk around the island, if you don't mind paying I believe there are also helicopter tours over the surrounding reef are available.

At 1115 we had our glass bottom boat tour, whilst on this tour we were treated to a huge surprise when two humpback whales were spotted, unfortunately I was not quick enough to get a photo but yeah, amazing sight!

A green sea turtle poking it's head out of the water

A view back to the jetty.

After the conclusion of this tour (I think it lasted about 20mins) we headed onboard Big Cat for our lunch, the buffet consisted of salads as well as a Japanese curry and rice, drinks are available for purchase.

Once we had finished lunch we headed onto the island to take in some of the sights as the tide got lower.



At 1315 it was out turn for a ride in the semi-submarine, this provides a unique view of the reef without getting wet.


After the tour we headed onto the island to do some snorkelling, it's one thing seeing it all through glass but it is truly magical getting so close to the amazing creatures on the reef for yourself!

At 1545 the Big Cat departs and they do ask that everyone is onboard at 1530 leaving on time they had us back at the reef terminal at Cairns on 5pm.

All in all, it was a great day, I urge anyone going to Cairns to give this a go, you won't regret it!!

[Zac M]

Kuranda 13 August 2014
This was all booked through Bigcat Green Island Cruises, today we would head to Kuranda via the Historic Railway before been taken to "Rainforestation" for a cultural and horticultural sort of tour before been taking the Skyrail (a 7.5km cable car) back to Cairns. This included a bus transfer to and from our accommodation.

At 8am we were picked up from out resort and taken to freshwater station where the train would depart at 9am, the train snakes its was up through the mountains around Baron Gorge to Kuranda taking approximately and hour. Apon arrival at Kuranda we walked into the township, we would be picked up by a coach at 1145. to go to Rainforestation, a rainforest/wildlife sanctuary sort of thing.


The train arriving at Freshwater Station.


Stopped at Barron Falls Station.

Once at Rainforestation we were given time for lunch, this was a buffet at the cost of $25 which was quite reasonable given the selection of foods, after that we were given a wild life tour showing off various Australian native animals, followed by a spear and boomerang demonstration by some members of the local indigenous population, this was then followed by an indigenous dance show.
[img]https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3860/14737857468_0fca8***39_z.jpg[/img]

After the dance we were taken on a tour of the rainforest in a 1940s army duck which was a unique experience, immediately following this tour we were taken to the Kuranda Skyrail Station by coach for the trip back to Cairns.



If you aren't keen on the historic railway then I would still recommend doing this, the Skyrail is a 7.5km cable car running over Baron Gorge between Kuranda and Cairns, it provides some breathtaking views and also had two enroute stops where you can get out and explore.

After leaving Kuranda there is a stop at Baron Falls, whist you can stay on at this station I would recommend getting out as it's a great spot to view Barron Falls




The next station along the way (I cannot remember the name) is a compulsory stop, this is because at this point the Skyrail is split, the gondola you are in will turn around and head back the other way, if you wish you can head straight into another gondola however there is a short walk around the rain forest you can do as well as an educational centre. Once you leave this station your descent into Cairns begins providing some truly amazing views of Cairns and surrounds.



Upon arrival at the end of the Skyrail we were met by our bus driver who took us back to our resort, arriving back approximately 1745, so it's a pretty long day!

[Zac M]

Plane Spotting 15 August 2014
Nothing really happened on the Thursday, on Friday Ed was headed home so I had him drop me at the foot of the walking trail which we had gone up the other day, the weather meant it was light neutral today but it did make for some pretty bland shots. After spotting I did attempt to make my way back to the resort on foot, but the map they had given me proved useless so I ended up flagging down a cab.













Today was only the second day of Dreamliner operation between Cairns and Narita.

Once back at the hotel I packed as much as I could up and settled the account as well as editing photos and writing this report. Tomorrow I will embark on a trip down to Brisbane, the roundabout way via Brisbane so stay tuned for that!