Trip Report - Honeymoon in Australia and New Zealand

Old Sep 28th, 2007, 02:37 PM
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Trip Report - Honeymoon in Australia and New Zealand

I am going to attempt a travel report here, although it may take me a while to finish. This was our honeymoon. We left Nashville, TN, on Sunday, August 26th, and arrived in Sydney Australia early Tuesday morning on the 28th. We stayed 3 nights in Sydney, 3 nights in Melbourne, 3 nights in Queenstown, and 2 nights in Christchurch. My DH did almost all of the planning for this trip. It was quite an experience for me, as it was a totally different style of traveling than I am used to. However, what we did was perfect for our honeymoon. DH did a great job with all of the arrangements. All we had to do while there was follow our itinerary and enjoy everything, which was exactly what I needed after months of planning the wedding.

DH used Qantas travel to plan most of our itinerary. We booked our beginning and ending flights on our own, and booked flights in between the cities we visited as part of the package with Qantas. Qantas arranged for all of our hotels (although we asked them to specifically book two of them), tours, airport pickups, etc. I have never used any type of travel agent service before, and have rarely done guided tours, so this was all new to me. I would have strongly criticized our itinerary before the trip, had someone else given it to me to review. However, since it was our honeymoon, I left everything to DH (since he wanted to do it all and not have the additional stress on me) and went along with it. I have to say that I could not have done a better job. I wouldn’t do it the same way in the future, but it was the exact way our honeymoon needed to be.

Since Qantas booked everything, I don’t know how the price for hotel rooms, tours, etc. was broken down within what we paid them. The prices I list in the reviews below are based on rates I found on the Internet. I’ll break down this report by hotels, restaurants (the ones I remember!), tours, cities, etc. It won’t be a chronological story.

First up…impressions of Australia and New Zealand
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Old Sep 28th, 2007, 02:38 PM
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Impressions:

We absolutely loved visiting these two countries.

In Australia, we were limited to two cities, Sydney and Melbourne. We enjoyed Sydney more, but I can’t exactly pinpoint why. Maybe it was the beauty of the harbor, maybe it was the location of our hotel, who knows. We found all of the people in Australia to be super kind and helpful. I really don’t remember encountering a single rude or obnoxious person the entire time! I was also struck by how clean the country was. In both the cities and our outdoor excursions, we saw very little garbage on the ground. The public transportation in Melbourne was clean. It was very pleasant and we cannot wait to return.

In New Zealand, we were also limited to two cities. I felt like we barely touched New Zealand. Every sight in the country we saw was gorgeous. Most of the time we just looked around, took pictures, and admired the beauty of creation. It was surprising to me how uncrowded everything felt. I visited Europe early in the summer, and the contrast was incredible. As much as I enjoyed Europe, I am looking forward to visiting New Zealand in more depth much more than I am looking forward to returning to Europe. The people in New Zealand are super friendly as well, very laid back. It seemed much more casual than Australia, but that is probably due to our choice of cities in each country.

For those of you from these two countries reading, thank you for the hospitable welcome we felt in your part of the world. We cannot wait to return!
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Old Sep 28th, 2007, 02:39 PM
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Hotels
Four Points Sheraton – Sydney http://www.starwoodhotels.com/fourpo...ropertyID=1305

This was our first city on our honeymoon. This hotel was probably my favorite of all the places we stayed.

Room Type: Deluxe Harbor View, we had an awesome wrap-around balcony, from which we had a full view of Darling Harbor, and a side view of the city. The windows were from floor to ceiling. It was amazing waking up to the beautiful harbor view. The curtains were very thick, allowing for a dark night’s sleep (darkness is very important to DH.) The best rate I can find online for this room is $280.00 per night.

