Having Vicky help us plan this trip was one of the best decisions we made!

Australia | Jul 21 - Aug 5, 2025

What can I say? Having Vicky help us plan this trip was one of the best decisions we made!
Not only did she save us hours (honestly, weeks) of research, but she also handled all the logistics, organized our schedule beautifully, and gave us access to her deep knowledge of the best experiences, places to stay, and ways to get around. Our itinerary was always up to date, easy to access online, and packed with thoughtful touches that made the trip smooth and stress-free.
It ended up being the trip of a lifetime—and I truly believe that was because of Vicky’s recommendations, planning, and support. She didn’t just help before we left; she was also there for us during the trip, quickly helping us adjust our plans when we needed to make changes and answering questions along the way. That kind of support made all the difference. I cannot recommend Vicky enough!

And a quick shoutout to KimKim: I’d never heard of it before, but I’m now a huge fan. The platform is so easy to use—it kept everything organized, made it simple to share feedback, and let us keep all our trip details in one place.

For those who’ve never used KimKim or worked with Vicky, here’s how our planning process went:
* We started with a live call where we shared our vision for the trip—dates, locations, ages of travelers, and the overall vibe we were hoping for.
* Vicky came back with a detailed itinerary (no small feat since ours was 21 days across 5 locations!), including activities and options for each stop.
* We reviewed her suggestions online of the activities, left comments and questions, and fine-tuned until it was exactly what we wanted.
* She found incredible accommodations that fit our group of 7so that we could stay in a room with a kitchen, etc.
* She managed all the tricky logistics: multiple flights, ferries, shuttles and connections we wouldn’t have figured out so easily on our own.
* About a week before departure, we had a final walk-through of the itinerary, which gave us a clear picture of what was ahead and got us even more excited.

Overall, Vicky made a potentially overwhelming trip not only possible but joyful to plan. I know I could never have organized it at this level on my own, and her help meant I could focus on the fun and excitement instead of the stress. If you’re thinking about planning a trip in Australia, do yourself a favor—work with Vicky. You’ll thank yourself later.

Hotel Reviews

The Sebel Quay West Suites

The Rocks

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Adina Apartment Hotel Brisbane

Brisbane

Authenticity & Character

Location

It was easy to walk to our activities and close to restaurants. It was really difficult for the person dropping us off with our luggage though. The hotel has no space to unload.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Reef View Hotel

Whitsunday Islands, Queensland

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

So much space, great views, loved the Terrace! Some of the rooms are a little dated (broken tiles in bathroom, knicks in the walls) but the layout, space and views definitely made up for it! Oh, it had a really small table so we were not able to eat in the room (just in case that is a must for someone else)

Mandalay Luxury Beachfront Apartments

Port Douglas

This location has very high highs (interior and layout of the space and level of quality) but some low points that are unfortunate. No on site dining, limited staff support, a bit far to walk to everything and no elevator (which is only troubling when you have a lot of luggage). If we stayed here again we would rent a car.

Authenticity & Character

Location

No dining in this location and closest place for coffee was a 7 min walk. 15-20 min walk to everything else and no free shuttle. I don't know if there is a closer place but a meal option would have been nice. For others you may want to rent a car.

Staff

Upon arrival, person at the desk shared that there was a shuttle but never shared there was a charge. We were not prepared to pay 8/pp each way! She also was not very helpful with questions and only available limited hours during the day.

Cleanliness & Comfort

The room was beautiful and very well laid out with lots of space. The nicest interior of the whole trip! The only reason for the lower score is that they do not have elevators so we had to carry a lot of luggage up three flights of stairs.

Activity Reviews

Sydney Sights 4 hours - Private Tour

Sydney

Loved seeing Bondi and the walk before to get to the beach was amazing! Van was comfortable and Craig shared good information about the city.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Craig was limited in all that he could show us given the shortened time, but he did help us get to the Bridge Walk on time!

Transport

Sydney Opera House Tour

Sydney

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sydney Bridge Climb Summit

Sydney

One of our top experience of this whole trip! Highly recommend.

