Where we stayed
From February 4 - November 7, 2002, Dan and Chris were on sabbatical in [mostly] Australia. This is a list of where we stayed:
NB: All prices are in Australian dollars. In 2002, A $1 was equal to US $0.54.
February 2002
| 3, 4 | United Airlines business class | 80,000 frequent flier miles | We were lucky to get these tickets; this was a very comfortable flightI have to admit, though, that I don't like eating with plastic knives. |
| 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 | Clarion Suites Southern Cross Towers, Sydney | $154 + $17 parking charge - 1 bedroom apartment | The first room we got was a dump, complete with burn marks on the lampshade. Changed rooms - the next one was OK. Wouldn't recommend the place though. |
| 12 | Gold Panner Motor Inn, Bathurst | $80, deluxe twin share room | Our first Aussie motel. Realized that a fridge and toaster are standard equipment in most, yay! |
| 13, 14, 15 | Mercure Grand Hydro Majestic, Bath Spa | $140, queen room with buffet breakfast | Tiny rooms, but it's a historic hotel. OK brekkie but nothing special. You could do better elsewhere. |
| 15 | The Oxford Koala, Sydney | $120, twin room with parking and buffet breakfast | Not very pleasant but great value for Sydney, really. V. handy if you need to hire a prostitute, apparently. |
| 16, 17 | Russel's house, Rozelle | Free! | No air con, but R. is a great host! |
| 18, 19, 20 | The Lantern, Thredbo | $100 - two bedroom apartment | The start of a trip to Kosciuszko with Neville, hence the two bedroom apartment. Great views! |
| 21 | Flag Inn Canberra | $120 - two bedroom apartment | Very plain concrete block building wiht basic facilities. Good value though. |
| 22 - March 6 | The Waldorf, Sydney | $129 - one bedroom apartment, including parking | Great location, decent facilities, all in all a great choice for a short-term place to stay in Sydney. Rooms slightly tatty but acceptable. |
March 2002
| 7 | Wangaratta Central Motel | $60 - twin share | Strong smell of insect spray, but that's typical of many Aussie motels! Clean and friendly, right in the heart of town. |
| 8 | MV Spirit of Tasmania | $440 - twin share porthole cabin, breakfast and dinner, and transport to Tasmania (with car) | Surprisingly, it was a smooth trip. OK buffet food, fun pinball machines. Cheap beer too! |
| 9, 10 | Mole Creek caravan park | $10 - unpowered tent site | Small, pleasant, near the caves and honey farms! |
| 11, 12 | Elphin Villas Motel, Launceston | $90 - queen room | Fab! Pleasantly phony Tuscan style inn. |
| 13 | Bridport Motor Inn, Bridport | $74 - twin share | Typical low end motel - concrete brick construction, nothing fancy. |
| 14 | Campground #2 [?], Stumpys Bay, Mount William National Park | Free unpowered campsite | Brrr! Realized my sleeping bag isn't warm enough! Replaced it with a down bag later in the year. |
| 15 | Heinous backpackers near Freycinet NP | $60 - twin share | What a fucking dump. Vinyl mattresses, terrible toilets down the hall, miserable. |
| 16 | Emerald Cottage [?], Richmond | $135 - cottage with kitchen and breakfast supplies | Just down the road from a great hotel with terrific counter meals. Realized I'd been eating too much the next day, though. |
| 17, 18, 19, 20 | Port Arthur Holiday World, Port Arthur | $95 - isolated two bedroom cottage, kitchen | Great location, could've used a heater at night though! Typical for holiday units, cabin only had a wood stove. |
| 21, 22, 23, 24 | The Savoy, Hobart | $135 - suite with kitchen | Brand spanking new hotel with luxurious suites. Lame-ish health spa in basement. |
| 25 | Dover Hotel, Dover | $60[?] - twin motel room out back | Smelled kind of bad, but the hotel had great food. Very 1970s. |
| 26, 27 | Russell Falls Holiday Cottages, National Park | $78 - two bedroom cottage | Funky 1950s washing machine, and a beautiful place to stay. Home to the Yalumba Rosé Experience. |