Pros:
Location: It was very close to the aquarium, maritime museum, Chinatown, and darling harbor. There were several shopping areas nearby as well. It was not close to the Opera House or Harbour Bridge. However, the taxi ride to these places was quick and not too expensive.
Comfort: The room was very comfortable and spotless.
Bathroom: The bathroom had plenty of counter space for both of our stuff.
Early Check-in: Early check-in wasn’t guaranteed, but it was available and the check-in staff was very accommodating. We arrived at about 7:00 AM after a LOOOONG trip from Nashville, TN. We were exhausted. Being able to check in early and take a nap helped us enjoy rather than just survive the first day. We slept for a couple hours and then had a great first day in Australia. They even made the room up for us after our nap.
Concierge: The concierge staff consisted of the most accommodating, helpful, and friendly people I have ever met in a service industry. We were greeted by name every time we entered or left the hotel. They gave great restaurant recommendations, arranged several tours, made phone calls on our behalf to confirm our pre-arranged tours, called our room to notify us that one tour guide was going to be late, etc. They went above and beyond what we would have expected. Many of the services they provided we didn’t even ask for. We just mentioned in conversation what our plans were, and they immediately offered and took care of whatever arrangements needed to be made. It was so refreshing to have such excellent service, when the service industry is getting less and less service oriented.

Cons:
I guess the only thing that would make me hesitate to book this hotel in the future is the price. However, the price certainly doesn’t exceed the value. It is just out of my usual travel budget guidelines. I will say that the concierge service alone made this hotel worth the cost.

The Como Melbourne http://www.mirvachotels.com.au/hotel_detail.asp?hotel=1
This was, I think, my least favorite hotel.

Room type: I think we were in an open plan suite. Rates online are $315 a night for this room. It was a lot of space, but not very functional. There was a separate office, which we didn’t even enter. There was a living/dining type area, a bed area, and a large bathroom.

Pros:
Spacious: I don’t know how many square feet this room was, but it was a lot of space. There was a couch, coffee table, dining table, several chairs, a counter in the kitchen area, several closets, and a large bathroom.
Bathroom: The bathroom had a great Jacuzzi bathtub. There was great water pressure in the shower. The sink area had very little space, and was cluttered with all of the for-sale toiletries, which was annoying. The bathtub made up for that, though.

Cons:
Furnishings: The furniture in the hotel (lobby and guest rooms) was well worn. The hotel itself has a contemporary feel to it. However, the aged furniture kind of ruins the contemporary feel. Everything was worn. The room also had a “cold” feel, probably because it was so contemporary. There was little color. The lighting was dim. There were so many switches to little lights that it took several minutes just to find the right switches and get the lights on.
Front Desk: The front desk/concierge was only slightly helpful. A friend of ours had ordered a set of bathrobes from them several months before, and they were not ready. We had to request them several times, and they still weren’t exactly right before we left. Requests for restaurant recommendations resulted in them handing us a list. They were somewhat unwilling to give any personal recommendations or preferences.
Location: This hotel was not within walking distance to the CBD of Melbourne. It was close to public transportation, though. It was supposedly in the middle of a high-end shopping area, but that was about it. There were a lot of stores and restaurants nearby, but they were pretty expensive. It would have been a lot more convenient to stay in the middle of downtown.
Not too clean: I never felt like this hotel was very clean. We found a pair of lacy black panties in the corner….and they weren’t mine.


Grand Mercure Hotel St. Moritz, Queenstown, NZ http://www.stmoritz.co.nz/index.html
My Second Favorite!!! (Or maybe first, I can’t decide)

Room: One Bedroom suite with lake view. We had a beautiful view of the lake and mountains…picture perfect. The bedroom was a separate room. The living area had a small kitchen, dining area, a nice couch and chair, TV, etc. It was cozy, with comfortable and clean furniture. The cost per night was about $200.

