AUSTRALIA TRIP 2005
Joe’s Tips Hotels The Cities The Mountains The Coasts The Red Centre
This is a record of a trip
round Australia from the 1st March to 28th April 2005. I am 61, my wife is a little younger. We like
eating, walking round town and a certain amount of culture. We also like a
reasonable degree of comfort.
We chose to travel during
this time to try and get weather that was warm and sunny, but not too hot –
February is the hottest month in much of Oz, and 35C+ is quite common. We
succeeded to some extent – we only had 2 or 3 days over 30C, and not much under
20C, but we did have quite a bit of cloud and rain – more about this later.
We flew with Emirates via Dubai to Perth, and back via Singapore and Dubai. We chose this routing to avoid 12 hour flights – the
longest hop was Dubai – Perth at
10 hours, the others were around 7 hours. Also Emirates fly out of Birmingham which is convenient for us. We were slightly
disappointed with Emirates – the food and entertainment system were good, but
although the leg room is OK, the seats in the 777s have been crammed in
sideways - on one flight my wife was
almost sitting in the aisle.
In Australia, we flew from Perth to Adelaide, then drove via the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians to Melbourne, then on via the Snowys to Canberra, then via the Blue Mountains to Sydney. We few to Uluru, and took an APT trip via Kings
Canyon to Alice, flew to Cairns and drove down the North Queensland cost to
Brisbane, where we flew out to Singapore. We drove over 4,500 km, not counting
the APT trip.
Impressions of Oz - big, clean, lots of loos, litter bins. Lots of trees - even in the
centre. Roads generally good, - empty
away from cities. Wide streets. Drivers stick to speed limits, except near Brisbane - busy motorways. Corrugated iron roofs. Street statues. Weather very variable 30 one
day, 20 next. Nowhere very consistent, maybe Adelaide. Wind detracted from Queensland coast islands - choppy seas. People friendly - G'day
mate -, laid back, service often slow.
English influence – soccer on TV, Devonshire teas, fish and chips, meat pies and sausage rolls, complaints about
the health service. Food generally good, large portions. Steak good, cheap.
Many food places closed Sunday, Monday. Some costs much lower - petrol,
Mcdonalds, some similar - wine in restaurant - though better quality. South
Australian usually good. Very cheap bar food $5 in non touristy places - e.g.
Bundaberg, and RSL, bowls, surf clubs.
Taxi drivers don't speak English, drive with windows open, no aircon -
reasonable cost, not cheap. Museums good, some outstanding - some free. Good
free transport in cities except Sydney. Good free botanic gardens. She'll be right. How're
going? No worries. Abbreviations – Journo (journalist), rego (regulation tax),
rellies (relatives). Wonderful town names - Yackandandah, Wangaratta, Wodonga,
Tumburumba, and my favourite – Yarrabonga (say that with a good Aussie twang,
and it slips off the tongue like a good Sauvignon Blanc). Noisy colourful
birds. Water restrictions. Green eco shopping bags. Sugar cane fields, local
banana, pines, passion fruit - Queensland (mango season over).
Its hard to pick a favourite
place in Oz – they are so different. Sydney is special, around the bridge and Opera house. We
also liked the Grampians – beautiful and peaceful and not spoilt by tourists
(like us). The centre is so different it was very interesting, and the night
sky from Kings Canyon was worth the journey by itself. Melbourne has a lot of attractions, Perth is surprisingly small in the centre, and so
pedestrian friendly – I liked it. Cairns was a bit disappointing – it rained a
lot, and the Reef islands were ruled out by continuing strong winds – it can
get pretty rough, too much for my wife. Noosa was one of our favourites, busy
but lovely.
Joe’s Tips
Cheap food is available in
the clubs – RSL (Retired Servicemen’s League), surf, bowls, golf, where
the pokies and gaming tables subsidise the food. You don’t have to be a member
– just sign in (you may be asked for some ID). Some of these clubs can be large
complexes with several bars and restaurants – like the Twin Towns in
Coolangatta, QD.
The other places for cheap
food are the food courts in shopping malls and plazas, where you can get
a plateful for a few dollars.
