Well that's about right...

[Sean]

We're due to fly to Bali with Virgin Australia on Tuesday morning...

Volcano eruption cancels Bali, Phuket flights and closes Indonesian airports


Flights cancelled as volcano erupts

A volcanic eruption from Mount Kelud in Indonesia has caused a widepsread ash cloud, which has meant some flights out of Australia have been cancelled.

A Jetstar flight from Perth to Jakarta on Friday morning was filled with smoke after the plane flew into Indonesia’s volcanic ash cloud, a passenger said.

Virgin Australia has cancelled all flights to Bali, Phuket, Christmas Island and Cocos Island after an eruption in Indonesia closed three international airports and darkened skies across a large swath of the country's most densely populated island, Java.

Two Qantas flights, QF41 Sydney to Jakarta and QF42 Jakarta to Sydney, have been delayed until Saturday, while flight paths from Australia to Singapore have been altered, a Qantas spokeswoman said.

A spokesman for Jetstar said it had not yet cancelled any flights but the airline was monitoring the situation.

Richard Craig, from Perth, was on flight QF144 to Jakarta at about 5am on Friday when he said the plane suddenly flew into the ash cloud about 30 minutes before landing.

“It was just starting to get light then it suddenly went quite dark and what I thought was smoke appeared in the cabin out the front, started coming out of the air vent and alarm went off and beeped a few times,” he said.

“There was an unusual smell. It wasn’t like smoke, a slightly sweet smell. More like a very fine smoke.

“The pilot put on the seat belt sign and the staff were trying to hurry to get people into any seat even if it wasn’t theirs."

Mr Craig said the smoke cleared within a few minutes and the pilot made announcements saying it was a volcanic ash cloud and that “no one was aware of it in the area. The air traffic control wasn’t aware of it and they weren’t aware of it.”

Jetstar has been approached to respond to the report.

Mount Kelud erupted on Thursday night, hurling red hot ash and rocks over a huge distance.

The explosions could be heard 130 kilometres away in Surabaya, the country's second-largest city, and even further afield in Yogyakarta.

Melbourne student Anna Strempel, who is studying Indonesian in Yogyakarta, said she had little food left and all the shops were shut because of the ash.

“It’s pretty eerie here actually. It’s pretty quiet, looks as though there’s been snowfall.

“It doesn't really smell but you can feel the grit in your eyes and you can feel it in your throat.”

Ash covered the ground in both cities and was still falling, witnesses and accounts on social media reported. TV footage from towns closer to the peak showed farm animals covered in ash.

Ms Strempel said she could still hear rumbling on Friday afternoon.

“We walked out to get some food but everything is closed. I only have one cucumber left to get me through.”

She said locals remarked the ash fall was much worse then the 2010 eruption of Mount Merapi, which is only 25 kilometres away from Yogyakarta and forced hundreds of people to flee the city.

Virgin said its meteorologists were monitoring the situation, in consultation with the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in Darwin, and the airline would recommence normal operations as soon as the volcanic ash cloud safely allowed it.

At least 10 Virgin Australia flights have been cancelled, including flights from Denpasar to Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Four inbound flights from Bali to Australia have been grounded.

An additional two flights between Perth and Phuket were also cancelled.

“For safety reasons, we can’t fly within 100 nautical miles of an ash cloud so that’s why we’ve had to cancel them,” a Virgin Australia spokeswoman said.

"Guests will be reaccommodated to the next available flight accordingly."

About 200,000 people living in 36 villages within 10 kilometres of Mount Kelud's crater were ordered to evacuate on Thursday night after the volcano erupted.

TV pictures on Friday showed ash and rocks raining down on nearby villages as terrified locals fled in cars and on motorbikes towards evacuation centres.

Transport ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said Yogyakarta, Solo and Surabaya airports were closed due to reduced visibility and the dangers posed to aircraft engines by ash.

There were no reports of injuries as a result of the eruption. The mountain had been rumbling for several weeks.

The 1731-metre Kelud is among about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia.


http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-inc ... z2tHWgrNSM

[Lord Jim]

Phuket flights

"Heh, heh...He said Phuket..."

[Gob]

Good luck Sean, hope it clears in time for your flight mate!!

[Sean]

Cheers mate, I'll be absolutely gutted if we miss out. This is the first holiday we've had since we went down to visit you lot...

[Lord Jim]

In all seriousness, I hope you have a nice holiday....

[Sean]

Cheers Jim.

[rubato]

"...

A Jetstar flight from Perth to Jakarta on Friday morning was filled with smoke after the plane flew into Indonesia’s volcanic ash cloud, a passenger said.
...
“It was just starting to get light then it suddenly went quite dark and what I thought was smoke appeared in the cabin out the front, started coming out of the air vent and alarm went off and beeped a few times,” he said.

“There was an unusual smell. It wasn’t like smoke, a slightly sweet smell. More like a very fine smoke.

“The pilot put on the seat belt sign and the staff were trying to hurry to get people into any seat even if it wasn’t theirs."

Mr Craig said the smoke cleared within a few minutes and the pilot made announcements saying it was a volcanic ash cloud and that “no one was aware of it in the area. The air traffic control wasn’t aware of it and they weren’t aware of it.” ..."

There might be worse things than missing your flight. You have a couple of days, is there an alternative? A plan B, as it were.

yrs,
rubato

[Long Run]

Global warming takes another hit? Best of luck, Sean, in finding your way to an enjoyable vacation.

[Sean]

Looks like she'll be right after all.

Virgin flew to Denpasar this morning and have laid on an extra flight from Brissie tomorrow so there shouldn't be a backlog.

Bintangs by the pool is back on!

[Gob]

Whoo hoo! Have one for me!!

[Sean]

Tell you what mate, I'll have 10 for you!

I've been trying to persuade SMF that Rupiah are too fiddly and she should consider the Bintang as currency.

[Daisy]

Cookie brought me a can of Bintang back from his last trip to Jakarta.

Best description I could come up with was "weakly unpleasant.

[Econoline]

Sounds like Bintang might have the same aura of "locally unavailable" (and therefore "exotic") that Coors used to have in the eastern half of the U.S., way back when they didn't ship it anywhere east of the Mississippi River. (Of course, now that it's available everywhere, most everyone realizes that it's no better than Budweiser...and yes, I did mean that as an insult!)

[MajGenl.Meade]

Oh I thought bintang was something to do with ladyboys.

[rubato]

Sounds like Bintang might have the same aura of "locally unavailable" (and therefore "exotic") that Coors used to have in the eastern half of the U.S., way back when they didn't ship it anywhere east of the Mississippi River. (Of course, now that it's available everywhere, most everyone realizes that it's no better than Budweiser...and yes, I did mean that as an insult!)

Nixon used to ship cases of the nasty stuff back east every time he went from San Clemente to D.C.


Not that he doesn't have enough to be ashamed of already.


yrs,
rubato

[Sean]

Cookie brought me a can of Bintang back from his last trip to Jakarta.

Best description I could come up with was "weakly unpleasant.

Don't forget Dais, I've been in the colonies for about nine years now and have almost forgotten what good beer tastes like. Bintang is a couple of steps up from most Australian beers...