About Australia Travel Agency Testimonials

We had a wonderful time in Australia and loved the convenience and quality product offered by About Australia. The food tour in Melbourne was great and our apartment was modern and lovely. We were very satisfied overall and thank Koda for helping us with our arrangements.

We wish to thank Chris & all at Aboutaustralia.com who enabled our recent trip to Australia & New Zealand. We had 36 vouchers, and in each case had no problem when checking in. We had one minor issue at the hotel in Napier, and Chris responded right away despite time difference, and it was due to a new hotel clerk not finding our existing booking, and was quickly resolved. Also, Chris responded over Labor Day weekend (really appreciated) regarding our visa status for New Zealand, and we had no problem, since the new visa requirement only happened after our visit. We stayed at 13 different lodgings during our 36-day trip, and it was interesting to stay in both hotels & apartments - all of good quality except for final one- details later. In many cases we were upgraded, so were very pleased with accommodations - however, you could do better than Victoria Lodge at Rotorua. While rooms were clean & owner provided good alternative parking for our vehicle, the "in-room spa" is really outdoors, would have to climb through a window to get in it. Although electric blankets were provided, heating was inadequate, and you could see through the cracks in the door! Owner was very obliging, but we still feel that there are better alternatives in Rotorua - there is an IBIS hotel etc.
All other arrangements were great, sited in good areas for tourism, and several hotels required parking fees since they were downtown, but it was great to be close to the spots we wanted to visit. Thrifty Car rental was great - got upgraded each time! At several locations, car rental stations are not manned all the time, only when customers arrive, a bit unnerving at first, but great when you finally find the Thrifty guy! Other car rentals are similar now, best to warn customers (especially at Greymouth and Wellington).
I am still arranging our photos, & we are preparing for migration to Florida: as soon as I have the best ones arranged, I will send them to you. We certainly loved the excursion to Kaka Point / Nuggets on trip from Dunedin to Te Anaua, would recommend it for more spectacular scenery!
Will continue later - Larry McKee

Everything went well from transfers to tours. We had a 4 hour hiccup with the first flight, but United and Qantas redirected us. We had an extra flight but missed only a few hours of our time on Gold Coast. Tours were a nice addition to the base tour. Wished we had more time in Sydney, but we plan to go back.

My trip to Australia was amazing! The hotels were impeccable, outings to the Great Barrier Reef and Walkabout to see kangaroos and koalas will last a lifetime. No fusing with transport to and from the airport as it was arranged.Thank you Ana for putting together a fabulous adventure!

I’m extremely happy with the trip that we had About plan for us. I told them what cities we wanted to go, what attractions we wanted to visit and that we were nature lovers. They planned the best tours for us and nailed it! I was also very happy with the smoothness of all the connecting flights and the shuttles to and from the airports/ train stations.

The trip was very nice overall. Very good communication process with About Australia in planning and setting up trip. Agents were pleasant, professional and helpful. The hotels, excursions and shuttles were very good except with a bad shuttle experience in Sydney with RedyToGo both to and from Airport and Hotel. The side excursions and tours booked were very good and well run, especially the Sidney harbor tour. The Australian people were extremely pleasant, and sights well worth seeing. All the vouchers were correct and easy to use. Plan on a 2-3 day stay in Sydney as it is hard to see everything with just a one day stay.

Overall we were very happy with About Australia and our coordinator Koda.

All the booking and execution of travel, transfers, hotels, etc went smoothly. The location of and quality of the accommodations in Melbourne and Caines were great, and we really enjoyed the tours we did in those cities.

We especially enjoyed the foodie tour we did in Melbourne. Monique, who ran the tour, was pleasant and very informative. We also really enjoyed the company that handled the Great Barrier Reef excursion. They were very organized and professional, and very helpful while we were on the boat.

We were not nearly as happy with the Sydney portion of the trip. The company that did the transfer to/from the airport had vans that were very small, where the passengers were all invading each others space. The Breakfree on George as a weird location given all the activity that occurs from the harbor, and the hotel was just okay. It definitely was not up to par with the hotels from Melbourne and Cairns.

