Peppers Moonah Links - Mornington Peninsula

Not exactly a business trip, rather a short family holiday
on the Mornington Peninsula but a review is warranted nonetheless.

Booked Peppers Moonah Links via RatestoGo for $190 per night for a 1 Bedroom apartment. This suited us as we had our 2 children with us and most places want you to book 2 rooms.

Peppers Moonah Links is a golf course as the name suggests but is located at Fingal on the Mornington Peninsula and is handy to many of the tourist spots such as Sorrento, Arthurs Seat, Cape Schank etc.

The apartments are located away from the main golf / function centre and they were of a very high standard. Very comfortable bed, nice bathroom, functional kitchen, with dishwasher, small fridge, washer and dryer.

The weather was pretty awful for most of our 3 day stay (cold, wind, rain) but there was plenty to do including mini golf, swimming pool, day spa etc

If you are thinking about a venue for a conference or team work event the conference centre looked to be quite well appointed and would probably be a good venue for approx 30-50 people.

All in all a very pleasant experience and a great value resort experience at $190 a night.

Bayview on the Park - Melbourne in September

Couple of days in Melbourne in September and stayed at the Bayview on the Park. Its located at 52 Queens Road straight across from Albert Park.

Accommodation was quite affordable at $135 per night when booked through RatestoGo. You also get free car parking and a mornging newspaper included in the price.

The room was a pretty good size and pleasantly furnished. The view over Albert Park from level 4 was quite nice and the traffic noise from Queens Road wasn't too bad. The bed was ok and the bathroom was functional, but a bit small and dated.

Biggest bug was the fact that some of the 'services' like in-room internet and movies didn't seem to work. When I queried staff the response seemed to be that these services were provided by an external service and there was not much they could do about it.

Despite this, the standard of service from the staff was quite high, they were friendly and helped where they could. I did get the sense that they may have been a bit exasperated by the state of the hotel or the management or something.

The morning breakfast was reasonably cheap and was ok. Although both mornings I noticed the levels of juice and milk on the buffet were low and the second morning the offer of coffee was a long time coming.

Overall I would recommend the Bayview on the Park as good value for money but not if price isn't a big consideration in your choice.

Four Points by Sheraton in Geelong

This week I spent two nights in Geelong and stayed at the Four Points by Sheraton on Eastern Beach Road. It is located right on the harbour across from the Pier.

Service was excellent. The restaurant was good, but I felt the menu was a bit thin. Preferred dessert option was unavailable both nights. Room was adequate size and had all the stuff I needed, TV, internet connection, good quality iron, well stocked mini bar, good sized bathroom, and a comfortable bed.

My only gripe is that at night when you turn the lights out in the room the black out curtains don't block out the light from the car parks very well and it was quite difficult to get the room dark. This was on level 7 so I am not sure it would be better on other floors, perhaps it might be best to avoid the western side of the building.

Here are some things you could do if you have got a bit of time to look around town:

Ford Discovery Centre
Something for the car ethusiast and history buffs, I was pretty impressed but was a little disappointed not to find a Ford XC Coupe in all the cars.

Lamby's Restaurant
If you are looking for a nice place for lunch or dinner then try Lamby's. Very nice feeling about it, service and food was first class.

Canberra Capital Executive Apartments

Overnight stay in Canberra for a presentation at a breakfast seminar with a flight out in the afternoon.

I got the 7-9pm flight into Canberra from Brisbane and given it is the start of winter I was expecting it to be cold. It wasn't really, I think Brisbane was colder, but it was drizzling with rain. Not enough to wet you. just enough to be slightly annoying.

I stayed at the Capital Executive Apartments on Northbourne Avenue for $169 a night. You can book it on RatestoGo for between $149 and $189 for a '1 bedroom spa suite.'

The reception was prompt and courteous. The room was on the third (of 3) floor and was first out of the lift on the left. Wasn't too close to the elevatr motors, but was worried when I found a little packet of ear plugs in the bathroom vanity basket.

The one bedroom self contained apartment had a small living room with a kitchette, bathroom and main bedroom. There were two pull down beds in the living room.

The kitchette was clean and servicable and the plliances were new/clean. The mini bar was extrememly well stocked with snack and drinks. There was also a larger fridge which would be handy for a longer stay.

The bathroom was quite large and had a shower over spa bath. Water pressure in the shower and temperature etc was great.

The main bedroom was a good size and contained a second TV. ironing board, clothes and bag racks. The bed was firm and comfortable and I must say I slept very well.

My only whinge was that the remote control on the tellie in the main bedroom wouldn't seem to work (flat baterries?)

Overall the accommodation was good value, a little tired in appearance, but of course not luxury. The 'executive' bit in the title might be a recall of its heyday in the 90's perhaps...

Presentation was all over by 11am and with the only direct flight out of Canberra to Brisbane at 5pm, I thought I would take in a couple of Canberra spots...

The CSIRO Discovery Centre at Acton. I had made some enquiries about booking the function centre for an event, so I thought I would check it out. It has a couple of different options to cater for functions for between 40 to 170 people. There is a section that has interactive displays featuring work that the CSIRO has / is working on that was quite interesting. The book shop and cafe were pretty neat (Doctor Who would no doubt approve of the little shop...) I found a book on insects and spiders for the eldest child and a solar powered car for the youngest.

Something Different in Koroit, Victoria

The Bank, Koroit

On a trip to regional south west Victoria I stayed in the little country town called Koroit at a place called 'The Bank.' Its about 5 minutes west of Warrnambool and 3 hours along the Princess Hwy from Melbourne.

