Day 1 - Thursday 14 January - Canberra to Hong Kong

Wednesday night was so hot and disgusting I barely slept.

Thursday morning up at 6am to get ready to leave at 7am.

Fountain at Canberra Airport

Breakfast at Qantas Club

Our first flight from Canberra to Sydney was on a Dash 8. Had a seat near the back on the left so had a great view of Canberra in the early morning sun. It was cloudy over much of New South Wales though. Approached the airport from the south-west, but then flew right over it, swung right to come in from the south. Got to see my house which was pretty cool.

Qantas Dash-8 400 VH-QOM at Canberra Airport

Canberra from the plane

Breakfast snack on the plane

South western Sydney

Bankstown Aerodrome

Kogarah

Southern Sydney

Sydney Airport

Eastern Suburbs

Kurnell

Shadow of our plane over Botany Bay

In Sydney went and caught the "tarmac tour" bus, aka the international transfer bus around to the international terminal. Immigration in Sydney is now a lot more automated now - you scan your passport, have your photo taken, then drop your departing card in a box. The machines didn't like Stu though, so he had to go see a human heh. Had some nibblies in the Qantas club before boarding.

Qantas Boeing 737-800 VH-VXQ at Sydney Airport

Stu and brunch in the Qantas Club

The second flight was on an A380. We hadn't been on an A380 since our honeymoon in 2008, and we'd never been on a Qantas one. The entertainment systems are a bit better than other Qantas planes. Heaps of movies and tv to choose from. And I think there's even a tiny bit more leg room - Stu's knees weren't touching the chair in front!

Qantas Airbus A380-300 VH-OQF at Sydney Airport

Kaz and Stu ready to depart

View out the window of the Qantas Airbus A380 VH-OQF

Leg room in economy

USB port and network port on the A380 in economy

Old Air Traffic Control Tower at Sydney Airport

Qantas domestic terminals at Sydney Airport

Inner west Sydney

Sydney city

Gladesville Bridge

Diamantina River

Northern coast of Australia

Lunch on the plane was slow cooked beef cheek which was actually pretty good. Dinner (a snack really) was a mini burger and mini hot dog.

Slow roasted beef cheeks in a smoky barbecue sauce with baked carrots, broccoli and corn salsa, that I had for lunch

Mini beef burger and mini hot dog that I had for dinner

During the flight I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which was good, but too long. Then I watched The Grand Budapest Hotel which was quirky and fun, but filled with quite jarring language and violence. Just seemed really out of place for that style of movie. Next I watched Funny Face which was ok but a bit silly. Finally watched a documentary by Kal Penn on crime data, and another one on binge drinking.

We did a couple of big holding pattern loops approaching Hong Kong before landing from the west.

Clouds at sunset near Hong Kong

Holding loops near Hong Kong

Tail cam of the A380 showing the terminal in Hong Kong

Since I've never been on the flight deck of an A380, I asked the crew if I could go say hi. Qantas staff are always so lovely and they happily let me go up and have a look :) The flight deck is actually fairly spacious and super high tech with so many little computer screens! Only the pilot was still up there and he asked if I wanted to sit in the pilot's seat, so I did, and he took some photos :):):) Soooo cool :)

Flight deck of Qantas Airbus A380-300 VH-OQF at Hong Kong Airport

Kaz at the controls of the Qantas Airbus A380-300 VH-OQF at Hong Kong Airport

Coming through immigration was pretty quick. Got pissed off at people that crowd around the baggage carousels so you can't actually get at your bag - one of my pet peeves. Then out through customs.

Went to a 7-Eleven to get some sims, but they had sold out, so went to a 1010 store. Got some snackages at Delifrance. Then topped up our Octopus cards and hopped on a train into the city, with a transfer to the Island Line and a short walk (around roadworks) to the hotel.

Snackages at Delifrance

The hotel is quite lovely (for the price it oughta be!). We have a view of Victoria Park and some of Kowloon. There's plenty of power points, the desk is wood so I don't need a mouse mat, there's even two usb ports next to the bed (one side only) for charging things! We can have up to four devices on the wifi, and there's a physical network port as well (with cable provided!) It does however seem to be the only hotel in history that doesn't have a shaver plug in the bathroom - where I was going to see if plugging in a night light would work. Fortunately there's enough light from the city to see where you're going in the dark.