EMPTY SEATS ON MALAYSIA AIRLINES

During boarding MH122 from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney in June this year, I was quite surprised that there were not many passengers during boarding. There were less than 50 passengers in the economy class cabin.

   The empty seats.

We have been flying Malaysia Airlines to Australia at least once or twice a year for the past 16 years. It's the first time I saw so many empty seats. Perhaps, there was something wrong with their sales and marketing strategies. This could be the reason that Malaysia Airlines had cut the number of their Australia weekly flights from 73 to 43 by terminating their Brisbane flights and reducing frequencies from Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Adelaide since last year. 

The new CEO of the airlines has vowed to introducing improved services for passengers both in flight and on the ground. However, I did not see any change - as usual, the queue for "drop bag" at KLIA was so long that it took us about 40 minutes just to drop our 2 pieces of baggage.   On board, I also did not see any improvement in their inflight services especially their inflight meals. Despite a very empty flight. Welcome drink like water or juice was only served 45 minutes after the seat belt sign was off.    

Packages of salted peanuts were passed around just before the welcome drink.  

The same old inflight meals - a main course of "rice with sweet and sour fish", cut fruits, a cake, a "cold" croissant and jam.

For this seven and a half hours flight, they maintained the twice meal services which they have been doing for years. It seemed that they had no new ideas in providing passengers with the better in flight services and meals.    

 2 hours before landing, coffee or tea was served with a packed sandwich.

There was nothing outstanding on this flight. Luckily, the inflight movies were reasonable. Malaysia Airlines should make changes to make passengers happy by changing their inflight services and quality of meals. They should work on a better serving schedule, say, at least 3 times with drinks and meals. Perhaps, ice cream before landing?

Malaysia Airlines used to be one of the top airlines in the world in term of services and food. Now it is not even listed. Here are the top 10 international airlines for food and services:

1. Singapore Airlines
2. Emirates
3. Etihad Airways
4. Qatar Airways
5. Cathay Pacific
6. Turkish Airlines
7. All Nippon Airways
8. Japan Airlines
9. Virgin Atlantic Airways
10. Thai Airways International
 

DRIVING HOLIDAY FROM SYDNEY TO BRISBANE VIA THE COASTAL ROUTE

Hiring a car from Apex Car Rentals near Sydney airport, we took a side trip holiday to Brisbane. The  1.8L automatic Hyundai Elantra was rented for the return trip. We started off from Sydney Airport after lunch.

  The .8L automatic Hyundai Elantra.

The Sydney city traffic was terrible. We only managed to get on the M1 (Pacific Motorway) after going through an hour and half in heavy traffic. 

It's a leisure drive once on the motorway, 

We put up a night at Port Macquarie motel. Port Macquarie is a beautiful coastal town north of Sydney. We did not go around the area as we check-in the motel after dark and we left early the next morning.  

It was a pleasant drive all the way from Port Macquarie to Brisbane except we were forced to slowdown in many parts of the highway due to upgrading road work. I was told that the Pacific Highway would be eventually upgraded into a four lanes highway.

   

 

 

 

Brisbane city in sight after about 6 hours + drive passing through Kempsey, Nambucca Head, Coffs Harbour, Grafton, Ballina and Golf coast area.

 

 

Just in time for a Thai dinner at Nundah

We put up with our daughter in Nundah for almost a week before returning to Sydney on the same coastal route back to Sydney.

 

On the way, we made a brief visit to Byron Bay.

 KFC lunch at Park Beach Plaza in Coffs Harbour.

 

We put up a night at Karuah, a small coastal town, 250 kms from Sydney, an ideal place for recreational activities such as swimming, fishing and boating. 

 We selected this Motor Inn through websites.

Our room was well-furnished with 2 queen beds plus all the amenities, like complementary coffee/tea, Wi-fi, extra pillows, towers, shower facilities and etc, etc.  I like this motel as it was in a quiet location and the perfect place to take a break from driving.  

 

A coffee break at the restaurant in one "rest area" along the Motorway before arriving Sydney in the afternoon.

It was an enjoyable drive from Sydney to Brisbane and back covering almost 2,000 kms. This was my fifth experience driving through the route. I must comment that the 1.8L automatic Hyundai Elantra rented from Apex Car Rentals was a good reliable car and value for money. The rental cost was AUD51 per day  inclusive of Free mileage, full insurance cover with zero excess, roadside assistance and GPS navigation. I must also say "thank you" to my son for arranging the car rental. 

KIAMA BLOWHOLE EXPERIENCE IN NSW.

Kiama is a small coastal town 120 kilometres south of Sydney in the Illawarra, New South Wales. The major tourist attraction is the famous Blowhole which is the largest in the world! Under rough sea conditions, the blowhole can spray water up to 25 metres (82 ft) in the air.

 Driving towards the Wollongong direction.

 On Princes Highway to Kiama.

Taking a break at Southern Gateway Centre, Princes Highway, Bulli Tops.

 The Kiama Visitor Centre.

An ideal place to relax. 

 The Kiama light house.

 Close-up

Approaching the "Blowhole"

Water shooting out of the "Blowhole".

I was told that The best time to see the Blowhole at its best was when the sea was rough with high tide as it would be very active and spectacular. Nevertheless, we did have a good time visiting this wonderful site despite low tide and calm sea. 

To get there, It's about 1 hour 30 minutes drive from Sydney . There are also train services to Kiama and the journey will take about 2 hours and 30 minutes. It will be worthwhile to spend a night at this small town as recommended by the Kiama Visitor Centre.