Australia Trip Report
 

I don't usually post trip reports, but I'm going to try to do this and string the notes together. Hope it works.

On Good Friday, I flew from Toronto to LA on American and then onto Sydney on Qantas. We had a few hours to kill in LA. Originally I was given an aisle seat on the Qantas flight, but sharing a row with 2 others, so there were 3 of us. The row in front had only 1 person in it ? why do the airlines do that?! Luckily I was able to move to that row. Probably the passenger who thought she had scored an entire row of 3 seats to herself wasn?t happy, but she was really sweet and didn?t complain.

I arrived in Sydney around 8 in the morning on Easter Sunday and made my way to my mother-in-law?s apartment in Maroubra. MIL lives in a very small one bedroom apartment there and my husband had stayed with her for a week before I arrived. He does have other family living in Sydney and we have a standing invitation to stay with them ? unfortunately MIL doesn?t get along with them, so we knew there would be ?issues? if we stayed with them. It seemed easier to stay in a hotel when I arrived, although MIL didn?t really understand why we were moving. She?s 86, very hard of hearing (which she won?t admit), and not all that steady on her feet. She?s had a variety of health problems over the last couple of years (which we only find out about after the fact), so John had to visit her doctor, etc. He had been kept busy. After spending a week with his mother, John was ready to get out and about.

That first day, we didn?t do much. I always find it a good idea to go out for a walk after a long flight ? get some fresh air and move around a bit. Maroubra is fairly ?down market? ? there?s not a lot to do or see there, although the beach has been nicely cleaned up. It was Easter Sunday and the beach was quite busy with family groups. We had planned to see family Easter Sunday for dinner, but MIL made it clear she didn?t want to see them. She belongs to a club (those places are everywhere in Australia) about 2 blocks from her apartment, so we walked over there for Easter lunch instead. Food was ok, inexpensive and besides it?s the only place she?ll ever willingly go to eat!

Later that day, my husband and I moved to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Coogee. Coogee was hopping! The horse races had started and the Easter Show was on in the city, plus it was school holidays, so lots of people enjoying themselves. The Crowne Plaza was fine ? we had wanted to get into the Medina, but it was fully booked. Rate was $165 CAD, which I got through my travel agent. The room was a decent size. Usual amenities, with a kettle to make tea and coffee, but no coffee maker ? neither of us drink instant unless there?s no other choice, so we didn?t use it.

We had spent a lot of time in Sydney on our previous trip, so I had arranged only 3 nights there. We debated doing a bridge climb, but decided against it. We took the bus into Circular Quay and spent a day in the city ? started off in the Rocks, then walked over to Darling Harbour, then took the ferry back to the Quay to catch the bus back to Coogee. In Darling, we visited the Chinese Garden (admission $6 each) and had lunch. Next day we went to Manly Beach, and enjoyed that was as well. We walked a lot around Manly and also had lunch there. I can?t remember the names of the restaurants. The one in Manly wasn?t on the main beach and seemed to be popular with a large group of young mums and their babies. Lunch for the 2 of us (sandwich for me and fish for John, with coke to drink) came to $30 or so.

I was so happy we had decided to stay in Coogee. Lots of decent restaurants, and it was a fun place. We saw a little memorial at one of the baths ? it?s dedicated to the people who were killed in Bali ? apparently Coogee lost a lot of people. It was quite moving. We had dinner at ?A Fish Called Coogee? ($45 for the 2 of us ? tuna for John and snapper for myself, plus 1 order of fries), ?George?s Thai? (I can?t remember what we spent there ? John ordered pad thai and I ordered a salad) and ?La Spaggia? (Italian ? we shared a salad to start, I ordered tortellini and John ordered a pasta with clams. We shared a dessert and had coffee ? price was $60, I think.) I think most dinner prices were moderate ? all the restaurants are BYO (husband doesn?t drink, and I don?t drink much though, so we never bothered). We ate breakfast at Cozzi Café every day. Very good coffee, and we?d usually have a pastry and coffee. A large latte was $5 (more about coffee prices later).