Try New Zealand Natural
for smoothies and ice creams – I may be biased in favour of NZ, but I liked
their smoothies best.
Whatever you do, don’t ask
for a burger with ‘the lot’ – as well as the usual burger with lettuce,
tomato, onion (and maybe beetroot) you will have to wade through cheese, bacon
and egg.
Burger King is for some reason called Hungry Jacks in Oz.
If you drive, make sure you
fill up with petrol at the start of each day – it can be a long haul
between fill ups, especially in Queensland (and in the centre of course).
In Tropical Queensland look
out for roadside stalls selling seasonal fresh fruit – bananas,
pineapples, paw paws etc.
Cleanskins wine is unlabelled, and good value. It
won’t be great, but it will be pleasantly drinkable, and cheap.
Ticket machines on the trams
give change (at least, in Melbourne).
If you go snorkelling,
use plenty of sunscreen / wear a T-shirt, its easy to get burnt as your back is
out of the water a lot.
The books tell you that Tropical
North Queensland has a wet season that lasts til March/April. This is true
– but what they don’t tell you is that there are different zones – a wet one
and a dry one. Cairns (wet) still gets around 25cm rain in April, whereas
Townsville (dry) gets around 5cm – quite a difference! Cairns is really only dry between June and August.
Hotels
In
the big cities we stayed in 4 star hotels near the town centre – not cheap, but
it makes sightseeing a lot easier if you only have a few days. On the road we chose
cheaper motels like Quality and Comfort. These were mostly quite acceptable –
you can get much cheaper motels, but I couldn’t vouch for their quality. All
the hotels had air con, fridges, hair dryers and coffee making equipment. Some
had guest laundries – usually costing a few dollars.
We stayed in so many, I
am not going to review each one in detail, but I will list them with a rating
out of ten, and give some comments.
|
Town
|
Hotel
|
Rating
|
Comments
|
|
Perth
|
Sebel
|
7
|
Good
location, king bed
|
|
Adelaide
|
Rendezvous
|
6
|
Trendy,
king, slow service
|
|
Robe
|
Ann's
Place
|
7
|
Nice
B&B, large room
|
|
Halls
Gap
|
D'Altons
Resort
|
8
|
Charming
studio
|
|
Warrnambool
|
Central Court Motel
|
2
|
Badly
needs a makeover
|
|
Apollo Bay
|
Comfort
Inn
|
7
|
Large
room, free laundry
|
|
Melbourne
|
Sebel
|
9
|
Super
studio, good location
|
|
Beechworth
|
Armour
Motor Inn
|
6
|
Nice
room, bit small
|
|
Thredbo
|
Alpine
Hotel
|
7
|
King
bed, small room, good food
|
|
Blue
Mountains
|
Leura Gardens
|
7
|
Good
king room, good food
|
|
Sydney
|
Sebel
|
7
|
Super
location, poor food & service
|
|
Uluru
|
Desert Gardens
|
8
|
2
doubles, nice room, pool
|
|
Kings Canyon
|
(excursion)
|
6
|
A
bit dated, but OK
|
|
Alice
|
Crown Plaza
|
8
|
2
doubles, super pool, large complex
|
|
Cairns
|
Tradewinds
|
8
|
Large
room, 2 doubles, super Thai restaurant but poor lunch
|
|
Palm
Cove
|
Novotel
|
8
|
Big
complex, big room, 2 doubles
|
|
Townsville
|
Quality
Hotel
|
7
|
Queen
bed, nice room
|
|
Airlie Beach
|
Club
Crocodile
|
6
|
A
bit basic but OK
|
|
Mackay
|
Comfort
Inn
|
6
|
Adequate,
bit noisy
|
|
Rockhampton
|
Comfort
Inn
|
6
|
Adequate
|
|
Bundaberg
|
Quality
Hotel
|
7
|
Smart
queen room
|
|
Noosa
|
Blue
resort
|
10
|
Super
studio, super pool
|
|
Singapore
|
Novotel
|
8
|
Nice
quiet king room, good pool
|
|
Dubai
|
Marco
Polo
|
7
|
Comfortable
king room
|
Our favourite was right
at the end – The Noosa Blue resort. A colourful interesting design with a
lovely central pool. Our studio had a great king bedroom with spa bath, a lounge
with kitchenette complete with microwave and mini dishwasher, a shower area
with washer and tumble drier, wall to wall glass doors onto a large balcony.
