Diaries of a travelling nutter

Well, as you may know, I was one of the lucky 16 selected to have lunch with Simon Hickey and Stephanie Tully last week. Here's a little TR on the journey.

This report continues from Part 1.

Disclosure: This trip was paid for in full by Qantas as a competition prize.

Rockpool lunch

The venue was surpurb, decor perfectly executed and consistent throughout. Lunch was brilliant, and here's the menu:

My dining choices were:

• Wagyu bolognese with hand cut fettuccine
• Slow roasted 4 hour grass fed Sirloin with modern béarnaise, with sides of macaroni and cheese, and salad.
• Crème Caramel

There was much great discussion had over the various elements of the QF program, including a reference to the Neil Perry Party Pie - made to Neil Perry himself no less (congrats to awilcockson for this). Needless to say, there was laughter all round.

A line of discussion on the hard product brought out my plane nerdery, trying to nail down exactly which A330 he was unhappy with.

A postscript to this, Stephanie & Red Roo informed us later that Perry was downstairs coming up with a pie recipe after awilcockson’s aforementioned comments.

Festivities and discussions carried on till well past four, causing annoyance amongst some of the waiting chauffeurs back at the Raddison.

I’ve already commented elsewhere on the discussions through the lunch, and I’ve still not had the time to sit down and transcribe my audio notes.

To the airport

Thanks to one enterprising member, who previously asked Red Roo in jest for a Hummer chauffeur ride as transport, he was even more enterprising in trying his luck. A phone call later, and our names were on the door as guests to the Chairmans Lounge.

So one chauffeur and a trip on the congested Eastern Distributor during peak hour later, it was on the QF Departure road and en route to the lounge.

<Queue outrage from fellow AFF members>

The CL Lounge Manager gave the group in attendance a guided tour of the facilities. As described by Matthew, the lounge is Mark Newson F Lounge MkII. In club lounges, approx. 3m2 in space is provided per member - whereas the CL allocates approx 12m2, and the extra space shows. It carries the same designs, concepts, interior and furniture as used in the F Lounge, but slightly more refined with darker tones in wall panelling (dark marble on most internal walls, wood panelling for the rest), a nice darker green finish to cabinetry and upholstery, and carpet thought the non-wet areas and main entry hall.

Seating features both single seats, arranged in groups of two to four. Some areas also have larger two seater couches. A dining area near the buffet is also provided, as well as a library, quiet zone, and TV's where members are even trusted with the remote. Like the QP and J lounges, floor to ceiling windows gives clear views onto the apron and terminal area. Also featured are enclosed offices and meeting rooms separated by glass walls.

At the request of QF, a few snaps taken inside the CL have been suppressed from public view. If you ask me nicely, I may be able to share these with you privately.

QF583
SYD-PER, A330-300
Crew: Kim, CSM unknown.

Departure was delayed due to operational issues (see Cleaning delays), not pushing back until a little around 8pm.

Service was acceptable and timely, with a few less cabin announcements and much more polish to the delivery. Stir-fry beef with steamed rice and vegetables were on the menu, and far more acceptable than the inbound sector meal. The ice cream was one of those fruit & yoghurt items from Weiss, which was fine.

And while the pilot had put the hammer down, his gains in the air were to be undone on the ground. Landing at PER was on RWY21/06, then proceeding down the east of the aerodrome along TWY C up to TWY W - this alone took 10min.

The real kicker was that all airbridges at PER were loaded thanks to engineers being on a go slow and not moving aircraft to their overnight bays. As a consequence, we were stuck at the holding point on TWY W for an additional 20min while the engineers and ground staff bothered to do their jobs. While several non-aerobridge gates were available, this option wasn't taken for one reason or another. All in all, we didn't dock and deplane for nearly 35min after hitting tarmac.

The pilot did their level best to keep pax informed of progress, albeit it would have been nice if the crew were able to do a water service during the wait.

Mercifully, I didn't check my backpack on this flight so no waiting for baggage at the other end and straight out the door.

Arrival post-script

All the delays put a big dent in my plans to visit a friend in the PER DJ Lounge whom was flying out to LAX via BNE. The lounge angels there were more than happy to assist me, and gladly put his name on the door for entry under my DJ WP guest privileges until I arrived

However the delays put paid to this plan, and instead it was straight outside onto the forecourt. As usual, night time traffic was playing havoc and causing queues back to the Dunreath Dr roundabout. This was easily fixed, as the right lane for the carpark was still clear, so had my friend dart in there while I walked across – in and out under three minutes which means it’s free, avoiding the wait.