Kimkim Trip Reviews for Australia

Excellent hotel with super easy access to the beach and shopping/ restaurant .

Impressive, perfect location and excellent customer service

Roomy, modern fantastic views in a great location!

Absolutely loved this hotel, the kitchen was very well appointed, living area was delightful, nice balcony overlooking a central garden courtyard that was so beautiful and peaceful. We were told there would be construction and to potentially expect noise, but we didn't experience any inconvenience the entire trip, in fact it was one of the most tranquil places we stayed. The rooms were large, nice closet space, heated floors in the bathroom! It was decorated so nicely that it literally felt like a home away from home!

Odd smell upon arrival, didn't feel particularly clean, beds were TINY and there was little to NO decor at all. Only positive experience here was the person at reception - she was very kind. Also - it was nice to have a washer and a dryer.

We felt very well taken care of and safe during the entire activity, and enjoyed every minute of it, especially the sense of accomplishment at the end!

The room we stayed was a 2 BR which was not needed for our family as our little ones are comfortable to co sleep so we only mainly used one of them. The hotel was very conveniently located near China town and had great choices for food and shopping at walking distance. The parking was very tight so mid size cars would need caution to park in and out. We did not use the free breakfast option since there were a lot of new places we wanted to try, the spread seemed like a standard continental breakfast.

Nice hotel with beach access and views.

We only stayed for a few hours overnight and didn't spend enough time. The apt/hotel seemed reasonably well equipped with everything like a kitchenette and separate living space and bedrooms.

The guided snorkeling we did was very good and the guides were great. Wish there was more time on the pontoon for activities.

Expensive but great experience flying over the GBR. It would be nice to have an hour at least on Whitehaven Beach since 30 minutes seemed too short

The train experience was good. There was some confusion about the starting time of our tour but it was sorted out and we went on the right one. There was no space for our baby's stroller which was a surprise and they hadn't mentioned beforehand that it wasn't allowed. We managed with putting it in front near drivers seat. There wasn't enough time at the Healesville Sanctuary to see the full park. This trip would be better if the guides suggested to have lunch before Healesville or if it was provided like a box lunch. The lines at the lunch places were long and there was no time for both lunch and seeing the places. The chocolaterie could've been lesser time. The driver didn't explain much in the drive and there were several wildlife on the drive which would've been nice to have some explanation for new tourists

This was a great tour but the weather was too foggy to see much of the place. The driver James had forgotten the car seat but was kind to make quick arrangements for it. He described the area well and gave input on general places to visit as well. James knew the area well and took us to good restaurants and stop points that were not crowded.

Great location, spacious rooms, but very basic/dated interior.

Location is perfect - right in the heart of town so everything (including beach) is a 0-5 min walk. Rooms are quite tight and one room had a bit of stench. Bathrooms looked renovated and clean.

Very comfortable hotel with a gorgeous view. Easy walk into town.

Great location, clean rooms. We had 3 tiny bedrooms (door couldn't close) and 1 bathroom and kitchen, and the living room was huge. Right next to harbor and town area, and many restaurants right downstairs or a few min walk.

Kids loved the animal conservatory and being able to pet and feed to koalas and wallabys.

Excellent staff, well equipped, lunch was surprisingly good.

Very professional transport guide. Van was amazing with reclining seats.

Train ride was ok but gondola was lovely. Spent a lot of time assembling with group and guide, getting in and out of the van and listening to him talk so we barely got 10 min to explore the village.

Loved the views, walks, wine tasting, seeing the town, getting some free time to shop. Our guide Beth was awesome.

Hobbiton is so beautiful and you don't even need to be a LOTR fan to enjoy. The village is very well created and the new Hobbit houses are adorable (my 9 yo wanted to move in there!) Tour is well organized and staff is very enthusiastic.

Guide (Andre) was very knowledgable and ensured nobody got left behind in our group of 13.