The Sebel in Melbourne was next – a good location and
huge room again with kitchenette and a washer/drier. Other nice hotels were the
Desert Gardens in Ulara – we didn’t get to spend
enough time there, and the Crown Plaza in Alice.
Buses, Trams, Metros and
Taxis.
Many of the cities – Perth, Adelaide,
Melbourne had free buses or trams serving the CBD (city
centre). Taxis are reasonable, but not cheap like Dubai, and you are unlikely to be ripped off. Singapore has – as you would expect – a slick, efficient, clean
and cheap metro.
Food
Generally the food quality is
good, though like anywhere it can vary. Steak is uniformly good and cheap
compared with the UK, and Fish and Chips is also a good bet. Chinese can be excellent – try
Gouger Street in Adelaide – but we found that set meals were not always
available, and single dishes were often heavy on the meat, but lacking in a
variety of vegetables. The famous (infamous?) meat pies were good if cooked on
the premises – otherwise best avoided. Sandwiches in Queensland seemed for some reason to always use tasteless
supermarket sliced bread, though elsewhere paninis, focaccia and ‘turkish’ are
common. House wine is usually OK – especially in SA, where you can find a
really nice local bottle (‘Road to Robe’, ‘Long Flat White’) at maybe $20. If
the house wine is cheap ($15 litre), avoid.
The Cities
Dubai
Bigger and busier than I
imagined – when we left around midnight, there was still lots of traffic. Dubai was not that good as a stopover, although we had some
quite nice and very cheap food. The passport control is very slow – took us a
whole hour on the way over, and nearly half an hour on the way back. It’s quite
quick into the city, but not especially attractive. Maybe the beach would be
better, but that’s quite a way from the airport. Dubai was also pretty hot and humid on the way back – 33C
and 80%.
Singapore
was even hotter – 35C and
humid, but had a lot of attraction – the Clarke quay near our Novotel hotel was
nice to walk around, and Chinatown is well worth seeing, and of course you have
to visit the Raffles Hotel – we didn’t have a Singapore Sling as it was mid day
and hot. A trip on the river is a good bet, and lots of places to eat. The
museum on the history of Singapore in Riverpoint is also worth a visit.
|
Singapore
Food Court
|
Bar in the
Raffles Hotel
|
The
Merlion
|
|
|
|
|
Perth
Clean, smart, flat, laid back, mostly quiet, excellent
free transport - 3 lines, super live display on bus and stops, numbered and
named, traffic limited to throughways. Easy to negotiate as a pedestrian, small
streets, small blocks. Its not as big as the photos make you think – the
skyscrapers are limited to a small central area. Take a ride on the Blue Cat
free bus and stay on for a whole circuit (45 Mins). Kings park is excellent. Take a boat to Freo (Freemantle) – we
used Red Cat and it was fine, have fish and chips near the sea. Eat at Number 44 King Street, but skip Fast
Eddie’s for breakfast, and Miss Maud’s buffet was disappointing. Taxi from
international airport to the Sebel (now Seasons) was $34, to domestic $20. We
thought Perth had charm – big enough but not too big. I would go
back there. The domestic airport is delightfully small – only 2 gates, and you
could check in 30 minutes before the flight and have time to spare. The weather
wasn’t bad, quite hot and sunny, though we did have some cloud and a few drops
of rain.
|
Perth Centre
|
Adelaide
Botanic Gardens
|
Glenelg
|
|
|
|
|
Adelaide
Is laid out on a grid system,
with wide streets, and you spend a lot of time waiting at traffic lights. The botanic
gardens are excellent with a nice cafe, and the area nearby on the river is
nice to walk along. The SA museum and the art gallery are worth visiting, but
the best thing about Adelaide was the food. It is cheaper here than Victoria and
NSW, and you should definitely visit Gouger Street, which must have over 50 restaurants. I can recommend
Gauchos – great steaks, chips, salad – and try the Wolf Blass Gold Label
Shiraz, one of the best I’ve tasted at $33. Also Ding Hao for an
excellent set meal at $25 pp including a glass of wine. Ying Chao is a
bit basic and very busy, but the food is really good. You should also take the
tram to Glenelg, which has charm, despite being a bit of a tourist
seaside place. If you have time and transport, a drive out to the Adelaide hills and Mount Lofty is also worthwhile. There are good views from Lofty, and a number of
walking trails. The weather in Adelaide was pretty good, mostly warm and sunny, though the
evenings were sometimes quite cool.
