During the month of August I've been abroad on a fantastic long journey for spotting and also holidays. I've left Porto, in the north of Portugal, on the 1st and arrived on the 29th. To give you an overview of the flights and where I've been to I will show you my flight log for this trip:
1/8 Porto - London Stansted Ryanair B737-800 EI-DHW
2/8 London Heathrow - Singapure Singapore Airlines B777-300 9V-SWK
3/8 Singapure - Jakarta Indonesia Air Asia A320 PK-AXD
7/8 Jakarta - Bali Indonesia Air Asia A320 PK-AXE
13/8 Bali - Perth Pacific Blue B737-800 VH-VOQ
16/8 Perth - Sydney Virgin Blue B737-700 VH-VBS
27/8 Sydney - Singapure Singapore Airlines B777-300 9V-SWB
28/8 Singapore - London Heathrow Singapore Airlines A380 9V-SKH
29/8 London Gatwick - Porto PGA Fokker 100 CS-TPA
The logs will follow latter on the other forum.
JAKARTA
CGK is a famous airport for having lots of old stuff still flying and also for it's storage areas. As for the storage stuff yes there's a lot to be seen but difficult to read registrations, at leat for most of the stuff. As for the old stuff flying, if I'm not wrong, I think there has been recently a ban to many old aicrafts, trying this way to reduce the number of accidents that happen every year on this country. B737-200 yes I saw same, but not that many Fokkers. Plus, at the time I had with me the "Airlines 2008" book that shows you registrations and airlines from all over the world, but most of the airlines with the "PK" registration was never spotted. I know Indonesia is a big country with many islands and air trasnport is vital in same areas so probably same of these airlines don't even came to Jakarta. My point is that I was expecting to see much more variety, but it's pretty much Garuda, Sriwijaya, Indonsia Air Asia, Batavia, Mandala and Lion Air plus the international stuff, off course.
Spotting tips. Let's kick off with a map:
Two runways, 3 terminal (the 3rd one is a domestic used by Indo. Air Asia and Mandala (I think) and is located on the right side of the Intl. terminal. Except the 3rd terminal, which is a brand new facility, the other 2 have viewing decks for the public to see the planes and there's a free bus going around the 3 terminals. From the Intl. terminal observation deck, located on west of the building, you will see the international stuff, Garuda, Air Asia, and sametimes the other airlines that usually use the southern runway. Looking west you can see same B747 on storage and looking north same Batavia B732 also on storage. Runways usage during my stay was in the early morning from the east and at around 10 they changed to landings and arrivals from west. I would say light is starts to be good at around 11 and I've only been outside the airport on the west zone, drawn in the map with 2 circles. On the domestic the viewing areas are huge and good thing is that you can see many airliners in storage. Landing on the Southern runway you have Sriwijaya, Batavia, Lion Air, and same other small airlines, like the Air Fast B732 that I saw, plus all the cargo.
The weather plays an important role on every spotting trip that I make, and in Jakarta what could have been samething excellent it turned out to be a big problem. Despite all the blue skies, Sun, and +30º one single thing ruined my photos. Jakarta is one of the biggest cities in the world, and the air is poluted. There's smog in the air that blocks the sun and makes photography difficult. That's why I used to stop taking photos way before sunset because of lack of light. It really is a big problem down there.
The first spotting location that I went to was to the southern runway. Here are same photos of the place:
On the left side of this photo you can see the airport fence
That's me on the other side of that "river" next to the fence. By the way, security was never an issue and I never had any problems with being there taking photos. The police rarely pass by next to the fence, nevertheless caution is of course advised.
And now same photos of this place. About the photos don't worry if I'm only showing a few ones. Others will follow.
Looking to the airport you can see same "heavy metal" parked
Now let's go to the spotting location to the northern runway. Once I got out of my taxi I realised this wouldn't be as easy as the the other location. And that has nothing to do with the fact that I was in a very poor zone with simple people that were probably wondering where the hell I came from what was I doing there. But nice people, very simple, waving and asking if I need anything and where was I going to. As I was saying, the problem on this area is that there are many trees and cables that block your view to the aircrafts. I was about to quit when I saw these 3 floors house being built. I said to myself that that was the only place to be to take same photos. On the top of it. Planespotters sametimes find themselfs on strange places just to take that special photo, and one thing I've learned in Jakarta and Bali is that sametimes you need to be creative to get what you want. So I've asked permission to go to the roof for same photos of the planes and minutes latter I was inside the house, with all the people working and looking at me, and it was only when I got to the roof that I finally saw that the view was nothing else than amazing! I was above most of the trees and so close to the arriving traffic.
I only have these photos edited yet. The 1st one is one of my all time favorites:
This Saudi photo was the last one taken and soon I found my self at the airport to fly to Bali. But first I went to the Domestic terminal to see the storage stuff. Here are same photos:
BALI
This is what I think about Bali Airport (DPS) for photos: it could be one of the best in the world, instead is the worst airport where I've ever been to. That's for photos only bacause for registrations is very exotic. The runway goes into the sea, just like in Sydney and San Francisco for example, but you are not allowed to go next to it, as it used to be possible in the past. The police will spot you and send you away. I spent most of the time at the beach wathing and taking notes of the registrations. The problems with photos is of course heat haze. It' horrible to be kept that away and you see all the beautiful stuff going by. Here are same photos of the place:
Disregard the black arrow. The blue circle is the police office, and the red one is where I was. I must add that I was under the shadow all time and seated on same wood made chair. Very nice actually, but still to far away.
