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Australia Trip Report 2015

I think the Wildlife Sanctuary was my favorite stop on the whole trip, with the days in Sydney coming in a close second. Your selfie with the roo turned out better than mine though - he wouldn't face forward for me. And I loved meeting the baby wombat - I think I have pretty much the same picture of the guide holding the wombat. I also enjoyed being able to see Les Mis in Sydney on our free night, although getting up for that early, early flight the next morning was a challenge!

Thank you for the great trip report. I enjoyed reading it and reflecting on my trip now that I'm home from my other travels this summer (DCL to Alaska and a trip to Vero Beach and WDW) while eating my Tim Tams that I found at Target. :goodvibes
 
Cousin Orville - thank you so much for writing this trip report! I really appreciate all the detail and tips you've included. We're planning to go to Australia this December on our own since we'd like to add a week of New Zealand (and do some LOTR tours), and just couldn't swing the time or expense of doing the ABD and then tacking on another week of NZ. But I would have loved to do both!

I have a couple of questions for you as I'm finalizing our planning:

1. Did you think Daintree/Mossman Gorge was a must do, or would you have liked an additional day of snorkeling/boat tour?

2. We're planning on staying in Palm Cove as well (Pepper's Beach Resort since the pools look AMAZING and the kids will love it), but do you think Port Douglas was equally nice? It seems like a more convenient base...

Regarding the hotel in Uluru, we also booked Desert Gardens since it was a bit cheaper (and all the activities there are EXTREMELY expensive). I read reviews of the higher end hotel, Sails in the Desert, and the feedback was equally bad. Since we're planning only one night there, I thought I'd save money and book Desert Gardens and spend my money on camel rides, etc. :yay:

thanks!
 
paddles said:
Regarding the hotel in Uluru, we also booked Desert Gardens since it was a bit cheaper (and all the activities there are EXTREMELY expensive). I read reviews of the higher end hotel, Sails in the Desert, and the feedback was equally bad. Since we're planning only one night there, I thought I'd save money and book Desert Gardens and spend my money on camel rides, etc. :yay:
Click to expand...

I'm not Cousin Orville, I'll chime in with my opinion here. I know I'm in the minority for actually liking the Desert Gardens. (It sounds like Cousin Orville wasn't a big fan, and I know from being there with her that *WDW*Groupie* wasn't a fan.) For where it was, I thought it was a nice enough resort. I didn't think the room was that bad, and even though the exterior wasn't much to look at, I really liked the landscaping. It reminded me a lot of Tucson in the winter time. And I enjoyed the meals we had at the restaurant there. That was where I had the best omelet the whole trip. I was less impressed with the Grand Chancellor in Hobart. But, that's just my 2 cents. :)
 


paddles said:
Cousin Orville - thank you so much for writing this trip report! I really appreciate all the detail and tips you've included. We're planning to go to Australia this December on our own since we'd like to add a week of New Zealand (and do some LOTR tours), and just couldn't swing the time or expense of doing the ABD and then tacking on another week of NZ. But I would have loved to do both!

I have a couple of questions for you as I'm finalizing our planning:

1. Did you think Daintree/Mossman Gorge was a must do, or would you have liked an additional day of snorkeling/boat tour?

2. We're planning on staying in Palm Cove as well (Pepper's Beach Resort since the pools look AMAZING and the kids will love it), but do you think Port Douglas was equally nice? It seems like a more convenient base...

Regarding the hotel in Uluru, we also booked Desert Gardens since it was a bit cheaper (and all the activities there are EXTREMELY expensive). I read reviews of the higher end hotel, Sails in the Desert, and the feedback was equally bad. Since we're planning only one night there, I thought I'd save money and book Desert Gardens and spend my money on camel rides, etc. :yay:

thanks!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry too much about the Desert Gardens. I wish ABD could stay at the Sails (maybe they don't allow large groups), but Desert Gardens is ok. It's probably just luck of the draw as far as rooms. Regardless, Uluru is worth it.

1. I think the way ABD plans their Cairns days is ideal for the number of days. They hit the highlights. If you have an extra day I'd do the Mossman Gorge. I was very satisfied snorkeling just the one day. However, I'm not into scuba or serious snorkeling. I suspect if you are, you might want more days in the Reef.

2. I thought Port Douglas was fine, butI preferred the quaintness of Palm Cove more. However, Port Douglas is closer to the GBR and Mossman Gorge. It's also further from the airport. Palm Cove is closer to the Aboriginal center, Kuranda and Hartley's Crocodile Adventures along with the Night Zoo which we didn't do but several other families did. For me I'd probably stay in Palm Cove.
 
Cousin Orville said:
I wouldn't worry too much about the Desert Gardens. I wish ABD could stay at the Sails (maybe they don't allow large groups), but Desert Gardens is ok. It's probably just luck of the draw as far as rooms. Regardless, Uluru is worth it.

1. I think the way ABD plans their Cairns days is ideal for the number of days. They hit the highlights. If you have an extra day I'd do the Mossman Gorge. I was very satisfied snorkeling just the one day. However, I'm not into scuba or serious snorkeling. I suspect if you are, you might want more days in the Reef.

