Lyndamcn

I am meeting my daughter in Sydney on June 10. She is studying in Geelong.We're both from Canada. We will be staying in Sydney till June 17 and need budget minded hotel. Not interested in sharing bathroom, would like in city centre,close to everything. I also need hotel in Melbourne for the night before my flight home with an airport shuttle.My flight is at 7:05am. My daughter checked but could only find pricey hotels.Any help would be appreciated. Also suggestions for good great barrier reef tours out of Cairns,karunda and daintree forest tours -

prue

Lynda,
Melbourne has an excellent Airport Shuttle service called Skybus - which picks up at most city hotels (ask concierge to book it) - the cost is about $13 - cheaper if booked online.
If you have not already done so I suggest you have a look at www.wotif.com.au for hotels in both Sydney and Melbourne.

Alan

Wotif show the Boulevard on William St for $AUD99, which really is quite a bargain.... this is the hotel where Frank Sinatra stayed on the infamous 1974 tour which ended up being made into a movie ("The Night We Called It A Day&quot. Maybe it hasn't received a lick of paint since Old Blue Eyes was under siege there.... but if it's good enough for Sinatra.....

There's also the Medina on Kent St for $AUD135; this also would seem like excellent value for the location.

Wotif at the moment is booking to June 5, so you may have to wait five more days; however, these would appear to be the two to look for!

lancefan

Both Sydney YHA properties, the Sydney central and the Sydney Railway Square have double/twin rooms for $90-95.

check www.wotif.com.au - there's still quite a few budget hotels available for the time you are looking for.

lancefan

on wotif there is now a button that says 'next seven days' so you can have a look for the time you'll need.

ssloantwo

I just returned from OZ and stayed at the Four Points Sheraton in Darling Harbor. They had a special when I was there and I think we paid $136 US/night. I would stay there anytime! It is right on Darling Harbor and right in the middle of the restaurant/shopping/ferry scene. I recommend it for its service and cleanliness too. We got a city view room, making it a bit cheaper, but wow.
Have a great time!
In Cairns we went on the Reef Encounter.
They were terrific and we did the liveaboard for one nite. Just a word of warning, we were there the first week of May and they are having terrible weather there. We were trying to snorkel in 30 knot winds! Maybe it would be a good idea to book when you get there so you can check out the weather situation. They told us this was the worst weather in 30 years. Just my luck! If you are thinking about where to stay, stay in Cairns or Palm Cove, Port Douglas is lovely but at least an hour's drive from Cairns and most of the activities. The fare was $21US everytime we wanted to go somewhere. Only go to Port Douglas if you want to plant yourself. Mind you, it's a great place to be planted, just far from a lot of the tourist activities in the area.

Suzie