The tour part that we did there was the hop on/hop off ferry ride, but the ferry schedule was not very conducive for us to actually spend time in various places. We ended up spending additional monies on the public transportation because of the limitations of the ferry schedule.

That being said, overall we enjoyed our trip, and Koda was especially helpful during the planning/booking process, as well as providing some needed help when we were actually in Australia.

Our Aussie trip could not have been planned better. The accommodations were all located centrally within short walking distances to restaurants and shopping, not to mention each one was ever so clean and the staff so friendly. The tours scheduled were just what we wanted to see and the tour guides quite knowledgeable. We got to see all the Koalas, kangaroos and wombats that we could possibly want to see on Kangaroo Island. Snorkeling at the Great Barrier reef was fantastic. We dinned at a restaurant on the waters edge in Sydney after dark and the lights on the buildings made an absolutely beautiful sight. Thank you Koda for a brilliant job! Well done!

All our vacation to Austria was planed by the agency and we were very happy to follow the schedule for each locations we visited. The schedules were easy to follow and it gave us a good opportunities to see all about Australia and histories.

Awesome,fantastic,wonderful not enough words to describe this experience. It was the best! Everything went smoothly not one glitch in the entire 3 weeks. All the tours, transfers were as described. Couldn’t have been a better experience.

Good enjoyable trip.
Melbourne:
Accommodation: clean, good location, easy transportation
City Food Walking Tour: OK
Philip Island Trip: Good
Ocean Drive: Good
Cairns:
Accommodation: clean, good location
Snorkeling: Good
Aboriginal: Duplicated day and trip events. Should have taken one, not both: the same thing, same casts.
Sydney:
Accommodation: OK, good location, easy transporttion
Hop-On Hop-Off Cruise: OK, not practical, useful
Hop-On Hop-Off Big Bus: Good over all city tour
Uber: very convenient

If people go and don't wanna stay they're crazy

My husband and I went to Australia September 2019. From the beginning of our planning process Melanie was great. Initially we planned to go on vacation in June but we had some conflicts so requested to move our vacation to September. Since Melanie was out of the office, Melissa helped us get everything organized. Melissa was so great and attentive as well. As our vacation got closer Melanie contacted us to get everything squared away with the visa and itinerary. Anytime I had a question Melanie was available to answer which made me feel at ease. Initially, we were very weary since we had used a travel agency when we went to Europe and that was such a mess but using About Australia was so easy. The hotels are just ok and nothing special but all of them are in a great location. Some advice for people looking to book this trip-The Sydney hotel is in China Town and if i were to have upgraded/ changed any of the hotels I’d change that one because the location isn’t too great and kind of hidden. Ask if you can change the route of cities...for some reason you fly Brisbane (south) to Carins (North) and back to Sydney (South). It may make sense to fly to cairns first. Also be aware that you fly into the Brisbane airport then will need to get to gold cost which is an hour drive...advice is take the train! The train is $38 per person and a taxi costed $150. Another thing I’d check is if you can lower the number of days in Carins and add those days to Sydney. I personally did not prefer Cairns too much...I didn’t feel safe. Carins has a good amount of homeless and Aboriginal people that are a bit racists. A few times we had them yell things out...personally I had no clue that this would even happen so just a fair warning.

The trip to Australia was amazing. The tours were well planned and interesting. A great value for the money.

I was very please with our trip to Australia. Although we had a bit of a rocky start, (lack of communication from About Australia), in the end, they delivered everything they said. I was very happy that we purchased the Tours and Transfers add on. It was well worth it. We did not have to worry about getting to and from the airport, finding hotel etc. The vouchers required you to call and confirm every pick up, which was a bit tricky, but even if we did not get through, our shuttle/driver always showed up. The Currumbin Sanctuary, Great Barrier Reef and Opera House yours were wonderful. I would definitely recommend booking the Tours and Transfers. The hotels on the Gold Coast and Cairns were excellent. The Hotel in Sydney was good, but not in the best location. Our room had a problem and we had to move, but the hotel and it's staff was wonderful. They took care of us. All in all, this was a fabulous trip and I would book again with About Australia in a heartbeat.