| 28 | Oatlands Lodge B&B, Oatlands | $95 - twin room | Built by an ex-pat Californian, complete with US-style light switches. Pleasant enough, stingy breakfast. |
| 29, 30 | The Strahan Village, Strahan | $99 - twin room | OK, nothing special. Bland and touristy. |
| 31 | Burnie Ocean View Motel, Burnie | $95 - twin holiday flat | Noisy, good view of the sea. |
April 2002
| 1, 2, 3 | Weindorfers | $66 - donga unit | Ugh. Not particularly nice - but cheap. Oven in donga kitchen v. tiny. Great restaurant though - excellent ratatouille! |
| 4, 5 | The Maldon Inn, Launceston | $110? - king suite | A perfectly decent B&B, although brekkie = some bread and Vegemite in your fridge. Cheapskates. |
| 6 | MV Spirit of Tasmania | $440 - twin share porthole cabin, breakfast and dinner, and transport to Victoria (with car) | No seasickness again! Yay! |
| 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 | Wilshire Heights Apartments, c/o Apartments of Melbourne | $86 - one bedroom apartment | Skanky 1960s flat from hell. Great location, though, and great value. You could do worse. |
| 14, 15 | The Duxton Hotel Melbourne | $125 - king size deluxe room with parking | Perhaps the most magnificent place we stayed in Australia, certainly up there with the best hotels in the world. |
| 16 | Flag Inn St. Georges,
Melbourne [now the Comfort Inn St. Georges] |
$112 - twin share | Feh. Decrepit, dirty, and disgusting. Very friendly owner, though. Home of the phone line that fried the modem in Dan's laptop! |
| 17, 18 | ? holiday flats, Foster, VIC | $80 - two bedroom holiday flat | Friendly owner, quiet and clean. |
| 19 | Lighthouse, Wilsons Promontory NP | $100 - two bunks in a house, BYO sleeping bag | Wow. Highly recommended, but you have to walk 24km to get there! |
| 20 | Best Western Mitchell Motor Inn, Bairnsdale, East Gippsland, VIC [?] | Fine place, great food, left our laundry behind (oops - they sent it on to Sydney) | |
| 21, 22, 23 | The Waldorf Canberra | $159 - one bedroom apartment, with breakfast | Swank new corporate apartments, very very beautiful. Extra friendly staff. |
| 24 | Stamford Sydney Airport | $210 - deluxe king size room with buffet breakfast and one week's parking | They even gave us a free bottle of very good red wine! The seafood buffet dinner was amazing, and the room was plush with a view of the runways... planespotter heaven. |
| 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, May 1 | Novotel Le Surf, Nouméa, New Caledonia | $2400 - package tour including hotel, flights, breakfast, and 3 dinners | A perfectly ordinary middle class resort hotel on l'Anse Vata. Not bad. Great breakfasts! |
May 2002
| 2, 3, 4, 5 | Medina Grand, Sydney | $165 - one bedroom apartment with parking and breakfast | Sweet! Got a balcony as well that accumulated interesting debris over the weekend... mostly cigarette butts, but also a dead bird. |
| 6 | The Cattleman's, Dubbo | $110 - triple | The room - which was OK - was permeated by some really awful floral odors. |
| 7 |
Clansman Motel, Glen Innes [alternate Web site here] |
$75 - twin room | Delightful owners, tidy room. Best choice in town by far. |
| 8, 9 |
Aanuka Beach Resort, Coffs Harbour [note: property has changed hands since] |
$175 - two bedroom apartment | Perfectly ordinary place, wildly overpriced. Did the Mark Bingham interview here. |
| 10 | Best Western Lakeside Lodge Motel, Lismore | $99 - triple | Ordinary hotel room. Great vegetarian restaurant in town though. |
| 11 | Goodearth Hotel, Brisbane | $99 - queen size room with parking and breakfast | Not worth the money. Tired 1960s hotel that looks like it should have been built in Brasilia. |
