Australia, New Zealand Travel Review: Great Barrier Reef, Museums, Gardens, Art Galleries, Hiking, 26-Day Trip

Review by traveler

jill g.

3.29.2024

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Australia

New Zealand

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

We really enjoyed our trip. For the most part, everything went smoothly.

We missed the Māori culture tour because our driver arrived much earlier than our scheduled departure time. That was disappointing, but out of our/your control. The railway trip was also canceled because of flooding. We expect to get refunds for those missed excursions. What is the approximate time frame for our refunds?

Our accommodations were nice. We especially liked the accommodations in Sydney and Wanaka.

We found the travel app useless except for the flight information. We printed off our own documents before departure. Some of the info as to where we were to be picked up was confusing. The drivers for the Great Ocean and Phillip Island tours were as confused as we were as to why we had to walk half a mile to the hotel for pick-up.

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

The hiking at all places. The Great Barrier Reef. The Aboriginal tour. The days on our own (we visited museums, art galleries, and botanical gardens). I hated the bus rides, but understand that is how you get to see the sites. However, there was too much time on buses!

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

We would spend more time on our own and stay at least two to four nights in each place – more doing, less sightseeing.

Travel Company Comments:

Hi Jill,

Thank you for taking the time to write a review. I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed your trip, although I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t feel that your trip was a 5-star experience. We processed the refunds that were due to you on the last day of your trip, however, banks can take up to 7 business days to complete the refund on their end, so you should receive the reimbursement any day now.

The Oasis travel app is a new system that we recently started using. Despite a few minor teething issues, we have had great feedback from our clients who have used it, so I welcome any additional information you can provide as to why your experience with it was less than ideal.

The pick-up location for your two-day tours in Melbourne was adjusted by our local tour operator to a nearby hotel because roadwork created excessive traffic delays in the area of your hotel, and would have added additional time to already long touring days. I apologize for the inconvenience, and I’m surprised the guides were not informed of the reason for the change. I have passed your feedback on to our in-country team so that guides may be better informed.

Thank you for your business, I have enjoyed working with you, and I look forward to assisting you with planning a future trip to one of our other destinations.