I can’t believe that it has been over nine years since I last flew from Sydney to Melbourne. It’s not like I haven’t visited Melbourne since; I have. Plenty of times. But always by car or train. Why not plane?
There are a few reasons, but one of them is anxiety over turbulence. That last time, on descent into Tullamarine, we hit some nasty bumps which spoiled the next flight onwards to Singapore, always alert and on edge. A few years later when I was sick at home with COVID and B and Alex were flying back into Melbourne from Singapore and they described the last part as terrible. I had some bad experiences other times, as well as some good ones.
So I avoided flying into Melbourne, made excuses, spent overnight on a train rather than flying. And sometimes when it didn’t work out and I lacked the time, I cancelled concerts in Melbourne.
I booked one concert in Melbourne for this year that I was determined to see: The Music of James Horner with the Art of the Score. Then Qantas came out with a double points offer and I booked flights to it. There and back in a day. I figured that I had time to cancel them if I didn’t want to fly. Maybe I’d be more confident after flying to Japan and back in January.
In February Qantas let me know that my QF425 flight on a Boeing 737-800 has been changed to QF1501 on a QantasLink Airbus A220-300. That’s exciting! I’ve never flown a A220 before, they’re almost brand new in the fleet.
As the day approaches I’m busy looking at the weather forecast. The days before are miserable, but it looks like Sunday is okay. The turbulence forecast seems likely to be okay…
The night before. “A bumpy descent”, but otherwise smooth. Uh oh, not again.
I wake up at around 6 am, get ready. I’ve only got a tiny bag, which won’t have to be stowed for the concert. I farewell the others and drive the car to Padstow station in the morning light. Park the car, catch the train. I could have left later, but I don’t want to be rushed and any more stressed.
Now the Turbli chart has a severe turbulence advisory right where we begin our descent. That’s still showing as only the bottom range for moderate turbulence on our flight track with it lower than the warning altitudes, but it is still a source of anxiety. I’m quietly confident that it’ll be okay, but I don’t want to be mistaken.
I arrive at the Domestic Terminal and make my way to Terminal 3, head straight through security as I have already checked in online. I think back to how many times I have done this in the past, back when I’d fly to Canberra or Melbourne for work, when I was a lot crazier about planes and flying. Past me would be excited to be flying something new. I’ll try to be a bit like past me today.
There are two shiny QantasLink Airbus A220-300s waiting at gates 4 and 5. The latter is mine, VH-X4I. They have sharp noses that look nothing like the older Boeings and Airbuses. That’s partly because they started off as the Bombardier CSeries jet, before the Canadian company sold the design and factory to Airbus. They are still made in Canada.
I head up to the Qantas Club lounge. Might as well make use of my membership, which I am tempted not to renew when it expires if I don’t have the points for it. The lounge overlooks our gate. I watch an Asiana A380 descend for landing, then a Qantas A380 being towed past the hangers, heading for storage or maintenance. They are so huge compared to our little regional jets, taking passengers on more exciting adventures to distant lands.
The breakfast offerings are a limited. Spinach and ricotta frittata and baked beans are the only hot options, along with the usual muesli, cereal and sandwich options. I take a frittata and some roasted sweet potato salad, along with a fresh fruit salad for my breakfast. My stomach is a little queasy with anxiety. It is nice to sit for a while.
The sky is mostly clear, but there is a cloud bank out to sea and small clouds are starting to appear overhead.
Leaving the lounge, I peruse the terminal, but I have nothing to buy. So I go to the gate and wait until my boarding zone is called. The jetbridge is narrow and windowless, conveying none of the excitement that comes when you are about to board a flight. When I enter the aircraft I am surprised to see how small and narrow its interior appears to be. The seats are arranged in rows of 3 and 2, like the old Boeing 717 and Fokker F-100 jets they replace, but not the 2-2 Embraer E-jet competitor that Virgin Australia used to fly. Perhaps it is because the cavernous overhead locker doors are open, because once they are closed a sense of space is returned.
The grey cloth economy seats also appear very thin and narrow. I guess they are comfortable enough once seated, although the man next to me takes up too much space and there is a bit of bumping of shoulders. The seats have a space up the top for printed materials, a small fold out tray for phones and another for meals and a pocket for larger items down below. There are USB-A and USB-C (60W) sockets for charging. Unfortunately, I have only brought a slower charging A cable. No seatback screens, although the aircraft is equipped with free WiFi and Qantas Entertainment, which I only use for a flight map. It won’t be a long enough journey for a movie, even if I did want to watch one.
No music. I have my own.
