Here's the link to the photos.

INTRODUCTION
I’ve really enjoyed this holiday. I had a great time and I think Australia is just a brilliant visit. It has so much to offer. As long as you can ignore the fact that most of the world’s most dangerous animals live here…

I spend that last two days of my trip in St. Kilda, which is a suburb of Melbourne. I rather like the place. Parts of it are quite run down and overall it comes across as the Australian interpretation of the British seaside resort.

Oh yeah, and the weather was just brilliant!

GETTING TO THE AIRPORT
My flight will be departing at 07h45, which is too early for me to catch the Skybus. The first service from St. Kilda doesn’t depart until 06h30, which is too late. So it’ll have to be a taxi this time, which will set you back about AUD80. I think this is rather steep for a journey of not even thirty minutes. But then again, I find that generally speaking the cost of living is quite expensive in Australia.

CHECK-IN
Garuda checks in on row F of the international terminal. There are two separate queues for Business Class and SkyPriority passengers.

AIRSIDE/LOUNGE
In any case, passengers travelling in Garuda Business Class are entitled to use the priority lane for security. But that is hardly an issue this morning, given that the international terminal is really quiet.
Once I’m airside, I’m hoping to find a shop that sells Tim Tams, which are, in my view, Australia’s best contribution to the world. Tim Tams are these chocolate covered biscuits that taste absolutely divine. Just a piece of advice though: if you’re thinking of taking some of these delectable goodies home with you from your trip to Oz, get them at Woolworths in the city, where a packet will cost you around AUD3.80. If you buy them at the airport, it’ll cost you AUD6.80 for one packet of AUD5.- if you’re getting four packets.

Garuda uses the Qantas Business Class lounge in Melbourne, which I already covered in a previous trip report pretty much a year ago when I flew Qatar Airways from Melbourne to Doha and then on to Frankfurt.

BOARDING
Apparently there was a delay on the inbound flight from Denpasar, so that eventually we depart thirty minutes later than the scheduled 07h45. However, the flight time is expected to be slightly over six hours, which is significantly less than the scheduled flight time, which is given as seven hours.

CABIN
Garuda operates the A 330-300 in two different cabin configurations. Version 1 has 215 seats in Economy and 42 seats in Business Class, while version 2 has 239 seats in Economy and only 24 in Business Class.

The Business Class seat in the version 1 configuration is similar to the one Air France has on some of its aircraft. The width is 20.8 inches, and the pitch is 60 inches. The biggest drawback of this seat is that it is an angled lie-flat. This is more of a problem for shorts squirts, who tend to slide down the seat while they try to sleep. But even if you don’t have that problem, it’s definitely not a very comfortable seat to sleep in. The seats are in a traditional 2 + 2 + 2 configuration.

Other than that, there is next to no storage space on this seat. At least the seat next to me stays empty on today’s flight, so I can park my things there.
And just one final rant: the armrest in the middle, so between my seat and the neighbouring one, is higher up than the one on the window side, which is just feels awkward.

CREW & SERIVCE
But despite the seat, a good crew can go a long way to make up for all sorts of short comings. And this is where Garuda really shines, I think. No sooner have I taken my seat that a crew member approaches me, welcomes me by my name and takes my jacket to hang in the closet. She also brings me a cold, scented towel and a glass of orange juice.

AMENITIES
There is a pillow and a blanket already at my seat. In addition, there are two English language newspapers, the amenity kit, the menus and a bottle of still water at the seat.
The amenity kit includes slippers.

THE MEAL
The breakfast service begins with another glass of orange juice and a bowl of cashew nuts.

Then the tray arrives with the fruit, yoghurt and the pastries. I really like the presentation of the meal and the tray. The only things that is perhaps not so nice is that the yoghurt is still in its original plastic container.

Once I finish with the fruit, the plate is removed and I am brought a new set of cutlery for the main course. I’ve decided to go with the Western breakfast, which includes scrambled eggs that are freshly prepared on board, a veal sausage, mushrooms, tomato, potatoes and the Australian interpretation of baked beans.

The meal is good. Moreover, the portions are quite decent. The meal concludes with the coffee. And after that, I think I need to nap. It was an early start this morning.

SECOND SERVICE
The second service is served about 90 minutes out of Jakarta. I go with the selection of satay, which tastes really good. However, having said that, I think some of the items on the menu for the second service are just strange. I understand that it’s just a small pre-arrival snack – but nachos?

ARRIVAL
Eventually we start our descent. But the weather in the Jakarta is quite bad. And so we spend quite a while doing circuits in fairly rough conditions before eventually we are cleared for the approach. We land at 10h40, slightly behind schedule.

As we taxi in, we pass quite a few derelict aircraft is varying stages of repair or decay. A Boeing 747 that is being scrapped very nearly breaks my little heart. How can people do this...?

TRANSIT
The new terminal is a vast improvement over thew old one. I kind of get the feeling though, that's it's not entirely finished yet, and there are closed off areas everywhere.
If you're travelling on an EU passport, you're probably going to need a vist for Indonesia. This can be obtained on arrival. You have to have USD35 in cash on you. Fortunately, the terminal is very quiet when I arrive, and so the whole procedure is easy and painless.
To be continued...

Thank you so much for your great trip report, KnightofMalta.
It makes me miss home as I was born as Indonesian.
Glad to know that Garuda cabin crews gave you good service.
Great pictures you have in your website.

How about your arrival in Jakarta?
Did you use the Arrival Lounge?

For information, most of European citizen doesn’t need to pay for visa/VOA if he/she stay no more than 30 days in Indonesia.
The new rules took effect since 2 March 2016.
Here’s the link
https://www.topbali.com/indonesia-free-visa-entry/

I used my Norwegian passport last year and stayed in Indonesia for 2 weeks, no visa needed

Hi Shy Traveler

I wasn't sure about this visa so I decided to play it safe. I fifured they'd tell me if I didn't need a visa. But I suspect the woman at the counter had never seen a Maltese passport before and wasn't sure.

I didn't use the arrivals lounge because I was continuing my trip from Jakarta anyway. Standyby for the post.

Cheers,
KM

Garuda is really a nice airline and the flight looked pretty good. I was happy to see that they offered a second meal on these flights.

Thanks for sharing!
Carfield