jdevereux3's Marvelously mad mileage run across Australia

[Major]

I am really enjoying the suspense of this one. Great TR so far.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Only 12 flights and you didn't even leave the country, lightweight.

Am I crazy….Yes, but the old saying stands “Why go direct when you can connect”.

I thought the saying was "Why fly non stop when you can connect" :idea:

I am looking forward to the installments.

 

[serfty]

...
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300 VH-ZXG Karratha

Now I don’t ‘hate’ the 767s, In fact I prefer taking the largest aircraft possible so I purposely picked this particular flight. But Qantas really need to send these things on their way, from what I recall ZXG is one of the ex-BA birds which are apparently newer than the rest of the 767 fleet. To be honest you can’t really tell the difference anyway, in short AJ really needs to get his priorities straight and use the first 787 deliveries for QF instead of JQ…
...

I can't stand the ZX's (The seven ex BA birds are registered VH-ZXA through VH-ZXG).

They have no directional air vents and I have spent far too much of my life seated in them while stationary on the ground while some maintenance issue or another gets attended to. :evil:

 

[dwwarlow]

I left the Qantas Club before the boarding call was made as people that live in Hobart generally have no idea of how to form and orderly queue and I like to be the first on-board anyway.

Boarding was started and I was quickly trudging across the tarmac to our aircraft form the morning, once on board I was quickly offered a welcome drink of orange juice while we waited for all the riff-raff up the back to board and we were soon on our way to Melbourne a few minutes ahead of schedule.

Orange Juice? I've only ever seen Apple and Strawberry in J for that welcome drink

Great report so far, reminds me of the time i went from BNE to HBA via SYD,ADL and MEL, overnighted at the Airport Hotel then did the reverse back to BNE, extremely hard 2 days work, even in J

 

[mannej]

I don't know where you get the idea that the ZX's are any younger than the OG's.
In fact OGN-OGV are younger then any of the ZX's and the rest of the OG's are around the same age.

I agree the product is not the best, but I have seen some shockers when it comes to other airlines supposedly newer aircraft

 

[serfty]

I don't know where you get the idea that the ZX's are any younger than the OG's.
In fact OGN-OGV are younger then any of the ZX's and the rest of the OG's are around the same age.

I agree the product is not the best, but I have seen some shockers when it comes to other airlines supposedly newer aircraft

I reckon there was a reason BA were happy to find someone else to operate G-BNWE/F/G/J/K/L/P fom 2000.

Earlier this century I had thought they were to depart QF sooner rather than later, I was aghast when QF refitted them with the grey fabric a couple of years ago.:evil:

 

[jsd]

Qantas Airways QF516
SYD-BNE
June 06, 2011
Departure: 10:05 (scheduled) 10:05 (actual)
Arrival: 11:35 (scheduled) 11:31 (actual)
Seat: 26D - Economy
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300 VH-ZXG Karratha


After a quick 40min stopover in Sydney to stretch my legs boarding was soon called for QF516 at the same gate I had just arrived at, which in turn means I would be sitting in exactly the same spot as I was sitting in on QF414, boarding was quick and painless and to make this flight even more fun we even had the same crew!

We pushed back right on time and I joined in with helping Geoff with the safety demo handing him all the demo equipment right on queue with the tape , I was sort of glad that it would be the last time I would be hearing said video today...

We took off with no delays and were soon tracking to Brisbane, after the seatbelt sign was turned off Geoff went up to the J cabin for the remainder of the flight and Caro took over his position, these guys were a welcome relief from some of the other crew flying for QF, friendly and efficient and most importantly enjoy their jobs.

As this flight fell just outside of breakfast timings a refreshment was to be served, however there were a few breakfast trays left over from the last flight so I was offered another breakfast and a refreshment, the breakfast was exactly the same as what was served on QF414 and the refreshment was a Pumpkin slice thing served with Juice and/or Tea & Coffee.

The rest of the flight was spent tuned into the IFE again and chatting with the crew, shortly after the seatbelt sign was turned on again and we began our descent into Brisbane touching down a few minutes before our scheduled arrival time, we docked at the gate closest to the CityFlyer service desk and bid goodbyes to the awesome crew who were headed back to Melbourne.

And so came an end to my mainline QF flights for the day...

I had some time to kill before samh004 arrived at BNE so I took a walk down to the DJ end of the terminal to check out how the refurbishment was coming along... all I could say at that point in time was Meh!

Next Up: QF2314 Brisbane to Cairns

 

[jsd]

Qantas Airways QF2366 (Operated by Alliance Airlines for Sunstate)
BNE-ROK
June 06, 2011
Departure: 13:45 (scheduled) 15:35 (actual)
Arrival: 15:00 (scheduled) 16:45 (actual)
Seat: N/A - Economy
Aircraft: Fokker 100 (Unknown Rego.)


Much to mine and samh004's disappointment , staying on this flight would have resulted in missing our connection to QF2314, so we were instead booked onto QF2314 right through to CNS.

