For those of you who have done Discovery Down Under...

[travelingirlie]

I just have a few questions that I have been wondering...

1. Who were your guides?

2. How was your bike ride in Sydney?

3. How was the Uluru hotel?

4. Did you go to the Cairns Palm Cove Zoo?

5 What activities did you choose do in your free time?

6. Did you come early/stay extra?

 

[CJ-SEA]

1. Chris & Amber - both were great! Amber will be doing another adventure in late January.

2. bike ride was better then we expected. Although it was a few days prior to new years eve so the crowds were crazy and riding through circular quay took some patience.

3. Uluru hotel was good. Considering the location & alternate options it was great! Had a problem with our air conditioning upon check-in but it was quickly resolved. Great view but don't expect a 4 star hotel or anything close to Sea Temple.

4. no. visited the Rain forest habitat zoo in Port Douglas prior to the adventure starting.

5. trip to Bondi beach, shopping, viewed the new years eve fireworks from the harbor, tour of the blue mountains and plenty of walking & touring of sydney

6. 2 pre nights on our own in Port Douglas & 1 pre-night at Sea Temple. 2 post nights at Grace Hotel and 1 additional night (on our own) at the Grace.

 

[beansf]

1. Who were your guides? Our guide was Mike. We only had one because there were only 11 in my group.

2. How was your bike ride in Sydney?I didn't go! My husband did and he said it was fun, but there were some narrow areas with lots of pedestrian traffic.

3. How was the Uluru hotel?It was sort of old, but it didn't bother me. It was clean and the bed was nice.

4. Did you go to the Cairns Palm Cove Zoo?We did not.

5 What activities did you choose do in your free time?Harbour Bridge Climb, shopping, Sydney's Royal Botanical Gardens (beautiful!)

6. Did you come early/stay extra?We stayed one extra day in Sydney.

 

[PleakleysPugPal]

1. Who were your guides?

Mike and Amber (Chris was there, too). I can't say enough good things about all 3 of them. Friendly, funny, patient, wonderful people.

2. How was your bike ride in Sydney?

There were 2 options on my trip: a kid-friendly leisurely trip and a more active, hilly one which included a trip halfway across the Harbour Bridge. The neighborhood is great and full of interesting history and scenery (I walked it later). I actually skipped the ride b/c I was still soaked from the harbour cruise, so I went back to the hotel with my mom to shower and do laundry and some shopping before dinner, but my boyfriend had an awesome time biking.

3. How was the Uluru hotel?

I thought it was nice although nothing compares to Sea Temple! Rooms were large enough and clean, and I liked the retro-modern decor. Beautiful landscaping. I even took a pic of what looked like a Hidden Mickey in the sidewalk. A couple of good cafes (QS & TS) and shops. We enjoyed touring their onsite history museum. We walked to an overlook every morning to watch the sunrise. Mike suggested we all go to Outback Pioneer BBQ for dinner (you take a resort shuttle bus). It was a blast! Outdoors, yet covered. You sit at picnic tables. You order your food and then take it to grills where you cook it yourself. They even have a veggie burger if you don't eat meat. They had a singer-guitarist who also played didgeridoo!

4. Did you go to the Cairns Palm Cove Zoo?

No, although we drove past it.

5 What activities did you choose do in your free time?

Sunrise at the Palm Cove beach, strolling in Palm Cove, shopping in Sydney and the Discovery Bridge Climb (highly recommended).

6. Did you come early/stay extra?

We stayed an extra week with friends in Sydney. We toured the coastline, went to Royal National Park, the Botanical Garden (fantastic), the Blue Mountains and Canberra. We were going to tour the Opera House, but we thought it was expensive, so we just took lots of outside pics.

 

[travelingirlie]

thanks for the replies!! I was just so interested in how things worked out not in our group. but i'll answer my own question for you


1. Mike and Amber. Both amazing. We really got to know Mike because we stayed in Sydney extra and took him out to dinner and his boss is our neighbor!! pretty funny, though I think he was a little freaked out lol Amber was amazing too!! I loved them both!!!!

2. Our bike group split into two groups, and the first group did fine, but my family was in the second group and getting together and picking out bikes was a mess. They didn't have enough, so we had a problem!! Mike ended up having to ride a wobbly 2 person! The people in our group who didn't want to bike had a private tour of the opera house

3. I thought the Uluru hotel was fine, I was just wondering, because I know that our guides said they usually get complaints about it.

4. We did go to the zoo and it was great for the kids!!!

5. We walked around the little shops in Cairns. We went riverrafting one day when we were there early. At Palm Cove we got everyone together for a pizza party, in Uluru my family did a nice walk around the rocks, but we didn't climb it because it is highly discouraged. In Sydney we did tons of shopping and exploring and learning about the history. We went to a musuem and the aquarium. And we visited friends. We also did the Discovery Bridge Climb--it was great!!

6. We came early to Cairns and stayed late in Sydney