Photo Trip Report: SYD-NAN-SUV rtn.

[Shameel Kumar]

Hi Everyone,

Well as promised, here is a trip report of my recent trip to Fiji. I went to attend my cousin's wedding as I was the photographer and camera-man, so it wasn't all fun and relaxation (heck, there was no relaxation come to think of it!). I was gone for only 5 days, but nice to go back to my home country, and this was my first opportunity to use my new DSLR (still learning) on a flight.

Hope you all enjoy the photos.


First Flight
Date: Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
Flight: Pacific Blue - DJ155
Route: SYD-NAN
Aircraft Type: Boeing 737-800
Aircraft Rego: ZK-PBK (Delivered less than 3 months ago)

Well this was my first flight on Virgin/Pacific/Polynesia Blue so that made things a tad more interesting as I was curious to see how the experience would stack up against my QF and NZ experiences. Didn't start off too well with boarding being about 20minutes late as the aircraft had been delayed arriving from AKL. From there things got better as I realised that we would be walking on the tarmac and climbing the stairs to board the plane (lot more fun doing that than just walking down the aerobridge!). Once I had taken my seat I was met with a shocking sight. At the time of boarding I had requested a window seat which was kindly given (Seat 10A), but just as I got comfy in my seat I realised that there was no window at seat 10A (one of those stupid window-less rows). After taking a look around the cabin to see if there were any empty window seats, I lucky spotted a vacant window seat just a few aisles on the other side of the plane. You can't imagine the big smile and great feeling of relief and excitement as I acquainted myself with my new seat and window.
Soon enough we pushed-back and were on our way. We taxiied our way to the holding position at the top of runway 16R, and after waiting for an EK 77W to touch down we were on our way to NAN (Nadi - Fiji's major international airport). The flight to NAN was uneventful with cloud-cover dominating the view out my treasured window. I opted to purchase the digEplayer as I'm not much of a sleeper or reader when it comes to flying (after doing countless SYD-LAX/SFO trips in recent years, having a PTV has become somewhat of a habit). The system itself is pretty good with a good range of movies, TV shows, and music options (AU$15). It's very similar to JQ's portable IFE which I had used last December on my trip to HNL. In terms of food, well I had a nice meal prior to boarding, but I purchased a Chocolate Muffin for AU$3..and oh what a tasty muffin it was!!
Touchdown in NAN was nice and easy, though the only let down was that we got off the plane through an aerobridge, but NAN is a fairly open aircraft, so I was able to get a few shots of our aircraft on my way to the Immigrations queue. Immigration was quick and easy and then a quick stop for some Duty Free shopping before heading over to the Domestic check-in area for our NAN-SUV (Nadi to Suva, though SUV actually isn't located in Suva, it's located in Nausori which is about a 20min drive from Suva).

Well, enough talking for now, here are the photos of my SYD-NAN-SUV leg of my trip.

Outside the SYD International Terminal at 5.10am



Taking a quick snapshot from the tarmac just prior to boarding



Close-up of one of the 737s engines. Too bad there wasn't a 77W nearby to compare engine sizes