| 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 | Binna Burra Mountain Lodge, Lamington NP | $248 - twin room, no ensuite, with three meals a day and activities [e.g. naturalist-led hiking expeditions, abseiling...] | One of the high points of our trip to Australia, Binna Burra is a wonderful place to spend a week. I was hesitant due to the price but it's worth every penny. I want to go back. |
| 17 | ANA Grand Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, QLD | $120 - twin share | Nothing special, sadly. Only Japanese touch: over-packaged toothbrushes in the room. |
| 18 | Hotel George Williams, Brisbane | $78 - twin share | A YMCA, actually, with great, tidy rooms. Going back in December! |
| 19, 20, 21 | Carringtons, Brisbane | $125 - master suite | A gay B&B. Not too bad, although I wish they didn't have a dog. Great bathroom! |
| 22, 23 | Bunya Mountains NP | $80? - holiday cabin | Brrrrr. Freezing cold, only a wood heater. Owners stingy with wood for the stove. |
| 24 | Overlander Homestead Motel - Roma | $88 - double room | One problem with small town motels: if it's nice, the décor will feature pink flowers EVERYWHERE |
| 25 | Berkley Lodge, Mitchell | $85 - double room | Good God what a depressing town. Overpriced, dirty. |
| 26 | Albert Park Motor Inn, Longreach | $95 - double room | Clean, new, and comfortable. Great buffet dinner, only $20 extra. |
| 27 | Emerald Explorers Inn [?], Emerald, QLD | $120 - deluxe king room | Pretty swank place. Only splurged after seeing what else was available - the 707 Motel was scary. Book ahead! |
| 28, 29 | Takarakka Bush Resort, Carnarvon Gorge NP | $65 - tent cabin | They were kind enough to loan us a pot to cook our rice in! Last of the mystery Japanese kari raisu. |
| 30 | Best Western Tropical Wanderer Resort, Rockhampton | $90 - deluxe queen room | OK. Nothing more. Clean. |
| 31 | Eungella Chalet | $95 - master suite | Noisy as hell, bad food, OK view (only from the suite though). Historic property, but so what? |
June 2002
| 1, 2 | Coral Sea Vista Apartments, Airlie Beach | $95 - one bedroom apartment | Great view out over the harbor, but up four flights of stairs... |
| 3, 4, 5 | Ocean Pro (boat) | Part of a $595 dive package | OK boat, but never made it to the Great Barrier Reef due to high winds |
| 6 | Mercure Inn Townsville | $63 - twin share | Very basic motel room but close to McDonald's and KFC :) |
| 7, 8 | Holiday Inn Townsville | $95 - king room | A circular high rise with great views out over the harbor and a curious 'use this phone line' modem scam. |
| 9 | Malanda Hotel | Pricing: included in our Great Divide Tours 'Cape York' tour... | An old wooden country pub with amazingly great food (roast root veggies). As with most Aussie hotel rooms, hard to sleep due to poor beds, paper-thin walls [note: "hotel" == "pub"] |
| 10, 11 | Jowalbinna bush camp | ... | Decent shady sites, nice hot showers |
| 12 | Archer River Roadhouse | ... | Worst shower in Queensland, but decent sites |
| 13, 14, 15 | Weipa Camping Ground | ... | Little shade, tiny pool, dirty showers - but no other choice in town |
| 17 | Jardine River bush camp | ... | Love that smell of improperly buried human excrement. And flies! |
| 18, 19, 20 | Punsand Bay Resort | ... | Sandy, hot, no shade... and it rained while I was sleeping outside under a mozzie net! |
| 21 | Captain Billy Landing | ... | Where Dan accidentally broke his camera - lots of sand and high winds. And thongs! |
| 22 | Archer River Roadhouse | ... | Get the Archer Burger - it's good! |
| 23 | Kalpowar Crossing, Lakefield NP | ... and the end of the group tour. | Hot, dusty, no shade. |
| 24 | Exchange Hotel, Mossman | $35 - twin share | Yet another nasty Aussie hotel. Home of indigent alcoholics begging for change at 5 AM. Good barra burgers though. |
| 25, 26 | Palm Villas, Port Douglas | $110 - one bedroom apartment | Great deal, but they don't have enough phone lines for modem use. Lovely owners. |
