Okay, I'm being deceptive. The flight number of our Jetstar Airbus A320 from Sydney to Launceston in Tasmania's north was JQ747. And it was JQ748 back on the return route.
Please see the following links for a detailed report on the flights and the trip. A summary and some photos follows.
- SYD-LST: http://travelling.allrite.at/2018/01/a-747-flight-to-tasmania.html
LST-SYD: http://travelling.allrite.at/2018/01/through-weather-to-sydney.html
Tasmanian travels: http://travelling.allrite.at/search/label/Tasmania
This was my first time flying to Launceston, though I had driven up there before from Hobart. Both flights were on Jetstar A320s with sharklets. I've flown Jetstar regularly for over a decade and there's not much I can add about the on board experience, especially as the only real interaction with the crew was at boarding and when we bought a model of the aircraft for my son. The flight down was on a brilliantly clear and smooth day with only a little cloud beneath us in Bass Strait. The descent into Launceston Airport was rather bumpy but the views outside of mountains and farmland were spectacular.
We spent five nights in Tasmania, hiring a car to drive around the island. Highlights included:
Cataract Gorge in Launceston
The Tamar Valley (photo at Georgetown)
Tasmazia and the Villiage of Little Crackpot
The Dove Lake circuit at Cradle Mountain
The drive from Cradle Mountain to Queenstown
The West Coast Wilderness Railway
The devastated hills around Queenstown and the drive to Hobart
Hobart
Richmond
The return drive to Launceston (Callington mill at Oatlands)
The scenery was stunningly beautiful and the food so fresh and tasty. We bought fruits straight from the farm and picked our own. The only downside was that the restaurants all seemed to be booked out until late and the service quite slow so we had quite a few late meals. Oh, and the hotel/motel internet dead slow (though the phone was fast when you could get a signal!).
Launceston Airport was pretty impressive for a regional centre, with a number of eateries and a reasonable local produce shop. I was not looking forward to the return flight (JQ748) to Sydney. The weather had turned grey and windy over Launceston. Lucky I didn't look too hard because even the pilot apologised for the bumps over Bass Strait as we flew between two nasty weather systems. Fortunately it cleared up for our descent into Sydney.
We really enjoyed our trip to Tasmania and look forward to visiting again. Not sure how I'm going to cope with our next flights in a week - to Singapore and Penang during a time of year I'd sworn never to fly that way again... Stay tuned and check my blog (http://travelling.allrite.at for more.