Review of Virgin Australia flight from Melbourne to Perth in Economy

Going through Melbourne was the only viable option for Uluru to Perth, and from Melbourne to Perth it was either Qantas or Virgin. Qantas was a bit more even after adding bags on Virgin and the times weren't great. Of the Virgin flights I wanted to try out the 737 MAX 8, but they weren't flying on this day.
The flight cost AU$235/$153 in the Choice fare, which includes a 23 kg checked bag. Expensive, but that's what flying across Australia's like.

This is the last flight in the back to Perth series, the whole flight map being:

This trip began in the departures of Melbourne Tullamarine airport, where 5 weeks earlier I'd flown out on Fiji Airways.
Unlike FJ, Virgin has self-service kiosks and bag drops.

There was basically no line for bag drop.

There was no security line either, water was allowed through and everything stayed in the bag. A lot of bags were flagged (including mine) but were given back without any further checks.
This part of the airport is the Virgin Australia area.

Here's VH-YIG, a 13.4 year old 737-800 named Kings Beach, which will be operating the flight over to Perth tonight.

Almost everyone had lined up before boarding was called. There wasn't actually a proper line, though, just a big mass of people. For some reason, despite this gate already being for VA695 (my flight), they announced that there was a gate change for VA697 (also to Perth, about an hour later) to gate 12. Gate 12 was on the other side of the terminal and maybe half the people left to rush there. Understandably they heard Perth and didn't bother checking the flight number, but many of them must have been on VA695 and it was very unclear that VA695 would still be boarding at the same gate. There were probably some people that ended up missing their flight because they went to the wrong gate.
Boarding started around 7:30 PM, with a scheduled departure of 7:45. 

There was no announcement for it. As people noticed that boarding had started they got in line, but then it turned out they were only boarding rows 20-30. They didn't announce that either until later and I only heard it because of someone that had gone to the front and was turned back. (Later, that same man finally got to the front again only to be told that his flight was tomorrow and he had to call the call center as they couldn't do anything for him there).
After announcing rows 20-30 a bit late, they then did 13-30, and then 9-30. It was very annoying being in 7.
Outside, it was raining.

Good views of the plane, though.

The flag-carrier.

Rain was washing down the side of the aircraft.

Even after me there were tons of people boarding, it seemed to be endless. There wasn't enough space in the overhead bins for everyone's bags since the passengers that had boarded earlier had put their small bags up there. The crew shuffled things around, gave people their smaller bags, and got everything to fit.

A tired looking business class. Business fares in Australia are insanely high and at least the hard product never looks very good.
And some economy seats.

My seat.

There was an adjustable headrest.

Standard seatback.

There were USB-A chargers, two pairs for each row of 3 seats. These were a bit faster than on the last flight.

The seatback pocket contained a menu/flight experience info, sickness bag and safety card.

There was internet available for purchase on this flight.

Decent entertainment selection, possibly a couple of extra options compared to the last flight, though there were some movies I'd noticed then and didn't find on this flight. At it was easier to use without having to scroll through everything again after closing something.

During the crew introductions, they mentioned the birthday boy at the front (which we'll get to later).
Around 45 minutes late, we pushed back with dark blue lighting turned on for takeoff.

The cabin was a little warm, but it was awkard turning the vent (or light) on because to reach it I had to reach over the person in the middle seat as it was relatively far from the aisle.

At first the entertainment didn't actually work for me. Whenever I opened something this error came up.

It seemed to be fine for everyone else and after I restarted my phone it worked for me too.
There was pink lighting for the service.

Virgin offers free tea, coffee, and water, plus a large and ridiculously expensive buy on board menu. I got water.

The purple lighting was my favorite by far.

Cabin view in purple.

There was another water service two hours after departure.

 Doing the service was the birthday boy and after confirming it was him I wished him happy birthday, as did the lady sitting at the window. He said thanks and kind of nodded tiredly.
Generally the crew weren't that friendly, as they usually are on Virgin.
Lights were dimmed around 25 minutes later for people to get some sleep.

As we got closer to Perth I looked for a moving map but there wasn't one. Just weather information and remaining time.

An hour before landing there was one final water service.

Lighting got changed again before landing, and there was a biosecurity message played from the Western Australian government. While some other states have signs in the airports about what you can't bring into the state, I haven't heard biosecurity announcements on domestic flights into anywhere other than WA.

And pretty soon we'd touched down in Perth. Virgin seems to have dropped their acknowledgment of country upon arrival, though there was a special message for Perth residents. After mentioning the onward connections etc they said, "And if Perth is home, please. learn. to merge" which got a few laughs (Perth people are known as bad drivers, for some reason). 
And some more cabin pictures on the way out.

Including business.

It's been a few years since I've flown into T1 domestic, and it had the same signs as T1 international.

It was a short walk to baggage claim, which had a more elaborate welcome to country.

Bags took a little while to arrive.

And with that, this flight-report and trip end. Thanks for reading.