Australia ABD trip advice

[mathgeek]

I am seriously considering Discovery Down Under as my next ABD trip. Does anyone have any advice for this trip?
What did you do with your time on your own? Where did you eat on your own?
What were the hotels like? Did you have free wifi and were there hairdryers? What was something you were glad you did or glad you packed? Was there anything you wish you hadn't done?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I felt like I was pretty well-prepared for Backstage Magic and that I could have done a little more preparation for Cities of Knights and Lights (or at least the Paris part, I got a lot out of my time on my own in London). I want to make sure I'm more prepared for this one going in, especially now that I've done an international ABD trip and have a better idea of what to expect.

 

[HavinABlast]

First off - this is an amazing tour and I highly recommend it. We went on the ABD December 2013. It was my third trip to Australia and I can honestly say this tour is worth the money.

Wi-Fi. It wasn't great.

In Cairns, we had access at the airport, hotel pool and lobby. If I stood outside the balcony and pointed my device at just the right angle towards the pool, I could get coverage - but got nothing once I was in the room.

No coverage in Uluru

Sydney - coverage in hotel lobby only, none in rooms. However, lots of Wi-Fi access around town. There's a Starbucks close by, you can get access in the mall across the street, etc.

Tasmania - zero coverage at Freycinet - they actually pride themselves on it. We had some coverage in Hobart.

I recommend getting your phone unlocked and buying a card from one of the local phone companies. You can buy this at the airport in Sydney. It won't work at Freycinet, but we didn't have a problem with it anywhere else.

Free Time

You don't get a lot of time on your own. It's a fairly busy itinerary.

Cairns - either hang by the pool or walk along the beach. You cannot swim in Palm Cove Beach as it is infested with crocs and jelly fish.

Uluru - barely any free time. We chilled in the hotel room as we had a very early flight that morning.

Sydney - lots to do here! We purchased a pass that let us go to the zoo, aquarium and Sydney tower. You have lots of free time here, and you can do anything you want with a little planning. The theatre is near by, there is a shopping mall across from the hotel.

Tasmania - in Freycinet there is a beautiful beach and some trails you can walk. In Hobart you'll be able to tour the city and see the markets.

This is really an excellent tour with a lot of fun excursions. You will really get a great sense of what Australia is all about and enjoy some exciting adventures along the way.

If you have any other questions, I would be happy to answer them.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Did you feel you had enough time in Sydney? Did you spend any days in Australia before or after the ABD?

 

[HavinABlast]

I have family in Australia, so we were there about 10 days earlier, but we only went to Sydney for one day during that time and spent the day at the Aquarium (we travelled with kids).

You'll have plenty of time to explore Sydney the city on your own during your free time. ABD takes you to all the key places (Opera House, Harbour, Bondi Beach, etc.). What will be harder to do is to go out to see the Blue Mountains or the Jenolan Caves, and explore beaches outside of the Sydney area like the Entrance.

My thinking is that if you are going to fly all the way to Australia, beg, borrow or steal as much vacation time as you can and tack on a few days and spend some extra time there. Australia is an amazing country.

If you want to get a sense of the country, and have a laugh, I recommend reading "In a Sunburned Country" by Bill Bryson. It is hilarious.

 

[HavinABlast]

If you are interested in the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb be sure to pre-book it before you arrive in Australia. It is by appointment and it will be unlikely you will get a same day or next day reservation. It is a bit pricey, but one of those once in a lifetime experiences you won't want to miss. There's a bit of climbing involved, but the pace is slow and very manageable.

If you are going over Christmas, St. Mary's cathedral (which is right across the street from the hotel) puts on an amazing show called the Lights of Christmas. It takes about 10-15 minutes from start to finish and loops through all night. It's free. There is also a 50 foot Christmas tree in the QVC building that is quite the site to see.

There's a wildlife centre at the harbour next to the aquarium. It's not much of a zoo, but you will see a koala, kangaroo etc. Keep in mind, you'll be seeing these animals while in Tasmania, where you'll have the opportunity to pet a koala and feed kangaroos.

 

[mathgeek]

Thank you so much HavinABlast! Reading a bit about what you did is making me more confident about booking this trip.

I know there are a few meals on your own. Where did you eat? I found it difficult sometimes on the Knights & Lights tour to figure out where to eat b/c of where we were at the time, especially in while we were at the Tower of London, in Windsor, and near Notre Dame in Paris. Wish I'd done more research about those locations in advance and not just about the areas near the hotels.

 

[sayhello]

Thank you so much HavinABlast! Reading a bit about what you did is making me more confident about booking this trip.

