Drive inland nearly 300 miles north-west of Sydney and you'll find the town of Dubbo, and with it, one of the nicest sounding bed and breakfast accommodations we've seen for a while. The Pericoe Retreat gets full marks just for including the word "retreat" in its name, because that's what a holiday out on the land should be like, we think.
A recent Sydney Morning Herald review was very enthusiastic about Pericoe. It's a purpose-built B&B with four suites, a swimming pool and a tennis court, and according to the reviewer:
It is a benchmark by which other B&Bs should be measured: unpretentious elegance; down-to-earth hosts; meticulous attention to detail; and it's free from the usual B&B vulgarity. No chintz, no excess, no kitsch - just good taste.
Added to that, it has reasonable rates at around A$200 (US$180) per night with breakfast included, and the price varies a little for weekends or weeknights and over holiday periods. Of course, even that is not so cheap for a place relatively in the middle of nowhere in Australia, but if you're looking for a break from the big smoke then it's a good choice.
One fact that we think shows how many agree it's a good choice is that Pericoe doesn't bother advertising much--90% of their bookings come direct through the website and they think much of that is word of mouth. Well, here's the words from our mouth, too.
Starting out in 1912--that's pretty old for an Australian hotel--the Augusta Hotel has been housing holiday-makers on the south-west tip of Australia for almost a century. The town of Augusta has quite a big geographical claim to fame, since it's at the very spot where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet. Therefore the Augusta Hotel makes quite a big deal about having views "where the oceans meet":
Almost all rooms and suites have outstanding views of the ocean at Flinders Bay or the Blackwood River.
But do note that they only say "almost". The hotel has a number of different rooms, suites and self-contained cottages with a range of prices from A$85 to A$125 (US$70-$105). Apart from the views, this price gets you a fairly standard range of comfort, although they are quite proud (overly so, perhaps) of the free films:
Our comfortable suites feature all the amenities one would expect from a first-class establishment, including free in-house videos with all the latest release movies.
Not sure if they've thought about updating to DVDs yet. But surely the point of holidaying in Augusta is to have somewhere decent to sleep and then to enjoy the great outdoors and those two oceans.
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
In this episode, Hotel Maven Amanda K plans her Western Australia holiday. Enjoy.
I'm based in Perth, Western Australia, right now, and with a long weekend coming up in June I've been trying to decide where to head for a couple of days of R&R. Over here, people call the great wine-growing and gorgeous beach region south of Perth "down south", so down south it is. A place that sounds gorgeous--and unashamedly claims in its advertising "There is no finer escape in the South West"--is the Yallingup Luxury Retreat.
There are three choices for staying here: a studio garden pavilion, a deluxe garden pavilion with spa, and a luxury villa (which actually fits 4 comfortably). The deluxe garden pavilion sounds enough for me, especially as it features a wood fire (remember it's winter Down Under) and comes with a champagne breakfast hamper.
Word of mouth around the state is that this is a nice spot; we only found one registered web comment on this place, but it's a goodie:
The 2 bedroom bungalow that we stayed in was absolutely stunning (and new). Certainly the best accommodation I have stayed in while in Australia - Peppers, Four seasons etc.- and I am a hotel snob. I can still remember sipping red wine in front of a roaring real fire....I wish I was there now! Enjoy.
The other buzz point for me is the private chef: although you have to book a week in advance, if you do then a gourmet chef will come to your villa and prepare a perfect private dinner. Don't forget that Yallingup is in the middle of the Margaret River wine region, so you can have something fantastic to drink with your meal.
While checking out our recent coverage of hotels Down Under, a tipster passed along this suggestion, The Thala Beach Lodge located on a private beach between Cairns and Port Douglas.
The lodge won the 2006 TripAdvisor's Traveler's Choice for Best Luxury in the South Pacific and it's not hard to understand why. From our tipster:
Each room is a private bungalow on stilts, with meandering paths to the main building housing a restaurant and a lounge. There no doors, no windows (on the main house) Great pool area.
The reviews on TripAdvisor are also stellar with several saying the pool are is one of the best they have ever seen. And there's actually two pools here. The main pool has waterfalls, spas and grottos which overlook the ocean. A smaller more intimate pool is located among the hotel's gardens for a quieter experience.
Everything about Thala looks good to us--the private beach experience, the friendly staff, the anti-mega-resort feel, the proximity to the Great Barrier Reef and the nature that envelopes it--yet some of the decor throws us off. We are seeing some seat cushions on their website that have fluorescent colors from 1988. It reminds us too much of our Jams heyday.