Byron Bay

We flew from Sydney to the Gold Coast on Qantas. I had booked the flights over the internet before our trip and with seat sales, prices were great. We had called Byron Bay Taxi to arrange a pick up at the airport in Coolangatta for the transfer to Byron Bay ($70, which was almost more than the cost of the flight!). I expect our experience was atypical though ? the bus broke down in the airport parking lot. The Aussie equivalent of CAA or AAA (I don?t remember the name) took quite a while to show up, and our driver finally found another driver to take us to Byron.

We liked Byron Bay. We were staying at Amigos Guest House, which is a nice little place. It?s an older home, with nice plank floors, white walls, beadboard ceilings and decorated with a lot of Mexican art. The owner has spent a lot of time in Mexico and the Caribbean, as have we, so it felt very comfortable to us. We had an ensuite bathroom, and the rate was $115 / night during the week and $130 / night on the weekends. The owner allows guests to use the kitchen ? you can either take breakfast there for a small fee or use the kitchen to make your own. Anny provides free coffee and a French press. We usually picked up our own pastries, but an English couple cooked a big fried breakfast every morning for themselves. Anny also has umbrellas for the beach, bicycles, beach towels, etc. that you can borrow to go to the beach. Amigos was definitely the most ?personal? place we stayed in and we really enjoyed it.

In Byron Bay, we took it easy. One morning we took the bus up to the lighthouse (I don?t think that it runs regularly and read that it was a ?trial? for just a week) and walked back down. We saw dolphins off the coast and there were amazing views of the coastline. We spent some time everyday on the beach where Anny?s umbrella was a necessity! I was amazed (shocked actually) at the huge number of people on the beach who sat out for the afternoon with no shade at all. We were definitely in the minority with our umbrella.

Lots of restaurants in Byron and fairly good variety. Since it was fairly late when we arrived in Byron the first night, we didn?t go too far and we had a pizza at Earth & Sea Pizza ($30 with a couple of lemon squash drinks). Other restaurants we ate at were Red, Hot and Green (interesting menu, kind of Asian fusion ? we shared an order of spring rolls, had a salad with prawns and a curried noodle dish ? I can?t remember the price on this), Mongers (really good salmon and chips ? more like a takeout kind of place, but with a few tables - $30 for the 2 of us), and Thai Lucy (we shared a small entrée, pad thai and an order of duck with ginger - $42 for the 2 of us). We didn?t eat too many desserts there ? usually picked up gelato at one of the places in town.

Both of us were surprised by Byron Bay. It?s much bigger than I expected it to be ? we both had this image that it would be a small laidback kind of place. We even wondered if there would be ATM machines there. Well, I think that may be the image they want to portray, but in reality, it sure wasn?t the quiet little place we expected. Traffic was unreal! And there were several banks (which we needed - many of the restaurants didn?t take credit cards). There?s a movie theatre with maybe ? a dozen movies showing. (We actually went to a movie one night ? Starsky & Hutch ? something we?d never pay to see at home, but it was a good laugh and we were on holiday.)

Noosa

After 4 nights, we took a bus from Byron to Noosa. It was more or less direct ? the bus went to Brisbane and we had to change buses there, but there was no wait in Brisbane, just time to run to the washroom. The bus left very early in the morning and cost $53 each for the 5 hour trip.

We had booked a studio at a motel called Jacaranda in Noosa. It?s right on Hastings Street, not the ocean side, but still the location was good. The room was fairly basic and we had a queen sized bed and a single bed. There was a microwave, small fridge and again a kettle, but no coffee pot. (At this point, we went to a store and bought a French press to use the rest of the trip.) It obviously didn?t start off as a motel room with any kitchen facilities ? there was only the bathroom sink to wash dishes in, but it was fine. We basically needed it just for breakfast anyway. They also have 1 bedroom units as well, and I believe they all have a balconies overlooking the river. There?s a coin operated washer and dryer, plus ironing board for guests? use. (That came in handy.) Rate was $105 / night because it was considered the start of the low season. It would be a fairly convenient place for a family ? there was an outer door (left open) which led to 2 doors ? one into a studio and one into the apartment. So if you had a bigger group, you could rent both units and keep the inner doors open, and just close the outer door.

Town was still quite busy, especially the night we arrived. I think we would have had trouble finding a place that night if we had arrived with no reservations ? after that, it probably wouldn?t have been a problem.

