Luxury Australia Vacation Review: Melbourne, Cairns, Daintree Rain Forest, Phillip Island, Fraser Island, Sydney Bike Tour

Review by traveler

Susanne P.

1.29.2015

General Info

Traveler Review

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

Australia

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

Our trip to Australia was one of the best we´ve ever done. All the travel arrangements done by the agency went smoothly, the hotels they´d chosen met our expectations and we have no complaints about the transfers either. The time we spent in each location was just right and we liked the excursions too.

The agent listened to our requests and accommodated the plan accordingly. Changes that we asked for were implemented swiftly.

There were a few minor things that made me drop one star from the rating like a few excursions that we were interested in doing but they did not offer or were not able to organize (we organized them ourselves). Also, the tour to Philip Island was to include a visit to a chocolate factory which was actually not the case (according to the guide it had been dropped a few years back already). Also in Sydney the tour start time was communicated wrong on two occasions.

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

There wasn´t anything we didn´t like. To make something to stand out, I´d say we really enjoyed the northern part of the country, the nature is breathtaking and the exursions to Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest are well worth the trip. Our agent had booked the hotel in Palm Cove, which we liked a lot. Noosa is a nice beach resort and the trip to Fraser Island was one of the most memorable Xmas Eves we´ve had.

Don´t miss to take a guided bike tour in Sydney. Also very recommendable to rent a bike to tour Manly (much nicer beach town than Bondi). Bike to the end of the island and enjoy the view to Sydney.

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

Given that this was our first trip to Australia, there were no bad locations (Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns, Noosa, Tangalooma) and we truly enjoyed (almost) every part of the trip at its fullest.

However, I would not recommend Tangalooma. It´s an extra boat trip away and not really worth spending the time nor the effort. The "resort" is not that special and the dolphin feeding is definitely overrated. There were just two restaurants, the chinese one being the only decent one. Ok for jet lag recovery for 1 1/2 days but there are other locations w/ easier access to do that.

Also, to visit Philip Island, I would not recommend the whole day excursion we did. It became pretty clear that all the activities during the day had been built in the program just to fill the day. They were exaggerated in content (take for example the wine and cheese tasting) and they didn´t add any value to the real goal of the trip which was to see the penguins.

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Luxury Australia Vacation Review: Melbourne, Cairns, Daintree Rain Forest, Phillip Island, Fraser Island, Sydney Bike Tour

General Info

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

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

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

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

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