Loved this more than I thought we would. Each group gets a few minutes with the koala away from the others, so it feels private. Guides are knowledgable and friendly. The crocodile demonstrations were incredible and you see so much wildlife.

My kids were wild for this one! Super fun and adventurous. Well organized, proper equipment, and professional staff.

Hotel was great. Having the living room area was a nice plus. My only complaint was that there was no way to attach a Fire TV stick to the TV in the bedroom as there was no way to access the back of the TV given the way the TV was mounted to the wall. The kids really liked the pool and pickleball court.

The kids really liked the pool. We loved that breakfast was included, and it was excellent (the kids really liked the juicer). Balconies in the rooms were a plus.

Lobby was great - kids loved the foosball table. Pool was also great.

We were lucky to be the only ones on the tour that day. I know it wasn't set up as a private tour, but that was an added bonus.

The kids loved Moonlit Sanctuary - especially the opportunity to feed the kangaroos and wallabies. I note that our tour guide was nice enough to give a cup of kangaroo/wallaby food to the two families on the trip that had kids (including ours), which was a nice touch (it seems as though whatever membership his tour company has for the sanctuary includes 2 cups of food per visit). Our tour guide Josh, was great.

I have to give very high marks both to Vicky for not only arranging this tour in the first place (she told me she hadn't previously booked a Jewish Melbourne tour and didn't have a go to vendor, and she managed to find the most knowledgeable possible guide with respect to Jewish Melbourne and Australian Jewish history in general) and to our tour guide Shelley Cohney, who was absolutely fantastic.

The kids loved the Port Douglas Wildlife Habitat.

Great experience, although similar to what I was expecting given that I had visited the great barrier reef 20 years ago.

We definitely preferred the skyrail to the train.

It was fun to see this great public space, and a good thing to do on Christmas, since so many things were closed.

This was the kids favorite activity of the entire trip and it was one of the main reasons for the timing of the trip - I did the Bridgeclimb in 2004 and so I wanted to wait until my son was old enough and tall enough to go back and do it with my kids.

beautiful property with stunning, spacious villas. a bit bare bones in the rooms themselves i.e no room phones, not many outlets, but i think that's part of the charm. be prepared to walk or have a buggy/car as it is a large property. The front desk staff is absolutely amazing and accommodating. they provided excellent recommendations for local dining and excursions. unfortunately we had no hot water for 2 days due to a gas outage in the town but that was not their fault and they had the gas team come out as soon as it was up and running to get us our hot water again. property is about 2 miles from center of town but lots of shuttles.

great location to CBD. modern, clean room. included breakfast was a plus.

Not a complaint at all about this spot. Room was clean and spacious. beautiful views. central location. yummy included breakfast

Nice, intimate harbour cruise. the cruise takes you about 1 hr to a local spot on land for dinner, followed by a pre set dinner menu which was delicious and then a cruise back. definitely bring a jacket! crew on the boat was informative and very personable

we had a great time on this excursion. my husband and I both ended up with essentially private scuba/snorkel tours and my husband raved about his dive. there is alot to do on this tour with multiple options including scuba, snorkel, submersible viewing boat.

the little penguins are the best!! this was such a great experience. our guide stopped many times throughout our day to spot wildlife

nice day but not enough hiking. not a kimkim issue but the tour guide was not the friendliest

Bretts tours was great! he was super friendly, informative and it was a nice small group. the sky rail and train are a must do with great scenic views. the stop for a drink at a local spot in palm cove was a nice touch

our tour guide was amazing. sara was involved and informative. it is a long day but absolutely recommend

Amazing location, friendly staff

Amazing location (walking distance to the beach), had an amazing pool and friendly staff. We were there during schoolies so it was very loud at night. However, staff did their best to fix that.

Hotel was in an amazing location for exploring. Staff was extremely friendly.