They still offer headphones at the gate, although there is nowhere to plug them into and, so far as I know, nothing to listen to.
I’m seated by the window towards the rear of the wing because I couldn’t get anything further forward without paying extra. More charges for things you used to be able to do for free.
We get the safety demonstration, then it is a short taxi out to the main runway. As we race down the runway I feel the aircraft seemingly yaw from side to side, despite the lack of wind. Then we lift off in a steep ascent into the skies over the steel grey waters of Botany Bay.
Are we approaching that big cloud bank? It looks like it, but no, we turn right across Kurnell and parallel to the coast, before heading inland across Wollongong. Same as usual.
I spot Shoalwater Airport, home of HARS and the Qantas 747 on display.
If there was one way to describe the handling of the A220, it is jittery, a lot like the E-jets. It just feels more sensitive in the air. At no point in the flight do I feel settled and stable.
The cabin crew come through with a snack. A tiny apricot bar that I am pleased to discover does not contain honey, and a bottle of water.
The skies are clear below and there are good views the green lands below. Much of the flight is over the mountain country of the Snowy Mountains and the Australian Alps. The former live up to their name with a sprinkling of snow still visible atop Mount Kosciusko and its surrounds after the freezing weather of a couple of days ago. Other snow lines are spotted in the Victorian High Country.
This is where we begin our descent, but so far there has been no indication of the threatened turbulence, only the little niggles. An expanse of mostly flat cloud blocks further views of the land. As we approach I can see it is quite thin, hiding other layers below, but we pass through with barely a murmur. Over the grey-green farmland north of Melbourne and the edges of suburbia, a giant quarry demolishing a hill, down, down over a solar farm until we touch down on the runway of Tullamarine.
I’ve survived the flight to Melbourne! It was okay, no major dramas, just a few light shakes.
We pull into the gate and leave the aircraft into the gloomy corridors of Terminal 1. I’m not in a hurry, I have plenty of time before the concert.
I have already pre-purchased a return ticket on the Skybus to Melbourne city. Luggage goes downstairs, passengers upstairs and we head out along the too-familiar highway into the city. Due to a charity run in the city we have to take a slightly different route into the Southern Cross Station coach terminal, passing the still-operating 60+ year old Radio Parts store where Dad bought our first computer and other parts for his electronic repair business.
I now have a couple of hours to waste before the show. A search of Google Maps displays a nearby well-rated Malaysian restaurant that I have never seen before. I decide to have an early lunch.
The prices at Jalan Alor are very reasonable. I get a hot Milo that needs more condensed milk and a Penang white curry noodles which costs just $10. I’d definitely bring the others if we return to Melbourne sometime soon.
From there I walk all the way up Flinders Street to Federation Square, which is heaving with people attending a Melbourne Food and Wine Festival Event. There are tents set up selling various trendy pastries and the queues are huge. I’ve just had lunch and I can’t be bothered to stand in line for a fancy croissant, so I head into the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI).
Today is the last day of the Game Worlds exhibition which we visited last year. Instead I go to the end of the free exhibition, sit down and watch the entirety of Ayoung Kim’s Delivery Dancer’s Arc: 0° Receiver multimedia video. Then I rest in the seating area outside and charge my phone for a bit. I love ACMI, it’s a real asset to the city of Melbourne.
It is almost time for the concert. Fortunately, Hamer Hall, part of the Victorian Arts Centre complex, is just across the bridge.
The Music of James Horner is absolutely worth going to all this trouble to attend. I have a fantastic time, emerging into bright blue skies at around 4.30 pm. Rather than walking again, I catch a train, a rather boring Siemens Nexas, one stop from Flinders Street to Southern Cross. After grabbing a mochi doughnut I walk to the Skybus Terminal. Next to it is the XPT platform and I think how much easier it would be to jump on that train and immediately rest without any worries of turbulence or all the effort that goes into flying these days.
Even the bus is pain. The one already here is full and we have to wait 10 minutes until the next one. Which also fills up. It’s such a pain for the passengers to store the luggage, climb the stairs. One wants to bring his case with him, to the ire of the driver, claiming that last time it was stolen.
Even if Sydney’s double decked airport trains are not particularly friendly for luggage carrying passengers, at least they have a greater capacity and are faster to board. Melbourne needs to get a train.
At least the Skybus has USB charging. Despite the new battery, my primary phone is running out of juice.
I’m tired. A rough night, early morning departure and the stress of anxiety has left me exhausted. When we get to the airport I go straight to the Qantas Club lounge.
