bjw

Since I picked up so many helpful hints on this forum, I thought I'd post a trip report.

Traveled from Boston to Sydney via SFO on United Business Class. Flights were on time and service was good. Used frequent flier points. Definitely worth the extra 30,000 points each to upgrade to business class. Sat upstairs, ate well, drank well, and slept well.

From Sydney, immediately continued to Cairns via Virgin Blue. It is a pain to connect to the domestic terminal in Sydney if you have a lot of bags (which we did since I packed business clothes as well as vacation gear). We took the train, but afterwards I heard the United and Virgin Blue have a shuttle bus. Not sure it that is true anyway. No ATMs were working in the International Terminal! We had to use our credit card to get the train tickets ($4 AUD each) and wait to buy a snack until we got to domestic. This surprised me!

Was greeted by "beaches meet and greet" in Cairns and driven to Pt Douglas for 4 nights. Since you don?t need a car where we stayed, this airport transfer service was well worth it and cheaper than ?hiring? a car. We stayed at Martinique on Macrossan. The location of this hotel (very close to stinger net end of 4 mile beach yet easy walk to town) is its best feature. Hotel was reasonably clean, price was decent ($120 night AUD) and Pt Douglas was great. Took two trips out to reef with quicksilver. The outer reef trip to their pontoon platform was by far the better of the two. Some people might not like such large boats, but I thought they did a top-notch job. And since I can get seasick, the large boats were very much to my liking. Also did a trip to Mossman / Cape Tribulation / Rain Forest with Gary's Safari which was a convenient way to see so many different locations in one day. It would have been nice to stay an additional nice in Pt Douglas.

We were very disappointed with the quality of the restaurants in general in Australia and particularly in Port Douglas. But we did discover that the Hi Tides, at the Peninsula hotel was a FANTASTIC place for dinner. Across from the beach, so you see the water until it gets dark out, and then hear the gentle sounds of the surf. And the chef was wonderful ? continental Asian fusion with a choice for everyone. Wish we found this the first night rather than the last. But we went back for breakfast it was so good. I don?t think I?d spend an extra $200 a night to stay at their hotel, but I would eat at their restaurant!

Connected to Brisbane via Virgin Blue and stayed 2 nights at the Conrad Brisbane (thank you Hilton Honors for the free stay). This is a landmark building with huge, well-appointed rooms, nice balconies, and 30-foot ceilings. Very, very nice. Brisbane was also a very nice city, even though we only spent one day there. Went to the Lone Pine Koala Reserve, which was a highlight for my wife who "cuddled" a koala.

Drove down to Surfers Paradise for 2 days, one night at the Marriott resort. Didn't know it was "schoolies week", so the area was over run with teenyboppers, but not the Marriott. It was an impressive resort, but access to the beach is a 25 minute walk, so I wouldn't recommend the place if you are beach lover. It was nice of them to upgrade us to a Jacuzzi Suite on a high level with great views. Especially since I used Marriott Rewards points for the stay. Thank you Marriott. But the Bennihanas restaurant was really, really BAD. This location was just plain awful in at least 3 categories: Food (bland), Charm (the chef did no fancy preparation or tricks, no humor, no entertainment value), and Price (although we expected this in a Marriott Resort). Everyone, please learn from our experience and don?t eat there. Incidentally, if I have a change to return to this area, I will stay a few nights on one of the nice beaches south of Surfers Paradise. Surfers, in some ways, was like Miami Beach.

Next flew from the Gold Coast airport on Qantas to Sydney. This airport was very convenient as it is small and very accessible.

Sydney was sold out of hotel rooms due to hold over from the Rugby World Cup (finals were while we were in Brisbane, and for those who don?t know, England beat Australia in extra time). In addition, the largest cruise ship to ever be in Sydney Harbor, one of the Princess ships, was in town. So the only room we were able to get in the Rocks / Darling Harbor area was at the Four Seasons. At the time I booked it (almost 10 months in advance), with the exchange rate, it didn?t seem too extravagant ($375 a night AUD for a city view room, but stay 3 nights and get the 4th free). With the current exchange rate, it ended up being quite expensive for a small room with no freebies (other than a shoe shine) thrown in. I spoke with the assistant manager regarding lack of a Harbor View, and he upgraded us to a full harbor view, which is the identical room, except looking out the window is a perfect view of the bridge, opera house, and all in between. Suddenly, the price was worth it. We did typical sight seeing. Used taxis a lot just to save time. One note: the water at Bondi beach was very, very rough. My wife didn?t feel comfortable going in. It was also more of a 20?s crowd ? not really family oriented. Not that it made a difference to us. Four days (five nights total) was enough time for us in Sydney to remain impressed the whole time and not get bored. The movie theatre at Circular Quay made an inexpensive, fun night out.

Then we flew United Airlines to Melbourne (they allowed a stop off as part of the ticket) and drove the Great Ocean Road as far as Port Campbell where we stayed at a place called ?The Waves? which bills itself as a more upscale place to stay than other choices on the GOR. Again, at the time of booking, paying $200.00 (including breakfast for 2) didn?t seem like much, and it definitely was worth it with the exchange rate of 3 months ago. But at today?s exchange rate I would probably not pay almost twice as much as the other locations charged. Even so, it was a nice room, and the GOR itself is something to behold. Wish we could have stayed two nights, but that is life.

Finally, we spend 2 nights at the Hilton on the Park in Melbourne. This was a great hotel (probably my favorite of the trip) due to its location just outside of the business district, and views of the MCG and the other stadiums, and well positioned swimming pool and large hot tub. Melbourne was a good tourist city. Especially liked the Victoria Market and the gas lights on the South Bank.

