A 747 flight to Tasmania? And not even to Hobart, but the regional airport of Launceston. And with Jetstar? What???

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.

No photos showing.

Hi Andrew,

You had me going for a minute with the 747 and 748, Mind you, Alliance used to do something similar with their Karratha route, where one of the flights was 737 but they operated a Fokker 100.

Sorry that your return flight caused you more discomfort than the outbound flight. But it is good to see that you're not giving in.

I enjoyed your series of reports about visiting Tasmania. It's a few years since I've been there and Launceston Airport seems to be better than I remember it being. Having done the train trip from Strahan to Queenstown, I enjoyed seeing your photos. I was lucky at Cradle Mountain and got a perfect reflection on the Lake as there was no wind that morning.

One thing, I tried to "like" a couple of your pages but there was an error message. Something to do with an expected expression being missing so the Facebook app couldn't function.

All the best,
Roy

outbackair wrote:

No photos showing.

Oops, my very bad. I guess the Google Photos permissions are not set correctly. It's too late for me to edit the post.

To view the photos please see: https://photos.app.goo.gl/aR8ZTqtFrqHpKBs13

RoySFlying wrote:

You had me going for a minute with the 747 and 748, Mind you, Alliance used to do something similar with their Karratha route, where one of the flights was 737 but they operated a Fokker 100.

I've done a previous trip report about catching the QF787 SYD-CBR. It was flown by a Boeing 737-400!

RoySFlying wrote:

Having done the train trip from Strahan to Queenstown, I enjoyed seeing your photos. I was lucky at Cradle Mountain and got a perfect reflection on the Lake as there was no wind that morning.

I'd love to do the full train trip! We only made it to Dubbil Barril. Though they enjoyed the ride I'm not sure the rest of the family would follow me the whole way.

RoySFlying wrote:

One thing, I tried to "like" a couple of your pages but there was an error message. Something to do with an expected expression being missing so the Facebook app couldn't function.

Not sure what's going on there, except that I don't think Google gives much love to Blogger and I'm just using the default code. Worked okay for me on the desktop browser. Thanks for the thoughts anyway!

I really enjoy your writing style and the great pics. Brought back some happy memories of my very short time in Tasmania when I was backpacking. Thanks for sharing.

Mark

I'm surprised they gave a Virgin gate to Jetstar for the landing. Last time I flew Jetstar into Sydney, they said they'd ran out of gates and we ended up on a Rex stand, meaning a rare (for Australian domestic carriers anyway) bus ride to the terminal.

Strangely enough the gate we were supposed to park at (gate 52) was vacant.

Launcestion airport looks beautiful. There are some very nice regional airports in Australia.

allrite wrote:

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.

Hi allrite

Well, you got my attention too! 747 and 748. Glad you had a good trip.

I've been to most of those places you visited. I also recommend the Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm and the Tasmanian Food and Wine Conservatory. I haven't been to the latter yet, but I've only heard good things about it, and it looks an amazing place to visit.

Glad you liked Lower Crackpot LOL. I like the location, and they get some nice winter snow there sometimes. The lavendar ice cream at the shop, and of course, the pancakes were a highlight for me, and the scenery from the maze on my winter visit, rather than the theme itself!

I haven't been to LST since 2016 and I think they've finished an upgrade since then? Glad your flights were good too, weather wise - despite the turbulence which is ever present, in varying degrees!

Thanks for adding the link to the photos and other report source. I had an issue with Google photos too, and I might go back and check the permissions on my account end on the one last one I added here on another forum that did the same thing.

Cheers. Happy and smooth, turbulence-free travelling. You may well be on your way to Singapore and Penang as I type this. Two places that are on my list of Asia visits too.

bananaboy wrote:

I really enjoy your writing style and the great pics. Brought back some happy memories of my very short time in Tasmania when I was backpacking. Thanks for sharing.

Mark

Thank you! We saw lots of backpackers exploring Tasmania, including one fast asleep on a park bench which seems to have been his bed for the night.

brucetiki wrote:

I'm surprised they gave a Virgin gate to Jetstar for the landing. Last time I flew Jetstar into Sydney, they said they'd ran out of gates and we ended up on a Rex stand, meaning a rare (for Australian domestic carriers anyway) bus ride to the terminal.

Strangely enough the gate we were supposed to park at (gate 52) was vacant.

Launcestion airport looks beautiful. There are some very nice regional airports in Australia.

I think it's the first time I've experienced Jetstar at a Virgin gate but it really makes sense to use whatever is available considering the congestion at the airport. Brisbane is the only airport in Australia (different overseas) I can remember using a bus to, and that's for QantasLink flights. I'd rather walk. It's a pity they are generally so picky about taking photographs on the tarmac in Australia. There are some nice regional airports, but most seem a bit limited for options and don't really celebrate their local produce (true of some Australian international airports too!). Nice to see that Launceston does.

VapourTrails wrote:

Hi allrite

Well, you got my attention too! 747 and 748. Glad you had a good trip.

I've been to most of those places you visited. I also recommend the Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm and the Tasmanian Food and Wine Conservatory. I haven't been to the latter yet, but I've only heard good things about it, and it looks an amazing place to visit.