2. I thought Port Douglas was fine, butI preferred the quaintness of Palm Cove more. However, Port Douglas is closer to the GBR and Mossman Gorge. It's also further from the airport. Palm Cove is closer to the Aboriginal center, Kuranda and Hartley's Crocodile Adventures along with the Night Zoo which we didn't do but several other families did. For me I'd probably stay in Palm Cove.
Click to expand...

thanks. I think one day of snorkeling will be enough for us. Given we'll be traveling for nearly 2 weeks before we arrive into Palm Cove, I think we'll like having one day just to chill at the pool!

I appreciate your input - I think we'll stick with Palm Cove. It seems like a nice town with lots of good (and expensive) restaurants.
 
paddles said:
thanks. I think one day of snorkeling will be enough for us. Given we'll be traveling for nearly 2 weeks before we arrive into Palm Cove, I think we'll like having one day just to chill at the pool!

I appreciate your input - I think we'll stick with Palm Cove. It seems like a nice town with lots of good (and expensive) restaurants.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Palm Cove is a cool place to just relax. A pool day would be quite nice.
 


It's less than 3 weeks until we leave for our Down Under Adventure. My friend and I were considering skipping the morning at Bondi Beach to spend more time in Sydney. We will not be doing the surfing but I have heard the walk is well worth it. Just wondering how you would rate the day's activities and the free time available. We are spending our post days in Melbourne so our only time in Sydney will be with ABD.
 
pixiepirate said:
It's less than 3 weeks until we leave for our Down Under Adventure. My friend and I were considering skipping the morning at Bondi Beach to spend more time in Sydney. We will not be doing the surfing but I have heard the walk is well worth it. Just wondering how you would rate the day's activities and the free time available. We are spending our post days in Melbourne so our only time in Sydney will be with ABD.
Click to expand...

Tough question. Bondi is still a pretty beach to see and it's cool to learn about some of the surfing culture. However, there's a lot of other things to see in Sydney as well. I went surfing so I can't comment on the walk, but I would imagine it was beautiful. Are you bike riding the next day? What other things in Sydney were you thinking about doing?
 
Cousin Orville said:
Tough question. Bondi is still a pretty beach to see and it's cool to learn about some of the surfing culture. However, there's a lot of other things to see in Sydney as well. I went surfing so I can't comment on the walk, but I would imagine it was beautiful. Are you bike riding the next day? What other things in Sydney were you thinking about doing?
Click to expand...

Yes we are planning to do all the other activities scheduled for Sydney. Just not sure how much interest we would have in the beach. My friend would like to see the Chinese Gardens and I'm interested in the Maritime Museum, the Powerhouse Museum and perhaps the Observatory. We have a ghost tour in the Rocks scheduled for that evening. We were considering just doing the hop on, hop off Sydney Explorer bus that day.
 
You certainly could do the botanical gardens and Maritime Museum the day everyone else goes to Bondi. Between those (and knowing you're not surfing) I'd probably choose the Gardens and Maritime Museum over Bondi as well, but I did enjoy Bondi quite a bit.

Are you sure you don't want to climb the bridge that evening? That was really incredible.
 
Cousin Orville said:
Are you sure you don't want to climb the bridge that evening? That was really incredible.
Click to expand...

The bridge climb was one thing my friend emphatically did not want to do. She is much more into the ghost tour thing, which I enjoy as well. Thank you for your input. It could just come down to a morning of decision. I see Sydney's temps are fluctuating between the 60s and the 90s. If it's 90 we may want to hit the beach after all.
 
The walk from Bondi along the coast is gorgeous. However we only did it 1 way and took the bus back to Sydney at the end. I'm not sure how I would feel about walking part of the way then turning around and heading back. The scenery varies the further you go from Bondi.

If you are certain that you won't be surfing, then I'd probably skip the morning at Bondi and visit the Botanical Gardens and the Maritime Museum (the latter was one of my favorite attractions in Sydney).

Remember that you are doing a ghost walk in Tasmania; not sure if you want to duplicate that type of experience or not.

Have a great trip!
 
*WDW*Groupie* said:
The walk from Bondi along the coast is gorgeous. However we only did it 1 way and took the bus back to Sydney at the end. I'm not sure how I would feel about walking part of the way then turning around and heading back. The scenery varies the further you go from Bondi.

If you are certain that you won't be surfing, then I'd probably skip the morning at Bondi and visit the Botanical Gardens and the Maritime Museum (the latter was one of my favorite attractions in Sydney).

Remember that you are doing a ghost walk in Tasmania; not sure if you want to duplicate that type of experience or not.

Have a great trip!
Click to expand...

Thanks for your input. Neither of us is interested in the surfing and since we are not doing any pre- or post- days in Sydney we thought this might be a good time to see some of the Sydney highlights not on the tour.

Actually, we try to do a ghost tour everywhere we travel if we can fit it in. Did our first one in Dublin and were hooked. So far none of the others has surpassed that one, suitably eerie and creepy but a lot of fun. We will see how these two compare.
 
Do you have any suggestions for the gratuities for the Adventure Guides? Australian dollars? US dollars? A prepaid Visa card? I'm at a loss on what to do.
 
pixiepirate said:
Do you have any suggestions for the gratuities for the Adventure Guides? Australian dollars? US dollars? A prepaid Visa card? I'm at a loss on what to do.
Click to expand...

I paid in Australian Dollars. One of the guides will likely be Australian so I think local currency would be easiest.
 
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