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Emergency Landings / Airline News / Qantas / 767 / Australia Travel / Airplane Hell / Mt. Isa / ISA / → All Tags

Emergency Landing Forces Qantas Passengers to Deplane Via Forklift

From time to time planes are forced into emergency landings. Sometimes the reasons are real emergencies, like a bird strike or cracked windshield. Sometimes the reasons are still real, but are only a smell of smoke in the cabin or an unruly passenger. In all cases, the crew make the executive decision to bring the bird down in the interest of safety. In many cases, the problem is detected, rectified and the passengers are on their way with a bit of a delay. They'll be a little late, but no major dramas ensue.

Over the weekend, a Qantas aircraft had such an emergency where the crew smelled smoke on board. Naturally, alarms were raised and the captain decided to divert to an alternate airport. The Boeing 767, en route from Darwin to Brisbane, safely landed in the small outback town of Mt. Isa.

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Australia Travel / Brisbane Travel / Queensland Travel / Drinking Travel / Food Travel / Travel Tips / → All Tags

Don't Forget About Brisbane, Or 'Bris-Vegas' As It's Called

Most tourists to Australia visit the more popular cities, like Sydney and Melbourne or the iconic tourist spots like The Great Barrier Reef or Ayers Rock. However, the nation's third largest city is finally getting it's moment in the spotlight.

You may recall our previous stories about Brisbane that involve either devastating floods or the Royal visit, but now we're going to tell you about the hot spots of the River City.

Situated on the east coast just over an hour's flight north of Sydney, the state of Queensland mostly specializes in rugby, the freshest produce and surfing. Brisbane, or "Bris-Vegas" to locals, is the state capital and boasts more than just beaches, pineapples and sport. The city is flourishing as a laid-back alternative to Sydney and a warmer choice over Melbourne.

Brisbane has near perfect weather year-round, with Queenslanders often selling their state with "Queensland weather: beautiful one day, perfect the next." Since the seasons are flipped from the Northern Hemisphere, this could be an ideal winter get-away. But be cautious since Summer is traditionally the wet season; it is sub-tropical after all.

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Airport Lounges / Lounges / BNE / Brisbane Travel / Australia Travel / Virgin Australia / Photo Gallery / Business Class Travel / → All Tags

Inside the Virgin Australia Lounge at Brisbane Airport

From repainting planes to overhauling terminals, Virgin Australia has had their plates full trying rebrand their entire operation, while changing the image from an all-economy service to a full-service airline. From the looks of things, the livery is flying all over Australia with more planes to come and re-Virgin-ized airport spaces. This goes for new airport lounges in major cities.

We took advantage of the fact that Virgin allows lounge access to Gold and Platinum Velocity Rewards members without actually flying, and checked out the Brisbane lounge for lunch. Yea, we went to the airport just for lunch. On first impression, the design is slick and the check-in fast and friendly, as expected from the brand.

One thing worth mentioning are the new staff uniforms, done up in a sultry, yet professional, red with Virgin-purple color pops in the form of neck scarves. So super glam.

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Queensland Travel / Australia Travel / Disaster Travel / Weather / Travel Deals / Qantas / Airfare Sales / → All Tags

Make Lemons Into Lemonade: This is the Time to Visit Flood-Free Areas of Queensland, Australia

Flooding has really hampered tourism in Queensland, Australia. But not the actual floods. Although it was one of the continent's worst natural disasters, none of the main tourism spots—including Cairns, Port Douglas, the Whitsundays, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast—were affected by the floods, which occurred more than 620 miles away.

And while tourism officials tried to let travelers know they were open for business, tourists canceled trips Down Under en masse. That means now's the time to book that trip to Australia you've been meaning to take.

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Volunteer Travel / Disaster Travel / Australia Travel / Queensland Travel / Voluntourism / → All Tags

Queensland Looking for Voluntourists to Help with Flood Relief

In the wake of the devastating floods that have impacted dozens of communities in Australia, including the city of Brisbane, the country's third largest city, Queensland has put out a call for voluntourists who would be willing to help with the clean up.

So far, there has been a great response from volunteers around the world, but it will take months before Queensland is back on its feet. If you're game to go Down Under and lend a hand, here's how to get involved:

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Best Job in the World / Ben Southall / Australia Travel / Hamilton Island / Tourism Queensland / → All Tags

Is Queensland's 'Best Job In The World' Really The Worst?

The now very-well-known tourist board campaign which recruited Ben Southall for the Best Job in the World—experiencing and blogging about life on the paradise of Hamilton Island in Queensland, Australia—apparently earned the state about $360 million worth of publicity (not bad for a $2.2 million outlay). Now that everyone knows that Queensland is a great place to go thanks to Ben's twitter pictures and blogs, there's one big problem: nobody's going.

Despite the massive interest in Queensland, international tourist numbers dropped by almost 8% over the last year, and almost 14% fewer international business visitors arrived. Of course, the global economic crisis can probably take a fair bit of the blame for that, but Queensland is still worried.

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Australia Travel / Extreme Sports / Stunts / Queensland Travel / → All Tags

Queensland Will Let You Act Out The Movie Stunts Of Your Dreams

When we're on vacation, being set alight or jumping off tall buildings is not exactly high on our list of must-dos. But everybody's different, and if you've dreamed of performing stunts like you see in the movies, then on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, you can find just the right place to spend a day.