Glad you liked Lower Crackpot LOL. I like the location, and they get some nice winter snow there sometimes. The lavendar ice cream at the shop, and of course, the pancakes were a highlight for me, and the scenery from the maze on my winter visit, rather than the theme itself!

I haven't been to LST since 2016 and I think they've finished an upgrade since then? Glad your flights were good too, weather wise - despite the turbulence which is ever present, in varying degrees!

Thanks for adding the link to the photos and other report source. I had an issue with Google photos too, and I might go back and check the permissions on my account end on the one last one I added here on another forum that did the same thing.

Cheers. Happy and smooth, turbulence-free travelling. You may well be on your way to Singapore and Penang as I type this. Two places that are on my list of Asia visits too.

Hi VapourTrails, I thought you'd like one about Launceston! I recall seeing the Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm out the window as we drove along, but we were in a bit of a hurry after leaving Launceston late and trying to fit in both Tasmazia and Cradle Mountain in one day! I think the Conservatory was closed when we were in the area (Monday). I didn't realise they sold lavender ice cream at Lower Crackpot! Definitely would have tried, unless it was honey sweetened. The area is gorgeous, we had the most beautiful, though at times difficult, drive that day. Launceston looked pretty complete during my visit, though I admit I didn't really explore it much on account of trying to relax myself. At least there was a jelly slice.

One thing about Launceston itself is that I really wish that I'd bought some Lego for my son from the Myer there. Their range is much better than many shops around us in Sydney, including the Miranda Westfield Myer. Probably old stock...

I created a Google album with a small subset of the photos. I used to make all my albums public, but I have less time to manage them these days. I miss Picasa! If you are posting to other places as well let me know because I'd love to read them.

Not leaving for Singapore until Saturday, so I've got the rest of the week to worry myself silly for no good reason. I would probably have refused to go if I didn't have these two "confidence building" flights first. The motivator is to finish all outstanding family business in Malaysia so we hopefully never have to visit again unless we want to and because Mother in Law can't come this time so we will finally have the chance to decide for ourselves what to eat in Penang (ie not Cantonese restaurants which were last in their prime 40 years ago). I just wish we were flying on a 787 (or possibly an A350) instead of a bumpy A330.

And how about that for an attention grabbing headline!
Reminds me when I asked on a forum where are Air India's 787s deployed to, and one smart ass mentioned Kolkata to Port Blair and back. AI787, AI788. LOL!
For some reason, I cannot access the pictures here, but reading the report from your website's link worked!
Stunning report, great descriptions, and amazing pictures!
Thanks for sharing!

Thank you so much for these reports (on your website), I devoured them.

It was actually a bit emotional. Tasmania is my home my state and while I was back recently I haven't properly travelled in it for many years now, so it elicited a lot of memories from my youth.

It's funny (as in haha) that your meals took so long. Tassie has amazing food but often the service and speed of delivering it is way behind the rest of the country, or at least the capitals.

The scenery is on the west coast is world-class. Your pictures do it fine justice.

Again on a personal note, the first photo you have in the report on the SYD-LST flight is (as you may already know) the small town of Bridport, which happens to be home to several members of my immediate and extended family. It is lovely in summer, for your next visit.

Also, my sister used to work at the WCWR cafe, so happy the food is still good there.

Again thanks and hope you get to hang out in Oatlands again soon.

CollegeAviator wrote:

Reminds me when I asked on a forum where are Air India's 787s deployed to, and one smart ass mentioned Kolkata to Port Blair and back. AI787, AI788. LOL!

LOL!

CollegeAviator wrote:

For some reason, I cannot access the pictures here, but reading the report from your website's link worked!

Please see https://photos.app.goo.gl/aR8ZTqtFrqHpKBs13 for just the photos.

CollegeAviator wrote:

Stunning report, great descriptions, and amazing pictures!
Thanks for sharing!

Thank you!

345tas wrote:

Thank you so much for these reports (on your website), I devoured them.

It was actually a bit emotional. Tasmania is my home my state and while I was back recently I haven't properly travelled in it for many years now, so it elicited a lot of memories from my youth.

It's funny (as in haha) that your meals took so long. Tassie has amazing food but often the service and speed of delivering it is way behind the rest of the country, or at least the capitals.

The scenery is on the west coast is world-class. Your pictures do it fine justice.

Again on a personal note, the first photo you have in the report on the SYD-LST flight is (as you may already know) the small town of Bridport, which happens to be home to several members of my immediate and extended family. It is lovely in summer, for your next visit.

Also, my sister used to work at the WCWR cafe, so happy the food is still good there.

Again thanks and hope you get to hang out in Oatlands again soon.

Thank you for your kind comments and I'm glad that you enjoyed the reports.My wife and son are both city folk and in a bit of a rush. I don't mind the more relaxed service outside the capitals (unless I'm on an externally imposed deadline). I reckon the poor restaurant staff were just overwhelmed by the mass of tourists at the time. I've thoroughly enjoyed my last couple of trips to Tasmania and I'd love to go back and take things at a more leisurely pace and see more slightly out of the way towns like Bridport. Quite a few little train rides to take too!