Although thinking back, being put up in Rockhampton for the right wouldn't have been that bad after all, but I'm border lining on a 'spolier alert' now

The end result, more time in the BNE Qantas Club

 

[moa999]

i'm guessing the above should be MEL-CNS or BNE on a Fokker?

 

[jsd]

i'm guessing the above should be MEL-CNS or BNE on a Fokker?

Awkward


But fixed now...

 

[drron]

Glad you are back on the job Josh.looking forward to hearing of the saga.Ash really is a dirty word isn't it?

 

[jsd]

Glad you are back on the job Josh.looking forward to hearing of the saga.Ash really is a dirty word isn't it?

Don't worry drron, I have some very vocal opinions to come regarding the ash cloud in good time

 

[LiamR]

Departure:15:35 (actual)
Arrival:14:45 (actual)

I didn't realise there was a time zone change between BNE and ROK. Pretty cool going back in time on an intra state flight!

 

[jsd]

Qantas Airways QF2314 (Operated by Qantaslink/Sunstate)
BNE-ROK
June 06, 2011
Departure: 14:30 (scheduled) 14:35 (actual)
Arrival: 15:45 (scheduled) 15:55 (actual)
Seat: 2D - Economy
Aircraft: Bombardier Q400 VH-QOP Coffs Harbour

Boarding for this flight was a new experience for me, after having my boarding pass scanned we were bussed out to the waiting Q400 waiting to take us through to Cairns, in hindsight I think that is just plain lazy, I would have happily walked the distance

We started to roll out to the tarmac about 5 minutes after we were supposed to, I can't even remember why we had a small delay as by that time I was too engaged in conversation with my seatmate.

We hit the runway and the engines progressed into a full roar, it was at this time that I nearly solied myself and hoped we had to abort take-off so I could go back to the terminal and re-book onto a jet service....but hey, the Dash8 seemed a good idea at the time.

The seatbelt sign was extinguished fairly soon after take-off if I recall correctly and we were served our first refreshment in a total of four for today's flight, it seemed to be the same pumpkin slice thingy that I had on QF516 earlier... bah! no matter, at least it was moist and tasty and not dry and horrible like so many Qantas inflight snacks/meals tend to be... of course I had already finished before I remembered to take a photo...


The wrapper of my already consumed Pumpkin slice together with my can of Coke and a water

With the meal service concluded the FAs retreated to the back of the cabin and left everyone to their own, more conversation with my seatmate filled in the rest of the flight as well as frequent glances over at samh004 to make sure he was still there


Entering Rockhampton

We came over Rocky a little later that expected but that was no worries as we couldn't possibly be late for out next flight :mrgreen:, although touching down on the runway my earlier new found hates of the Dash8 were confirmed, the tin can slammed down and started to veer left and right, I was in quite a bit of shock and looking over at samh004 he was too (If he denies it, he is telling lies).

After the pilot had managed to win back control we taxied over to the terminal where continuing passengers were told they had to remain on the aircraft while everyone else was taken off and replaced with fresh faces....unfortunatley this included my seatmate who was replaced with a very sad looking grumpy WP, well there goes my IFE for the next 4ish hours :-|

Next Up: QF2314 Rockhampton to Mackay

 

[jsd]

Qantas Airways QF2314 (Operated by Qantaslink/Sunstate)
ROK-MKY
June 06, 2011
Departure: 16:10 (scheduled) 16:13 (actual)
Arrival: 16:55 (scheduled) 17:02 (actual)
Seat: 2D - Economy
Aircraft: Bombardier Q400 VH-QOP Coffs Harbour

After the swapping of passengers and bags and refuelling was completed, the doors were closed up and we progressed onwards to Mackay, seeing as though Mr. Grmupy Pants next to me wasn't a talkative one I decided that this flight would be good one to take in the few and get a few photos.

The two strong FA team handed out the snack of a Pumpkin dip with dipping stick things (God Qantas, whats the obsession with Pumpkin) for this sector served with your beverage of choice or tea/coffee. As soon as everyone had finished rubbish was collected and they soon retreated back to the other end of the cabin leaving everyone to do their own thing once again...



The SBC Pumpkin Dip with yet another can of Coke (I mean come on now Qantas, I like Pumpkin but 3 times in the same day is a bit of overkill)



By far the scariest part of any Turboprop aircraft, seriously if that thing stops spinning I'm outta here!


Soon enough the seatbelt sign came on once more and we began descending into Mackay, once again the landing was definately not a gentle one. A few passengers were replaced (Though not as many as in Rockhampton) and after getting told off by the FA for having my phone switched on while we were on the ground (It was genuinely important, I swear :! we got going once more...


Next More: QF2314 Mackay to Townsville

 

[Simo]

Great reports.... Look forward to the next instalment.

 

[Hvr]

Yeah when they find a good snack on the Dash 8s they stick to them. Maybe they are early for Halloween?

Am enjoying the TR, please keep it coming.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I prefer the 400' to jets, horses for courses i guess. Smooth for a turboprop. Good TR, give us some more!