Star Craven TR #3 EMD-BNE-HKG-DAD + Golf

craven morehead · Feb 28, 2019

Well it's time to have another crack at a TR

I thoroughly enjoy reading and learning from everyone else's trip reports. I'll hopefully add something of interest for others. Starting at the usual departure point of EMD in Sunny & dry CQ. The QF regional lounge is steadily getting worse now the new operators have been in charge for some 12 months. Juice now in tetrapaks not glass bottles, no potato crisps, no small packets of Anzac biscuits etc and yesterday there wasn't even any cheese and crackers just dirty old pretzels and some sort of corn snack. They used to have a lady cleaning and restocking all the time, this is no longer the case. Anyway the lounge can hold 18 people inside and probably another 12 outside if needed or providing it's not 40c

So we (Bride allowed on this trip) jumped on QF2407 and landed in BNE on time. Longest wait I've ever had at carousel #3 waiting for luggage being ~ 20-25 minutes it's normally no more than 10 minutes. Collected golf clubs and walked over to BNE AP Pullman for the night. Used some Accor points to get room for $98. Ate at the ibis next door as the Pullman is expensive and I was shouting a party of 4. Not to mention $16 for a single nip Tanqueray #10 ... good heavens

craven morehead · Feb 28, 2019

Caught the $5 shuttle from Pullman to International terminal. Checked in dropped off clubs and through to the lounge in about 20 minutes. Good result. Off in about 15 minutes to board QF97. Classic J reward seats 4E & 4F. Had a decent brekky up on top level of QP. Staying on HK island for first time in 7 visits at Pullman Park Lane using 1 x free night .Report in later. Have a great day

@amaroo please excuse the very ordinary breakfast fare

RB · Feb 28, 2019

Loved your previous report. I am sure you will have some great photos again

craven morehead · Mar 1, 2019

RB said:
Loved your previous report. I am sure you will have some great photos again

Cheers @RB I will have a go

craven morehead · Mar 1, 2019

Always a great feeling looking out from a lounge over the terminal. That hard earned sense of freedom as I'm just about to leave the country.

Today's bird is "Kimberley" leaving from Gate 84

Time to settle in with PD champers. QF97 scheduled to take off at 9.30 was a bit of a hold up with traffic and we ended up departing at 9.50.

FA Judy photo bombed our picture here

I'm sure many of you have crossed paths with her over the years. Today was her last flight after 40 years!

craven morehead · Mar 4, 2019

Righto playing catch up again! Real time trip reports are hard when you're trying to extract the most out of your vacations

Today's QF97 crew were absolutely brilliant and Ian who was serving me was a very jolly chap indeed. Nothing was a problem and couldn't do enough to make the flight enjoyable. Anyone who's ever read a sentence I've written knows that I like a beer almost as much as a G&T

so Ian was pouring my Gins with such gay abandon from the start that the thought crossed my mind he was trying to euthanase me over the course of half a dozen drinks! Settled in to watch Mile 22 and graze through Neil Perry's back catalogue. Menu attached :

I started with the soup and it was very tasty indeed . The wife had the duck salad and also enjoyed it.

For mains I went with the Red braised pork. Very enjoyable, it was tasty, tender and quite moist as you know sometimes airline food can be served far too dry which detracts from the experience. Wife enjoyed the Seared Humpty Doo barramundi.

The cheese with a glass of Musket was my choice to finish with. In my opinion the cheese platters are getting more and more pathetic as time goes on. Only 2 cheeses presented on this serving and I'm not a fan of soft cheese at all much preferring a good blue or strong cheddar something that is nice and stinky is more my style! Something that suits a glass of Red if you're in the mood

Had a little nap for an hour after eating and then my will to live kicked back in and I was ready for some more G&T and another movie. Second movie for the flight was one called Babel and it was an unusual format but very enjoyable movie in the end. For my prior to landing snack I chose the Stir fry vegetables with sweet potato noodles. Once again it was very tasty with a nice little hint of chilli.

As I was packing up about half hour out of HKG I managed to drop the adaptor for my QC35's down into the abyss. I tried for about 10 minutes to find the bloody thing and couldn't. Ian my trusty Macgyver came down with his torch and pulled the seat apart got down on his knees, turned himself upside down and tried in vain for 15 minutes to help locate missing part. All to no avail in the end but I couldn't believe the effort he made to try and help me retrieve the missing part. Well done to Ian, I thanked him profusely for his level of service. All in all a great flight today with no complaints ......... well this is more funny than a complaint. The lady behind us who was either new to NC headphones or just plain bonkers as she was obviously watching Bohemian Rhapsody because she was belting out the song at the top of her voice and horribly out of tune

As I said, Ian had a real crack at finding my adaptor. Looks like I'll be buying another one.

drron · Mar 4, 2019

At least you got different coloured leaves in your salad.
Favouritism I say.

