As per my first post tonight I travelled recently with she who must be obeyed to Port Lincoln South Australia. This place is a recent addition to the QF route map & for those who like to get outside the main tourist traps in AU one I certainly recommend. If you shop ahead you can obtain a OW fare from Adelaide for as low as $65 with the normal fare being $95 on QF & Rex. As this town is otherwise a 6-7 hour drive around the gulfs of St Vincent then Spencer from Adelaide I'd suggest the flight costs no more than the fuel in a car to get here.
The Port Lincoln Hotel is a 6 storey modern hotel (opened 2007) perched right upon Boston Bay providing a lovely seaside vista in this town of 15000 inhabitants. The local cruises to watch/interact with seals, dolphins, bluefin tuna & of course our Aussie Great White Sharks are not to be missed. The 4WD tour south to the national park to some of the tallest Oz sand dunes & best seascapes with local wilderness tour operator Phil & his 4WD is also a must do.
Back onto the hotel. I've been lucky enough to travel to a dozen or so countries over the years & have just about been everywhere of note in Australia that has an airline service plus more through business. I've stayed at plenty of Hiltons, Crown Plaza's etc.
I booked this hotel on Wotif on the cheap so not even a direct booking. For the first time that I've ever experienced the hotel called me a few days after the booking to ask me for my email address so they could send me tourist & hotel info/menus/facilities without my asking them to do so. Good start to great service! The room, I splurged on hiring an ocean view spa suite for only $210 per night. I've since found on Wotif it can be obtained for even lower at $190 per night. What we got was a 6th (top) floor corner suite featuring a very comfortable King Size bed, seperate lounge & dining areas & a massive balcony looking out over the ocean. The room also had a stocked minibar, 42" Panasonic TV on a swivel post so when relaxing in the massive seperate bathroom in the two person spa bath with viewing window as I plied the Mrs with champagne I was able to watch the world cup cricket on the TV & listen through loudspeakers fitted in the bathroom with a dedicated volume control available just for this room.
Dinner the next night featured excellent quality food provided with superb service
& attitude. The food didn't take forever to arrive even though the restaurant was quite full. By the way, Port Lincoln is unsurpassed at being the major seafood provider to Australia & the world so the excellent quality available was of no great but still a very pleasant surprise.
I didn't use the in room internet having my own Telstra NextG dongle however reception was 5 bars out of 5 & lightning fast. There's a normal priced bottle shop next door & the staff encourage guests to use it to save on in room grog costs. All shops are within a couple of hundred metres & the view besides above is the whole town north & south. Taxi from the airport are about $25 or $15 if shared & 10 minutes.
The Mrs was already asking me when we could come back again even before we left & I agreed whole heartedly that we would.
Finally the local council have already approved a new larger airport terminal building to be built. There's apparently a very strong chance the runway will be lengthened shortly to allow jets to land. VB (DJ) have expressed interest since 2008 about operating direct MEL/SYD flights & the locals told me that if it happens then the runway will be made to acommodate up to 737's so QF jets on top of the current Q400's will be likely in the mix.
I almost want to keep quiet about this place as it's so tranquil whilst offering so much. However the attitude of all the locals including the extremely helpful visitors tourist centre makes me feel I owe them a good write up here on AFF forums.
No doubt there's great places to be & see OS but why more people don't explore our own wonderful backyard is somewhat perplexing.
The Port Lincoln Hotel is a 6 storey modern hotel (opened 2007) perched right upon Boston Bay providing a lovely seaside vista in this town of 15000 inhabitants. The local cruises to watch/interact with seals, dolphins, bluefin tuna & of course our Aussie Great White Sharks are not to be missed. The 4WD tour south to the national park to some of the tallest Oz sand dunes & best seascapes with local wilderness tour operator Phil & his 4WD is also a must do.
Back onto the hotel. I've been lucky enough to travel to a dozen or so countries over the years & have just about been everywhere of note in Australia that has an airline service plus more through business. I've stayed at plenty of Hiltons, Crown Plaza's etc.
I booked this hotel on Wotif on the cheap so not even a direct booking. For the first time that I've ever experienced the hotel called me a few days after the booking to ask me for my email address so they could send me tourist & hotel info/menus/facilities without my asking them to do so. Good start to great service! The room, I splurged on hiring an ocean view spa suite for only $210 per night. I've since found on Wotif it can be obtained for even lower at $190 per night. What we got was a 6th (top) floor corner suite featuring a very comfortable King Size bed, seperate lounge & dining areas & a massive balcony looking out over the ocean. The room also had a stocked minibar, 42" Panasonic TV on a swivel post so when relaxing in the massive seperate bathroom in the two person spa bath with viewing window as I plied the Mrs with champagne I was able to watch the world cup cricket on the TV & listen through loudspeakers fitted in the bathroom with a dedicated volume control available just for this room.
Dinner the next night featured excellent quality food provided with superb service
& attitude. The food didn't take forever to arrive even though the restaurant was quite full. By the way, Port Lincoln is unsurpassed at being the major seafood provider to Australia & the world so the excellent quality available was of no great but still a very pleasant surprise.
I didn't use the in room internet having my own Telstra NextG dongle however reception was 5 bars out of 5 & lightning fast. There's a normal priced bottle shop next door & the staff encourage guests to use it to save on in room grog costs. All shops are within a couple of hundred metres & the view besides above is the whole town north & south. Taxi from the airport are about $25 or $15 if shared & 10 minutes.
The Mrs was already asking me when we could come back again even before we left & I agreed whole heartedly that we would.
Finally the local council have already approved a new larger airport terminal building to be built. There's apparently a very strong chance the runway will be lengthened shortly to allow jets to land. VB (DJ) have expressed interest since 2008 about operating direct MEL/SYD flights & the locals told me that if it happens then the runway will be made to acommodate up to 737's so QF jets on top of the current Q400's will be likely in the mix.
I almost want to keep quiet about this place as it's so tranquil whilst offering so much. However the attitude of all the locals including the extremely helpful visitors tourist centre makes me feel I owe them a good write up here on AFF forums.
No doubt there's great places to be & see OS but why more people don't explore our own wonderful backyard is somewhat perplexing.