Pros:
General Atmosphere: This hotel had a cozy lodge feel to it. There is a fireplace in the lobby, with a good amount of seating in front. We sat there several times waiting for tours to pick us up, and it was quite comfortable. The rooms were also cozy. All of the furniture was comfortable. It was spotless.
Restaurant: This is the only hotel restaurant we visited, mainly because it was more reasonably priced than the others. We had vouchers for breakfast two morning, which was a pretty good hot/cold buffet. The restaurant has amazing views of the lake and mountains. We ate breakfast early one morning and watched as everything came into light. It was magical. We had dinner one night in the restaurant. I had the venison, DH had the veal. Both dishes were excellent. We ordered a wood-fired pizza for lunch in our room one day. It was good, but a little small for the price.
Concierge/Front Desk: The staff at this hotel were super helpful. The restaurants they recommended were exactly as described. They helped us with reservations for several meals/activities. Everyone at this hotel was super friendly and helpful. At both this hotel and the Sheraton in Sydney, we felt like we “knew” the staff when we left.
View: See room description…picture perfect.
Spa: We sat in the Jacuzzi while doing laundry one night. The spa was just down the hall from the laundry facilities. It was the most comfortable laundry experience ever!! The staff opened the spa late for us, since we were doing laundry after the spa would have been closed.

Cons:
Location: While the hotel was close to all of Queenstown’s activities, you had to walk up a steep hill to get to the hotel. This wasn’t at all a problem for us, as we are active young adults. However, it would be difficult for those with mobility or endurance problems to walk to the hotel. However, I would assume that those with mobility or endurance problems would use taxis or other transportation to help get around, which would eliminate this problem.

The George, Christchurch, NZ http://thegeorge.com/hotel.htm

Room: Premium Executive Room. It was a nice room. The bed was very comfortable, and the bathroom was nice, although small. The price was $325.50 per night.

Pros:
Location: The location was pretty nice. It was right across the street from a park, which would have made for some lovely walks if we had more time in Christchurch. It was about a 15 minute walk to the heart of Christchurch. There were hotels closer, but this was fine for us.
Clean: This hotel was spotless.

Cons:
Restaurants: The hotel restaurants were very expensive for our budget. I also doubt they would have appreciated us entering the restaurant wearing jeans. There were no restaurants within two or three blocks of the hotel. We had to walk for about 15 minutes to find restaurants, many of which were not open in the late evening.
Atmosphere: This seemed to be a stuffy upscale boutique hotel. If that is the kind of hotel someone is looking for, they will probably love it. It just isn’t my style, though. The hotel services guide in the room even had a dress code: a minimum of smart casual dress must be worn in all public areas of the hotel. I felt a guilty walking through the lobby with jeans, despite the type of activities we were leaving to do.
Price: This was the most expensive hotel of our trip, and it was also the smallest room and bathroom. I suppose we were paying for the reputation and atmosphere. This hotel was nice and clean, it just wasn’t what I prefer in a hotel.

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Old Sep 28th, 2007, 05:07 PM
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Enjoying your post Katie - look forward to reading more about your trip.
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Old Sep 30th, 2007, 02:53 AM
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Hi Katiel, good to know that you had a great time in our beautiful country. I actually sent a question to you personally before you left but must have missed you. Offered to meet up with you when you were here. Heard from a previous post that you come from Nashville. Wonder if you can help me with a suggestion as to how we can get from Nashville to Memphis if we dont want to drive? Cheers!
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Old Sep 30th, 2007, 07:28 AM
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Sounds like a great trip. Did you try wotif.com for hotel rates?
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Old Oct 2nd, 2007, 09:11 AM
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Hi! Kimmos, I'm sorry I didn't get your message before our trip. Those last weeks before the wedding were quite hectic and I didn't get much done outside of wedding planning! Your offer was kind. I understand your hesitancy to drive here, especially after trying to adapt to the different lanes in Australia and NZ. However, there really isn't a good way to get from Nashville to Memphis outside of driving. It is one interstate all the way, so you should be able to manage. Flying will not be at all practical.

Jed, I wish I had seen wotif.com, but I hadn't! Thanks for the tip.


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Old Oct 2nd, 2007, 09:20 AM
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Our first stop was Sydney! We arrived early Tuesday morning to a beautiful day. The first thing we did was check in to our hotel and take a nap. We awoke, showered, etc. and were ready for the day by 11:00 AM. We walked down to Darling Harbour and ate lunch at a nice restaurant near a movie theatre. We were starving for a real meal, and it was wonderful. I'm sorry to say I have no idea of the name. We ate outside and had a lovely view of the water. We watched a lot of school kids walk by, maybe on field trips to the aquarium or other museums. It was so nice to just sit out in the sun and relax.