From Noosa, we did a day tour to Fraser Island ($130 / each). The bus seated 16 and there were probably 6 or 7 kids on the tour, plus the parents. All were Australian, except us. The tour was okay ? I enjoyed seeing the island, the coloured sands at Rainbow Beach, etc. Despite all the signs about dingoes, we only saw 1 on the beach. I was disappointed that we didn?t see anything like the amazing dunes you see in the postcards ? I guess those would be on the other side of the island. Morning and afternoon tea were included, as was lunch (steak or fish with several salads and fruits). We had a nice swim at Lake Birrabeen.

Luckily there was some shade on the beach at Noosa. They did rent umbrellas at one end of the beach, but again, almost no one used them. We hung out at the end where there were some shade trees, which I sure appreciated. We had no trouble finding a spot in the shade ? almost everyone sat in the sun. As in Byron Bay, we didn?t exactly swim, but it was a lot of fun playing in the waves. When I got back to the room and showered later that day, I found I was ?wearing? a lot of sand!

One morning we took the bus out to the market in Eumundi. That was fun ? it was the Wednesday market, and apparently the Saturday market is much bigger, but we still found a couple of things to spend our money on. Also had wonderful ginger beer there, probably the best I had on the trip. Bus fare to the market was $10.35 return ? the trip out there seemed to take quite a while, but going back was a different route and we were surprised at how close Eumundi really was.

As for dinners, it was a mixed bag. One night we picked up a pizza ($16) after the Fraser Island tour), another night we picked up seafood and chips ($19 for the 2 of us). Takeout choices were very limited along Hastings after 7 PM. We had a nice lunch at Beroni?s on the beach the day we arrived. I had been told that the beach restaurant was just ok but that their restaurant on Hastings was very good. It was also very expensive. The menu changes daily but didn?t really appeal to us on the 2 nights we did look at it. We had dinner at Jaspers on Hastings Street one night ? not dinner really, we just ordered several entrees (i.e., appetizers) and that was nice. (It came to $95 for duck sausage & polenta, crab cakes, scallops, rocket and goat cheese salad and an order of chips. I had 2 beer I think, so not cheap, but really pleasant with live music.) Another night we ate at an Italian restaurant near the hotel. I can?t remember what we ate, I?m sure it was fine. We checked out several restaurants in Noosaville ? there seemed to be a very good choice of restaurants there, but we just never got up the energy to go over there in the evening.

Brisbane

Actually not a lot to report here ? we just spent a few hours in transit. We took the bus from Noosa into Brisbane in the morning - $28 each and the bus was practically empty. Our flight out wasn?t until after 8 PM, so we stored our luggage at the Roma Transit Centre ($6 per locker for 24 hours) and walked a lot. We had a lunch at a place in the pedestrian mall (Queen Street?). We bought some wonderful chocolate covered ginger from a shop in Brisbane. (I love ginger.) We also stopped for a shared dessert and coffee late in the afternoon at a place called the Coffee Club before taking the train out to the airport. We both really liked the Southbank Park along the river ? Toronto could sure use a few lessons on how to improve our waterfront. It was really nice. We also walked through the Botanical Gardens which were pleasant. We stopped for a dessert and coffee in the late afternoon ($15 for a shared dessert and 2 coffees), then wandered back to Roma Street to take the Airtrain out to the airport ($10 each).

Darwin & Surrounding Area

We flew from Brisbane to Darwin on Virgin Blue. Again I had booked the flight in advance over the web and the rate was great. We got into Darwin around midnight and took a cab to the Holiday Inn Esplanade in the city. The cab driver was quite amusing ? he?s lived in Darwin 35 years and said the biggest changes were ?refrigeration and law?!

There are 2 Holiday Inns in Darwin ? both on the Esplanade, literally right next to each other. One is the HI Esplanade, the other is the HI Darwin. I had gotten a very good rate over the internet - $98 / night. Room was fairly standard (we were able to use our French press for coffee) and I was very happy to have A/C. Darwin was 34 and sunny every day!