Melbourne
|
Melbourne Cityscape
|
Federation
Square
|
The Old
amidst the New
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Elm Avenue
|
In Fitzroy Gardens
|
Canberra
|
|
Is also on a grid, with
similar wide streets and traffic lights, but a lot busier than Adeaide. The free
tram circuit in both directions is very useful – hop on and off where you need.
Things we enjoyed – tour of Parliament, Victoria Market, Boat trip on the
Yarra, Federation
Square art
gallery, Kings Domain and the excellent Botanic Gardens – the best in Oz,
lovely Fitzroy Gardens with a little glass house which was a real gem. St.
Kilda was OK, but not as nice as Glenelg, being on rather a large scale. We had
good food at Tsindos (Greek) on Lonsdale, and Post Chairman Mao
in Chinatown, but were not impressed by the Bamboo House
recommended in Lonely Planet – paying for the surroundings rather than the
food. Weather was (typically) very variable – sometimes cool and cloudy,
sometimes hot and sunny.
Canberra
Is totally different – laid
out on a grand scale, it is mostly a collection of loosely connected suburbs.
The centre is impressive, and the old and new Parliament buildings are well
worth a visit. You could also walk around the central lake, which is very
attractively laid out. Our relatives drove us out to a lovely nature reserve Tidbinbilla,
which was badly damaged by the fires that visited Canberra a few years ago, but it is recovering well. We were
lucky with the weather here – almost all sunny and quite hot.
Sydney
|
|
|
|
|
|
Blurry Bridge
at Night
|
Bridge and
Opera House
|
Queen Victoria Building
|
|
The mecca, I suppose, for
visiting tourists. It is bigger and busier than anything else we had come
across. The whole area around Circular Quay and the Rocks is certainly very attractive
and impressive – the bridge and the opera house are justly famous. And you can
walk around here quite easily – though quite steep in places – right through to
the botanic gardens, and Mrs. Macquaries’ chair – worth the walk. Our
impressions of Sydney were coloured by the fact that we had the worst
weather so far – 2 days of sometimes heavy rain, and quite a lot of cloud –
though we also had some hot sunshine. Still, there are things to do in the wet
– such as the excellent aquarium – probably the best in the world, and the very
good free maritime museum. We went to a concert in the opera house – not too
expensive ($40) and a great experience – the views round here are really quite
outstanding. We chose to walk across the bridge rather than the almost
obligatory trip over the top – we could see lines of these walkers crossing all
day, but it is quite expensive, and the weather is very problematical – you get
an excellent view just walking across. The ferry to Manly is well worth it, and
you can walk as we did along the front to Cabbage Tree Bay and Shelley Beach. Note – the normal ferry from
Circular Quay to Darling Harbour (for aquarium) takes about half an hour, stopping at
various points in North Sydney and elsewhere on the way. You could probably walk it
just as fast, but there is a quicker ferry once an hour. We ate at Doyles
on Circular Quay – very good food and fantastic view across to the Opera House,
worth the slight extra expense. We ate cheap and cheerful at Zina Pina
(crowded) and the Observer Hotel (basic) in the Rocks – both enjoyable.
We didn’t do so well at the Imperial Peking on the quay – expensive, but
not especially good. One of the lesser known jewels of Sydney is the Queen Victoria Building – you must go
there, a wonderful Victorian multi level arcade, with two ornate clocks with
moving displays on the hour and half hour. The monorail around Darling Harbour
etc. is just about worth using, but there aren’t enough seats, and you may well
have to stand for the journey.