That afternoon, we had a City Sights tour of Sydney through Australian Wild Escapes. The tour was okay. I'm not big on tours, so I wasn't that excited. It was on a big bus, but there were only about 15 people on the tour. We had a 30 minute stop at Bondi Beach, which was nice. We just walked down to the water and enjoyed the feel of the sand. The city part of hte tour was okay. We just drove around. I guess it was nice to see what the city looked like, but it wasn't that exciting. WAlking would have been better in my opinion.

After the tour, we went to the aquarium. I love aquariums, so this was for me. We spent a couple hours leisurely seeing everything. It was a pretty nice aquarium. It was very nice that it stays open until 10:00 PM, so we weren't rushed at all. We couldn't see the seals very clearly, since it was dark, but that was okay. They have some great crabs, lobsters, and other such animals. The crocodile had his mouth open for a while, which was surprisingly creepy.

After a while, we felt like it was nearning 10:00, so we decided to leave and find dinner before heading back to bed. It was, in fact, only about 8:30, but we were so tired still, it felt late. We had dinner at an outside bar type place very close to the aquarium and then headed back to the hotel. The dinner wasn't great, but I don't think the establishment was meant for eating. We just needed to get something in our stomachs and go to bed.

Back at the hotel, we enjoyed a great night sleep. We awoke early, which was fine, because it allowed us to get a good breakfast in before our all-day tour of the Blue Mountains!
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Old Oct 11th, 2007, 12:25 PM
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Really enjoying your report so far. Keep it coming!
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Old Oct 11th, 2007, 02:25 PM
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Hi! Sorry for the break. It is nice to know someone is reading!

Our second day in Sydney was devoted to an all day tour of the Blue Mountains. This tour was also with Australian Wild Escapes, and was excellent. There were a total of six people on the tour, plus the driver. I believe their maximum for this tour is seven.

If you are going to opt for guided tours, this is the way to do it. It was very personal, and we had as much time to ask questions of the guide as we wanted. We did not feel rushed all day, and the guide was very knowledgeable of the area.

The tour started with a stop at a national park where we found some kangaroos grazing in a field. We stopped to take pictures and look at them, along with several species of birds. We had tea at a picnic table and continued.

The Blue Mountains are beautiful. We made several scenic stops, most of which had hardly any other people around. The views were described by the guide as sort of like the Grand Canyon, only with vegetation. That was pretty accurate! We thoroughly enjoyed just standing and observing the beauty of nature. One stop included a view of the three sisters, a rock formation with an interesting legend.

For lunch, we stopped at a lodge type facility that had a grill. Our guide had rented the grill and an indoor rustic dining area for lunch. He grilled a delicious lunch of steak, sausage, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, and bread. Included was cheese/wine and various beverages. It was all delicious, and the surrounding forest peaceful and beautiful.

After lunch, we made our way back out of the mountains, stopping at another lookout. I wish I could remember the name…I’ll have to look at my pictures and figure it out.

As we approached Sydney in the evening, we stopped at the Olympic Stadium. That was pretty interested. I love the Olympics, and visited the Munich site earlier in the summer. Two down, tons more to go! Ha

We arrived exhausted but exhilarated to our lovely Sheraton home at around 6:30. I am trying to remember what in the world we did for dinner that night. I’m sure we were tired…hmmmm. My memory fails. Oh yes! I belive we walked down the street to Chinatown and had dinner at an Asian restaurant…I believe it was Thai. The food was okay, not great. However, they had great fresh mango juice that was delicious.