Quality of Experience

So well done - very professional and safe.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Nicky was AMAZING!

Transport

Blue Mountains Full Day - Private Tour

Sydney

This was one of the best parts of the trip, due is major part to Mark, our guide! He was SOOOO friendly, knowledgeable and overall great human. He was one of our favorite people to meet and so glad we got to spend the day with him.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Mark was truly the best! Highly recommend him! He was soooo knowledgeable and shared great history and stories. We learned the most from him!

Transport

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and Brisbane River Cruise

Brisbane

So glad we added this to the trip! This Sanctuary was so nice and the Koalas were the best!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Port Stephens Whale Watching & 4WD Combo

Sydney

Whale Watching was very well done and the Sandboarding add on was great! We had trouble with the van quality and timing, which brought the rating down.

Quality of Experience

The Whale Watching was 5/5 but the overall drive, etc. was a 3/5. My kids said the sandboarding was one of their fav activities, but we only ended up getting 20 mins because of logistics.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Jen was friendly but struggled. She couldn't find the Sandboarding location (it wasn't easily marked to her credit) but we went back to the same place three times before she asked for help, which made us late and we only got 20 mins of sandboarding. The Sandboarding was awesome but this very long drive with very stressful timing (almost missed the whale watching) made this day difficult.

Transport

Van was really tired and many of us got queasy on this drive because of how shaky the vehicle was. We also had lots of speed bumps which didn't help. We were in the car a very long time and it was in poor quality, so that made the overall experience poor.

Springbook & Tamborine Rainforest Tour

Brisbane

Quality of Experience

It was a lot of car driving and peculiar use of time. Like we drove through a neighborhood and stopped to look at kangaroos that were in someone's yard. Probably would not do this exact one again. The time in the village was too short to eat lunch and shop. The Glow Worm tour was cute and the natural bridge was amazing, but for all the driving and the wasted time, made the experience less than ideal.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Large group of people and large van. Smooth ride but the group size and amount of time in certain places wasn't planned well.

Whitsunday Islands and Heart Reef Scenic Flight - 70 minutes

Australia

One in a lifetime opportunity. So well done and amazing experience!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Outer Barrier Reef from Reef Marina - Port Douglas

Port Douglas

Overall this was a great experience, but I wish there were less people. There were not enough seats for us to sit inside, and certainly not sit together, and with all of the people everything took longer, which left less time to snorkel. The way the experience is laid out and all the options (like the marine biologist presentation and observation submarine) is wonderful, but the crowds were tricky.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Loved the marine biologist and her presentation!

Transport

The ferry was full so didn't leave much space and we didn't get to sit together. The ferry itself was really nice though.

Cape Tribulation & Ziplining: Ultimate Daintree

Port Douglas

Overall this was a bit disappointing. At times it felt like "going through the motions" and no real explanation or "guide". Would not recommend the zip lining for anyone that has done it in other locations. And the crocodile tour was disappointing. The boat was in very poor condition

Quality of Experience

Very short zip lines and some of the ziplining staff were not very friendly. The crocodiles were not very visible or present so that impacted the tour.

Food

I liked that we could pre-order, but I wish there were more kid friendly options.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Bus driver was friendly. Ziplining staff was mixed. Two of them were quite surly but the lady that took us was friendly.

Transport

It was in a large bus that was full. That impacted the day but the bus was in good condition and comfortable. The boat for the crocodile tour was definitely sketchy and didn't seem particularly safe (although the water level was probably not too deep).

Explore’s Half Day Hill Inlet at Whitehaven Beach

Hamilton Island

I have mixed experiences with this tour and would want to go to Whitehaven again but in a different way, perhaps a smaller group, easier tender process and longer amount of time. We only had about 30 mins on the beach by the time we got there.

Quality of Experience

The beach is amazing but we didn't get to see much, and we had to decide between the lookout or the beach. Also, they didn't really talk or share much about the island like it was described.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

tender process was a bit tricky, plus we had to wait which cut down a lot on the time at the beach.