Cairns
Was quite hot (26C) and humid
when we were there, and it rained a lot. There were sunny intervals, but they
never lasted long. Cairns is quite spacious, and has a nice Esplanade with a
new free entry ‘lagoon’ pool – must be about an acre. It’s also very touristy.
We thought the best thing was the cable car trip to Kuranda – coming back by
the train. If you go to Cairns
you should not miss this – the cable car is amazing – actually three separate
sections amounting to nearly 5 miles length. The pylons were all dropped in by
helicopter to avoid disturbing the rain forest. Most people are in Cairns for the barrier reef – I took a trip with Reef
Magic, who were recommended as being small enough to give personal service,
and they were a nice bunch. But their catamaran was not as big as the large
operators, and boy, did it bounce around in the 20-25 knot winds. Several
people were sick, and one poor lady was quite distraught. I’m glad my wife
didn’t come – she would have hated it. The snorkelling was very impressive, I’m
glad I did it, but I’m not sure it was really worth it – the trip each way is
over 2 hours, and is not very enjoyable. I wanted to go to Green Island, but was advised that the winds would stir up the
inner waters so as to make snorkelling not worth while. You really do need good
weather to enjoy this coast, and we didn’t get it.
Brisbane
We only spent a day here, as
we were staying with relatives in Kingscliff – a couple of hours south, and
into NSW. Brisbane was pretty hot, but not too bad. There is a very nice
walk along the south side of the river, with a series of parks and gardens.
Once again there is a good Botanic Garden, to the north of the river, which is
well worth seeing. Brisbane struck me as quite attractive, and I wouldn’t mind
going back to see more of it.
The Mountains
|
Balconies
in the Grampians
|
The Three
Sisters, Blue Mountains
|
Casterton
|
|
|
|
|
All the areas we saw were fairly
similar in a way. Though the snowys are the highest, they are all ‘old’ ranges,
with mostly tree cladded slopes – none of the majestic snow covered rocky
peaks. In fact we were a bit disappointed by the scenery in Oz – there are some
good sights, but none of the grandeur of Mount Cook in NZ, or Yosemite, or the Alps, and nothing as
beautiful as the English Lakes or the Scottish Glens.
The Grampians
We drove through some nice
small towns to the Grampians from the coast – Penola, Casterton, Hamilton, Dunkeld.
You had the feeling you were seeing a bit of ‘real’ Australia here – not many foreign tourists. We found the
Grampians to be charming – the hotels, motels and camp sites in Halls Gap are
tucked away from the road amongst the trees, so it seems very unspoilt. The
centre is nice, with a small but useful collection of shops with a mountain
village atmosphere. We wish we had stayed here longer.
The Snowy Mountains
Thredbo is a nice little
mountain village with some good walks, but our experience was coloured by the
weather – cloud and rain a lot of the time. I took the chairlift up mount Koziuskco and the walk to a viewpoint. It was OK, but not that
special.
The Blue Mountains
The views from Sublime Point
and the Three Sisters are very good – worth coming for, but the area was very
busy as it happened to be Easter, and a lot of people come out from Sydney. Apart from ogling the views there isn’t a great deal
to do. There are a number of walks, but often involve a lot of ascending and
descending – a bit too much for us.
The Coasts
|
Twelve
Apostles, Great Ocean Road
|
Noosa Blue
Resort
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Great Ocean Road
Warrnambool has a few attractions – the maritime museum on Flagstaff
Hill is worth a visit, and ‘Fish Tales’ does good fish and chips and some good
white wines, but that’s about it. There are two very different parts to the Great Ocean Road – the west section isn’t very interesting apart from
the numerous stop off view points, which are pretty spectacular. Most are quite
quiet until you hit the Twelve Apostles, and then there are suddenly large
crowds and a big coach park. The weather here was quite variable, but luckily
we did get some nice sunshine, which certainly makes the views improve. We
stopped in Apollo Bay – more or less the mid point, and liked it very much – a nice small
quiet seaside town, with some good eating places – we enjoyed Buff’s Bistro.
The Eastern section after Apollo Bay is a more spectacular drive close to the ocean, but
without the stops for viewpoints. We stopped in Lorne – a bit like Apollo Bay, but bigger and busier – didn’t like it as much.