After dinner, we returned to our hotel and collapsed into our bed early. I think the time change was still messing with us a little! I will say that we took a few minutes to enjoy the view of Darling Harbour from our balcony….it was a romantic way to end the second full day of our honeymoon.
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Old Oct 11th, 2007, 03:04 PM
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Day 3:

Day three in Sydney was one of the highlights of our entire trip! We started the morning early (no problem, thanks to our bodies adjusting slowly to the change). We went down the street to a little café for breakfast. It was recommended by our concierge, and did not disappoint! I had one of the best latte’s of my life…seriously! DH Roberto had Eggs Benedict (he had a lot of that on our trip…I’m going to have to get a good recipe for those!) I had scrambled eggs with toast. We both enjoyed our breakfast so much we decided to return the next day. We’re not fancy breakfast eaters, but Roberto needs a full stomach to start the day and I need a good cup of caffeine…..ahem, I mean, coffee.

After breakfast, we took a nice walk to the main Harbour where we were scheduled to take a morning cruise. The walk was pleasant, mainly through the CBD. We enjoyed this, as we both like working in cities, and like to see what other CBD’s are like. We spotted a few shops to return to later, and made it to the Harbour right on time.

Our cruise around the Harbour with Captain Cook Cruises was delightful! We took the Coffee Cruise, which allowed us to see all of Sydney Harbour, included a nice tea, and lasted about 2.5 hours. We sat on the top deck. The weather was so beautiful! It was probably around 70 degrees…maybe a little cooler on the water. We both had sweaters on and were perfectly comfortable in the sun. I guess I did get a little cold after a while, but I’m always cold, so that’s not a good indicator of the temperature. The commentary was pretty good. It was light and entertaining, without being intrusive. There were great photo opportunities, which kept my DH pretty busy. I now have approximately 27 pictures of my face with different views of the Opera House behind me.

While we were on the cruise, DH decided that he wanted to walk across the Harbour Bridge. So, after the cruise, we made our way to the bridge and walked halfway across. At that point, we decided that we really didn’t need to go all the way across, so we just enjoyed the view from the middle. There were people climbing the bridge, which looked like fun. We’ll have to do that on our next trip.

DH is from New York, and really appreciates a good skyline. He absolutely loved Sydney’s skyline, as did I (although, being from Nashville, I’m a little more easily impressed when it comes to skylines). We truly enjoyed just being in Sydney. It is such a pleasant, clean city, full of nice people.

After the bridge, we walked to St. Mary’s Church, as I enjoy visiting old churches. We enjoyed the walk, and had a good time at the church. It is very pretty. I have to tell a funny foot-in-mouth story, though. We were in the gift shop at St. Mary’s and there were some colorful hand-painted crosses on display. Roberto looked saw them and immediately said, “Oh, they have crosses from El Salvador!” I looked at him like he was losing his mind and said knowingly that I doubted that they were from El Salvador. He pointed out that he had been to El Salvador and seen similar crosses, and had, in fact, purchased other similar hand-painted items. I pointed out (again very knowingly) that we were on the other side of the world, in completely different hemispheres as El Salvador, and that El Salvador did not have a monopoly on brightly hand-painted crosses! (duh) DH didn’t say anything as he picked up a cross, handed it to me, and pointed out the telling words hand painted on the back of the cross: “Made in El Salvador.” Ok, so I guess I don’t know EVERYTHING.

We made a few purchases for our new home (a cross hand painted in Australia, actually), and headed back to the hotel. We were planning on a nice dinner at the Opera House in the evening, so we just stopped for some ice cream on the walk back instead of having lunch. I love ice cream and can eat it every hour (you should have seen me in Italy!!!! I’m the only tourist I know who can briskly walk for 10 hours straight every day for a week and STILL gain weight). Anyway, we walked through an outdoor shopping mall on the way back and enjoyed people watching, but didn’t buy anything.

We got back to the hotel and decided to take a nap before our evening, since we were still having problems staying awake late and wanted to enjoy the opera.

Refreshed by our nap at our lovely Sheraton home, we took a shower, dressed, and cabbed our way back to the Opera House. We had talked about walking earlier, but when I put my high-heal shoes on, I told DH that walking was out of the question for that evening. Plus, it was getting cool for us Nashvillians who had come from 100F weather back home.