Every thing was above our expectations. If we knew better, we would have spent more time in New Zealand. All hotels were great except our hotel in Sydney which did not have the best location for our needs. Thank you so much!

Great travel services covering customized locations and activities. Transfers were seamless and
Accommodations were perfectly located with access to in apt.laundry needs at just the right intervals
for our three week trip. Couldn’t have asked for a better team in getting us flight changes mid-trip and
tracking our needs throughout. All for reasonable prices! Best of the best!

We booked flights, hotels, shuttles, and activities with Ana at About Australia.
The range of geographical areas and activities was exceptional
I highly recommend About Australia to anyone planning to travel there.

My travel agent Darin, did a spectacular job with my tour itinerary, everything was beyond my expectation. all the hotels and their staff, were cordial, helpful and full of important information. the location of the hotels was fantastic, everywhere I wanted to see or visit was at walking distance, it was safe which was one of my main concerns, Darin assured me that everywhere I was staying was safe and he was right. Darin, did a great job, I will definitely book with him again. he deserves kudos for the great job.

Koda was an excellent adviser and planner to my trip to Australia. She was always very professional, patient, informative and was careful to the minimum detail. I will recommend her with friends and family.

I have decided to use a travel agent to plan for my family’s trip to Australia, after trying to do it myself for months. I am glad I did. My agent was Ana. I requested her to plan a trip for us with the most affordable way to fly from San Francisco, to have city experience, to see the Great Barrier Reef, to be able to visit my good friend in Brisbane, and have wildlife experience. She came out with suggestions going to Sydney, Cairns, Gold Coast and Kangaroo Island. She made suggestion for me to fly from Los Angeles instead of San Francisco because it will save us $600-$700 per person. I agreed as getting a domestic flight from SF to LA is easy and much cheaper. Ana and her team prepared an entire trip package for us, from arranging visas, air and ground transportation, tours, and accommodations. Everything In the package was well explained and the experiences we had were flawless. All the private and shuttle pick ups were on time. All the services we received were nothing but 5 stars. We came home tired, but the great memories from all we saw and experienced without having to make great effort juggling around with transportation, accommodations, etc. are invaluable. Thank you very much for Ana and her team to make our dream trip unforgettable.

Our trip to Australia would never have been as successful as it was without the help of Koda from About Australia. Using an area specialist made all the difference. She set us up with amazing excursions I doubt we would have found it n our own. She suggested the Phillips Island trip to see the tiny penguin parade when I didn’t even know there were penguins in Australia—and trip included a trip to a sanctuary where we could pet a koala and feed kangaroos and wallabies from our hands. We were there on the coldest, wettest day but it was still worth it. The snorkel trip to the reef and the Daintree forest excursions were both awesome— the river cruise felt like I was at Disneyland but the crocodiles were real. Finally I was most pleasantly surprised by the Sydney harbor cruise. I expected something like the San Francisco Bay cruises that leave from fisherman’s wharf but this was more like boating with friends during college summers on Cape Cod. I even caught a bunch of fish (which I released).

We added a show at the Sydney opera house and the backstage tour on our own, which perfectly completed our trip. The only snafu was when a shuttle driver didn’t place my luggage in the van but I used this as an opportunity to buy some awesome new clothes in Sydney. The luggage showed up the next day and I will be making an insurance claim for the new clothes so all is good.

We upgraded the accommodations in Sydney which was well worth the money, we loved the Mantra2Bond for its location, cleanliness, and spaciousness.

Without hesitation I can recommend Koda from About Australia. We would have missed so much if we tried to book this on our own.