| 27 | Chillagoe Roadhouse | $45 - donga unit | Pretty basic stuff but what did you expect for $45? Toilet far away. |
| 28 | Undara Lava Lodge | $12 - numbered campsite | Great spot, but their lava tube tours are a total rip-off. |
| 29 | Croydon Council Caravan Park | $12 - campsite on lawn | Nice and green with great showers. Hardly the hellhole LP says it is. A pleasant stay. |
| 30 - July 1 | Adel's Grove, near Lawn Hill NP | $12 - numbered campsite | One of the best campsites on this trip... would liked to have stayed longer. |
July 2002
| 2,3,4 | Copper City Motor Inn | $99 - 2 bedroom self-catering unit | Swamp cooler in unit; not enough phone lines to use the computer. Friendly and clean, though. |
| 5 | Simpson Desert Oasis caravan park | $16 - en suite campsite | A truly heinous experience. Dirty, cold, sad, AVOID. |
| 6 | Birdsville Hotel | $90 - quad motel room | Much nicer than you'd expect; showers with hot bore water. Excellent restaurant. We had pumpkin soup and verdelho, shortly before getting completely trashed at the bar. |
| 7,8 | Cunyamulla waterhole, Innamincka | Bush campsite (Desert Parks Pass required at $85/year) | A lovely spot on Cooper Creek. Melancholy somehow. |
| 9 | Arkaroola | $12 - bush campsite | Annoying tourist resort; overpriced for what you got |
| 10 | Beresford rail siding, Oodnadatta Track | Free - bush camp | "Don't stay here if you value your health!" - Lonely Planet Outback Australia, 2002 edition (no idea why they wrote that) |
| 11 | Mud Hut Motel, Coober Pedy | $98 - twin share motel room | Best motel in Australia, hands down; Georgian cuisine at restaurant. Cheap VCR rental, good laundry facilities, wonderfully friendly owners. |
| 12 | Dalhousie Springs | Free campsite (Desert Parks Pass required at $85/year) | Extremely crowded (Victorian school holidays). Home of The Taj Mahal [the fanciest toilets in the Outback]. |
| 13 | Chambers Pillar Historical Reserve | $6.60 - campsite | Crowded, but beautiful. |
| 14, 15, 16 | Rydges Plaza Resort Alice Springs | $115/night - king hotel room | Run-down hotel; best in town. Used to be a Sheraton; now, it's more like a Motel 6. |
| 17, 18 | Trephina Gorge | $6.60 - campsite | Pleasant campsite, not crowded. |
| 19, 20 | Yulara | $24/night - campsite | Right next to the diesel generators at the Yulara power station! Welcome to Ayers Rock, where we'll make damn sure you'll regret not having spent $500 on a motel room. |
| 21 | Kings Canyon | $25/night - campsite | OK campsite, marred by American teenagers up at all hours of the night gossiping with each other in the toilets. Kings Canyon is worth the drive. |
| 22 | Redbank Gorge | $6.60 - campsite | A problem with bees at most campsites - we had to move our tent, breaking a pole in the process. |
| 23, 24, 25 | MacDonnell Ranges Holiday Park | $45/night plus $9 linen rental - budget cabin | Not bad, but not good either. Home of the d'Arenberg piss-up. |
| 26 | Daly Waters pub | $45 - twin share room | Typical Aussie pub room - OK, but you can't sleep due to thin walls. Here, we put up with a mother getting up once an hour to check on her kids in another room. - Beef and Barra special really delicious in the restaurant, and good beer on tap. |
| 27 | Best Western Pine Tree Motel, Katherine | $99 - quad room | First of the freezing swimming pools. Pleasant motel, very welcome after Daly Waters. |
| 28, 29, 30, 31 | Carlton Hotel, Darwin [now the Holiday Inn Esplanade Darwin] |
$126 - queen room | A wonderful hotel, but the phone lines don't work with modems. :( |
August 2002
| 1 | Marl campground, Kakadu NP | $11.20 - numbered campsite | OK campsite, near Ubirr, the best thing in Kakadu |
| 2 | Davidsons Arnhemland Safaris, Mt. Borradaile, Arnhem Land | $820 - twin share safari tent | Price includes 3 meals, tours, land access permit - still outrageously overpriced [the pricing seems to have doubled since 2000]. Beer and wine extra. |