It’s very busy and, unlike the Qantas Business lounge, there are no external views of the airport. The food choices are very uninspiring. I wait until they bring out some hot food, but it’s pasta carbonara with flecks that look like mushrooms. I just get some cauliflower and pumpkin salads, a bowl of tomato soup and warm bun. The chocolate brownie tray is empty until later and I don’t bother then. What I really want is a drink of Coke for my emerging headache, but they don’t seem to have that now, just alcohol, cordials and hot beverages. Later I get a small dish of liquorice allsorts and jelly beans.
I type a little, recharge the phone, rest until it is close to boarding, then head down to gate 4. Outside the sun is setting and casting a golden light over the airport tarmac.
Boarding is both through the airbridge and rear stairs, which I elect to take. I don’t risk the ire of the crew by attempting to take a photo on the tarmac, despite the lack of other passengers.
My flight is QF490, run today by VH-VXT, a Boeing 737-800 that was delivered a little over 22 years ago. Its yellowed interior is showing that age, but I don’t mind. I have fond memories of classic Boeing aircraft and can imagine heading off on some adventure rather than just returning home.
Again, for the same reasons, I’m at the rear of the wing, on black fabric seats that have definitely been reupholstered a few times since the aircraft came into service. No screens except for little fold down overhead ones that only remain for the safety announcement, but there is WiFi. I think there are power sockets, maybe USB, down near our feet, but I can’t be bothered to check.
The flight is supposedly full, but there is an empty middle seat between myself and the other passenger. I’m not complaining. I switch the Qantas Entertainment App on the spare phone so I can see the flight map and put on my noise cancelling earbuds to listen to my music.
The light is fading outside as we pull away from the gate, though the Moon is up and casting light on the surrounds. Turbli says nothing to worry about with this flight and I am hoping that is true. I’m happy just to sit back and relax. Indeed I shut my eyes for a bit and fall into a light sleep as we taxi out to the runway. It looks like the almost non-existent breeze is allowing them to use the cross runways for take-offs and landings.
We wait for another plane to land, then set off on our flight, roaring up into the skies.
Outside the window below us are the lights of Melbourne, pinpricks of light in the darkness. We curve around towards the northeast and I can now see the airport in the, bright white and orange. Then there’s little to see as we head into the dark countryside.
The crew come though handing out packs of Yumi’s Rice Crackers with Traditional Hummus. Nothing yummy about it, it’s one of the worst snacks I’ve had on a flight. Bad job Qantas, stop trying to be healthy. The can of Coke was not healthy, but needed. I’m a bit hungry now after that insubstantial dinner in the lounge, so it’s extra disappointing.
There’s a few minor shakes as we pass over the Canberra Bubble, but the view of the city is nice. Shortly afterwards we begin our descent into Sydney. From looking at FlightRadar, I already know that it will be an approach from the north, so our path takes us up and over Sydney. I can see the city in the distance. The captain has said scattered clouds and I can see some dark patches towards the East. But I can also see the lights of aircraft descending beneath them, so hopefully we are all good. I’m listening to a track called “Ship Drop” which I hope is not tempting fate.
As we turn I can see the bright lights and green surfaces of football stadiums and tennis courts standing out in the fields of city lights. If only they still dimmed the cabin lights for landings it would be easier to take photos without reflections!
It is indeed a smooth, cloudless final descent and before I know it we are passing the IKEA and touching down on the runway.
That was a pretty good flight, except for the snack, and I’m happy. It was a bit epic, a bit like old times. But I am also very tired. The airport has mostly shutdown, with shops and eateries closed. I would like nothing more than to have a meal watching the last few flights depart for the night, then go straight to a hotel room, for the adventure to continue a little longer, but that isn’t happening.
Instead I board the train back to Padstow. I’ve probably spent over $80 in ground transport fares on this day trip, which is not an insignificant amount considering you can get one-way sale fares flying between cities for that price.
There is one more little drama that awaits. When I arrive in Padstow half the road is closed and my car is blocked off by a crane and service vehicle. I have to wait for the crane to withdraw a support leg before I can just squeeze between it and a traffic control vehicle on to the wrong side of the road to leave.
As soon as I arrive home at 10 pm it’s straight to helping Alex with study for his maths test. After that and a hot chocolate I seem to be a little more awake, but it has certainly been an exhausting day. I don’t regret going down to the concert one bit and I’m glad the flights were pretty good, but I am still not confident that I want to fly down to Melbourne regularly for them. It’s such a hassle and, with such short flights, the payback is low. Unfortunately, driving has also suddenly become more expensive, so we’ll have to see what is possible in future.
And as I write that, music from the next Melbourne concert starts to play. What to do?