We had a tour of the Opera House schedule pre-dinner. The tour was fascinating. As the daughter of an architect, I had heard stories about the Opera House all my life (along with stories of most other famous building around the world…sometimes I think I should get an honorary degree in architecture appreciation!) I loved seeing the details of the inside of the building, although I felt a little guilty enjoying it without my dad. Oh well, I don’t think he would have wanted to come along on my honeymoon. Anyway, we enjoyed the tour, as we were able to see two different halls, including one with an amazing organ. The organ was being tuned, which was great. I love big pipe organs.

After the informative tour, we had dinner at Guillaume at Bennelong, one of the Opera House restaurants. The dinner was delicious, and the setting was so relaxing. We had such a special dinner, enjoying the food and each other’s company. Our table was right at a window, and we could watch the Harbour as the sun began to set. Everything was beautiful, delicious, and perfect. I had the beef tenderloin, I think Roberto did too. I don’t remember what appetizer we had…but it had to be whatever didn’t involve seafood. I think we had desert too, but I don’t remember what. I’ll have to do some thinking!!!

We finished dinner and the fun started with the opera! We saw the Barber of Seville. The performers were absolutely wonderful, with no exceptions. Figaro was perfectly amazing. He had such a strong voice and was a very talented performer. We both enjoyed the performance, although I think I caught DH dozing a few times. Leaving the Opera House after the show was an experience also. Sydney at night is even more beautiful than Sydney during the day. We looked around as much as we could stand, and then went to search for a taxi to take us back to our bed. Again, we were exhausted by the day and collapsed in the bed, making sure to set the alarm for early so that we could pack and be ready for our morning flight to Melbourne. It was sad knowing it was our last night in a city that we fell in love with, but we know we will be back!
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Old Oct 12th, 2007, 07:25 AM
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My DH and I are planning a trip to Australia in Feb 2008 so I'm getting ideas from your trip report. Thanks so much for posting thus far.
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Old Oct 17th, 2007, 02:23 PM
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The next morning we again awoke early. We were packed and ready to leave with some time to spare, so we walked down to the cafe from the day before and had another delicious breakfast. We loved their coffee so much we bought some to take home. I actually just brewed some this weekend, and it was just as good as we remembered.

Our flight to Melbourne was short and uneventful. We found our driver and settled in to our drive to the hotel. It took quite a while, about 45 minutes. We had a busy schedule in Melbourne and knew that we wouldn't see much of the city, so we looked around as much as possible on our drive to the hotel.

The only thing on our schedule for the first day in Melbourne was to see Phantom of the Opera. So, we decided to take public transportation to downtown, and walk around eventually arriving at the theatre. We wanted to have dinner in Chinatown, which was close to the Theatre.

We got off the tram near St. Paul's Church, and visited there first. The church was beautiful. The organ was being warmed up for a recital, which was a nice perk. We wandered for a while in the church and then returned to the street.

There were quite a few souvenier shops around, so we decided to get some shopping out of the way. We wanted to get little things for siblins, neices, and nephews, so we did that. We spent a lot of time shopping, actually! We spent too much money, but it was fun.

By this time, we were getting hungry, and looking forward to a good Chinese meal. We made our way to Chinatown and started looking at menus trying to decide where to eat. We settled on Spicy Fish, which was recommended to us by the driver we had at the airport. The Spicy Fish was delicious! It was packed, which we took as a good sign. We ordere pot stickers for an appetizer, I think. They were great. I don't rememeber what we ordered for the meal, but it was delicious. We saw a lot of people eating soups, which looked good. We wanted to come back here and try more things on their extensive menu.

After dinner, we walked to the theater. We were pretty early, so we walked a few blocks away to another church. We took some outdoor pictures, since the church was closed. It was freezing cold, and I was wearing open toed shoes (dumb, I know), so we went back to the theatre to wait for the show.