I know there are a few meals on your own. Where did you eat? I found it difficult sometimes on the Knights & Lights tour to figure out where to eat b/c of where we were at the time, especially in while we were at the Tower of London, in Windsor, and near Notre Dame in Paris. Wish I'd done more research about those locations in advance and not just about the areas near the hotels.

If you *don't* do research ahead of the time, you can always ask the Adventure Guides! They will have plenty of suggestions!

Sayhello

 

[pixiepirate]

If you are interested in the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb be sure to pre-book it before you arrive in Australia. It is by appointment and it will be unlikely you will get a same day or next day reservation. It is a bit pricey, but one of those once in a lifetime experiences you won't want to miss. There's a bit of climbing involved, but the pace is slow and very manageable.

If you are going over Christmas, St. Mary's cathedral (which is right across the street from the hotel) puts on an amazing show called the Lights of Christmas. It takes about 10-15 minutes from start to finish and loops through all night. It's free. There is also a 50 foot Christmas tree in the QVC building that is quite the site to see.

There's a wildlife centre at the harbour next to the aquarium. It's not much of a zoo, but you will see a koala, kangaroo etc. Keep in mind, you'll be seeing these animals while in Tasmania, where you'll have the opportunity to pet a koala and feed kangaroos.

Thank you HavinABlast, it's nice to hear from someone who has actually done this tour. The tip on the WiFi is especially helpful. We are booked for October 2015 and I am very excited to finally have to chance to go to Australia. Have you, by chance, been to the Australia National Maritime Museum. We are considering that as an option for our free time in Sydney.

 

[HavinABlast]

Thank you HavinABlast, it's nice to hear from someone who has actually done this tour. The tip on the WiFi is especially helpful. We are booked for October 2015 and I am very excited to finally have to chance to go to Australia. Have you, by chance, been to the Australia National Maritime Museum. We are considering that as an option for our free time in Sydney.

Glad to be of help! No, sorry we did not visit that particular museum.

 

[pixiepirate]

Glad to be of help! No, sorry we did not visit that particular museum.

Do you have any suggestions for filling the free time in Sydney other than the Bridge Climb?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

My friend and I went to a show in the Sydney Opera House.

We did not have a great deal of free time in Sydney. this was the previous incarnation of the tour, back in 2009. It has changed.

 

[HavinABlast]

Do you have any suggestions for filling the free time in Sydney other than the Bridge Climb?

There's so much to do in Sydney. We travelled with children and took them to the Aquarium, Wildlife Centre and up the Sydney tower, which they quite enjoyed. There is also a Madame Tussaud's if you are into that.

There is a shopping mall right across the street from the Sheraton with lots of great shops. This is going to sound funny, but the food court there is really good. It's not filled with McDs, KFC, Taco Bell, etc. like the food courts in the US and Canada. We ate some very good food for very reasonable prices there.

You could also do a harbour tour. You'll be doing one as part of the tour, but we did another one at night, which was really beautiful. Luna Park looks completely different at night.

Luna Park is an old fair, similar to Coney Island.

You could spend some time in Manly Beach (a very popular spot), it's about a 20-30 min walk from Darling Harbour or you can take a ferry from Circular Quay. The timetables are available on-line at www.sydneyferries.info/timetables/manly-ferry.htm.

The theatre is within walking distance of the hotel (10-15mins, I think).

You could also see who is performing at the Opera House while you are there and experience the acoustics first hand.

If you are ambitious, and depending on the amount of free time you have, you many want to consider booking a tour to the Blue Mountains. There are some easy hiking trails that take you to several look outs with spectacular views. It will take you 1.5-2 hours to drive one way.

Sydney and its subway system are very safe and easy to navigate. We found everyone to be extremely friendly and helpful.

As you can see, there are endless options - it really depends on your interests.

 

[pixiepirate]

So it sounds like the mall might be a good place for souvenir shopping and a quick meal. Do you have any recommendations for moderately priced restaurants for a nice evening meal? I believe we may have two evenings free is Sydney so I may look into the evening Harbour Cruise. Thanks for the suggestion. We may look into some walking tours as well.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Can anyone comment on the snorkeling in Cairns and surfing lessons in Sydney? My 10 yo son has been taking swim lessons for years now, but just is not the best swimmer. I'm sure he gets my lack of coordination. For snorkeling, how deep is the water? The ABD Australia video on YouTube makes it look pretty far out as opposed to Hanauma Bay Hawaii style snorkeling. For surfing, I assume that involves going out into the ocean where you would need to be a good swimmer. Is there an alternative activity or should we just plan to have some free time that morning in Sydney?