We basically just had the one day in Darwin. We walked all over the downtown, mainly looking in the stores with aboriginal art (and there are lots of them). It was one of the few times that we actually went out for lunch ? we needed an A/C break so had lunch at Loui?s restaurant ? the A/C was wonderful and the food was pretty good as well. (I liked the potato wedges with sour cream and chili sauce ? but we also ordered a sandwich as well in the interests of health!) We decided to go to down to the marina (harbourfront) to see the sunset that night. There isn?t a lot there ? we thought that there would be a few more shops, etc., and we got there a little too early (we weren?t sure when the sun would set), so we had a drink at a Mexican restaurant on the waterfront and later watched the sun drop. We saw a few monitor lizards there.

Dinner that night was at Hanuman restaurant ? it?s a Thai / Indian restaurant, really good and it seemed very popular with the locals. We didn?t have a reservation, so had to wait about 15 minutes to get a table. Cost was about $80 for a shared entree and 2 mains (prawns in garlic and chili for John and an Indian lamb dish for me) with rice. Very nice place.

The next morning, we were picked up for our tour with Billy Can tours. There were 21 people on the tour ? family of 4 from France, family of 5 from Austria, 3 couples from Australia, 1 couple from the US, 1 couple from England and John and me. So a good mix of people. Half the group were camping, the other half chose the hotel option. Only John and I had gone for the ?budget? option, which was between camping and hotel in terms of price. It?s been a long time since I?ve camped, and basically we just wanted to make sure we had A/C. Tour included Kakadu and Katherine. I guess the itinerary was fairly standard, and yes, we could have done it on our own, but we really enjoyed the trip. The guide (a man called Russell) was very good ? very informative and relaxed style. Neither of us is comfortable driving on the left and I think a car rental would have been quite pricey as well. Accommodation was fine. First night we were in kind of a budget motel room in Jabiru. Toilets and showers were located in another building. Second night we were in Pinecreek Homestead (I think that was the name) in Katherine. I was so glad we had our own ensuite bathroom there! So many cane toads all over and we had to walk through a pile of them to get to our room. I don?t think I could have left that room in the middle of the night if I had needed to use the facilities! Meals were taken together. We all got together and participated in the prep and clean-up. Quite basic, but no complaints. Cost of the tour was $665 each for the budget option. It didn?t include liquor, but if people wanted it, they could pick it up before we stopped for the night. There was lots of fresh fruit for snacks during the day, or you could pick up ice cream or whatever when we stopped someplace.

Unfortunately our camera broke while we were on the tour. We ended up picking up a disposable camera to get by and I guess we?ll be buying a new camera (maybe go digital this time) before our next trip.

Lots of mosquitoes up in that area. Even though I sprayed myself all over, somehow I managed to get covered with bites. Maybe they were sand flea bites from the previous day, I don?t know ? but I was eaten alive. It was not pretty.

We got back to Darwin and the Holiday Inn for 1 more night. Dinner that night was at Café Uno ? shared entrée (good oysters Kilpatrick), pasta for each of us, dessert for John, 2 beer for me and coke for John - $70 for the 2 of us.

Sydney again

We flew from Darwin to Sydney on Qantas. About a week before we left Canada, Qantas called to tell us that the 2:30 PM flight was cancelled and they were booking us on the 1:30 AM flight! I wasn?t too happy about that ? first of all, we wouldn?t be able to check into our hotel in Coogee when we arrived at 6:30 or so in the morning, and secondly, we probably wouldn?t get much sleep on the plane. I asked for alternatives, and we ended up getting a flight out of Darwin, back to Brisbane and then on to Sydney, leaving Darwin about 1:30 PM instead. Much better, even with changing planes.

There was a huge lineup at Sydney airport to get a taxi. We probably waited about 45 minutes for a cab.

In Sydney, we stayed at the Medina Coogee this time. I really liked the Medina and would definitely stay there again. We had booked a studio, but they also have 1 and 2 bedroom apartments. Facilities are quite nice, comfortable room, a little table and chairs outside the room. The apartments have a proper kitchen apparently and a washer and dryer. The studios are a little more basic (microwave, small fridge, a French press for coffee ? amazingly enough) and the laundry facilities are shared (but no cost).