We recently returned from an amazing 3 week holiday to Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns and Queenstown (NZ) organized by Ana with About Australia. We could not be more satisfied with our trip due to Ana's attention to detail and organization. We are experienced travelers (58 countries and 6 continents so far) and like to balance "do our own thing" with occasional organized activities. Ana guided us and helped us build an itinerary that checked all of the boxes for us. Additionally, we were very happy with the value for money. All of our flights, hotels, transfers and activities were quality and exceeded expectations. The communication and attention to detail from Ana and About Australia was excellent. All of our transfers were on time and hassle free. Highlights for us included Ana's suggestion to stay the first nights in Sydney's Shangri-La overlooking the Opera House and bridge; Climbing the Harbor Bridge; 3 wonderful days with friends in Brisbane; Holding a Koala at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane; Scuba and Helmet dive in Great Barrier Reef; Shotover Jet Boat in Queenstown (NZ); Doubtful Sound day cruise (NZ); Mr. Wong's restaurant (twice) in Sydney; Madame Butterfly performance in Sydney Opera House; Coogee to Bondi coastal walk in Sydney. And many more! We are looking forward to returning to Australia/New Zealand again with Ana and About Australia.

This is my 2nd time booking with About Australia. It was a blessing to work with Koda this time around! She provided outstanding services all around from the time I phoned in to during the trip and the end of the trip!
Koda was very patient, efficient, and tried her utmost to meet all my travel requests.
I had a customized itinerary and Koda diligently and patiently worked with me on all my changes/requests until I was satisfied.
When everything was confirmed, booked in, and paid - I still had one change. Yes!!! We worked it out where I did not need to pay out any additional charges. Even during the trip, there was a snag, I contacted Koda from miles away, and she helped to relay my message accordingly. Though, it was not her fault, Koda Validated my concerns and apologized. She was very professional and polite.
All in all, Koda is amazing to work with!!! Most importantly, Koda delivers a tone of voice that is friendly, comforting, and easy to work with. She is not brisk, not abrupt, and doesn’t brush you off. (She does not sound irritated or annoyed with you when you need to make changes). Koda always sounds cheerful and bubbly!!!!
Thank you!!!!

We only have one time in Cairns where the shuttle missed picking us up because the flight was delayed and we have to wait for one and a half hour for the next shuttle
Otherwise, everything else was great! I will recommend it to all my travel buddies.

Ana did a great job of putting my itinerary together. She has great ideas for tours, the accommodations were fantastic, and it was nice to have transportation arranged to and from the airport.

Koda did a great job proposing and organizing our itinerary. She kept us informed of any changes, gave us excellent advice, and reminded us of important things we need to do. We had a wonderful, memorable and very smooth trip. Hope to do business with you again in the future.

We had an amazing trip. We would change a couple of things about our time in Sydney. We were right in Chinatown- maybe 5 Aussies in that area the whole time we were there. No Australian food or the English language anywhere. We did not pay all of this money to stay in Asia. We have Chinatown in the states. The hotel was nice. We took public transportation to see the other parts of Sydney. Waited for the shuttle service at the Sydney airport for 20 minutes. It took 1 1/2 hours to get to our hotel with traffic and drop offs. All in all, an amazing trip!

This is my second time booking with About Australia. It was a blessing and pleasure to work with Koda! She was patient, efficient, and did her utmost to meet all my travel requests. I had a customized itinerary with many changes in between. Koda, without any hesitation, helped to meet my requests. Koda delivered friendly and professional services without any trace of Being annoyed or bothered by my constant changes.
Even during the trip, there was a slight snag (disappointment) Koda quickly helped to relay my message accordingly. Most importantly, Koda diligently works with you without giving you a sense that you are too troublesome.
Even once my itinerary was booked in, confirmed, and paid - I still had a change. Yet, Koda assisted with making the changes happen so that I did not have to pay out any additional charges.
Thank you Koda for your wonderful services. The team behind was also great - accounting and voucher departments....

Darin hit it out of the ballpark planning our trip to Australia for us. He made it very easy for us to get from one place to another. Everything went as planned!! He suggested Hamilton Island to us and It was one of our favorite places to go! Absolutely beautiful! Everyone was so friendly and they take such good care of their Island- very clean! We were able to see and do so much and all done within our budget.

Hassle free if you would like to tackle all three: Northern New Zealand, Southern New Zealand and gold coast of New South Wales, Australia.
Hassle free comes when about Australia was able to arrange shuttles to and from the airport, rental car, airline tickets. Ours were nine flights!. You get the most for your money. Koda did it with such ease and efficiency. About Australia knows what hotels to stay at so everything is walking distance to the van attractions.