 

[mathgeek]

It looks like we have a dinner on our own on day 3 - Tjapukai and Kuranda, but I can't tell from the description where we will be. Will we be in Caravonica or do they take us back to the hotel before letting us on our own? I found that I sometimes need to ask these things b/c there was one day in London that we had lunch and then they gave us a transportation pass for the rest of the day from the restaurant. I wasn't prepared to go off from there. I thought we'd go back to the hotel first.

It also looks like we have a dinner on our own in Tasmania after checking into the Hotel Grand Chancellor. Any advice on restaurants here?

I feel like I'll be OK in Sydney for meals on our own. Although if someone knows if we go back to the hotel after the Sydney Opera House tour on the 2nd day in Sydney or after lunch at Bondi Beach on the 3rd day in Sydney I'd love to know.

If you want to get a sense of the country, and have a laugh, I recommend reading "In a Sunburned Country" by Bill Bryson. It is hilarious.

I just checked this book out of the library then came back and saw this advice. Glad I checked it out then and am looking forward to reading it!

 

[tgeorge]

It looks like we have a dinner on our own on day 3 - Tjapukai and Kuranda, but I can't tell from the description where we will be. Will we be in Caravonica or do they take us back to the hotel before letting us on our own? I found that I sometimes need to ask these things b/c there was one day in London that we had lunch and then they gave us a transportation pass for the rest of the day from the restaurant. I wasn't prepared to go off from there. I thought we'd go back to the hotel first.

It also looks like we have a dinner on our own in Tasmania after checking into the Hotel Grand Chancellor. Any advice on restaurants here?

I feel like I'll be OK in Sydney for meals on our own. Although if someone knows if we go back to the hotel after the Sydney Opera House tour on the 2nd day in Sydney or after lunch at Bondi Beach on the 3rd day in Sydney I'd love to know.



I just checked this book out of the library then came back and saw this advice. Glad I checked it out then and am looking forward to reading it!

It is a great book. You'll enjoy it

 

[Cousin Orville]

It looks like we have a dinner on our own on day 3 - Tjapukai and Kuranda, but I can't tell from the description where we will be. Will we be in Caravonica or do they take us back to the hotel before letting us on our own? I found that I sometimes need to ask these things b/c there was one day in London that we had lunch and then they gave us a transportation pass for the rest of the day from the restaurant. I wasn't prepared to go off from there. I thought we'd go back to the hotel first.

It also looks like we have a dinner on our own in Tasmania after checking into the Hotel Grand Chancellor. Any advice on restaurants here?

I feel like I'll be OK in Sydney for meals on our own. Although if someone knows if we go back to the hotel after the Sydney Opera House tour on the 2nd day in Sydney or after lunch at Bondi Beach on the 3rd day in Sydney I'd love to know.

All great questions. Hopefully someonr


I just checked this book out of the library then came back and saw this advice. Glad I checked it out then and am looking forward to reading it!

All great questions. I hope someone will be able to chime in. When is your ABD? Ours is in July.

I read Bryson's book many years ago and now that we're heading to Australia ourselves, I'm about to reread it. It's a funny book.

 

[sharonkurland]

I am seriously considering Discovery Down Under as my next ABD trip. Does anyone have any advice for this trip?
What did you do with your time on your own? Where did you eat on your own?
What were the hotels like? Did you have free wifi and were there hairdryers? What was something you were glad you did or glad you packed? Was there anything you wish you hadn't done?

We just got home from this tour over the weekend. While some of the information previously posted was correct at the time, a couple of things have changed.

Hotels and WiFi
Sea Temple Palm Cove (Free in Lobby and Pool Bar area)
Desert Gardens Uluru (Free in lobby but spotty coverage)
Sheraton on the Park Sydney (Free in lobby with 1 hour code from reception, you can get as many codes for different devices as you want)
Freychnet Lodge (They do now offer WiFi but they make sure to tell you it is a third party provider and they can not guarantee how well it will work and also will not be able to resolve any issues from the front desk)
Grand Chancellor Hobart (1 Free WiFi code for 24 hours continuous usage given upon checkin. Only good to use on 1 device)

If you can't live without internet access and have an UNLOCKED phone (we had a 3 year old iPhone which AT&T unlocked because we had completed the contract on it) you can buy a prepaid SIM card in Australia. I picked one up in Sydney Airport from a news store from OPTUS for $30AUD. We were able to use this everywhere we went on the tour with only some periods where we had no coverage. It charges $2 for every day you use it and you get up to 500MB of data and unlimited calls/texts. It also allowed us to tether other devices to it so I was able to download messages on the iPad. I did need to log into the OPTUS website on Wifi to register it and it required an Australian address (I used the Hotel Address in Palm Cove which worked fine).

