It’s very easy to start this on a positive note. The Australians are perhaps the friendliest people we have ever encountered. I would say 99% of the Australians we met were super friendly! We had one negative interaction with an asshole, and that was it!
The best meals we had in Australia were as follows:
#1 Attica – This restaurant in Melbourne is just super fun, and even more fun when you include another couple. Having our travel agent Kylie and her fiance Simon at dinner with us made it so much better, but this place is off the charts good. If you come to Melbourne, put this place on your shortlist!
#2 Fish at the Rocks – This small restaurant in Sydney is unpretentious and has the best seafood in the city! If you visit Sydney, go here. I think we were the only tourists….the place was filled with locals who knew each other. A great sign!
#3 Short Grain – This restaurant in Brisbane is some of the best Thai food we have had in years! We shared several dishes and they were all excellent!! Wow!!
Here is our list of things we learned about Australia:
1. There are a LOT of hotels that have laundry facilities included. We didn’t have to hit a laundromat for our entire 7 week trip. They not only have washing machines but dryers, which has not been common in other places like Europe.
2. As friendly as Australian’s are, they are not friendly to pedestrians. If you are crossing a street, even in a crosswalk, they will not slow down for you, and seem to have an attitude that if you don’t get out of the way you deserve to be hit. It was quite disturbing! This was consistent throughout the regions we visited.
3. We took 9 domestic flights during our travels, and we never had to show our passport or ID once. They only look at your boarding pass. It was odd! They even recheck your boarding pass after walking onto the plane! Also, you can carry-on as much wine (or other fluids) as you want on a domestic flight. It was very different from the US. We never took our shoes off, and only one flight had me remove my laptop. On one flight (coming back from Kangaroo Island) they didn’t even have a security checkpoint!
4. Uber is readily available everywhere and the drivers are super friendly! Definitely plan on using Uber!
5. Joggers are a huge issue in Sydney! There are literally thousands of them running in very crowded areas. I don’t get it…I was a cross country runner for years, and the last place I wanted to be was around crowds of people! Very strange!
6. There are shopping malls everywhere that are packed with people and people are buying shit! Amazon has not taken over here as of yet, so brick and mortar stores are still prospering.
7. Restaurants on weekends and holidays have surcharges for labor. You can expect a 10% surcharge on weekends and a 15% surcharge on holidays. The locals basically don’t go out on weekends! Also, every business here charges a 1.5% surcharge on each Visa CC transaction. Amex is 3%, so bring your Visa card!
8. Tipping is not expected, period. However, in tourist towns like Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane they make a big show on the credit card app of tipping. It’s quite interesting in smaller regions that they don’t even offer the option of tipping! Bottom line, they are trying to take advantage of tourists. Unless the service is particularly exceptional, I wouldn’t tip. They are paid a living wage here!
9. We stayed at several high end properties (Southern Ocean Lodge and Saffire Freycinet in particular), and the staff at these properties was second to none! They had people from France, Canada, Argentina, Brazil….you name it, and they were all incredible!! These places know good workers! The locals were also excellent!
10. I was not expecting to love the wine so much! There were several wines that really stood out! First up is Delamere Vineyards who had an incredible sparkling wine that we had on arrival at Saffire Freycinet! We had this sparkling numerous times during our stay. However, the best wine of the trip was a 2018 Domain A Pinot Noir under cork! Wow, what a great wine! The other wine we purchased was a 2023 Grenache Blanc and a 2021 Schiller Shiraz from the Barossa Valley from the Schwarz Wine Company. This was the best Shiraz we had in the Barossa Valley (actually the best Shiraz of the entire trip, and that’s saying something), and far cheaper than some of the crazy Penfolds and Henshke wines!
11. It was quite interesting that every Australian, upon hearing we were going to Tasmania, commented “Oh, we just love Tasmania”. I asked each of them why they hadn’t moved there, and they all said “it’s too cold”. Regardless, our 11 days in Tasmania were the highlight of our trip. We absolutely loved it, and it’s the one place that has me considering a return trip to Australia. It’s really that amazing!! If you plan a trip to Australia, Tasmania demands at least 11 days, but I would prefer more!
12. I was blown away by the musical talent at Lizard Island Lodge, Mason Lloyd. He was awesome! I mentioned a few songs we love and he actually had them down and performed them before we left! He made the dinners that much more amazing! Thanks Mason!!
We don’t have any major trips coming up outside of Sonoma County and Paso Robles wine trips. We intend to visit New Orleans with friends in October, but we will likely fit something else in before that. As always, thanks for reading, and I hope our experiences inspire some of you to visit where we’ve been!