When I was attempting to plan our vacation on my own unbeknownst to me I had landed us in a college saying that coda was able to help me avoid. She placed me in 3 1/2 star hotels walking distance to all the main attractions. She also booked our activities ahead of time. Our only worry was waking up for our next adventure and walking to it or being driven to it by someone else!

Sydney is putting in a underground subway and construction is going on 24/7 I would avoid staying on George Street for that reason and there was a “dodgy “massage parlor next-door.
About Australia saved me a lot of money because like I said above they do what hotels to use, what main attraction vendors to use, and we received discounts on our flights and shuttles.

Koda was able to figure out nine flights, 18 shuttles, nine hotels, numerous attractions all within a few days! Saving us thousands of dollars

I went with confidence in About Australia, and ended with confidence with About Australia. Our travel Agent Daren did everything possible to make this a unforgettable trip, and he succeeded. He even went out of his way to change our plans at almost the very last minute. this is very special from a very special person. I certainly have and will recommend them to anyone wanting a trip of a life time. thanks ever so much.

Australian people are incredibly hospitable and fun to talk with. One story: When we disembarked our train early in the morning in Cooroy, there was no station, just a platform on a country road and no taxi stand. But there was a group of guys meeting up to go kayaking. One offered to drive us free the 30 minutes to our destination ---- the attendant in a filling station was able to call a taxi; so we went that way and got 30 minutes of expert commentary on the area.

All accommodations were excellent. Locations were walking accessible to things we enjoyed. Many had washer/dryers which was helpful. In Darwin there was some confusion about the two neighboring DoubleTree hotels. We didn't know there were two; and AATKings expected to pick us up at the other. Fortunately the concierge at our hotel went way beyond the call of duty to catch us up with our tour.

In every place, we could have easily spent one more day.

Sydney - great, but traffic congestion so we abandoned hop-on-off bus because we could walk faster and the sound system was broken - museums, opera house tour were super
Free Days with friend - Bowral, Canberra, etc., highs were parliament building, Last Post ceremony
Tasmania - wonderful guides, enjoyed walking, dining with two Aussie families
Sydney again - waterfront performance of West Side Story with outstanding dance
Melbourne - another wonderful guide, we were chastised for not doing Phillips Island
Ayers Rock - all good, but the weather was mild enough that we could have done the early morning 6 mile walk around the rock, next time really need to rent a car to get to trail heads
Alice Springs - much delayed flight - on Good Friday almost everything was closed but the reptile zoo/museum which while not at the Steve Irwin Zoo level actually had many more snakes, etc. and well worth a visit
Darwin - next time will trade 3 day Kakadu tour for two days plus a day at highly recommended Litchfield - perhaps this was because we were early season and some roads were still flooded - anyway day 3 was mostly a repeat with a lot of driving - saw lots of birds and crocs and rock art
Port Douglas - the reef was great but the cruise operator didn't have a lycra suit and flippers that would really fit Sue so her snorkeling was limited; for the Daintree Rainforest, there was quite a good nature guide on our bus; so we traded the zip line experience for a guided walk which was excellent - she had a story about every bird, bug, and plant in the forest
Free Days with friends in Noosa Head - Steve Irwin Zoo more kangaroos, koalas, the aviary was the best part with close up viewing of many that we had only seen at a distance like emus and cassowaries
and kookaburras

Daren and his colleagues did a wonderful job in getting us set up for our first tour of Australia. We will return to the Land Down Under again and will be certain to engage their assistance in putting the next visit as well.

After the initial scare of missing our connection in Dallas, because our Denver to Dallas plane was running late, we were rebooked by American Airlines via Los Angeles. After that, every connection, shuttle, hotel, tour was perfectly coordinated. Our trip was a great taste of life in Australia without all the hassle of attempting to book all arrangements ourselves.