Fred was an amazing tour guy and made the 11 hours go by so fast! He was extremely knowledgeable and loved telling stories! I also loved that it wasn’t a huge bus tour so it felt more intimate

Our tour guide was amazing, knowledgeable and friendly. He really interacted with my kids and everyone had a blast learning about Sydney!

An extremely unique and amazing experience. Friendly staff, great boat ride there and back, fun time in the submarine and then snorkeling. Everyone loved every minute of it.

Beautiful location. The room was comfortable. No beach view but a very well kept.

This is a very well kept property. Only 16 private tents. Treatment was of a six star hotel. Every single person called us by our names. Beautiful location and the experiences were unique.

Beautiful hotel and location was great. We didn’t get a room with a view and that was a disappointment because we were told the hotel had great views. We were looking at a back road and building. Service was good.

Great staff and activities were very pleasant

An unforgettable experience.

Long hike but worth it!

Nice boutique hotel and centrally located. However, the room we ended up getting was extremely small. Literally couldn't open up two suitcases at the same time.

The cruise was nice - food was decent. The duration of the cruise was perfect (not to long - my personal preference). The "sunset" part of the cruise didn't really exist -- the sun was still fairly high in the sky when the cruise ended.

This was one of our favorite activities during the trip. We asked for and got a private driver that was very friendly and knowledgable. The hike in the Blue Mountains was the best!

This was a great way to see a lot of Sydney in a short amount of time. The only complaint we had was that the final part of the tour was through a heavily congested (by pedestrians) trip on the boardwalk by the harbour. My wife and I both felt a little unsafe during this and I'm sure we totally annoyed numerous pedestrians. Probably could be easily solved by starting the tour earlier the morning.

Totally glad we did this tour - BUT felt a little unprepared for the skill level/fitness needed for the tour. I'm sure the "mountain biking" aspect of the tour was at the low end of average of skill/fitness for mountain bikers - but I felt a bit terrified during part of the tour (sharp rocks, narrow tracks, steep hills). I'm a semi-fit 60 year old that bikes quite a bit (albeit not mountain biking) and was pushed from a fitness perspective to complete the tour.

We saw dolphins (which was great!) though they were from quite a distance away. However, I was really looking forward to seeing the ship graveyard and picked this tour because of it. The tour guide decided to cut the ship graveyard from the tour - because he said we spent too much time looking for/viewing dolphins. We did have a nice trip through the mangroves. The tour guide was very monotone and did not speak very loudly. I'm sure most of the people on the tour gave up on trying to hear him - he seemed oblivious.

This was a big surprised - but we loved it. We never got the sense from reading the tour description that this was actually a tour of graffiti in alleys. Loved the artwork and the chance to see some sights you normally don't see walking through a big city.

Really have mixed feelings about this tour. We loved the sights. We had a private driver. The mini-van we were in was a bit run down. Both my wife and I had trouble hearing the driver due to the road noise from the van and the driver not speaking loud enough. The driver wouldn't stop talking even after we told him we couldn't hear him. We told him a couple times to save his voice and stop talking, but that didn't stop him. Since about 60% of this tour is driving, this became awkward at times.

One of our favorite activities on our trip to Australia. Both the railway and cableway were outstanding!

The boat ride was very rough and I learned that snorkeling isn't for me (neither of which is the fault of the tour operator). Many people we sea-sick for the entire cruise. We paid extra for the Gold Class VIP treatment with a private stateroom - and very happy we did this. The staff was wonderful. The food good.

Another highlight from the trip! We had a private driver who was very knowledgable. He actually walked with us on many parts of the tour which was nice. Never felt like his presence was intrusive. Newer mini-van. The only part of the day-long tour that was a bit of a dud was the one hour Crocodile Boat Tour. There were no crocodile sightings. The boat driver said that he had had several trips out with no crocodiles to be found. I don't think the other crocodile tour operators were having any better luck.

Housekeeping was poor

Different kind of rain forest !!

One of the best theatres in the world.

Worth the full day trip.

