Australia: Discovery Down Under Meets Thread

[PrincessInOz]

Quite the opposite, PrincessInOz! We *love* it when people share information like this with us! The Meets threads are the perfect place to add some information for people planning a particular ABD. (Now, of course, I haven't read your blog yet. If someone complained that the contents were offensive or something like that, I'd have to investigate and act accordingly - not that I think they are!) But it's wonderful when the locals or people who have been there before give us the benefit of their experience!

Sayhello

Hmmm. Now you've got me wondering if I did keep that blog *nice*.


Hopefully, if no one complained about it whilst I was writing it, it should pass muster still.

 

[HavinABlast]

We were on this excellent tour December 2013. You will not regret taking this tour - it was fabulous.

I did want to pass along some advice (for good travel karma!).

When you are in Kuranda, you will have some free time to grab lunch and look around. What ever you do - do not eat at the Kuranda Village Cafe and Bar. You will waste all your time waiting for your (not great) lunch to arrive. I wish someone had warned us ahead of time. Check out the reviews on trip advisor and you'll see it is a consistent experience.

There's a lot of good info on this thread. If anyone has any other questions, I will be happy to try and answer them.

 

[pixiepirate]

We were on this excellent tour December 2013. You will not regret taking this tour - it was fabulous.

I did want to pass along some advice (for good travel karma!).

When you are in Kuranda, you will have some free time to grab lunch and look around. What ever you do - do not eat at the Kuranda Village Cafe and Bar. You will waste all your time waiting for your (not great) lunch to arrive. I wish someone had warned us ahead of time. Check out the reviews on trip advisor and you'll see it is a consistent experience.

There's a lot of good info on this thread. If anyone has any other questions, I will be happy to try and answer them.

Thanks for the head up. I will definitely make a note of this.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I am booked on the June 24, 2015 trip with dd who will turn 13 years old just before the trip!

We have booked our flights and we arrive into Sydney on June 20th (after a grueling 5 hour flight, followed by a 7 hour layover in LAX and a 15.5 hour flight to Sydney! We plan on heading to Queensland on June 23rd for a day exploring the area before the trip!

I really wanted to do China but dd has convinced me to do China when she finished 8th grade (2016) since she will have studied Mandarin for 5 years and will feel more confident with the language. Australia was her first choice for 2015 and she is super excited for snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef and surfing on Bondi Beach!

 

[Cousin Orville]

I am booked on the June 24, 2015 trip with dd who will turn 13 years old just before the trip!

We have booked our flights and we arrive into Sydney on June 20th (after a grueling 5 hour flight, followed by a 7 hour layover in LAX and a 15.5 hour flight to Sydney! We plan on heading to Queensland on June 23rd for a day exploring the area before the trip!

I really wanted to do China but dd has convinced me to do China when she finished 8th grade (2016) since she will have studied Mandarin for 5 years and will feel more confident with the language. Australia was her first choice for 2015 and she is super excited for snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef and surfing on Bondi Beach!

Sounds great! I haven't booked our flights yet. Still trying to decide where to spend our pre-days. Do you have anything specific planned for in Sydney?

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Sounds great! I haven't booked our flights yet. Still trying to decide where to spend our pre-days. Do you have anything specific planned for in Sydney?

I have booked our pre-nights in Sydney at the Park Hyatt (points!)!

We will definitely do the Bridge Climb. Other than that I'm not sure!! My sister lived in Australia for 2 years (1 year in the Bondi Beach area and another in Melbourne), so she will be able to give me some great advice.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Passing the time away before our 2015 Australia ABD. Gotta love Legos!

 

[WeLoveABD]

Passing the time away before our 2015 Australia ABD. Gotta love Legos!

View attachment 95673 View attachment 95672

Can't wait to hear more! We are planning to go in 2016 (waiting for the new dates)-- pls pass along anything you hear from the guides re any expected changes for 2016....have a great time down under!

