Suzanna

We recently came back from a great 5 week trip in Australia (trip report/accommodations reviews, etc. to be published separately). The 5 day AAT Kings Monkey Mia tour was a MAJOR and the only disappointment, waste of our time and a lot of money. We never before took an AAT Kings tour and never again will. Some of our tour companions however took another AAT Kings tour prior to this one to the South of Perth. When asked about what was the best experience they had the answer was: “getting off the bus”…

This 5 day tour to Monkey Mia is for:
- People who love to sit in a bus for 8-10 hours/day (with very few stops to relax your legs, to have some fresh air or to see something that warrants a stop) to watch the wheat or canola grow or the endless desert land in a stuffy, warm environment in the company of hungry flies that attack you.
- People who love hot temperatures and do not mind spending an average of $800/day/couple to travel in uncomfortable conditions to see little that is really interesting from any perspective (art, culture, nature, local specific fauna, etc.)
- People who enjoy flies all over the place. These hungry and thirsty flies went for your eyes, tried to enter your nose and loved the insect repellent we brought from home that had no DEET and worked well at home. We had to buy (for $15) a small tube of repellent with 80% DEET to keep them away for a while.
- People who have no issues getting up and down in the bus on very uncomfortable, steep stairs

The guide and driver were very good, the disappointment has nothing to do with them.

The major reasons for our disappointment are the following:
1. Modern bus that we were supposed to travel with broke down the day before our tour started. As a result, we ended up in a quite old fashioned bus which could not handle a coffee maker, didn’t have enough room for the promised water, had a non-functional TV, had very uncomfortable stairs and air conditioning that took at least 15 minutes to do anything in the bus and kept the bus too warm at all times. I suffered through the trip due to this.
2. We picked this tour based on advice from a travel agent who is supposedly an Australia expert (Julie Garcia from Journey Peak Travel in Portland OR) after we reviewed the tour description on AAT’s website. We specified that we do not want to go to any hot places (that’s why skipped the beautiful North and center). We were told that in the West we will have very pleasant spring time (not 33-38C) and that we will see lots beautiful wild flowers….
2. There is a lot of misinformation or lacking info on AAT King’s website, such as:
a. The wildflowers (the real places where one can see fields with them as in the pictures) are not on the route. We saw a few from the bus when we passed by them either at 100 km/hour or some at short stops near the road. As we learned after the fact, there are many 1 day tours available from Perth to see the real wild flower fields for a lot less money and with a lot less travel ... Best way/place to see wildflowers: spend 1 day in Kings Park and the Perth Botanical Garden in Perth.
b. The wildflower “farm” where we stopped is a business that buys and dries some wildflowers
c. The Monkey Mia “resort” is not a real resort. It is a place in the middle of nowhere with little else to do as part of what we paid for than bake on the beach (no shade), sit in a very expensive restaurant or pay for “optional” tours. Since we didn’t want to fly, hike in hot desert land for 1 day or go out with the boat for 3.5 hours this was a totally wasted day as we didn’t plan to spend $800 for that day to do/see nothing. Some of the people who went on with boat came back scorched and suffered for the rest of the tour..
d. We were not told that the average driving distance per day on this tour is about 550 Km and this info is not readily available in the description of the tour. Who wants to spend days on a hot bus watching desert country?
e. We were told in no uncertain terms on the first day that we should buy the water or take it from the tap in the hotel (despite the promise on the website for water in the bus).
f. The previously uncommunicated and unwritten rules about the travel in the bus supposedly imply a thermostat never set under 24C. However the temperature in the bus was 28-30C and despite the attempts of the driver could not be set lower.
g. There were a few interesting places on the route. But the majority of the few places where we stopped did not justify traveling the long distances in this bus and the money spent on the tour. Also when finally we got to a place that had something interesting to see we had to rush such that I took pictures while running to ensure to be back in the bus as requested.
h. It took 3 hours to get late dinner on the first day. We left the restaurant after quickly eating the desert at 10pm.. When I mentioned my unhappiness about this to the manager the next morning she just said that the one chef that they had on duty needed time to prepare all the meals and didn’t even apologize for the experience.. AAT Kings should not take customers to places that are ill equipped to handle groups.
i. At Monkey Mia the Internet terminals were down, the WiFi didn’t work, the ATM was not functional, the morning movies were not shown due to the school holiday and the dolphins didn’t show up (nobody’s fault).

Some good things about the tour: Our energetic guide, Carolyn, who is like a walking encyclopaedia and organized everything very efficiently; very good driver; nice company of friendly, helpful tourists from Australia; some nice beaches; a few wildflowers; the air conditioning in the room at Monkey Mia, the very good breakfasts and nice staff at the places where we stayed.

I sent a letter to AAT Kings. A few weeks later I got their answer in which they acknowledged my reluctance to travel with them in the future… While it is not easy to make 35 people happy, one would expect much better than what we got for the money...

