We're visiting Australia in early March 2004. Haven't booked our flights yet, but I think we'll arrive in Melbourne and stay there a couple of days before flying on to Tasmania. Melbourne looks huge! Any advice on where to stay? St. Kilda, Southa Yarra or elsewhere? If we wait to book, what are the chances of getting a good deal on accommodation? I'd prefer to keep it under $125-150 AUD if possible (and I realize that's on the low side).

Any advice on Tasmania? We'd like to spend a couple of days near Freycinet - maybe Swansea or Bicheno? I think we'll also stay in Hobart a couple of days. We're planning to rent a car there. I'm also interested in Port Arthur as well. We're planning on probably 5 nights on Tasmania in total.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Susan -

We chose to stay in St. Kilda rather than Melbourne Center. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the hotel - vaguely it might be a Novotel - on the beachfront, where we had a jr. suite and cost about AD$125-130. We chose to be in a residential area and were very glad we did, with shops and restaurants about 1-block away (with lots of choices) and we enjoyed walking the area in the evening after dinner.

Right in front of the hotel we were able to board the tram that took us into he City Center in 7-minutes during rush hour. A single-fare day-ticket allowed us to go the Victoria Market in the morning, return to the hotel with our purchases and return into City Center later in the day to see the sights, have dinner and return later in the evening to the hotel.

We found our choice to be most satisfactory - St. Kilda is a very eclectic neighborhood - young professionals, families, and old-timers, houses had been upgraded and enhanced "gentrification" was taking place - and the beach is right across the street.

That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for - thanks Sandi. St. Kilda does look appealing to me.

Now, anyone have similar advice for Tasmania? Thanks!

If you are happy to wait until the last minute to book accommodation, you will save money but may not get exactly what you want. Try
www.lastminute.com.au
www.wotif.com.au
www.needitnow.com.au
Usually you can only book up to 14 days prior. We booked the Travelodge in Southbank (which is a very good area to stay, central, lots of restaurants, shops etc) for about A$90 through one of these websites. Normal cost would be much higher.
In Hobart we stayed in Battery Point which is 5 min walk to the waterfront and Salamanca Place and 10 min walk to the city. Battery Point is a very old area with an English feel about it, quite picturesque and worth a walk around even if you don't stay there. We stayed at Barton Cottage, a lovely old B&B. There are also hotels right on the waterfront, one is the Hotel Grand Chancellor. We also stayed for 2 nights in Bicheno and were a bit disappointed, not much to do or see. We drove up to St Helens which I thought was nicer. At that time of year, you could probably book the first few nights then wing it. There is a nice place to stay at Freycinet, I think maybe called The Lodge. The walk to Wineglass Bay is good. Also recommend the Salamanca Market in Hobart.
If you have a hire car in Melbourne, you can take it to Tasmania on the ferry (Spirit of Tasmania) for free out of peak season so you could then tour round Tas and save money as your hire period would be longer (instead of 2 hire periods). Just a thought.
Kay

Susan - just remembered, the place at Freycinet was at Coles Bay if that helps.
Kay

Hi, SusaninToronto!
Melbourne isn't huge... on the contrary, it's quite small and manageable, and if your maps indicate otherwise, I'd suggest that you are looking at a lot of dormitory suburbs which you wouldn't be likely to be visiting anyway. Personally, I loathe St Kilda... exactly the kind of area I try to avoid when I visit a city, but I have to admit there are a lot of restaurants around there, and it is only a short tram ride to the centre. I would strongly support KayF's advice about wotif and the other last-minute sites.... you will surely find what you want there for well under your limit if you have no restrictions about area. My advice: right in the centre, around Collins St or Little Collins St, or Bourke St, would be the place to look. Good luck!

Thanks for all the advice.

Alan, what is that you hate about St. Kilda? From Sandi's description (and from what I had read), it sounds quite appealing.

Kay, I doubt that we'll rent a car in Melbourne, so probably wouldn't take the ferry. Neither of us find driving all that relaxing, especially driving on the 'other side'. I'm at work now (and shouldn't be 'researching' on the internet), but will take a look at St. Helens when I'm home. Do you remember how long it took to drive from Bicheno to St. Helens. Our main interest in Bicheno was that it seems close to Freycinet and we're interested in seeing that area. The lodge at Freycinet does look really nice, and it was one of the first places I looked into. It's also quite expensive, so we'll be looking for alternatives. It's really too bad we have to work within a budget!

Thanks again for the ideas.

Hi Susan

We stayed at Oakford Towers when we were in Melbourne and it was very close to their Parliament and theater district. Subway was but a block away unit was a suite with small kitchenette, living area, and separate bedroom. we enjoyed it and had picked it was on Needitnow. It was also about a block away from the theatre that was playing "Mama Mia" and we walked up and got GREAT tickets for a performance that day - couldn't have been better!!