 

[paddles]

Hi - I'm jumping on this thread because we've decided to go to ANZ this winter! Since this year works out better for the family in terms of taking a 3 week holiday, we decided to do it this year.

However, we're not booking ABD since the price has skyrocketed (we're not DVC members to get opening prices) and we'd really like to spend time in New Zealand as well. So, I'm planning the trip on my own (no escorted group tour), but will find local guides throughout the trip.

Anyway, I'm very excited and jumping on this thread to start the planning! We'll be doing lots of Lord of the Rings tours in NZ and will be spending NYE in Sydney!!

2 questions for folks who have been on the ABD trip:
- what did you think of the hotel in Cairns (Palm Cove)? Was it directly on the beach?

- what did you think of the Sheraton in Sydney? The location seems good, but did it feel far away from key sites (Opera house, etc.) and restaurants?

thanks!

 

[Grifdog22]

We are set for the June 18-28 2017 trip - which is the revised visit that drops Tasmania in their winter and adds the Australia Gold Coast instead. We are hoping to also slip over to New Zealand to see the glaciers, Fjordlands and the area around Queensland. I appreciate the information on this site - and would appreciate any additional comments or suggestions. We are most definitely doing the Bridge Walk in Sydney. With the surfing now off the ABD program, on our free time, my twin DD want to go to Manly Beach rather than Bondi to try their luck at surfing. For those that gave it a shot at Bondi, what did you think? We are hoping to add tandem skydiving at the Gold Coast, but the ABD location is less than helpful for that event - it may be done at the last day when taken to the Brisbane airport for departure, as the Brisbane airport where they take us for departure is more than 60 miles from the hotel they are using. Want to see New Zealand, but it is so expensive! I've appreciated Paddles details on her trip. Our family's interests are a bit different, but what we come up with keeps getting knocked off the planning platter as unworkable - and we may end up with some of the same things. We are keeping it to the South and Central portions of the Southern Island.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

With the surfing now off the ABD program, on our free time, my twin DD want to go to Manly Beach rather than Bondi to try their luck at surfing. For those that gave it a shot at Bondi, what did you think?

Manly beach is very easy to get to from Sydney -- just one ferry and a quick walk to the other side of the island through the "main street" with all the tourist shops. I can highly recommend Manly Surf Club -- the owner is friendly, helpful and super nice. There is a bathroom / change room directly beside his shop. The private instructor my dd had was patient and worth every dollar. Just so you are aware, my dd went quite far into the water from the beach and the waves were MUCH bigger (she was vertical on her board paddling out) many times (I'll see if I can post the pic I got of her -- not sure I remember how to do it lol).

Now to compare this to the ABD experience: really there is no comparison. They stayed in the shallow water and most of the kids in the group came in to shore on their knees. The waves at Bondi close to the shore weren't really waves, maybe small bumps. My daughter wasn't allowed to go out into deeper water and was not altogether happy with this "surfing" experience. Now I can tell that you that she had surfed in Hawaii, Manly Beach and Florida (again no comparison to Manly) before this and she is an avid snowboarder, which apparently helps tremendously with balance on the surf board (I don't know because I am a skier). I can't speak to what the Bondi experience would've been like if you had booked it on your own. I can also tell you that we took the bus to Bondi on our own pre-ABD and it is quite far from the city centre, but definitely doable.

So....if I had to choose between the two, Manly would win hands down. You can also purchase cool Manly Surfing School t-shirts from the small shop. To give you an idea how nice the owner is, I had forgotten (*gasp*) to charge my camera battery and it was dead when we arrived at the surfing school. The owner had a similar Canon DSLR and he took the battery of his camera and loaned me his to take pictures. If that isn't customer service above and well beyond what I would've expected I don't know what is.

Off to see if I can post some pics for you to compare the 2 experiences!