Return home on United was again excellent, but I didn?t realize that the flight went to Sydney before continuing to LAX, so was 3 hours longer than I expected. Again, the upgrade to business was well worth it.

Final points on the trip: Weather was remarkable the entire time. Restaurants on average were disappointing. Exchange rate made us think twice about some expenditures (even though we over spent on some of the hotels). Tipping didn?t seem necessary. When I tipped the bellmen at some of the hotels, they were downright surprised. My wife was even advised not to tip when she spent a day at the spa in Sydney. For calling home we got a ?buzz? card for $20.00. It worked everywhere we used it, and there is still lots of time left on the calling card. I recommend this. We also rented a ?vodaphone? mobile while we were there. At $6 a day, it is also worth it. Incoming calls are free, and there is great piece of mind knowing that people can call you. And outgoing calls are still much less than the hotel.

Feel free to reply with any questions. Hope this wasn?t too long.

clairdesol

Thanks for sharing your trip report, it is really helpful for those coming after you, and interesting to compare notes for those who have gone before!

Arikson77

How much was your airfare from Syd to Cairnes. So far I have not seen anything cheaper than $300US. I am also considering to use United for a flight to Sydney but using coach. How was your overall plane experience?

Thanks

SusanInToronto

We're not flying Sydney to Cairns, but we are flying Sydney to the Gold Coast (Coolangatta), then Brisbane to Darwin, then Darwin to Sydney. Total was about $300 CAD, so really cheap. I got our tickets over the internet through Qantas and Virgin Blue. Both had seat sales on at the time.

Neil_Oz

Thanks for the report, bjc. I'm sorry your dining experiences weren't great, but it's hard to comment usefully without a better idea of where you tended to eat. In my experience high-priced hotels, B&Bs etc. and their restaurants (including those of the 'identikit' chains) too often illustrate the law of diminishing returns. On a value-for-money basis I'd eat in a hotel restaurant only in extremis, but I accept that your choices may have been limited in some places. However, the major cities you visited all have extensive restaurant districts, not necessarily in the central business districts (although Sydney and Melbourne Chinatowns are, and Melbourne's Lygon and Victoria Streets are as near as makes no difference). I'd choose a ferry trip to Manly over Bondi Beach for a family outing. Still, good to hear that your trip was enjoyable overall.

(All ATMs kaput at the international terminal? Another consequence of Sydney Airport's privatisation?)

jules

thanks for the report! just curious, we used beaches meet and greet ourselves the last time we were in cairns (they drove us up to palm cove and also from palm cove to silky oaks lodge near port douglas for dinner one night). they were exceptional and i was just wondering if you remembered the name of your driver?!? wondering if you had the same one? anyway, hope you have a better experience with the food the next time around?!?!

thanks,
jules

JenLPeter

Can you please tell me what Beaches meet and greet is?

AndrewDavid

Did anyone else notice the infamous 'clairdesol' was an early respondant to this post?
AndrewDavid

DropBear

I spent three days in Port last year and it sad that I cannot even remember where we ate dinner.

Like Neil though I don't eat at hotel restuarants unless it is the only choice. Still having said that the only meal I recall there was breakfeast with the birds.

margo_oz

AD - I did notice that - verrry interesting!!!

bjw - Pity you found the eating so poor - I've never found that. Was it a serving size issue? - meals here are smaller. But then, I never eat in hotels, either.

pat_woolford

Hi Dropbear - breakfast with the birds would have been at Rainforest Habitat on the road into PD - they do "dinner with the birds" now, as well, but can't vouch for food.

I've never eaten in the Peninsula "boutique" Hotel either, but I also try not to eat in hotel restaurants. Port Douglas has some renowned restaurants and would be very surprised if Peninsula's food could be any better than that of Sassi's or Nautilus, just to name a couple.

stevew

Thanks for postsing your trip report

I am surprised at your luck with restaurants, we have spent 2 weeks in Sydney, 2 weeks in Cairns and PD over the last 2 years and have never had a bad meal. We usually try to find small local restaurants and stay away from chains.

We ate at the Nautilus and were extremely pleased! In fact we are returning again this year and will not miss it on this trip either!

As for the ATM's we always exchange currency at home and carry it with us, we have never had the need for an ATM. You get a better exchange rate and don't have to pay the ATM fee's.

Cheers

Steve

bjw

been out of touch for a while... some answers to questions people asked me.

Regarding our disappointment with dining in Australia - we did not eat at the hotels except where necessary, and for the most part we actually found the hotels to be decent in regards to food. It was the random places we went outside of the hotels that disappointed us. But I am glad to hear that our experience isn't the norm.

Arikson: United has long been my airline of choice in the US. I thought they did a great job on the flights to Australia, but probably largely because I was able to upgrade, use the lounges, avoid the check in lines, and deplane first to speed through customs on arrival. So the only real answer I can give you to the question of the overall plane experience is, unfortunately, that it was LONG!

Jen: Beaches meet and Greet is an airport pickup service that will pick you up from the airport and drive you to your hotel and the reverse. They used a mini-van to pick us up. I don't remember the driver in either direction, but they were pleasant and quite happy with a tip (even though I guess tipping isn't a big thing in Australia).

DJE

bjw

It's good to hear that your few dining experiences at the hotels were ok because a lot of the time after being out all day, I just want to go back to the hotel and have a good meal there without having to venture out again. We will be leaving for Australia in a few weeks.