Six of us did the Dubai stopover prior to the Amazing Australia tour. I've noted some of the problems we had, in a previous review. Overall, we had a wonderful time in Dubai, although we seriously underestimated the cost of living and were constantly running out of money and having to borrow off each other! We had an excellent city tour which gave us a very good introduction to the city. This was supposed to be a half day tour, but went on until 3pm, and was probably the best City tour I've ever been on. We didn't have a tour manager in Dubai, but the six of us enjoyed finding our way round and organising things by ourselves. Between us we had afternoon tea at the 7* hotel, had dinner at the tallest building in the world, watched a fountain show, and found our way around using taxi, metro and monorail.
We had another problem at Dubai airport. On checking in, we were told that the flight was over-booked and we would have to wait and see if any other passengers volunteered to go by a later flight. Not having a Tour Manager with us, we were left to fend for ourselves. A couple of our number found a suoervisor and insisted that we should go on our planned flight, as we were joining a group. After a very stressful wait, we were told that we could get on the flight, and were given vouchers of approx £20 each in compensation for the delayed check in.
We flew into Perth, and were taken to the Travelodge which was in a good location but which seemed a bit basic in comparison to the very nice hotel we'd stayed at in Dubai (the Hyatt Place Dubai). We had a welcome meeting where we met our Tour Manager, Brian Croft, who went through the optional excursions available to us.
We were now a group of 27, which was a manageable number, and we were all able to get to know each other - some sooner than others. Brian Croft was absolutely brilliant and really made the holiday for most of us. He was incredibly well organised, and the tour ran like clockwork. On the first day, he gave us all a schedule showing the timings, excursions and flights for every day.. He was a lot of fun and looked after all of us very well, including having to cope with a lot of sickness in the group. You couldn't hope for a better Tour Manager. He's a star.
We enjoyed Perth, and those of us who had opted to do the excursion on the Swan River and to Fremantle loved it. We had a nice wander round the market, and an excellent fish and chip lunch by the harbour.
We then flew to Alice Springs. We enjoyed seeing the Flying Dictor and School of the Air, but the town of Alice Springs itself was a little intimidating, with drunken Aborigines hanging around, some of whom shouted at us. Our hotel, the Hilton Doubletree, was on the outskirts of the town and was very nice. We had a brilliant evening with a bush barbecue, where we tried our hands at throwing boomerangs. We tried damper, which was made from flour, salt and water, and was cooked in the bonfire. This was surprisingly nice as a dessert eaten with honey. The unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks were an added bonus! Unfortunately it was a cloudy night and we couldn't see the stars.
Our next stop was at Uluru (Ayers Rock). We saw this at sunset in conjunction with a 'Sounds of Silence' dinner. This was a fantastic experience, watching the sunset while sipping sparkling wine and being entertained by a young chap on the didgeridoo. The dinner itself was an excellent buffet. The lights were turned off and we were given a talk on the constellations we could see. The following morning, we had an optional 5.15 departure to see the sunrise over Uluru. Virtually all of us opted to do this, and it was amazing to see it change colour as the sun rose. We then went back to the hotel for breakfast, and then went off again to see the base of Uluru with its caves and Aboriginal paintings. Our hotel, the Outback Pioneer, was a little disappointing,with no safes in the rooms and no free wifi.
We then flew to Cairns. Our hotel, the Mercure Harbourside, was very good, and some of us were lucky enough to have rooms with sea views. Cairns was a lovely town and I think we all enjoyed our stay there. The highlight was a catamaran to the Great Barrier Reef where we moored alongside a pontoon, and were able to snorkel, look at an underwater observatory, or go on a semi submersible which didn't actually submerse. Some of us went on a helicopter ride over the Great Barrier Reef which gave us some wonderful views. While staying at Cairns we were also able to go on the Kuranda Railway and see the rainforest, which was a fantastic experience. We also did a river cruise with the intention of crocodile spotting, but they were remaining determinedly out of sight.
Our last three locations were Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. Sydney was all you would expect, and a couple of intrepid members of our group did the bridge walk where you actually walk over the top of the bridge. We enjoyed a relaxing harbour cruise. Our Hotel, the Holiday Inn Old Sydney, was in a very good location in the old part of the town and within walking distance of the bridge, opera house and shops. We were also able to visit the Blue Mountsins, including going down into the forest area on the worlds steepest incline railway, and a wildlife park.
It was interesting to see Canberra, being the capital, but there wasn't a lot to see apart from the Parliament House and a war museum. Our hotel, the Mercure, was excellent and we had rooms with lovely little patio areas.
Our final stop was Melbourne. We flew there from Canberra. However that meant that we arrived too early to check into our hotel, so we were taken on a coach trip around what appeared to be the worst, run down, slum areas of Melbourne. This gave us a dreadful first impression of the city. We felt that it would have been much better to have done the journey by coach, and enjoyed the scenery, arriving at our hotel in time to check in. Our hotel, the Travel Inn, was at best "tired". The restaurant and bar were shut on Saturday and Sunday. The rooms just had showers, no baths. It was situated close to Lygon Street which was good for restaurants and cafes, but was quite a long walk from the main shopping centre. There was a small swimming pool, but the water was too cold for most of us to venture in. There were only 2 sun loungers and a couple of tables with chairs.
About half of us did the optional trip to Phillip Island to watch the Penguins cone in from these. This was once again a magical evening and not to be missed.
Our farewell dinner was on a Colonial Tram, the interior of which looked a bit like the OrientvExpress. We had a fabulous meal with unlimited wine, and it was a wonderful experience made even more special by our fantastic Tour Manager Bruan Crift who helped make the whole evening a lot of fun.
This holiday truly was 'amazing', and a few of us are in regular touch on Facebook. Some of our number have gone on to do the New Zealand add-on, or Singapire stopover. We would love to do another tour of Australia, visiting parts that we were unable to get to in this tour. Thanks very much to my lovely fellow companions, and especially to Brian Croft who looked after us so well, and worked so hard to
make it a truly memorable tour.
