Patrice

Hi everybody,<BR><BR>First of all, I'd like to thank Liz, Alan, and all of the others who post on this board. The information I found here was better than any book out there. We just got back today and I'm trying to stay busy and not fall asleep too early so I can get back on California time. We went to Sydney (5 nights), Ayers Rock (2 nights), and Palm Cove (5 nights). We went to Australia to get married and have a honeymoon in one. I must say, I LOVED Australia, with Sydney being my favorite. <BR><BR>In Sydney we stayed at the Four Seasons. The rooms were a little small, but very nice and the hotel staff was amazing. The night before the wedding I realized I forgot to get my nails done and the concierge spent 2 hours looking for someone to give me a manicure. Anything we needed, they seemed to be able to happily provide. <BR><BR>Day 1: We first went on a harbor cruise to get oriented with the harbor and where things were. We did lots of walking in Sydney and noticed there are many stairs in the city. We walked around the Rocks, the Royal Botanical Gardens, and the Opera house. We stopped for drinks at the Opera Bar which had a nice setting and some live music. <BR>Day 2: We had breakfast at a pancake place in the Rocks. Very yummy pancakes! My (then) fiance wanted to get away from the touristy areas and see some of the suburbs, so we picked a place on the ferry map and went there. We went to Balmain. Not very exciting, but nice to walk around. Since we were getting married the next day, we just wanted to take it easy. We spent most of the afternoon at Lord Nelson's drinking beer and talking with locals at the bar. This is where we found the best beer in Sydney. For dinner we got some takeaway food and sat on a bench facing the opera house to eat it. <BR>Day 3: The wedding took up much of the day. The wedding was at Balmoral Beach and it was a beautiful day on a beautiful beach. We went to lunch afterwards at the Waterfront resaurant/cafe and had the seafood platter. The food was ok, but I was suprised how bad the service was considering we spent 150AUD for lunch. We had dinner at Quay resaurant, which was excellent...both the food and the view. We had a seat where one of faced the opera house and one of us faced the bridge.<BR>Day 4: Had pancakes again since I didn't have to worry fitting into my wedding dress anymore. We then took the ferry to Manly and did the scenic walk to Spit bridge. I was surprised how many small beaches there were along the way. I wished I had brought my bathing suite with us on the walk so we could have stopped along the way and enjoy the beaches. We took a bus back to Manly and then the ferry back to the city. That night we saw an opera (Iolanthe). The opera wasn't the greatest, but the only thing playing. <BR>Day 5: We went on the bridge climb. This was fun and the guide kept things interesting all along the way, even during the safety talks and all. After that it was back to Lord Nelsons for one last beer and then we packed to move on. I didn't want to leave Sydney. I could see myself spending a long time there exploring the city. <BR><BR>Ok, this is getting long so I will continue in another post. <BR><BR>Patrice <BR>

Lucy

Congratulations on your marriage Patrice - I'm really enjoying your report &amp; looking forward to the rest! Which erstaurant did you eat at after your wedding - Bathers Pavilion?<BR>Cheers!

Patrice

Hi Lucy,<BR><BR>We went back to Sydney for lunch so we would change out of our wedding clothes before having lunch. The restaurant was called either Waterfront Restaurant or Waterfront Cafe (don't remember). Quay restaurant was our official celebratory meal and was fabulous.<BR><BR>Patrice

