Skip to main content

Qantas - Emirates Gala Dinner


On Thursday night I was fortunate enough to attend a gala dinner celebrating the Qantas - Emirates partnership thanks to the kind folk at Qantas' Digital Communication Team. I've never been to a black tie dinner before, so this was a very new experience for me and only the second time in my life that I've hired a suit.

The event was held in a Qantas hanger adjacent to Domestic Terminal 3. A huge Qantas A380 occupied half the hanger and was illuminated by patterns of light throughout the night. We were treated to a wonderfully delicious Neil Perry dinner of mezze entree and a succulent lamb and ginger yam mash for dinner. I passed on the tiramisu, not being a lover of coffee, but there were carts serving smooth gelato. While guests were milling around prior to being seated various canapes were served, including "Chicken with Strange Sauce", which caused a few smiles.


Karl Stefanovic MC'd the event and it was very funny hearing some of the other interviewed guests teasing him about how early in the night he was getting sloshed. Funny in the context of the morning after a certain Logies award night!

There were a number of other celebrities in the audience. John Travolta, Miranda Kerr, a pack of Channel Niners including Richard Wilkins, Peter Overton and Jessica Rowe, an ex-Niner in Kerri-Anne Kennerly, politicians include Gladys Berejiklian and others whose faces I recognised but not the name. I record this for others - I was not really tempted to seek photos and autographs!


Entertainment throughout the night consisted of crimson headed Sarah De Bono and a wonderful telling of the Qantas story, of how they had sought partnerships of equals outside of Australia right from the beginning. There was an amazing act of two people suspended from ropes and performing against a big screen. Then a early childhood Young Talent Time crush of mine, Tina Arena, sang a trio of songs starting with my favourite "Sorrento Moon" and ending with "I still call Australia home," which had a very audible impact on the Qantas guests.


That was probably what I got most out of the night. A real sense of the love and pride that Qantas staff have for their airline. These people are passionate about aviation and I think that really comes through when you fly with them. I genuinely enjoy my flights with Qantas more than other airlines and it was lovely to share that tonight.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

IKEA Museum

We have a packed itinerary today. Flat packed and assembled with an Allen key. There are patches of snow on the ground that weren't there the previous evening. We are a bit sad to leave the Duxiana after the comfy beds and the breakfast of cold cuts, fruits and hot waffles. I tried the Swedish caviar on my boiled egg. It was... Interesting. I was very disappointed to realise that, after talking it up for months, I had forgotten the Disgusting Foods Museum in Malmö yesterday. Too late now. We catch another Oresundstag train, for a bit over an hour. Past yesterday's Lund, past increasingly white fields and towns to Älmhult, home of IKEA. The conductor warns us that the train will split in two so we have to move carriages forward. Unfortunately, there we no spare sets of chairs for all of us. The IKEA Museum showcases the history of the furniture company, along with temporary exhibitions. One of these was "Hacking IKEA," about using IKEA ob...

Asagaya and heading home

How can I be happy? I am about to return to a country where the toilets have at most two buttons and no seat warmers. But the tickets are booked and there are no cyclones, typhoons or other disasters standing in our way. It's almost time to go back to my first home. First B wants to do some "local shopping". So we catch the Chuo Line up a few stations to Asagaya, a residential area with a number of Shotengai, covered and uncovered arcades leading away from the station and narrow alleys lined with bars. It is an interesting area for a wander around. We are mainly looking, do some shopping for toothbrushes and sweets from Seiyu, a Wal-Mart owned supermarket/minor department store. We skipped breakfast and lunch is ramen and gyoza at a small restaurant near the entrance to the Pearl Centre shotengai. With the help of a staff member, I manage to purchase tickets at a branch of Lawson to the Ghibli Museum for a friend travelling to Japan in May. There are some...

One night in Canberra

It's the April school holidays and we are too busy to have a break but need one because of that. And because it's the Easter weekend the options are limited, so we just drive down to Canberra for the night. No, this isn't our first trip for 2023. I wrote about Japan on another site .  I refuse to wake up early so we depart after 8.30 AM. There is not much to say about the drive except that the clouds seem so low and Lake George is very full. We stop at a rest area and at the lookout up the hill to take it all in. Everyone is hungry so we first stop in Dickson and then can't think of anything to eat, so I drive us to Civic, where we can't decide and end up eating at the Singaporean Killiney Kopitiam branch.  The Canberra Centre has nice shops. I dream of getting an iPad from the Apple Store, we buy a blanket and toothbrushes from Muji and wish that Lego wasn't so expensive. Nothing we can't get in Sydney, but then we rarely go out shopping in the city. It...