I found it a really great alternative to the typical regional hotel/motel.

The building is a converted ANZ Bank circa 1920 with many of the original features such as the bank vault converted into the kitchen and the teller benches converted into a bar.

If you are looking for a high standard of accommodation for business, a romantic getaway, or a family vacation then this is an ideal little secret. At just $120 per night (check rates on their web site) for a well appointed B&B style place with 2 bedrooms, a large lounge area, a separate kitchen, and private off street parking its great value.

It would be an ideal base for doing business in the Warrnambool to Portland area. You are also easy access to fabulous surfing beaches, the Great Ocean Road, Port Fairy, The Grampians and the very interesting 'Tower Hill' the site of a dormant Volcano that erupted about 30,000 years ago leaving a funnel shaped crater, a series of 'cones' and a crater lake.

The Bank Koroit has a web site.

Things to do with a day in Hobart Tasmania

Sometimes in the hectic process of doing business for whatever reason and despite the best laid plans you can find yourself with time on your hands. When you do, grab the opportunity with both hands, see some sights, smell the smells…..

Some Food

Your number one priority should always to make sure that you have a good spot pegged out for a meal. That can represent itself in a lot of different ways, from fine dining to fish & chips on the beach. A nice place to eat can be hit or miss if you don’t have the benefit of some local knowledge.

There is blog site called 'Food for Thought' that gives you hundreds of reviews of the experiences of restaurants in Hobart and the surrounding areas of South Tasmania. Start at the web site where you will find a big list of restaurant reviews http://www.ritasbite.com/index.php and its well worth having a browse through some of the discussions on the blog to get some ideas.

I had a really nice lunch at Meadowbrook winery which was one of the highest rated on the web site. It’s around 20 minutes from Hobart in the Coal River Valley. To get there from Hobart you head toward the airport and at Cambridge take a left hand turn to Richmond. Follow that road for about 5-10 minutes and you will see Meadowbank on the right hand side of the road.

It’s a fairly unassuming building from the outside, but it’s an interesting experience walking inside. As you enter you pass through the cellar door shop and walk through to the restaurant which is a big open room with cathedral ceilings. Light natural timbers line the walls and ceiling, the floor is a matt polished concrete, and on the far wall a big cast metal fireplace and the room is complimented with several sets of wooden wine barrels on wrought iron racks.

Sitting down at the tables you take in the view through large french windows opening out on a panorama that spreads across the vineyard, to the scenic mountain rim in the distance, down across farms in the Coal River valley to the water, and right in the middle of the panorama, on a small hill, is a large (26metre) radio telescope owned by the University of Tasmania.

I’m no food critic but my experience was that the service was first class and food top notch cuisine. The menu offers an interesting twist, you can select a specific meal, or choose a selection of any, or all of the choices on the menu, in an appropriately sized portion. No different to a chinese banquest I guess, but nonetheless unexpected and refreshing option in a fine dining experience.

The chef subscribes to the freshness, taste and sustainability notion of ‘food miles’, or the importance of the distance the ingredients of your meal have travelled to be with you on the plate. BTW, the truffles had travelled the biggest distance at around 17,000 miles, still nice thoughJ

The Scenic Views of Hobart

I am staying at the Grand Chancellor which is in the middle of town right across from the marina and Salamanca Place. Hobart is a town with a thousand vantage points on a picturesque city and harbour. You don’t need to go very far to get to a vantage point. An easy 5 minute walk from the city up to the War Memorial will give you a nice view of the harbour, marina, Salamanca Place, bridge, and the city.

Getting slightly more adventurous you can take in the complete panorama with a trip up to the top of Mount Wellington. It’s about a 20-30 minute trip from the city to the top of the mountain by car. You can see the top of the mountain from Hobart and it can have snow on it at almost any time of the year. Locals advise to take a look at the cloud cover before you go, as quite often the top of the mountain is covered in cloud that obscures the view.

Along the drive you will pass hundreds of houses perched on rocky outcrops overlooking the city and harbour. You turn onto a winding road past a sign that reads ‘Mt Wellington 12kms’ and enter the national park. On the day I visited the trees were spotted with white snow and as you progressed up the mountain the snow on the side of the road gradually increased as you passed plenty of places to stop and take in the stunning views of the valley down below, and play in the snow.

If there is snow on the mountain, you may notice cars coming in the other direction with snow on the bottom of their windscreens, maybe even the odd snowman bonnet ornament! Seems it’s a bit of a local tradition to throw snow on the windscreens of cars. Why not adorn your car with a snow man too…..

Enjoy the views from the top.

Richmond

30kms from Hobart is the little historic town of Richmond. Quaint old buildings, little shops, cafes and boutique hotels. A highlight is the Historical Model Village. You can walk through an authentic model of Hobart in 1820’s. Little houses, figurines, very interesting particularly if you like a bit of history.



The Huon Valley

Driving South West from Hobart takes you to the Huon Valley, home of the region of Tasmania that gave Tasmania the 'Apple Isle' name. Grab a 'Huon Trail' brochure from a Tourist place and you can do a circular day trip that takes in Huonville, the town of Cygnet and Peppermint Bay.

I had morning tea at a cafe in Cygnet and a nice lunch at Peppermint Bay overlooking the water out to Bruny Island.

The Mantra at Kingscliff

Travelling to Kingscliff in Northern NSW this week for a 3 day Conference.

The pictures look impressive, the price quite reasonable.

You can book The Mantra at Kingscliff with RatestoGo for about $130-170 a night. Also have a stay for 3 nights pay for 2 deal at the moment.