| 3 | Jim Jim billabong, Kakadu NP | Bush campsite (free) | Crowded, flyblown, dusty, stinks of human excrement, but better than most other Kakadu campsites |
| 4, 5 | Lee Point Caravan Park, Darwin | $70 - queen room (no ensuite) | The only thing available in town due to the Beer Can Regatta being on that weekend |
| 6 | Victoria River roadhouse caravan park | $15 - unpowered tent site | Absolutely disgusting toilets, worthy of a Moldovan truck stop |
| 7 | Fletcher Creek, just off the Great Northern Highway | Bush campsite (free) | Just a wide spot in the road somewhere south of Turkey Creek |
| 8 | Purnululu NP [a/k/a the Bungle Bungles] | $18 - unpowered dusty tent site | As seen in Penelope Bungles to Broome! |
| 9, 10, 11 | Hidden Valley caravan park, Kununurra | $20/night - unpowered tent site | Crowded, hot, little shade, OK showers - we were waiting for repairs and had to stay in town |
| 12 | El Questro Station | $25/night - bush camp, no facilities | $25 permit required to enter station. Site wildly overpriced, horrible flies, no shade, but private |
| 13 | Silent Grove, King Leopold Ranges Conservation Park | $18/night - dusty campsite | Crowded as hell, but clean toilets |
| 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 | Habitat Beach Resort,
Broome [now the Habitat Resort - it's not near a beach, after all!] |
$131/night - 1 bedroom apartment | Pretty fabulous and great value for Broome. Lovely pool, good facilities. |
| 19 | Marble Bar Caravan Park | $16 - campsite, some grass | Friendly manager, pleasant town |
| 20 | Rest area on the road between Marble Bar and Newman | Free | Lots of loud cows! |
| 21 | Karijini NP | $10 - rocky, dusty 'campsite' (really a place in the parking lot) | Grubby and unpleasant. Home to Victorians with boom boxes. |
| 22 | Ningaloo Lodge, Exmouth | $90 - twin share | No phone jack in room! OK common kitchen |
| 23 | Potshot Hotel Resort, Exmouth | $85 - twin share budget room | Pretty decent room, better than their 'standard' rooms at $129. Overpriced seafood buffet |
| 24, 25 | Kurrajong camp, Coast Range NP | $10 - numbered campsite (no. 9 of 10) | Great beachside campsite, friendly hosts who gave us fish! |
| 26, 27 | Best Western Hospitality Inn Carnarvon | $93.50 - king room | Cozy! Funky 1970s ambience, complete with shag carpeting! |
| 28, 29, 30 | Tropical World Holiday Village Denham | $85 - one bedroom apartment | "Modern"(as per their ad) = 1960s concrete block, no phone, mice, 1950s washing machine, broken stove = SUCKS |
| 31 |
Muggon Station | $200 - Landscope expedition (ie, bush camping) | Who knew it would cost so much to do volunteer work for the WA government? |
September 2002
| 1, 2 | Best Western Hospitality Inn Geraldton | $100 - queen size room, with breakfast and newspaper | Exactly the same as the Carnarvon room, right down to the shag carpeting! |
| 3 | Kalbarri Beach Resort | $99 - two bedroom apartment | Great view out to the ocean! |
| 4 | Best Western Hospitality Inn Geraldton | $100 - queen size room, with breakfast and newspaper | |
| 5 | Hampton Arms Inn, Greenough, WA | $75 - double room | It's a bookstore! No, it's a hotel! |
| 6 | New Norcia Hotel | $80 - family room | Noisiest room in the hotel, sadly. Old, decrepit, cold. |
| 7 | Best Western Pinnacles Motel, Cervantes | $99 - queen size room | Beautiful motel! Not much to do in Cervantes, though. |
| 8, 9, 10 | Quest West End Apartment Hotel, Perth | $103 - one bedroom apartment | Fantastic value! Great bathttub. |
| 11 | Glenn's house, Busselton | Free! With dinner! | Totally unexpected. Glenn's the tasting room dude at Capel Vale. |
| 12, 13, 14 | The Old Bakehouse B&B, Cowaramup | $75 - queen with breakfast | Friendly hosts, OK accomodation. No windows in bedroom! |
