Something like $30 billion is being spent on the place, and yes it’s only really started coming together in recent years.
I remember back in January that it was a long walk to and from Jetstar arrivals and departures .I don’t remember the food court at Tullamarine having that many shops but it had been over 10 years since I was last there.
Canberra has had a full rebuild too. I think that the Canberra terminal is now one of the best airport terminals in the world. It’s the only terminal I’ve seen where you can go from the carpark to the terminal building without having to cross a road. The internal layout is good, the security area is in between the two check-in areas and then the gates are directly beyond. There are also two or three gates that can be used for both domestic or international flights.
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On another note, what’s the worst airports you have been to?
We do have some here locally. Tullamarine and Avalon are not two that rank highly in my book. Manchester was pretty average. And the old Abu Dhabi in peak rush hour, worst experience ever.
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I’ve spent a fair bit of time in Abu Dhabi Airport as I’ve almost always flown Etihad when flying to UAE or Europe. To be honest, if it’s a short layover the airport is fine but as an international hub it could be better. Most of the time I’m only there for a couple of hours so have enough time to eat, browse the shops and then head to the flight. That said, the long corridor to reach the gates isn’t great. In transit they usually do a bag search before you can even sit in the gate area, so you end up queuing twice — once to get into the waiting area and then again to board. It wouldn’t be great if you were in a rush.
As for the newer Melbourne domestic terminal (Terminal 4), I actually find that one very frustrating. If you’re flying Jetstar it’s a good 10–15 minute walk to get to the gate. Usually the gate for your flight is only announced just before boarding commences so everyone is scurrying down there at once.
Also for domestic the Gold Coast airport is awful. It is just one area with all the food places and boarding gates together so everyone is lounging around and it’s often hard to find somewhere to just sit.
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I agree,Canberra Airport is better now than it was about 20 years ago,
before it was upgraded.
Brisbane domestic terminal is still a mess with the ongoing renovations,if you enter the wrong entrance you go through security first and you can’t go back through if you have luggage that needs to be checked in 
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Leisure travel bookings to the United States have dipped as much as 10 per cent in the first quarter, compared with the same period last year
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These suites are set to transform The Ghan, Indian Pacific, and Great Southern trains beginning April 2026.
If elected, the Coalition says it will implement a trial to allow overseas-based carriers to fly domestically within Australia – a practice known as cabotage – between Australia’s east coast capitals and Darwin.
It believes the strategy would help make travel more affordable for Northern Territorians.
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Are they trying to lose the election? Because the way I am seeing it , nothing they have done convinced me to ditch labor and vote liberals. And I voted early, and defaulted to Labor. As I recently just moved to Geelong, i had to change my electoral enrolment address. Voted early and hoping next saturday we get a good result. I’ll save the rest of my snarky snips at Dutton for the Political thread.
The hotel will reopen as InterContinental Brisbane this June.
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Avalon by far the worst, tin shed on steroids. Hobart is so far away from anything, feels cramped. Sunshine Coast underwhelming with hardly anywhere to sit, nothing to eat if Sushi isn’t your thing and with the renovations a tent for a departure gate for Virgin flights (and with Bonza gone I doubt whether they’ll get the chance to be the potential budget airport hub looking forward to Brisbane 2032. Gladstone isn’t much better but the one time I flew from there at least they had a Coffee Club airside, Rockhampton and Mackay not that much better and Port Macquarie at least elevated itself off the list by installing a baggage carousel not so long ago. Must be noted that all of these don’t have Virgin lounges…
Not a fan of Sydney although that judgement can be clouded by the fact just about every Virgin flight I take from there is at a gate furthest from the lounge which is always crowded on Monday mornings, and the Qantas area of Sydney often felt cold. Can’t really fault the overseas airports I’ve visited (Singapore, Auckland, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban) but aside from Auckland I’ve spent the majority of times in those airports in lounges. Felt a little scared security was going to turf me from an area of Johannesburg I sat in (a table in the food court with every outlet closed) early in the morning waiting for the SAA lounge to open in between flights (flight from Perth arrived early, no line at customs which was manually done, no line to recheck bags for the domestic flight) and a cafe at Auckland forgot my food order (a toastie) in 2022 but apart from that there’s not been an issue away from Australia.
The tiny and remote Lord Howe Island Airport topped the list with an eye-catching airport landing score of 85, thanks to its runway between the green mountains and Tasman Sea.
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We spent six nights in Bali last week - my first time there after deliberately avoiding it for years but I was pleasantly surprised. Visiting just after the wet season and before peak tourist season turned out to be a good time to go and we focused on making day trips out to less touristy spots.
We stayed in Ubud for the first three nights, which was the perfect base to explore nearby waterfalls and rice fields, which we easily reached using Gojek (Bali’s version of Uber). So cheap and convenient. For the last three nights we stayed in Seminyak. While it’s more touristy and expensive than Ubud, it was more enjoyable than I expected. We took day trips to beaches like Nusa Dua and Canggu, which were definitely highlights.
On our last day we had to fill in time before the flight so visited Kuta. Surprisingly it felt quiet compared to what I expected. The beach sunset wasn’t anywhere near as crowded as Seminyak. It seems people have definitely shifted away from Kuta with it’s reputation and now mostly only attracts families and older visitors, while Canggu attracts the younger crowd with more upmarket bars, clubs, and beach clubs (and Seminyak in the middle gets a bit of both worlds). I’ve also heard Uluwatu is becoming increasingly popular.
I’m now really keen to go back and explore more of the island, especially the less touristy areas in the north and far south, which seem to have some amazing, lesser-known spots.
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The inaugural Perth–Johannesburg flight will take off on 7 December 2025 with the Perth–Auckland route resuming on 8 December.
Both routes will operate thrice weekly on Qantas’ A330 aircraft with 27 business class seats and 224 economy seats.
At six hours and 45 minutes, the Perth to Auckland route will operate on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, while Perth–Johannesburg (around 11 hours and 15 minutes’ flight time) will depart on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
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On the subject of Perth flights, I’ll be interested to see if they keep the London flights going when the ultra long haul Sydney to London flights start in the next couple of years.
i suspect they will go - ive had to go to london twice this year for work and i had the option of going via perth or singapore. I went via Sin every time, but if i could non stop it in business i’ll gladly do it. ecconomy? i’ll take a stopover especilly if im paying for it
I think Qantas may keep the Perth-London flights but reduce them to (say) three times per week. It allows people travelling from regional WA, NT, Queensland and South Australia to transfer to the service, without backtracking to Sydney or Melbourne.