On the 1st day no good photos. On the 2nd only one taken at the end of the day to a Garuda A330:
On the 3rd day I meet an Australian spotter who had the great idea of renting a boat and go closer for same photos. We paid each 150000RP, wich is about 15$, for a one hour ride. It was so great to be closer and getting same decent photos. We went in the afternoon but I think light is better in the morning because is on the oposite side of the planes, in other words the Sun is rising from the east and planes caming from the west. Here are same of those photos:
The next I should have gone to Perth but I didn't. Even though I was in Australia 2 years ago, I completelly forgot to aply for a visa and had to stay more two night in Bali. Those were awfull days with me waiting to recive a simple e-mail and blaming myself for not being in Australia yet. Of course I had to arrange accomodation (very hard sicne it's high season) and also book another flight once I got the electronic visa, which I did on the 13 (one of the happiest days of my life, as far as i can remeber). Oh, and for the record other bad stuff happend like, losing my cellphone upon arrival in Jakarta and having my credit card cancelled in Sydney because someone made a copy of it in the past and used it in Wall Mart in USA. Apart from all these bad things, these holidays were great and now i was going back to the fantastic Australia.
PERTH
On my inicial plan I was going to spent 4 days doing spotting in Perth, Western Australia, but because of my late arrival and also the rain, I was only at the airport for about one hour. I had been to SYD in 2007 and on this return to Australia I was looking for same of the stuff that operates on the West cost and doesn't go to SYD, like the B717 operating for Qantas Link, among others. During this particular day, arriving traffic was caming from the south, so I went to the Central bus station and took the bus nº 37 that goes to Domestic terminal (located west of the runway). I don't remeber much of the name of the place where I exit, it was samething "Forum" and it's next to a big mall. You leave the bus and then there's a crossroad. Turn right and keep walking eastbound until you see the planes landing. After that is up to you to find a suitable spotting location. It took me same arrivals to finally get there, plus I wanted a place that had same kind of protection for the rain that was caming in and out. I took few photos, but only these two came out good:
That Maroomba Dash made my day and my spotting time in Perth. As for the Virgin Blue, I would see them again in Sydney. I had a great time in Perth and made new friend there, and on the 16th, one day after my birthday, I found myself inside a Virgin Blue B737-700 crossing Australia to go to Sydney, New South Wales.
SYDNEY
The spotting location in Bali is very similar to the afternoon spotting location in Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport. Yet, for me, one is the worst and the other is the best airport where I've ever been to. SYD has RWY 34L/16R mostly used for international traffic and 34R/16L for domestic. There is also a cross runway that during my 11 days stay I never saw it being used. Departing and arriving traffic used mostly the 34's and since the Sun goes around the northern Sky the light really is great. Then you have to consider that it's Winter down here so the light is even more perfect. And what about if I tell you that 9 out of those 11 days the sky was blue and few or no clouds at all were spotted. Just perfect, simply amazing, couldn't ask for more!!
Here's a link to a spotting guide to SYD:
http://www.spotterswiki.com/index.php?t ... YD/YSSY%29
The morning spot has two problems. One is the heat haze. I would stop taking photos at around 9:30, but I would arrive as early as I could to enjoy the most of the morning Sun. Number two are the lamp posts. They are a serious problem specially with widebodys, and then you also have to play with the sun glare, and try to avoid it. It's not easy but it's possible. I would go from Sydney to this location by bus on 303, leaving at Mascot, and then I would cross the General Holmes road in front of the General Aviation apron and walk to the Control Tower. This walking used to take me about 15-20 min. To go to the afternoon spot, I would come back to the bus stop were I exited, enter the bus go trough the tunnel that crosses the airport and leave at very first stop after leaving the tunnel. Few seconds latter I was at the best spotting location where I've ever been to. Enjoy the photos:
Morning:
Departing to Melbourne and making the usual early rotation providing this close-up:
Afternoon:
400mm + crop:
Usually the last photo of the day (or the departure of the BA 747):
Amazing livery and light!
One of the best colours I've ever seen on a plane:
Well I hope you enjoed this report. Like I said the logs will follow for you to get an overview of the traffic at these airports. There's also a very interesting log of Singapore where I've spent many hours in transit and saw same exotic stuff, including 2 Antonovs, and also a log from Bankstown, just outside Sydney with same small airliners operating down there. An interesting and busy airfield, specially if you like General Aviation.
It has been a very interesting journey with ups and downs but it will be remembered as a positive one. I met and hook up with lots of people that I trully miss, I "discover" more 3 airports, although another visit must be paid to Perth, and I re-visited my favorite city and airport, Sydney. Australia is the perfect country to visit no matter the type of holidays you wanna have with so much to do and explore. Next time I get down there I've to look more for the adventurous side of this country.
Thank you for reading it and if you have any doubts just ask
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, thank you for sharing 
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