The Movie Stunt Experience is a day out that still has the thrills and spills of a typical Gold Coast theme park, but you're the one doing the spilling. If you book the A$299 ($275) full day program, experienced stunt people will first teach you and then let you try film fighting choreography, flying on a wire, commando-style abseiling, falling from a pretty great height and, perhaps scariest of all, being set on fire. So far, every tourist has come out alive. See if you can break the record.

Related Stories:
· Movie Stunt Experience [Official Site]
· Move Over Lara, This Is My Scene [The Age]
· Queensland Travel Guide [Jaunted]

Best Job In The World / Best Experience In The World / Travel Contests / Ben Southall / Twitter / Australia Travel / Hamilton Island / Tourism Queensland / → All Tags

'Best Job In The World' Winner Ben Southall Looking For Four Assistants

We're already almost two months into Brit Ben Southall's six-month term as "Island Caretaker" of Queensland's Hamilton Island, and he's definitely received more criticism than praise for his work showcasing his travels around the islands of the Great Barrier Reef. This privilege to travel around, live in, and document a paradise on earth is the result of his winning Tourism Queensland's contest to fill the position dubbed "Best Job In The World."

Apparently, the hours have been long and the fun too time-consuming, and Ben hasn't been the best at his job requirements of blogging, twittering and vlogging his experiences. So he's seeking four assistants! It's your second chance at "The Best Job In The World," even if it's really just the second best job in the world.

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Virgin Blue / Hamilton Island / Australia Travel / Best Job in the World / Ben Southall / → All Tags

Virgin Blue Starts New Route, Direct to Best Job in the World

Virgin Blue says they've introduced their new Sydney to Hamilton Island route—they started flying it on Saturday—only "after close analysis," saying there's long been a clear demand from both domestic and international travelers to access the Whitsunday Island's main stop from Sydney, but we suspect it's actually a sudden demand: everybody wants to see how Best Job in the World winner Ben Southall is doing.

It's surely no coincidence that Virgin Blue's route has started up just a couple of days after Ben arrived for his six-month residence on Hamilton Island. Now that he is Twittering and blogging his way around the Whitsunday Islands, it's no wonder Virgin Blue has found a bunch of extra customers.

If you want to check out Ben's lifestyle or have your own personal reasons for hitting the Whitsundays—sun, sand and surf still count—Virgin Blue has daily direct flights from Sydney. We found flights as low as A$145 ($115, one way) but you have to book a bit ahead of time to get 'em that cheap. Say hi to Ben for us!

Related Stories:
· Island Caretaker Blog [Official Site]
· Hamilton Island Gets a Brit for Best Job in the World [Jaunted]
· Virgin Blue Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Gluehwein Effects]

Swine Flu / Australia Travel / → All Tags

Swine Flu Takes Advantage of Cheap Flights to Australia

Although we travelers and city dwellers here at Jaunted haven't yet fallen ill with any suspicious coughing, we do like to keep a respectful eye on where the Swine Flu monster is making landfall, despite the overhype.

Since it seems like everyone has been daydreaming about grabbing a cheap flight to Australia lately, hearing that swine flu has arrived in the the land of kangaroos didn't shock us much. Over the weekend, the first confirmed case of swine flu was reported in Australia, when a woman who flew from Los Angeles to Brisbane gave a "weak positive" response to the virus test.

On the up side, authorities don't believe that the woman was contagious while she was on the flight, so although they are contacting fellow passengers, this single case doesn't appear to be the beginning of an Aussie pandemic.

As in other airports around the world, screening and testing procedures are in place at Australia's main hubs for flights that could carry passengers infected with the swine flu, and as a result the locals aren't all that concerned. In any case, H1N1 has got to be a pretty hearty virus if it wants to survive those ridiculously long flights all the way Down Under.

Related Stories:
· Passengers From Swine Flu Flight Found [The Age]
· Is Swine Flu Hysteria a US Tourism Conspiracy? [Jaunted]
· Swine Flu Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: jnxyz]

Train WiFi / Train Travel / WiFi / Australia Travel / → All Tags

Queensland Trains Will Soon Get Some WiFi Love

If you are lucky enough to live in southeast Queensland, you might be able to email your boss right from the commuter train—just make sure you don’t tell her how you really feel about your annual review. New wireless equipment is being installed to allow security footage to be streamed to the train’s headquarters in Brisbane, and commuters are going to get the WiFi runoff. Hopefully, American politicians have an idea like this in mind when they start to finalize those new high-speed trains.

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New Routes / Australia Travel / Queensland Travel / Virgin Blue / → All Tags

Virgin Blue Reckons Queensland's Gonna Be Big

Virgin Blue taketh away--the Aussie low cost carrier cut 28 flights from high frequency routes recently--but they also giveth. Jaunted tipster Tuddy let us know that Virgin Blue started flying five new routes this week.

Four of the routes are out of the northern Queensland city of Townsville, heading to other Queensland destinations Cairns, Rockhampton and the Gold Coast, as well as down to Aussie capital Canberra. They've also started flights on the Canberra to Hobart route.

These new routes are a big deal for Queensland tourism and especially for Townsville--overnight there are almost 70% more possibilities for flying out of town. We're wondering if Virgin Blue knows something we don't know and Queensland is about to become a despite-the-recession tourist hotspot. With route opening specials as low as A$46 ($33) it's very tempting to try it out ourselves.

Related Stories:
· Virgin Blue Launches New Townsville Flights [news.com.au]
· Virgin Blue Flying A Bit Less Often [Jaunted]
· Queensland Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: JamesDPhotography]