Oz Trip

May 20, 2009

As I mentioned in the previous post, things have been quiet here for a while for various reasons, but one of them was I finally got away on vacation   Quite a long vacation in fact (a little over 3 weeks), but even that long was only just enough to scratch the surface and see the highlights of Australia.  Some photos are on my Facebook page if you want to view them, and should be open to all.

Flights

First thing to mention on this trip was that we booked our LAX to SYD flight(s) with V Australia.  I’m a big fan of the Virgin brand, and this was a new carrier – they had only started operations in February.  Not only was the flight really comfortable (and we lucked out with it not being busy both ways so we had window+isle with a seat free between us), but the red in-flight entertainment system is just simply excellent.  Both directions Tara and I managed to get a fair bit of sleep, and haven’t suffered nearly as much jet-lag as we thought we would based on the time difference (+17 hours).  Not to leave the best bit of info until last, but return flights were about ~$800 each, which was super cheap!

Sydney

Our first stop was Sydney, where we stayed 5 nights at the Marriott in Circular Quay.  Because through work I get loads of hotel points, this was practically free   First night we wandered around The Rocks, across the bridge and over to the Opera House (which was a little smaller than I imagined it would be, but impressive none-the-less).  In no particular order we went out to the blue mountains (rainy that day ), Jenolan Caves (very enjoyable), Bondi (disappointing), Manley (much better beach/town), Taronga Zoo (what is it with hopping animals in Oz?), and various other places in the city.

Uluru/Kata Tjuta

Next stop was out into the red center to see the big rock in the middle of Australia.  As the photo’s show, there really is nothing else!  Stayed at the Desert Gardens in the Ayres Rock Resort (there’s absolutely no-where else to say out there other than on of the places in the resort, so it’s a bit “captive audience”, with all the connotation of that).  The place was clean and of a good size though (initially I was a little worried about a few complains on TripAdvisor), so nothing to worry about other than the previously mentioned. 

We went with Discovery Eco Tours for our trips out because just seeing the rock(s – we did the sunrise Uluru and sunset Kata TJuta) isn’t right – the stories and use of the place are the interesting parts, at least for us.  The tour company as well only take small groups, so you aren’t just bussed around, but get to spend time with your guide and have a much better time.  Our guide for Uluru was Leroy who was fantastic – he was really knowledgeable, had fun with us, and absolutely made the tour special.  In fact, I think we probably stayed out over an hour more than we should have because we were having fun and Leroy didn’t seem to mind or have anywhere else he wanted to go.  That’s one of the things to bear in mind; other than the resort center and the rocks, there’s nothing else to do out there, so 3 days was more than enough for us.  A few tips if you do think of heading out.  First, I’ve never seen the night sky so clear before (the milky way is just spectacular without the light pollution and steady, cloudless skies), so head to one of the lookout points for stargazing when it gets dark.  Second, the Pioneer Outback is where it all happens at night – although it’s the “low cost” option, it’s the bar where all the backpackers and resort staff end up, so you have much more fun there than in any of the other hotels.

Melbourne

Another big city, but I didn’t enjoy Melbourne as much as Sydney.  As cricket fans, Tara and I had to go a do a tour of the MCG.  Went out to St. Kilda, and drove out to the Great Ocean Road (much like the NorCal and Oregon coastlines).  Visited Cook’s house, and over to the Crown entertainment complex at night, but nothing too special to write about.

Hamilton Island

The “main” part of the holiday though, and the one I splashed out a little on, was a week on Hamilton Island.  To make it a little more special, I had booked us into the Beach Club hotel.  I can’t say how great our stay was there, from getting picked up at the airport by Karina (who we became friends with and I must keep in touch) and giving us the guided tour, our room which was literally balcony-pool-beach-reef, and the friendly service of all the staff (they will even shuttle you around the island on their little golf cart buggies or come get you if necessary, although for us we rarely used that service because the place is so small it’s easier, and sometimes nicer, just to walk).

As that was the “relax” part of the trip, mostly it was laying on the beach, wandering around the island, etc, etc, but we did go out sailing (on the Banjo Patterson) out to Whitehaven Beach and to the reef where we did some snorkeling.  The wind was up that day, so it was a little rough on the way out (2.5m swell, ~25 knots wind), but we all survived.  Donning “stinger suits” to protected from the jelly fish, even though we were just out of season (better safe than sorry – gave us a little more protection, but made us all look stupid), we went off snorkeling.  Because of the wind, etc, there was a lot of sand in the water so the reef wasn’t as clear as it could have been, but still was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Tara managed to cut her finger on the reef, and despite one of the sailing staff cleaning it up and putting iodine on it, she was still terrified that some minute bit of corral would grow, go septic, and her finger would drop off!  Serves her right I guess for reading up and being scared of all the horror stories you can find on the net   After talking to the pharmacist the next day while getting some more dressings and hearing that if it wasn’t clean, and something was wrong you would *really* feel it within 24 hours, we calmed down and stopped worrying a little less)

Tara did catch me though doing some “work” on the balcony :\  I guess I can’t live without it for too long.

Brisbane

Only had a day in Brisbane to connect up with the homeward flight.  From what we saw of it, it’s a really nice city.  The Queen street district reminded us very much of back in the UK with a good “town” feel with all the shops, restaurants and nightlife centered around a couple of streets.  While there we went to see Star Trek (really good film) during the day, well before any of our friends in the UK/US going to midnight showing – man, we are such geeks.

So, we had a really great time and would certainly recommend both going to Australia, and all the places, trips and hotels we used.  It is nice to be back home though, with all the creature comforts, and I get itchy feet if I’m “away from it” for too long, although I’m sure that Tara could stay on vacation for ever

Posted in Trip Report