With The Australian newspaper still dragging out the "it's the start of 2007" articles, their Travel and Indulgence section just produced a report on the hottest tips for Australian destinations and accommodation for the year.
Something that sounds like a good weekend away from Sydney is a stay at the Quay West Resort Magenta Shores on the New South Wales Central Coast (1.5 hours from Sydney)--play golf, jump in the spa or explore the nearby national park. But if you have enough time to get much further away from it all, they also tip the Bloomfield Lodge--a two hour journey from the northern town of Cairns, using a light plane, offroad vehicles and a boat! But it sounds like the ultimate peaceful retreat:
It has no roads, no cars and no crowds, so when the birds calm down, it gets so peaceful you can almost hear the green turtles blowing the sea out of their nostrils.
And finally, although Australia isn't exactly considered a number one ski destination (but it's quite handy because you can ski there when most of the world thinks it's summer), they recommend the Thredbo Alpine Hotel, halfway (and inland) between Sydney and Melbourne. So whether you're after beach, rainforest or mountains, The Australian team reckon they have the answer.
If you make it on any kind of World Top 100 list, you must be doing okay--especially when you're a hotel located as far away from most of the world as Hobart, Tasmania. Britain's Tatler magazine recently raved about Australia's Islington Hotel and Conde Nast had it on their 2006 Hot List, too. It's recently undergone a $3 million refurbishment and a new review described it as:
More a grand mansion or art museum than a hotel ... its walls are adorned with million-dollar paintings and Australia's oldest tapestry.
Sounds a bit like one of those hotels that you can't quite get comfortable in, for fear of damaging something that isn't yours. But once you do settle in, there's plenty of pampering service to keep you satisfied:
There is a 24-hour houseman on site, a personal chef to cook up any culinary request using organic fruits and vegetables, marble bathrooms, flat-screen TVs and an acre of gardens.
And there's a masseuse and a personal trainer, if you need some kind of physical lift. The location is pretty neat too, sitting in the so-called "Dress Circle" of Hobart with views to Mount Wellington.
Busiest bar in Bondi, models hanging out in the lobby, and most importantly a glorious view of Bondi Beach from 14 of the 16 seaside rooms--that's Ravesi's Hotel at Bondi Beach. The sea view rooms come complete with tall arched windows that open to the beach. Well, sort of. The beach is across the street. Ravesi is part seaside motel, part boutique hotel and guests tend to love it or hate it. Those that pan the place, usually mention poor service, and those that love it mention style, location, and private balconies overlooking Bondi--sounds par for the course for a trendy boutique hotel.
Back in HotelChatter's younger days, before our days were consumed with web musings, we use to take that blue bus you see in the above view photo from Sydney's Central Station to Bondi (a transfer happened somewhere along the way), do the cliff walk from Bondi to Bronte, lounge a bit, walk back to Bondi, and hit Fishmonger's up for some killer fish and chips. Ravesi did not exist during those days, but we can imagine a stop at Ravesi fitting into our Bondi routine quite nicely.
Oh, what? You didn't ask? Fine. Bonus photo of the Ravesi lobby post break, since you took the time to listen.
American couple and recently-active-bloggers Denise and Aaron have been blogging their way around Australia and New Zealand for the last few weeks, and their blog's given us a tip on a decent place to stay along south-eastern Australia's scenic Great Ocean Road.
The Best Western Great Ocean Road is less than ten years old and is found in the town of Port Campbell,a convenient overnight stopping place if you're driving past the cliffs and rocky sights like the Twelve Apostles and London Bridge.
We get two views from Denise and Aaron's blog, and they don't always coincide, but when it comes to the Best Western, seems like they're both on the same track.
HE SAID: Our room at the Best Western is outstanding. The bed is soft ... the living space is large and includes a kitchen area, and the bathroom is much bigger than ours at home. BUT ... This hotel doesn't have wireless internet for us. If it had, it may well have been the best hotel I'd ever been in.
And so what did the other half of this equation think?
SHE SAID: it's a beautiful Best Western. We have a huge room with a couch, coffee table, desk, dining table and two chairs, bed, two bed side tables, TV, and kitchenette - all of that with room to spare. The bathroom is just about as big as our entire room in Sydney. It's great. The only downfall is no internet :(
We get the point. Perhaps management will too, sometime.
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by amandak
American couple and recently-active-bloggers Denise and Aaron have been 