We didn?t do much that first night back ? it was fairly late when we checked in. The next morning, we decided to go to Bondi Junction to shop, and then down to the beach. I had thought about checking out Sean?s Panorama for lunch ? it had been recommended to us by a few people (jncluding people here on the forum). Unfortunately they are only open on weekends for lunch, and they are only open for dinner Wednesday through Saturday (4 nights), so it just wasn?t going to work out for us. We spent a few hours wandering around Bondi, then back to Coogee. Finally got ahold of my husband?s cousins and finalized arrangements to meet them for dinner. Again MIL said she didn?t want to see the family, but we reminded her that we were leaving the next day. We went to a Chinese restaurant in a much bigger club this time around ? Juniors, which is one of the biggest in Sydney. MIL wasn?t happy with the choice, but she did polish off her meal, so it couldn?t have been too bad!

Next morning we flew out to Hong Kong. The flight was only ? full, so we ended up with a row of 4 seats to ourselves. It was great! Flight was late leaving Sydney ? probably with the catering. I?ll post the Hong Kong part of the trip report on the Asia forum.

General Observations

The Canadian dollar and Australian dollar are worth about the same. Ours was worth slightly more when we started to plan the trip, and it was worth slightly less when we left for the trip, but basically they are the same. It made for easy conversions.

Darwin and our tour from there was definitely a high point for us ? sure it?s touristy, but it?s also a really interesting area. It seems uniquely Australian. I loved seeing wallabies running around (or jumping around). Also saw crocodiles (only freshwater, but still crocodiles!), the dreaded cane toad (those I could live without), lots of birds, etc. Our guide on the billabong was all excited when someone spotted a little brightly coloured frog that he had never seen before. (It was pretty cute.) It was scary to see where the flood waters rose in Katherine in 1998 ? really brings home the power of nature.

Weather was terrific. Sydney was wonderful at the start (a bit cool at the end ? I had to wear a jacket.) We had some fine mist-like rain for about an hour in Byron Bay one morning. It rained a couple of times in Noosa, but only at night ? and boy, did it rain! We were on the top floor of the hotel and woke up, it was so loud! But everything was so fresh and green looking in the morning, it was great. Darwin, of course, was hot, but fortunately the rainy season was over (although it might have been fun to see a lightening storm).

We enjoyed both Byron Bay and Noosa ? the beaches are great, and it?s always fun to spend time in a resort area. While there are differences between the 2 areas, to be honest, we felt we could have been anywhere. Mind you, I?m not complaining ? we wanted a few days on the beach, and that?s what we got.

We were shocked by the real estate prices in Sydney! I can see why they?d be high near the beach, but looking at the real estate section of the newspaper, prices seemed high everywhere. We heard that the ?stamp tax? might be eliminated for houses under $500,000 ? but people also said that it?s impossible to find a house under $500,000, even in the suburbs. Nice for people who already own, I guess. Made me appreciate Toronto prices (and many Canadians think they are high).

I loved the look of the iron ?gingerbread? trim (like lace?) on the older homes ? very sweet. I also loved all the plants and flowers everywhere. We?re gardeners so we enjoyed all the greenery.

A few months ago, there was a thread in which someone said she couldn?t find good coffee in Australia. We found lots of good coffee in Australia ? my only complaint was that it was fairly expensive. It all seems to be espresso based ? not brewed coffee ? so the usual price for a ?flat white? was $3. Occasionally $2.75, but usually $3. No refills of course, so if your $3 buys you a small coffee and you want more, that?s another $3. As I mentioned, after we left Byron Bay (where we could get good coffee at the guest house), we bought a French press, a package of good ground coffee and small cartons of milks so we could make our own in the morning.

In general, breakfast seems expensive in Australia. Here, you can always find lots of places that serve bacon, eggs, home fries and toast (including coffee) in the morning ? might cost as little as $3.75, maybe $4.50. That kind of breakfast seems to cost anywhere from $9 to $14 in the places we saw in Australia. Maybe they were nicer restaurants, I don?t know. (It?s more food than I can usually eat in the morning, so I don?t usually eat those types of breakfasts here or on holiday.)

Desserts also seemed kind of expensive in Australian restaurants. We had a wonderful sticky date pudding with coffee in Brisbane ? the pudding was $6.50, I think, and that was quite inexpensive compared to most of the places we saw. Cocktails were also expensive in the resort areas (even Darwin) - $10-15 seemed common. Beer and wine prices in restaurants in general seemed on par with what we pay here in Toronto.

Something that did surprise us about restaurants was the surcharge that can apply on public holidays. It seemed to range from 10% to 16.5% depending on the restaurant. Yikes! I haven?t seen that elsewhere.