LN, Mama Mia was incredible, wasn't it? My husband surprised me with tickets a few years ago for New Years. I am not even an ABBA fan, but I loved it!

Hi, again, SusaninToronto!
I think the reason that I hate St Kilda, and areas like that, is because they are exactly the same in whatever city you visit, be it Melbourne, Sydney, Detroit, or, I imagine, Kathmandu. There's no sense of the character of the particular city ... and Melbourne actually DOES have a character that is quite contrasting to Sydney. But you'd never know it from St Kilda. It's just the same pubs and restaurants and tacky shops, the same brothels and drunks and fights on Saturday nights that you would find in any major city. It's all for the visitor, and nothing looks like it was designed to last more than six months. Visit it by all means.... I have said many times on this site that a trip up to Kings Cross in Sydney is an enjoyable way to spend an evening; but, just as I never advise people to actually STAY in the Cross in preference to Sydney, I wouldn't recommend that you make St Kilda your base.

Susan -

Alan is correct - Melbourne does have lots more character than Sydney, but you can't see much of it at night, though the city center is wonderful during the day.

We were in MEL three nights - the first night we went to the Casino; the second had dinner in St.Kilda with friends after doing the Great Ocean Road drive - there were two restaurant openings that night and loads of people on the street even after we finished dinner; third night we returned to city center for dinner and the center was devoid of people; after dinner we walk around before boarding the tram back to hotel, and most bars and restaurants were practically empty. It kind of reminded me of any downtown financial/business area of a major city in the States - empty.

And how Alan can compare Kings Cross SYD) to St. Kilda is beyond me. Kings Cross is reminded me of what 42nd St.in NYC used to be (and which I admit I liked in it's funky kind of way) - peep shows, drunks, 3-card monty guys taking your money, sex shops, bars - though it does add character to a place. St. Kilda was in no way like that, then maybe we were on the wrong streets, yet we did cover lots of the area and at night.

Alan is correct in that MEL isn't all that huge except that there are lots of outlying neighborhoods - St.Kilda, South Yarra, etc. - going north, east, south and west - but it's easy enough to get around. We used the tram from where we were, a taxi to/fr the casino and had rented a car for the drive on the Great Ocean Road.

Susan, but you have to be comfortable with what you want and like to really enjoy your time there. Honestly, our Travel agent wanted to put us in a hotel in city center, but I asked for St.Kilda and both of us were very pleased in having done so.

Susan

We truly LOVED everything on our Australian/NZ trip. Melbourne was wonderful with all its cosmopolitan flair - it reminded me of Washington DC (home) and also, a bit of NYC. We had the most wonderful dinner at a Chinese restaurant just behind our hotel there. The GOR was magnificient - if I could do it over again, I would take the helicopter to it. It's a loooonnnng windy trip!! The zoo is spectacular - you'd love it,

In Tasmania we stayed in Hobart and for the life of me I cannot remember the name of the hotel - I got it off Wotif or Needitnow with a lower rate and it had a huge SPA in the lower level (marvelous) and it was on the same street as the tourist office. We loved Port Arthur and touring around there along with the Ghost visit. This you have to do.

Alan has been a tremendous help to so many of us when we were planning our visits - I have learned to respect his opinion well and will seek it in the coming months for our return visit.

Thanks for all the ideas. I have to say that I'm leaning towards St. Kilda, even after Alan's comments! Not sure why, and it's still a few months away, so we'll see.

We're flying from Toronto to Hong Kong, where we're planning a 2 night stopover. Melbourne wasn't really even in our plans, but we knew we wanted to go to Tasmania and it seemed that Melbourne would be an easy detour and an interesting place to visit. (I should say that my husband's mother and cousins live in Sydney - they all seem so down on Melbourne and that probably influenced us in originally not planning on visiting Melbourne.) So Melbourne is now on the itinerary.

I think we'll only have 2 or 3 days in Melbourne. I'd love to see the Great Ocean Road - but I know we won't want to rent a car. Is a tour worthwhile? We generally aren't keen on tours, but without a car, I'm not sure how we could make that trip.

Alan, you'll probably have strong opinions on where we'll be staying in Sydney. Actually it's not even Sydney proper. My mother-in-law is in Maroubra - not a great area, I know. Last time there, we ended up staying in her apartment - she was in the hospital and it was convenient, but we're hoping that she'll be healthier this time around. So I'm thinking we'll stay in Coogee - it looks like it's reasonably close to Maroubra, and the purpose of the Sydney part of the holiday is to visit her. Any recommendations? I've been looking at serviced apartments. I'll probably spend 5 nights in the area. My husband will stay on an extra week. We actually did a lot of the sightseeing, etc. in Sydney last time around when we weren't visiting the hospital.

Thanks.