Well our flight was out of Auckland and those kiwis just love green.

craven morehead · Mar 5, 2019

Having arrived safely with bags & clubs in tow off we went to the taxi rank. Arrived at Park Lane Pullman on Gloucester Road Causeway Bay at around 6pm local time. Very good location. Up to our room and freshened up while waiting for luggage to follow. The room was very adequate with a view over both Victoria Park & Harbour. I am still of the opinion that you shouldn't have a Shub in a 5 star hotel! We then decided on a low key start to the trip and headed up to the Skye Bar for a couple of quiet ones and some finger food. As for most of these sky bar turn outs there is a premium to pay for the view. It was however a nice place to relax and reflect on our day

Used Accor free night and some extra points to lessen the accommodation cost.

View from the room

Skye Bar

Light meal

Great view and a nice place to relax after our travel today. Couple of drinks each and snacks still equated to ~ AUD $200 .... holidays right !!

Major · Mar 6, 2019

Wow, that's expensive. Were the Chinese food options any cheaper ?

craven morehead · Mar 6, 2019

Major said:
Wow, that's expensive. Were the Chinese food options any cheaper ?

Not really any cheap options in the Skye Bar. If I wanted to save money I could've just gone downstairs as there were plenty of food outlets but chose to chill out up there.

craven morehead · Mar 6, 2019

Breakfast options in this hotel are fantastic

maybe hard to justify value at ~ AUD $55 per head but we had the 50% Accor discount applied and it worked out well. Breakfast offerings were in Playt on level 1 and covered just about everything : Western, Asian, Indian, European cold cuts, fruit, pastries, yoghurts, juices etc etc!

craven morehead · Mar 9, 2019

Time to walk off a fairly substantial breakfast so we decided to walk to Central and see where we ended up

weather was overcast and temperature was around 22c. Most of these pics won't be new to the majority of you.

Really enjoyed the walk down to Central .... now what to do next?

drron · Mar 9, 2019

Play golf?

craven morehead · Mar 9, 2019

I hadn't been up to the Mid-Levels since 2006 so time go for another look as the Wife hadn't previously been there. Off we go

Something quite different to my small town of 800 people

Yummo !

I think it would be very hard to convey to someone who hasn't been here just how steep this section of town really is. The kids reckon Dad is a wanker for taking selfies

craven morehead · Mar 9, 2019

By this time we've done some walking albeit travelator assisted in places. Now it's about 2pm and we are near enough to the top of the Mid-Levels business wise. Pretty much just accommodation above us from what I can see. Others may be able to comment to the contrary. So it's time for a feed as these short legs have done some miles. We found this nice small place called Feather & Bone at 38 Shelley St and it looks the goods.

Queen Bee has found a table

The offerings :

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We both decided on the Steak Sandwich with some hand cut chips to share. I actually had a juice with lunch ...... I know ... shock horror

The food was absolutely delicious, but at ~ AUD $85 not something we would normally do. Holidays are different and Hong Kong is not cheap so that is that and no regrets. I would have no problem recommending this place. After lunch we walked back down to Central Pier and then caught a taxi back to Causeway Bay.

craven morehead · Mar 9, 2019

Back to the hotel to freshen up and we then decided to duck over to Stanley for a few hours. I always try and get over there for a few beers and a bit of people watching as the sun goes down. I was expecting it to be a lot busier but ended up being fairly quiet. So we had a walk around for maybe 30 minutes and then pulled up at Smugglers Inn and chilled for a few hours. It was a cool evening and we got some light drizzle and one stage but nothing to put me off a beer.

After this big effort today surely I deserved a few Pints of Tsingtao

Being a Smugglers Inn the bride went with a Rum befitting the Pirate theme.

Spent maybe 3 hours relaxing in Stanley and then headed back to the hotel for a snack and a nightcap (G&T's) in the lobby bar this time.

The Shrimp popcorn and the Skewers were excellent. A great day was had and we headed off for a well earned sleep.
One point vis a vis Accor discount was in the lobby bar we got 25% off food but also 15% off drinks. First time I've encountered this.

craven morehead · Mar 9, 2019

Today after another nice breakfast we are heading over to Lamma Island for the first time. We are meeting a friend who used to teach in our small town but is now teaching at an International school over at Discovery Bay on Lantau Island. We headed over to Central to Pier 4. Our friend jumped off at Pier 3 and come across to meet us and no sooner we had boarded the ferry for the 30 minute trip across to Lamma. I think the ferry was HK $17 each way per person. Bit of a mixed bag for brekky !

amaroo · Mar 9, 2019

Enjoying the report - love HKG. I first opened your TR after landing at EMD .... hows that for 6 degrees

craven morehead · Mar 9, 2019

amaroo said:
Enjoying the report - love HKG. I first opened your TR after landing at EMD .... hows that for 6 degrees

Yep that's 6 degrees alright

we also love HKG

craven morehead · Mar 9, 2019

Off the ferry and at first glance I'm expecting nothing more than a dozen waterfront overpriced seafood restaurants catering to the tourists. First looks were deceiving. It ended up being an interesting day and I'm glad we made the effort there was so much more to the place than you could see upon arrival. We pretty much started walking and kept exploring the island as we went. Essentially it was made up of several small villages but the villages were more clusters of buildings I would say. Some random photos :