Melnq8

In all fairness, you can't blame ATT Kings for the flies or the heat. This is Western Australia, and flies and heat are part of the package, as are huge distances. I'm at the top of the list when it comes to hating the flies, believe me.

I'm sorry to hear you had such a miserable trip, I truly am, and I'm the first to agree that WA has some serious issues within it's tourism industry. However, I can't help but think a bit of research on your part would have revealed that Monkey Mia is some 850 km north of Perth and that most of northern WA is barren, desolate and isolated.

I hope you make it back to WA someday. If you do, rent yourself a car, pull out a map or GPS and head south. But not before picking the brains of those of us here who can help steer you in the right direction.

Suzanna

Melnq8, you are right with everything that you mentioned. I should have done more research instead of accepting the travel agent's recommendation and the tour's description on the website. Luckily everything else was worth the trip, the time and the money. We took tours because we would not drive on the left, something that obviously is a handicap in Australia... Lessons learned and never again a tour w. AAT Kings.

Bokhara2

Unfortunately you've found that not all Travel Agents are as knowledgeable as they should be, or claim to be, Suzanna.

I use one very occasionally, usually doing all my own research & bookings, and have found the most useful question to be, "When were you there last?".

At the very least, your Travel Agent could/should have given you:

* An Itinerary for the AAT Kings bus tour - from which you would have been able to see not only the route, but distances and travel times on the bus.

Many visitors have no idea of the size of Australia, even though they may have a map (I'm astonished that many don't) - and can't imagine the time it takes to travel the vast distances.

I fell for the reverse "trap for young players" on my first visit to the UK. Being used to country driving here, I'd look at a map & decide it would take me the same time to drive very short distances there as here. Big mistake (lol)


* A guide to the temperatures in the various regions you would visit. With such a big country, it's not surprising that temperatures vary - but it's important to know when you're traversing different climates with limited clothes.

No one expects TAs to know everything, but I think your complaints are about very basic things that should be on every TAs check-list to give their clients. After all, that's what you're hiring them for.

I'm glad that the rest of your trip went well, and I thought your TR was very useful, fair and a good resource for anyone planning a similar trip.

I hope you come back & explore some more on your own, or with small group short tours to see specific things. It's not hard to get the hang of driving on the opposite side of road. Melnq8 did when she came here, & I do every time I go to Europe.

AlanJG

Sorry you had such a bad experience.

I don't understand this statement:- "f. The previously uncommunicated and unwritten rules about the travel in the bus supposedly imply a thermostat never set under 24C."

As to the heat, you might have been cooler at altitude in the tropics and been able to see wonderful wildlife and scenery. It is not true that the closer you get to the equator the hotter it gets. It is always wise to check out the facts when one has specific needs and preferences. We had our hottest day of the season last week, it reached 31*C but the humidity was low. This week it feels just as hot at 28*C because of the increase in humidity.

gary062

Wow, for a moment there I thought you were English .

Suzanna

AlanJG, what I meant in the statement about the temperature is the following: there is absolutely no information anywhere (and one cannot get it from anyone, AAT Kings or travel agent) about what the tour company considers max setting of the thermostat in a bus. On the 5 day tour that we took, when I asked the guide and the driver to lower the temperature setting, I was told that they are not lowering the setting below 24 degrees as that's their internal rule to ensure that passengers are comfortable.... That's when many passengers were finding objects to use as improvised fans to try to alleviate the heat in the bus as the temperature was well above the 24 degrees.. I hope this helps.

clavoie

We also did a tour organized by AATKINGS out of Darwin. It was by far the worst, most disorganized tour I have had. We used them for a 2 day Kakadu National Park.

Had to get up at 4:30am the first day to be picked up at 6:50. We drove to another bus in Darwin only to sit and wait for 45 minutes. Then had to go to a hotel at the last minute because someone was given the wrong times for pickup by AATKINGS. Got up early for this!!

Never warned us ahead of time how terrible the bugs would be. No one on the tour was prepared for them. Most were so busy slapping mosquitoes they couldn't enjoy the outings. One person dropped and ruined their camera while slapping the bugs.

For 2 days it was mostly riding around in a bus at very fast speeds. One person had to use the restroom and she wouldn't pull over until the last minute, she even passed a bathroom as she wanted to get back to Darwin by five.

When I complained the tour guide says you Americans always complain. I AM NOT AN AMERICAN!!

We stayed at the resort AATKINGS booked for us. Bugs crawling all over the room, along with clumps of sticky hair in the shower drains and sink. No ability to eat breakfast and no warning ahead of time you cannot eat till noon the next day.

Guide acted like she did not want to be there on the tour. Did not know names of plants.

We were in Australia for 18 days. Our tours went perfectly until we connected to AATKINGS company.

BUYERS BEWARE!!