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.