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 DubaiPerth 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.

 

 The Cyclades

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