Very relaxing and good food.

A sprecial place to celebrate my wife's 70th birthday.

Over the top accommodation on the waterfront docks of Auckland. Amazing pool and the best spa I've ever been in a hotel. The cafe/bar was nice and relaxing, with a really wonderful local musician playing soulful R&B. The breakfast spread was spectacular and offered many healthy options.

Great location with fantastic lap swim-able pool and good sized gym. The room was clean and modern.

Perfect location just a block from the gorgeous 4-mile beach and a few blocks from downtown restaurants and shops. Easy walk to the pier to catch the boat for the Great Barrier Reef tour. The fans and AC worked well. The only feedback would be to change out the lighting from stark, overly bright LED overhead to softer white light and/or optional lamps. We turned the lights off most of the time. A night light would have also been good.

Very nice accommodation with great location near restaurants, lake and parks. The breakfast was wonderful and offered a variety of healthy options with fresh fruit, pastries, breads, chia pudding and gluten free muesli. We liked the convenience of renting e-bikes right from the hotel lobby, however it did take a long time for the staff to get us registered and set up. Still, they were super friendly, accommodating and flexible. One tip: The hand soap dispenser is very highly mounted to the far right of the sink, so I had to literally reach over and get on my toes to reach it every day. I would recommend making it lower, putting it on the sink or swapping the soap and the lotion (which is used less).

This accommodation had nice views of the lake and gondola ridge, however was right on the main road so was quite noisy. The temperature was quite cold when we arrived and the room was very cool, as if not used for some time. The main wall heater did not put out much heat so took a long time to warm the room and keep it warm. The bathroom and bedroom heaters worked much better. The windows are not well insulated, so the heat was not retained especially at night. Thankfully it warmed up and the sun warmed the room in the afternoons. If it was raining or snowing, we would have been uncomfortable in the room. The breakfast spread was very good with lots of variety and healthy choices.

Beautiful hotel in a perfect location near the Rocks. Just 2 blocks from my company's office which was a pleasant bonus as I was meeting friends there while visiting. Everything about the hotel was wonderful. Gorgeous pool area (albeit not a lap pool unfortunately). The hot tub and sauna could have been hotter. The gym was very small for a hotel this size. Breakfast was very good and a lot of food. Good strong coffee drinks.

I didn't know before the tour what the penguin parade was all about, and this ended up to be one of the highlights of my entire 21-day vacation! The boxes beach was interesting. The wildlife park was ok, nothing special. However, once we got out to Philip Island everything changed. The views are spectacular. We saw dozens of wild wallabees and sea birds. Our tour guide was fun and informative. Even getting in late after 11pm, it was worth it. I would have only preferred more time at the penguin information center/shops as we only had maybe 10-15 mins to look around including using the restroom. There were some nice exhibits I would have liked to read through in more detail.

Wished the glowworm cave experience was longer and the Hobbiton experience was shorter. Ideally, Hobbiton as a self-guided tour would have been much better. Our guide had over 30! people in the group so we had wait for everyone to take photos and selfies (ugh) before moving on to the next attraction. I would suggest smaller groups and a self-guided option. We had to suffer through a long time before getting to the restrooms and something to drink at the end.

Gorgeous rainforest with a very informative and personable guide who knew every tree, fern, bird and bit of the ecosystem. Very interesting Maori center. A little more time at the center would have been nice. Nice light hike. Spectacular black sand beach walk without shoes and to see the magnetic essence of the sand. Not too much bus time so all in all a good trip. There was one trail I would have preferred to go down farther, but the guides cut it short due to warm weather. That was a disappointment.

Old charm. Very centrally located. Good service.

Many staff spoke English poorly and communication was difficult.

This hotel is centrally located. Hotel personnel where very helpful. It's easy to walk to our parts of the city. Chinatown is right across the street. I would definitely recommend this hotel.

Dave was fantastic

Allister was fantastic