We didn?t see a lot of people cycling. My husband commented that he sees more people on bikes here in Toronto in the middle of winter than he did in Sydney in April. We actually found Sydney (at least the suburbs where we stayed) to be very car-oriented. Public transit was ok, but fares are based on distance, unlike Toronto.

John bought a couple of hats while in Australia. He always has a hard time buying hats ? getting something he likes that fits seems to be a problem, but he found 2 hats (one for summer, one for cooler rainy weather) that he liked.

Australian TV is probably even more lame than Canadian TV!

Would I go back to Australia again for a holiday? I don?t think so ? it is a beautiful country and we enjoyed ourselves, but I?ve now been there twice and there are so many other places in the world to visit. I wouldn?t mind seeing Tasmania though, so who knows. I expect we?ll end up there again sooner or later ? given my MIL?s age and general health, I don?t think it?ll be a holiday situation though.

So now we?re home and I?m back at work (ugh). But the garden is coming alive and my cats were happy to see us, so life goes on!

I just realized that copy / paste replaces the apostrophes with question marks. Sorry about that!

I think that the dashes also were replaced with question marks - yikes, no wonder I don't like to do trip reports. I hope this has been 'readable'.

>>>>>>I hope this has been 'readable'.<<<<<<

It's more than just readable! It's great. Thanks for all the info, Susan. Glad you had a good time.

By the way, Susan, I remember someone (perhaps you?) pondering the difference between the two Holiday Inn properties in Darwin quite some time ago. I think you ultimately chose one of them based on price.

Having now seen them both (although one from the outside of course), would you say one has an advantage over the other in terms of location, etc., or would you guess that they offer very similar experiences?

Thanks Judy.

Here it is, 4 AM in Toronto and I'm wide awake. Jet lag has really hit me.

I would say that both Holiday Inns are probably very similar. The hotels are literally side by side. The HI Darwin advertises that they have balconies, but they look more like something you would just step out on, probably not even big enough for a chair. It was also very hot, so if we had a balcony, I can't see that we would have used it.

Both hotels were offering the $98 special, but it wasn't available at the HI Darwin when I booked the Esplanade. Actually it wasn't available at either property when I first checked, and I had decided to go with the HI Darwin. When I actually went to book, it was available at the Esplanade, so I changed my mind.

Susan and other readers who are looking for a good coffee in Australia.

Lygon Street in Melbourne has a rich Italian migrant heritage, and is generally regarded as having, by far, the best coffee houses in Australia.

We actually loved the coffee we had in Australia - I just found it a little expensive.

While I'm not disputing that Melbourne has the best coffee houses in Australia, one other thing we noticed was the number of places who say they are the best or have the best whatever. Every small town seemed to have some sort of award (voted "cleanest town in 2000", that kind of thing). One trailer park we passed had "best grass" - I actually wondered about that one! After a while, it became a running joke with us.

Susan, trust me on the coffee - the only place that will approach it will be our kitchen when we perfect our new coffee machine! ( At last good coffee WILL BE affordable!)

Good to see you get around a bit, and balance the lp experiences with a degree of comfort - that's our current travel guideline as well.

On your other point though, with regard to a bit of "CivicPride", at least "cleanest", "neatest" etc can add to a place. It's pleasing that we in Oz seem to have stopped our obsession with biggest, which was truly cringe-worthy:

Big Pineapple (Sunshine Coast)
Big Banana (Coffs Harbour)
Big Cow (Sunshine Coast - could be gone now, but I'm not checking!)
Big Sheep (Goulburn)
Big Lobster (Kingston SE)
Big Bull (Rockhampton)
Big Guitar (Tamworth)

Probably missed a few, but really, I'm over it!

Rob

Less well known are the Big Avaocado (Bowen, Qld) and the Big Lawnmower (Glasshouse Mts, Qld). And in Marulan on the old Hume Hwy between Sydney and Canberra there was once the Big Pavlova. That's been gone a while now.

And the town with one of the highest rainfalls in the country, Tully, North Qld has the Big Gumboot.

Seems like a Big Cane Toad would be appropriate somewhere.

1. Big Merino in Goulburn, NSW

2. Yes, Lygon St does have the best coffee :)