Patrice

After sadly leaving Sydney we were on our way to Ayers Rock. We arrived in the afternoon and took the Uluru Express to the Olgas. I thougt this was just going to be shuttle to the Olgas for us to wander ourselves, but it made a few stops along the way and we ended up with only 45 minutes at the Olgas, which was disappointing. Then we had to get back in the van to go to the viewing area for the Uluru sunset. It was pretty out there, but there was lots of smoke in the air from recent fires and the rock didn't do any of it's magic.<BR><BR>The next morning I woke up and our room smelled like smoke. We were up at 5:00 am for the sunrise and to get to Uluru early enough to climb it (I know they don't like it...) and the fire was across the street! I had never seen a bush fire so close before. I started panicking and thinking we should stay in case they had to evacuate or something. I asked the shuttle driver if there had been a fire this close to the resort before. His repsonse was, &quot;not since I've been here&quot; and then he went on with his usual speech about Ayers Rock. It amazes me how calm the Aussies are and that nothing seems to bother them. We got another dud (or as the driver called it, a &quot;fizzer&quot and the rock didn't change colors at sunrise either. It was very windy that day and the driver didn't think the climb would be open, but it was. The climb was a bit scary not because of the steepness or the height, but the wind! At some points there was no way you could get me to let go of that chain. After climbing it, we then walked aroud it, which I found to be the best way to see it. From afar, you cannot see all the detail of it like up close. After all this, we took the shuttle back to the resort...and it was only 9:15am! There wasn't much else to do, and being out by the pool wasn't very comfortable because of all the flys. Overall, I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to Ayers Rock like we did, but we would have never known what it was like if we didn't.<BR><BR>We stayed at Sails in the Dessert. The service was nice, but the rooms were nothing special. I found it odd that you had to put your key in this thing on the wall for the electricity to work. Makes it easly to lock yourself out! <BR><BR>Next, it's off to the tropical north!

Patrice

After 48 hours in Ayers Rock (which was about 24 hours too many) we were off to Palm Cove. The drive from the airport to Palm Cove reminded me a lot of Hawaii. We stayed at the Sebel Reef House which provides complementary transfers from the airport. This hotel was fabulous! It's very cozy and a break from traditional hotels. I had emailed their tour person before I left and he had set up some tours for us, so we received the vouchers when we checked in. When we got into our room, they had a chilled bottle of champagne waiting for us to congratulate us. We had a verndah room so we sat outside to drink it and listened to the trees and the waterfall. This place is paradise! We then had dinner at the Reef House restaurant. The meal was fantastic and the best we had while in Australia (even better than Quay in Sydney).

Patrice

The next day we went snorkling with Wavelength. I took their advice and wear a sun suit to avoid getting burned. There were only 14 people on the boats, so there was plenty of room. We went to 3 sites and it was great. It was sad though to see some of the coral that was dying. The only part I didn't like was the guided snorkle tour you had to go on. This isn't Wavelength's fault, but the other snorklers were pretty rude and would run right into other people. I really enjoyed the staff as well and their stories of things they would do when a cyclone would hit. <BR><BR>The next day we took the Skrail to Kuranda. I found this pretty depressing because the rainforest was so dry. The waterfall at the Barron gorge was barely a trickle. We did some shopping in Kurand and then took the skyrail back.<BR><BR>The next day was our favorite. We went on Ocean Spirit's snorkle tour to Michaelmas Cay. The time at the cay seemed to just fly by. I could have stayed out there for many more hours. The coral so so many different colors. This was much better than what we saw with Wavelength. <BR><BR>Our last day we spend just hanging out in Palm Cove. Since all of the tours go from early in the morning until about 6pm when the shuttle drops you off, we wanted to have a relaxing day. We walked on the beach, bought some souvenirs, and had one last bottle of champagne on the verandah. <BR><BR>The only advice I could give about Palm Cove is to rent a car versus using the tranfers from the tour companies. We spent quite a bit of time each day waiting for a the shuttle to arrive and then driving from hotel to hotel dropping people off at the various beach areas.<BR><BR>Overall, I loved it! It was really sad to come home. The Sebel Reef House felt like home and I didn't want to leave!<BR><BR>I can't wait to go back to Australia and explore some more.<BR><BR>Patrice

bist_m

So far what I have read is that snorkelling is best from Port Douglas and we are staying in Cairns. After your post I checked out Ocean spirit and it is from Cairns. Is it worth the money ? Did you go for both snorkelling and diving ?

Patrice

I really enjoyed Ocean Spirit and it's definitely worth the money. We snorkeled and did not dive (although they do offer it). The water was clearer on the trip we took out of PD compared to Cairns, but the coral we saw on the Ocean Spirit trip was better. If you going for multiple days, maybe try one of each.<BR><BR>Patrice