stopping over in Mt Gambier ......

We recently had a one night stopover at Mt Gambier on our way to Kangaroo Island.......

Mount Gambier is the second most populous city in South Australia with a population of 25,200.

Located on the slopes of the mountain of the same name in the south east of the state approximately 450 kilometres south-east of the capital Adelaide and just 17 kilometres from the Victorian border, it is the most important settlement in the Limestone Coast region and the seat of government for both the City of Mount Gambier and the District Council of Grant.

The peak of the inactive volcano, the first place in South Australia named by European explorers, was sighted in 1800 by Lieutenant James Grant from the survey brig, HMS Lady Nelson, and named for Lord James Gambier, Admiral of the Fleet. The peak is marked by Centenary Tower, built in 1904 to commemorate the first sighting, and at 192 metres above sea level the landmark is the city's highest point.

The city is known for its geographical features, particularly its volcanic and limestone features, most notably its Blue Lake, parks and gardens, caves and sinkholes.

There is much to see in the area and well worth spending the time to do so. Unfortunately we only had the one night prior to continuing on our journey towards Kangaroo Island.

The blog post we did in February on 'planning' our journey to KI is located HERE.

I was anxious to see the accommodation we had booked at THE TOWER INN and to see if the expected 'customer service' was still there.  We had also received an email a few days prior to arriving to say they were "looking forward to our visit" and if there was anything else we required to let them know.

So this type of 'extra service' is quite foreign to Australian travel and it was a nice touch..... on arrival the receptionist was very pleasant and helpful and on entering our room it was as we 'expected' as we had booked the "Superior Deluxe Queen Suite" at $130.00 pn.  During May & June the price for the same room is $118.00, we paid the 'extra' due to it being Easter.  Our room was quiet, very clean, comfortable and well appointed with all the facilities that were available in the room which included a microwave, iron etc.

We would recommend staying here as it is quite central to the township and tourist attractions as well.
Helpful URL's ...

planning our journey to Kangaroo Island

Mt Gambier Tourism

The Tower Motor Inn


next blog post will be on staying at Cape Jervis Station!

neither simple, easy or low cost!

Planning a vacation is not simple, easy or low cost here in Australia....

planning a vacation?

Whilst living in SE Asia if you wanted to spend a few days away, be it Bangkok, Batam, Bali or Borneo, you called the hotel and booked a room.  Travel is simple in South-East Asia, with an extensive network of flights, buses and trains which usually didn't require much booking in advance and the same applies to hotels or resorts.

But in Australia it is neither simple, easy or low cost!

A couple of weeks ago we wanted to go away for the weekend. We tried five different towns all within 2 hours drive of where we live, every place I called required a 'two nights minimum' booking to start with, that is IF they have any accommodation available.  It was incredibly frustrating.  All we wanted was one night away, preferably somewhere quiet, comfortable & relaxing. I even started to wonder if the stress of spending 4 hours on the phone trying to find such a place was even worth it!

The lack of customer service here is appalling. True customer service where the manager of the hotel / motel has thought or care for the customer. As an example, I sent an email to a Caravan Park in Maryborough asking if they had a deluxe cabin for one night, they replied 27 hours later with just one sentence: "no we do not have any deluxe cabins left".  I replied back "do you have any cabins for the night requested".  23 hours later they replied "yes, we do have cabins available" .....

*face palm*

why didn't they reply in the first instance with something along the lines of "am sorry we do not have any deluxe cabins available, however we do have a basic cabin and we also have the superior cabin available"!

definitely a DUH moment!

We did find somewhere, but it was just a 3 star motel at a place called Newstead, not really what we were hoping for, but it was adequate.  (blog post here)

Now I am in the process of booking a 10 day vacation coming up in April. I should have logged the number of hours it has taken me to locate accommodation, book and pay same.  So far I am guessing I have spent at the very least six hours, probably even more.  We are not flying anywhere, no exotic accommodation, resort or whatever, no, this is just a driving holiday with a destination in mind.  But the hassle of locating a place to stay on the way to and fro has been more than stressful. 

But we are talking about Easter / Anzac Day break and here in Australia it seems that everyone and his dog - and cat - are out there traveling somewhere!  Yesterday I was looking for one nights accommodation around Penola / Naracoorte in South Australia .... I came across one where they required a minimum of FOUR nights! 

One I looked at called itself a RESORT ....hah, they don't even know what the word means .... it was no more a resort than the local boarding kennel, I asked why the 'resort' and was told they had a pool and a spa.

Whoopie doo!

Another was a B & B at Mt Gambier, I left a message on their FB page, I phoned five times and each time it went to an answering machine and no I didn't leave a message as I was in and out all day and didn't want to be taking calls while out ... five days later and I still have not rec'd an answer to the query I left on their FB page!

NOTE:  it is now 3 mths later and still have not heard from them!

But it is done. I have managed to book accommodation for seven nights at various locations, but it was not simple, easy or low cost!

I will document the process, so stay tuned for the next blog postings!

To start with, I had two screens running, one with Google maps / accommodation listings for the area and the other with Trip Advisor (my travel bible) and I systematically worked my way through every area we were traveling.

The destination being Kangaroo Island.

stay tuned for where, when and how booked!




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