The hits and the pits *UPDATED* (Hotels in Australia in general)

Member Name: MGirl

Product:	Hotels in Australia in general
Date:	05/08/02 (90 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Friendly Hostel, Ozzie Pozzie, Ryan's Rest

Disadvantages: Ausitel

Australia offers some pretty good hostel accommodation but also some real dross. The best hostel we stayed in was in Hervey Bay. For those of you unfamiliar with Australia, Hervey Bay is the jumping off point for Fraser Island, but don’t jump off just yet! People miss out a bit on Hervey Bay by being talked into leaving as soon as they’ve arrived, despite the fantastic, quiet beach and great seafood. Resist the urge to leave and stay at the “Friendly Hostel” for a few days. All of their rooms (which vary from doubles to 3 bed share rooms, no bunks) are organised into small flats. This means that there are never more than about 8 people using the facilities at any time. If you’ve stayed in a hostel of 100 or more with 1 television and 1 kitchen (which isn’t uncommon) then you’ll know how important this is. What’s more your food never gets stolen because it just tends to attract a nicer type of person. 5 stars

Another favourite was “Ozzie Pozzie” in Port Macquarie. We stayed in the small dorm rooms there, maximum of 5 people. There’s not a hell of a lot to do in Port Macquarie but it’s all very pretty. The hostel has great facilities including free cereal, tea and coffee, hammocks, free shuttle bus and a cute cat and dog. They even organised a free trip to a vineyard for us while we were there but had to cancel because no one else was interested! Do these people call themselves backpackers or what? 4 and a half stars

The next favourite and our final hostel in Australia was “Ryan’s Rest” in Cairns. It was in a beautiful old Queenslander (wooden building with verandas). We had a fantastic double room and it really felt like a hotel rather than a hostel. They have two bathrooms per floor (very important) and a nice kitchen and dining area. My only gripe is no TV and no real lounge upstairs. Having said that, I’d stay upstairs if you can be
cause downstairs is a little dark. 4 stars

We stayed in a few mediocre places but the worst by far was Ausitel in Coffs Harbour. Never stay in this place. They don’t bother checking the state of the rooms when people have left so we got into our dorm room which was too messy and dirty to do anything more than put our backpacks on our beds (once we’d figured out which weren’t being used). The occupants did come in and clear up a bit after a while to be fair. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We saw some people we met in Newcastle and they told us they had a resident mouse in their room. We looked at the kitchen though and it was the most disgustingly dirty kitchen I have ever seen. It supposedly got cleaned every day, yeah right. We booked the next leg of our journey for 6am, so we ended up staying for less than 12 hours. Ausitel had the last laugh though. When I put some bread in the toaster in the morning, about 15 cockroaches ran out from underneath.

What’s annoying is Ausitel gets really good or reasonable write ups in guidebooks. I found out why, there was a sign on the wall saying “if you write a good review for Rough Guide or Lonely Planet and forward it to us, we will give you free internet access.” Personally, I don’t know whether to be disgusted at them or disgusted at the people who have obviously taken them up on their offer. 0 stars.

My best tip for hostelling in Australia is to pick up the black and white guide. You’ll see it around. The hostels in it can be variable but you do escape the big soulless monstrosities, staying in a pseudo University Hall of Residence is not the point of backpacking after all.

** UPDATE **

It suddenly occurred to me that I’d forgotten to talk about the first hostel we stayed in when we arrived in Sydney. It basically summed up the best and worst that hostelling has to offer in Australia.

W
e arrived at 6am and unfortunately hadn’t really done enough research on Sydney. Most guides have a pretty big section on the city and I couldn’t be bothered to read through it all to find the best places to stay. When we got to the airport there was a big display of all the backpacking options and we plumped for one called “Cooee” due to its proximity to a station and the fact they offered free airport pick-ups. I have nothing bad to say about Cooee itself. It suffers a little from its size but as big hostels go, it’s not bad and it’s pretty cheap for dorm beds. What’s more you have the honour of sleeping in the same beds used for the athletes in the Olympic games. Hey they probably got them cheap but it was a little bit exciting. They also give you 10-minute Internet access a day for free (and hourly charges aren’t bad after that time). There’s a free meal every night, which is stodgy but edible if you’re strapped for cash and something arranged every night if you want it. There is an old fashioned YHA depriving yourself feel about it though which didn’t really suit us.

Anyway, as we arrived we didn’t take any notice of the surroundings. It was early so nothing was happening and we were jet-lagged. After a snooze, we headed out at lunchtime and what a transformation! Cooee’s is in the centre of Kings Cross on Darlinghurst Road. For those of you who know Sydney, this is the red light district. The place looks like a Neon light salesman’s dream. Prostitutes freely ply their trade during daylight hours. I’m laughing about it all now but honestly, it can be a bit intimidating, ironically though, it’s men that get more hassle than women. Someone I met told me he had to leave Kings Cross because he was tired of getting his bum pinched by prostitutes.

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