| 15 | Best Western Pemberton Hotel | $95 - triple with breakfast | Rammed earth building, IKEA doonas, very cool. Good brekkie. |
| 16 | Tree Top Walk Motel, Walpole, WA | $93 - queen size room | Friendly staff, very well appointed room. |
| 17, 18, 19 | Albany Foreshore Apartments, Albany | $88 - huge studio apartment | Great location, comfy beds. |
| 20 | Valley Views Motel, Mount Barker | $79 - queen motel room | Best motel in Australia. Fresh milk, free movies, great room. |
| 21 | Stirling Ranges Retreat (= caravan park) | $59 - donga | Dirty, drab, hopeless. |
| 22, 23 | Esperance Seaside Apartments, Esperance, WA | $140 - two bedroom villa | Absolutely fantastic place. After staying here, I wish I owned a vacation rental like this one. Fantastic. |
| 24 | Wave Rock Motel, Hyden | $108 - twin motel room | Overpriced. Lots of German tourists complaining about their wives in the restaurant. |
| 25, 26 | Quest West End Apartment Hotel, Perth | $91 - one bedroom apartment | Same room as before! Yay! I love this hotel. |
| 27, 28, 29 | The Chifley on The Terrace, Perth | $89 - king size hotel room | Wonderful bed, great location. |
| 30 | Mercure Hotel Plaza Kalgoorlie, WA | $90 - queen hotel room | Fine breakfast, best in town. Easy to walk around downtown Kal from here. |
October 2002
| 1 | Eucla Motel, Eucla | $82 - twin motel room | Surprisingly good given the location - in the middle of nowhere. Definitely felt like going back in time, though. |
| 2 | Port Augusta, SA | $60 - twin motel room | By far the worst place we stayed of the entire trip. Dirty, horrible, rude management. |
| 3 |
Clare Central Motel, Clare, SA |
$99 - twin motel room | Wonderfully large room, great restaurant, friendly owners. Highly recommended. |
| 4 | Chateau Barossa, Lyndoch, SA | $78.80 - double room | Kind of a hole. Cold as hell, and they overcharged for phone calls. |
| 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 | Franklin Central Apartments, Adelaide | $104 - two bedroom apartment; parking $15/night extra | Scarily tight parking space, lovely room, good location. V. loud fire alarms |
| 10 | Best Western Limestone Coast Motor Inn, Mount Gambier [then known as the Red Carpet Inn] | $80 - queen room | Accidentally broke the mirror in the room... cold! |
| 11 | Best Western Magdala Motor Lodge, Stawell, VIC | $90 - king room | Utterly relaxing room. |
| 12, 13, 14 | The Duxton, Melbourne | $102.85 - economy twin room | Car was broken into; $1,500 worth of stuff stolen. Not fun. Not a particularly nice room, either. A disappointment. |
| 15 | Sovereign Motor Inn, Gundagai | $85 - queen room | Lovely new motel annex, breathtakingly clean. |
| 16 | Rydges Lakeside, Canberra | $123.85 - Queen room including fully cooked buffet breakfast and parking | Funky 1970s hotel with amazing green shag carpeting in lobby. Cool room. |
| 17 | Face and Sarah's house, Woden [Canberra] | - | |
| 18, 19 | Julian and Bill's flat, Sydney | - | |
| 20 | Best Western Wanderlight Motor Inn, Mudgee | $76 - Queen room | |
| 21 | Best Western New England Motor Lodge, Glen Innes, NSW | $77 - Queen room | |
| 22 | Hotel George Williams, Brisbane | $88.80 - Twin room, parking, and breakfast | Again, fantastic value! |
| 23 | Taree, NSW - I can't remember the name of this motel! | $80 [?] | Run by a Rhodesian immigrant and his wife, who were exceptionally helpful. |
| 24 | Hotel Grand Chancellor Auckland Airport, Auckland, New Zealand | NZ $113 - Double room with parking, shuttle from airport, newspaper | Kind of a strange hotel; far more English than Australia, somehow. Clean, friendly. |
| 25, 26, 27 | Crowne Plaza Hotel, Auckland | NZ$80 - parking extra. | Phenomenal deal on a brilliant room. |
| 28 | Baycrest Lodge, Taupo | ||
| 29 | Coromandel Court Motel, Coromandel | ||
| October 30, 31 November 1-6 |
The Waldorf, Sydney |
