Not much say about Day 0. For people who do not go overseas much it might be quite an experience to go through customs and visit the new concourse at Sydney Airport, for me… it’s business as usual.

Flight leaves at 10:30, actually one of the last flights out of Sydney before the curfew. I cleared custom just after 7 and got in the long queue to get the tax refund on my camera and bro’s smartpad. It’s a looong line, a few people actually had to leave because their flight was about to take off. Thankfully I had all the time in the world.

30min later I’m back in the concourse and decided to play with my new Fuji X10.

For someone who’s not really into cameras, I think I made the right choice in picking the X10 over a M4/3 like Olympus EP-3. The controls are close enough to my old Fuji F50fd that I don’t find any issues finding what I need, and I immediately came to appreciate the amount of dials it comes with.

Grand Concourse

Cafe in the middle of the concourse

Testing focus

Xmas decorations

Reindeers!

Shiny

Food are expensive here... even McDonald's prices are about a dollar more than outside

While I waited, I noticed that there’s alot of final calls to passengers. One passenger actually had his luggage unloaded off the plane and the plane took off without him. Every time this happens I wonder if they are lost and couldn’t understand the repeated broadcasts or there’s some other reason. All the stores are closed at the point so it’s not as if they might be lost shops. (a side note, why do every shop close at 9:30 when there’s at least 6 flights leaving after 10? I had to hit the vending machine because I couldn’t get a coffee from the cafes, not ever McCafe…)

It was my first time flying Kangaroo Airline. After being so used to Cathay it’s quite a shock how OLD the 747 is. The entertainment system is outdated and halfway through the flight simply gave up on working. No biggie, there were no decent movie available, I simply listened to the many chinese comedy tracks I have loaded onto my phone.

The seat is comfortable, I wish they got a power socket like Cathay though. The food is decent, typical Aussie food + Japanese options, overall I’d say just a touch better than Cathay.

The captain is surprisingly chattery, talking all about the flight paths and how he hope time it so we get into Narita Airport just seconds after curfew ends, unlike Cathay where you’d only get a welcome and take-off/landing formality announcements. Oh and, the amount of stewards are surprising, hahaha. Cathay usually only have 1, at most 2 on each flight, not sure if it’s a airline policy thing or a cultural thing.