All hotels had hair dryers in the room. This is good as you did not need to worry about a voltage issue if you brought one from home.

OYO time - They do run you around pretty good and there is only some time to spend on your own.

FYI - they made a small change on days 2 and 3. The OYO dinner was on day 2. I suppose they found out that after a day of Snorkeling and the travel time there and back (45 min bus ride to dock each way and a 90 min boat ride to reef each way) everyone tended to be burnt out, tired, wet and salty at the end of they day. On our trip they took us back to the hotel to rest and change then we had dinner OYO in Palm Cove which is only a 10 min walk from hotel. There are plenty of places to eat in Palm Cove around most price points.

Day 3 We went to Tjapukai, drove to Kuranda and had time to shop, pet a Koala (if you wanted to pay, not part of tour) and eat lunch in town. Then we took the sky rail to the bottom of the mountain and returned to the hotel. We had only about an hour or two before we met back up again to go to Hartley's Crocodile Adventures for the evening and dinner there.

At Uluru - You only have a few hours on the day you arrive to look around on your own. This gives you time to swim in the hotel pool or walk around the resort area and look in some shops. They also offer a early morning Sunrise Camel ride which is optional and extra charge on the morning you leave, it leaves early but the people who did it in our group said it was wonderful.

Sydney has the most OYO time - On our first afternoon we stayed at the Opera House and then took a ferry to the other side of the city. However, they will also give you a ride back to the hotel on the coach if you want. At Bondi Beach you are given a ride back to the hotel after surfing/body boarding. There is really nothing else there but the beach. If you want to spend the day there I guess you could but you'd be on your own the way back I think that would involve taking the city bus. We went on the Bridge Climb on our second day there which was wonderful. We booked it the day before by calling and were able to secure a time for sunset. There are many options for what to do in Sydney and I'd say YMMV and do what appeals to you.

Freychnet Park - You are really isolated so you have almost no OYO time and if you did you'd have no way to get around. They do have washers and dryers at the hotel which some of our tour took advantage of.

In Hobart - You do have dinner OYO the evening you arrive. There are tons of places to eat either right across the street from the hotel at the dock area or within a 10-15 min walk is the Salamanca Place area which is filled with dining options.

The thing I was most happy we packed was this voltage converter.

It plugged into the australian outlets and gave us enough USB to charge our phones and plugs to charge our toothbrushes.

Snorkeling/Surfing.

For snorkeling, how deep is the water? The ABD Australia video on YouTube makes it look pretty far out as opposed to Hanauma Bay Hawaii style snorkeling. For surfing, I assume that involves going out into the ocean where you would need to be a good swimmer. Is there an alternative activity or should we just plan to have some free time that morning in Sydney?

The snorkeling at the Barrier Reef is about a 90 min boat ride from the dock to the pontoon (more like building) where you base activities from. The ocean is deep and currents vary. To go far out would require being a good swimmer but they do give life jackets or pool noodles which help you stay afloat. You can also just snorkel within 5 feet of the pontoon and see many fish and coral even if you are not comfortable going out further than that.

The Surfing at Bondi Beach is not that deep. They do have a more expert area but only the experienced surfers in our group went there. The large part stayed in the shallower water where an adult could walk out to where you needed to hop on your board. After swallowing way too much salt water, they brought out the boogie boards which were much more our speed.

Hope this helps and let me know if you have any more specific questions I may be able to help with

 

[mathgeek]

All great questions. I hope someone will be able to chime in. When is your ABD? Ours is in July.

I read Bryson's book many years ago and now that we're heading to Australia ourselves, I'm about to reread it. It's a funny book.

Going at the end of June. I've got a busy summer planned. Hilton Head, Australia, cruise to Alaska, and then Vero/WDW.

Looks like I've got some reading to do! Looking forward to this book now with a couple of positive recommendations.

And it looks like we got a great reply with a ton of good info!!

Hope this helps and let me know if you have any more specific questions I may be able to help with

Thank you so much Sharon! This is really helpful!

One question at this point, did you not go to Kata Tjuta before leaving for Sydney? Or was the camel ride the only thing that morning before the flight?

I'm sure I'll have more but need a little more time to digest all the great info you provided!

 

[tgeorge]

Sharon

Great info! How was your weather? I'm looking at going in October as well and I'm curious how it was. It is hard to grasp the seasons being flipped from what ours are. Sounds like you had a fantastic time!