Another trip down under!

So if you read my last post you will have seen that I did a 6 day trip to Sydney and Auckland. The same month I was rostered another one of these multi-sectors, this time Brisbane and Auckland!

This would be my first time visiting Brisbane, so I was excited to see a new city.

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We arrived early morning after a long 14 hour flight, and I was ready to pass out! A couple of hours and a nice nap in the comfiest bed ever later, I was ready to do some exploring.

Plan for the day: koalas!!

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Myself and two of the crew from economy hopped into a taxi and made our way to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. I have been to Australia quite a few times in the past (as you may know my grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousin live there, so we visited quite a lot when we were younger) so I have been to a few zoos, and this wasn’t my first time seeing koalas and kangaroos. However, I can’t remember ever having held one, so I was pretty excited!

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We soon spotted plenty of the cute furry creatures, and took lots of pictures! Since the entrance fee did not include holding one, we all decided to pay a bit extra and get to cuddle a koala!

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Isn’t it adorable?!

After having our fair share of koala cuddles, we strolled around the sanctuary in search of some more animals. Luckily, they weren’t hard to find!

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The kangaroos were very friendly, although I think they’d had enough of the food as they weren’t vey interested in being fed! They were happy to be stroked by us though.

After another walk around the sanctuary to see the rest of the animals, and a final look at the koalas, we made our way back to the hotel. I had time for a bit of dinner before a nice early night, as our wake-up call the next morning was far too early for my liking!

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We arrived in Auckland late afternoon, and arranged to meet for dinner. The hotel we stay in on the BNE – AKL trip does an incredible dinner buffet (with 50% off for crew!) and I think about 12 of us made it down for dinner!

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They also had a huuuuuge meat selection which you could have cooked to your liking (everything from regular steak to ostrich, kangaroo and more!)  but as I have given up meat (and alcohol) for Lent I stuck to the fish!

The next morning I took it easy and popped up to the rooftop pool for some lengths and a bit of sun. I even managed to come away with a bit of a tan!

Before long it was time for the flight back to Brisbane. At just under 3 hours it went pretty quickly, and we arrived at our hotel in the evening. I was starting to feel a bit jet lagged, so I had an early night ready for the next morning. I was meeting my friend Bianca, who I hadn’t seen in over a year! She used to be crew as well, but left Dubai to go back home to Brisbane.

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Bianca came to meet me in the hotel, and we strolled through the city down to the Southbank area.

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We chose a lovely little cafe for breakfast, which served up delicious food and really tasty coffees!

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It was like we’d only seen each other yesterday, and we had so much to catch up that after breakfast, we walked back along Southbank and into town for another coffee. I had to stick to decaf in order to attempt a couple of hours of sleep before the overnight flight back that evening!

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All in all it was a really great day, catching up with a lovely friend and eating good food! Here’s hoping it won’t be another 2 years til I get a Brisbane flight again!

P.s. Follow me on Instagram & Twitter for more regular updates of where I am and what’s going on in my life!

6 Comments

  1. March 18, 2015 / 8:33 am

    Are the Australia-AKL legs not a saught after trip if you don’t want another one for 2 years haha

    • March 18, 2015 / 4:53 pm

      Haha no I didn’t mean it like that! It just took 2 years to get the Brisbane sector. Lots of people love them, lots of people hate them as they don’t like long trips! 🙂

  2. Mia
    March 16, 2015 / 6:25 pm

    Hi Rachel! I looove love love your blog! Thanks for sharing your adventures with us mortals 😛
    So I have a particular curiosity: for the US flights (and every flight, actually, but specially US) does cabin crew obtain a visa to present to customs? Or is there a special permit that you show? I’m curious because a tourist visa seems a bit unnecessary for a stay of only 24-48 hours in the country(ies).
    If you can’t give such info I totally understand, and I hope I didn’t confuse you with the question heheh. Thank you! 🙂

    • March 18, 2015 / 4:47 pm

      Hi! Thanks for reading, glad you like my blog 🙂 Yes we need a crew visa to go the US. I got it after maybe 5/6 months of flying (can’t quite remember) and it’s valid for 5 years (or maybe 10? not sure!). It’s only valid if you’re working as crew though so if you want to go to the US on holiday you have to get an ESTA form or tourist visa! Hope that answers your question 🙂

  3. Grace
    March 15, 2015 / 5:19 pm

    Hi Rachel. Love reading your blog, can’t wait to apply for Emirates when I turn 21!

    I was wondering if you’re still going to be doing roster posts? Always interesting to see where in the world they decide to send you!

    Also, how long did you work at the airline before joining business class? Is the work any easier or just as demanding as economy?

    • March 18, 2015 / 4:46 pm

      Thanks for reading 🙂 Yep I’ll still post my roster. Been super busy this month so have a backlog of posts to do, haha! I was in economy for 1 year and 9 months. Business is mostly easier in my opinion, but some flights it can get very busy!

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