The Queensland Coast
|
Daydream Island,
Whitsundays
|
Lorikeets
in Airlie Beach
|
Cloudy
Palm Cove
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Barron Falls, from Kuranda Train
|
Flowers in Kuranda
|
|
We stayed in Palm Cove,
just north of Cairns, for a few nights – it is a nice place, but the weather
was mostly bad with cloud, rain, and strong winds. Its also pretty small,
though with some decent eating places – Apres Beach was OK, but don’t
eat at the Novotel if you stay there. If the weather is bad there ain’t much to
do.
Driving South of Cairns, you
see an awful lot of sugar cane fields, with a few banana plantations to add a
little variety. We stopped at some fairly nondescript places like Innisfail and
Tully before arriving at Townsville. Townsville was actually quite a
nice place with a pleasant marina, a redeveloped Strand beach, and some good eating places – have a jug of Margarita at Cactus
Jacks and you should enjoy it as much as we did. There is also the
excellent Museum
of Tropical Queensland, with a super display of the Pandora and Bounty
ships, and another floor on mangroves and corals – go if you get the chance.
The weather here was great – as it often is, and this could be a good place to
base yourself for a few days, with trips to Magnetic Island.
Next South was Airlie
Beach, which isn’t actually a beach at all, just a jump off point for the Whitsunday Islands. In fact, the boats leave from Shute Harbour a few miles away, so Airlie Beach itself doesn’t have a lot to offer – very touristy.
Again the windy weather stopped us from going to most of the islands, so we
just took a 10 minute trip to Daydream Island, which was very pleasant.
The Whitsundays are expensive to visit because they are all owned by
corporations, or even individuals, so you pay for the island as well as the
ferry. The cheapest trip is about $50.
More cane fields, then Mackay,
which boasts a new marina – nothing special, and some nice beaches around Slade
Head, Blacks Beach – but no swimming because it was still stinger season. South
again to Rockhampton, a sleepy town with some nice gardens (Kershaw),
but not a lot else. We struggled to find anywhere to eat – it was Sunday – and
ended up at the Criterion Hotel, which did a very good steak, as befits the
‘beef capital’. Between Mackay and Rockhampton there is nothing – nada, don’t
let the maps fool you with names like Clairville and Marlboro – just a few
houses. On to Bundaberg, famous for rum, and once again nice botanic
gardens, with a good café. Trouble finding somewhere to eat again, but we did
OK at the Bundy Tavern with a Monday night special roast dinner for $5 if you
buy a drink. Amazing value for a heaped plate of good roast pork.
Now we reach civilization at Noosa,
with suddenly hundreds of tourists (terrible people), but understandable
because this is a really lovely place – beautiful beach (no stingers here), and
lovely walks through the national park along the sea. This is one place we
would like to go back to, especially staying at the Noosa Blue resort.
Finally, we were driven
around the Tweed Heads, Byron Bay, The Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise. The latter is a
little like Vegas, on a smaller scale, with large casino-hotels. Byron bay is –
or was – trendy and busy, but had some appeal. Some of the quieter stretches
along the Gold coast near Coolangatta are nice, as are some of the attractive
inland hills from Kingscliff around Murwillumbah and the river at Tumbulgum.
The Red Centre
|
Desert
Oaks
|
The Olgas
|
Closeup of
Uluru
|
|
|
|
|
So different,
so vast. Our coach driver pointed out a dirt track with an old oil drum – a
mail box which took 30 minutes drive to reach for the ‘station’ owners. Several
stations were over 2000 square km, one family owns land totalling 30,000 squ.
km – bigger than Wales. We passed over many
‘rivers’ that were completely dry – they haven’t had much rain around Alice for 2 years. One thing that
did surprise me though, was the number of trees and underlying scrub – this is
not arid desert, there is underground water. In particular, the desert oaks are
beautiful, graceful trees with weeping foliage. My wife complained that Uluru
is ‘just a big rock’. I suppose so, but it is rather special, especially if you
are lucky enough to see it in the rays of the rising (or setting) sun. I
particularly enjoyed Kings Canyon – so quiet and peaceful,
literally miles from anywhere, and the sky at night was fantastic, blazing with
millions of stars.