Phantom was awesome! It was the first time I had seen it live, although I have always loved the music. The performance was great. By the time it was over, we were both exhausted. It took a while to get a taxi, but we eventually did and went back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2007, 03:22 PM
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On Day 2 in Melbourne we woke up early for a 7:30 pickup for our tour of the Great Ocean Road. We did the tour through Australian Wild Escapes (http://www.australianwildescapes.com...d.asp?Code=SWC). Again, it was a wonderful tour. We happened to be the only ones on the tour, so we had the guide Kylie all to ourselves. She did a great job customizing the stops to what we wanted to see. We saw a bunch of koalas in a park, had a great lunch stop in Apollo Bay, and enjoyed all of the sites of the ocean from the drive. The Great Ocean Road is one of the most beautiful drives I have ever done. Of course, I love the ocean, so that helped. The towns we drove through were nice little towns, with some interesting shopping. I would love to go back on our own to explore all of the towns and lookouts along the way. The benefits of being on a tour included being able to spend all of our time looking out the window instead of at the road. However, we had a schedule to stick to, which didn’t allow for all of the stops I wanted to make.

In the afternoon, we saw the Twelve Apostles. These giant rock formations rising from the water are breathtaking! Seeing this and the other views along this road was one of the highlights of the trip for me. Don’t skip this experience if you are near Melbourne, unless you really aren’t into sea views.

On our drive back to Melbourne we made a stop in a small city, I don’t remember the name. We stopped at a little shop and bought some deep fried pumpkin fritters. They were so delicious!! I wish I knew how to make them. I have never seen pumpkin fritters before, but I hope to find them again some day. I was thrilled that Roberto wasn’t too crazy about them so I ate them myself. Ha

As we arrived back in Melbourne it was getting dark. I don’t remember what time it was, probably 7:00 PM or so. Kylie dropped us off in the Southbank, near a bunch of café’s and restaurants. We walked along the river enjoying each other’s company and trying to decide where to eat dinner. We were both so tired and not too hungry, and we couldn’t agree on what to eat. So, we found a food court type place with a variety of fast food places and decided to eat there. Roberto picked Greek and I had roasted chicken and French fries. It was all pretty good and inexpensive.

After dinner we decided to find a taxi to take us back to our hotel, as we were exhausted and freezing cold. Our hotel had a Jacuzzi tub which served our tired bodies well that night. We slept well and awoke to our last day in Australia.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2007, 05:15 PM
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Still enjoying your report Katie - looking forward to the NZ installments.
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Old Oct 23rd, 2007, 07:28 PM
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Very interesting and helpful trip report. Thanks so much for sharing!
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Old Oct 27th, 2007, 11:01 PM
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Hi Katie,

I will be visiting Australia, and your trip report is giving me many ideas. Thank-you.
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Old Oct 28th, 2007, 07:51 PM
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Enjoying it and very informative Katie especiallly for a Melbournian .I think your husband may have been on this site not too long ago asking for pre Phantom dinner suggestions and if it was not him then someone else wanted a lovely dinner as a special surprise for their wife pre show .
I was very a Interested in your views of the Como which is so often pushed as the luxe hotel for rock stars etc .
Was it Geelong you had the pumpkin fritters ?And I bet the wind was blowing in Melbourne making the chill factor Arctic like ! Looking forward to the rest .
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Old Oct 28th, 2007, 07:54 PM
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ps I just checked the old posts and it was not your spouse as this gent is bringing his wife to Melbourne in November for a birhtday treat and to see The Phantom .What was the name of the place where you ate the excellent spicy fish ?
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Old Oct 29th, 2007, 05:42 AM
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Hi everyone! Sorry I was off of the computer all weekend.

JohnFitz, The name of the restaurant in Chinatown was "Spicy Fish." We didn't actually eat spicy fish, but others were and it looked great. I can't tell you where it was. I know we were walking down one of hte main Chinatown streets toward the street that the Phantom Theatre is on. The restaurant was on our right. I hope that helps.

The Como was such a disappointment. Some friends of my husband honeymooned there about 8 years ago. They loved it, which is why we chose to stay there. While I don't usually spend a lot of money on hotels, I do enjoy luxury when I get it...and this wasn't anywhere near luxury. It wasn't horrible, but it certainly wasn't worth the price. Oh well!

I'm going to finish the last Australia day now, and post about New Zealand tomorrow.
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