I didn't get any good pictures of dd on her board at Bondi because I wanted to visit the shops and when I got back they were wrapping up the surfing. Hopefully the pic I posted will show you how close to shore they were with ABD and how small the "waves" were.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Bondi:




Manly:

 

[Cousin Orville]

We are set for the June 18-28 2017 trip - which is the revised visit that drops Tasmania in their winter and adds the Australia Gold Coast instead. We are hoping to also slip over to New Zealand to see the glaciers, Fjordlands and the area around Queensland. I appreciate the information on this site - and would appreciate any additional comments or suggestions. We are most definitely doing the Bridge Walk in Sydney. With the surfing now off the ABD program, on our free time, my twin DD want to go to Manly Beach rather than Bondi to try their luck at surfing. For those that gave it a shot at Bondi, what did you think? We are hoping to add tandem skydiving at the Gold Coast, but the ABD location is less than helpful for that event - it may be done at the last day when taken to the Brisbane airport for departure, as the Brisbane airport where they take us for departure is more than 60 miles from the hotel they are using. Want to see New Zealand, but it is so expensive! I've appreciated Paddles details on her trip. Our family's interests are a bit different, but what we come up with keeps getting knocked off the planning platter as unworkable - and we may end up with some of the same things. We are keeping it to the South and Central portions of the Southern Island.

We did Manly on our own. As Groupie said, it's easy to get to from Circular Quay. If on my own, I'd go there over Bondi for convenience. I happened to be too cold to get into the water in July for our Manly Beach Day. The day we went too Bondi (a week later, it was chilly but tolerable). My DS and I had a lot of fun surfing, but definitely we weren't good at it. The teens in our group were by far the best. I'm glad you're getting the opportunity to do the Bridge Climb. It's an awesome experience.

 

[Grifdog22]

Manly beach is very easy to get to from Sydney -- just one ferry and a quick walk to the other side of the island through the "main street" with all the tourist shops. I can highly recommend Manly Surf Club -- the owner is friendly, helpful and super nice. There is a bathroom / change room directly beside his shop. The private instructor my dd had was patient and worth every dollar. Just so you are aware, my dd went quite far into the water from the beach and the waves were MUCH bigger (she was vertical on her board paddling out) many times (I'll see if I can post the pic I got of her -- not sure I remember how to do it lol).

This was terrifically helpful, and the pictures tell quite the story. My twin DD are rising high school seniors, so they will have just graduated high school. Both love to snowboard - so you have sent us in the right direction. If it's cold, they will wetsuit up. You have also answered my big concern about getting from the ferry to the surf school. If I may, I'll tell them of your glowing endorsement and recommendation and that their past customer service brought us to them.

 

[tufbuf]

On the Australua trip and so far everything has been awesome!!

Cousin Orville, how did you bring home that big giant Lego box?? Hand carried it?

 

[Cousin Orville]

On the Australua trip and so far everything has been awesome!!

Cousin Orville, how did you bring home that big giant Lego box?? Hand carried it?

Ordered it:
https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Creator...=1466654764&sr=8-1&keywords=lego+sydney+opera

Hope you're having a great time!

 

[tufbuf]

In LAX waiting for our flight home. What a fabulous trip!! Too bad ABD discontinued traveling to Tasmania, it's a beautiful island albeit cold this time of the year.

 

[Grifdog22]

In LAX waiting for our flight home. What a fabulous trip!! Too bad ABD discontinued traveling to Tasmania, it's a beautiful island albeit cold this time of the year.

I hope you will share details of your experience, especially for Sydney and Cairns! How cold was Tas? How was the weather overall?

 

[tufbuf]

I hope you will share details of your experience, especially for Sydney and Cairns! How cold was Tas? How was the weather overall?

We got really lucky with the weather. We arrived the day after the series of rain in Sydney. Temp went down to 48 in the early morning and 60s during the day. Tasmania had winter temps 30s to high 50s. Cairns is tropical so it is warm there even in the winter, 70s to 80s!

 

[tufbuf]

I'll see if I can come up with a TR. Cousin Orville did an awesome one last year so maybe not as detailed as he covered most of the details of the trip. It's an extremely active trip though, plain awesome!!!