I was referred by a friend to About Australia to help put together my "bucket list" trip to Australia and New Zealand. Overall, it was a great success. I saw and did all the things I really wanted to do. High points were the Sydney Bridge Climb, diving the Great Barrier Reef, the Penguin Parade on Phillip Island, driving the Great Ocean Road, hiking in Freycinet National Park, and the feeding frenzy in Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. Hotels were very good overall, but Thala Beach Resort and Freycinet Lodge were spectacular -- both ensured we had excellent cabins with superb views. And Diver's Den deserves additional kudos for accommodating us so we could dive rather than just snorkel the Great Barrier Reef.

The trip was not without minor glitches, though we worked through them. For example, we had difficulty finalizing our arrangements with About Australia since they were simultaneously working with a big client. Also, although we had a rental car in Tasmania, we had to find parking on the street since About Australia neglected to reserve us parking at our hotel in Hobart.

This was a trip that gave us memories for a lifetime.

We loved our bucket list trip to New Zealand and Australia. However, we felt there should have been an encouragement from Koda to consider adding a day or two at each destination. We didn't realize that in almost all cases of 2 night stays, an entire day was spend traveling. This left us with little time to explore upon arrival. An example was Melbourne. We arrived in the early evening. The entire next day was spent on the Phillip Island Tour. We loved that tour but had a 6:00 am pick-up the next morning. Yikes!!! We sorely missed an opportunity to explore the city, especially the Rod Laver Arena.

This was one of my bucket list vacations and Anna Musgray and About Australia did not disappoint. I cannot
believe everything went smoothly without a single hitch. I expected at least one thing to not go as planned,
but was most pleasantly surprised that each and every detail was spelled out for me and completely followed
through. I'm so glad I made this trip because it was wonderful in every single possible way.

Just wanted to share we had an amazing trip through New Zealand and Australia, thank you for coordinating the trip. The voucher process worked perfectly and we liked the location of the accommodations. Wish you did Asia, I would love to use your services again.

Our trip was absolutely amazing! I usually like planning my own trips, but this time around we were in the midst of planning our wedding as well. In addition, we felt like we did not know enough about the South Pacific to know where wanted to go. Our trip was put together beautifully, and honestly we wouldn’t change a thing. Every single flight and shuttle from the airport was on time, every booking was set, they even told all the hotels that it was our honeymoon so we got several upgrades on the trip. We went to New Zealand, Australia, and 3 days in Fiji for 21 days and would recommend our exact itinerary to anyone who likes a mixture of exploration and relaxation. All around great experience. Also very quick in responding to emails and phone calls.

Koda, We just returned from our Australian adventure and wanted to thank you for the great job you did in planning and making all the arrangements. We had such a good time and no glitches of any consequence. That is really something when you are dealing with people our age. All of the vendors (i.e. bus drivers, tour operators, accommodation staff, etc) were great and we would readily recommend them all. We had one issue with JetStar Airline and probably wouldn’t recommend them but we learned a lot about dealing with cut rate airlines. Australia was beautiful and we enjoyed each venue. The people were so friendly and helpful. We’ve travelled a lot but this was a totally different experience and it was so fun. I think we have become Quantas snobs and aside from the ungodly length of the flight, we loved them. We did the travel recommendation with taking the treat to the cabin crew and ended up getting Quantas pajamas in return for our yummy Utah truffles. If we can ever be helpful in recommending About Australia, don’t hesitate to ask. We would give you an A+ review.

Thanks again,
Brent and Dixie Betenson

This was a terrifically planned trip. The detail of the planning by About Australia was amazing. Our trip was 7 weeks long and offered us a great opportunity to see & do as much as possible. When weather changed a planned route, our travel consultant, Ana, was quick to rearrange our travel. She was there to answer my many questions by quickly responding to my emails. I am totally impressed with About Australia and would work with them again. Thanks for the memories!

Had a fantastic time in Fiji thanks to About Australia. They were knowledgeable about the location and the resorts they chose for us were spectacular. Thanks for all of your help.

We had the best time and I highly recommend Ana & the "About Aus/NZ" team. I looked into a lot of different agencies prior to planning our honeymoon to Australia and New Zealand. Truth be told, I originally planned to complete all aspects of our trip myself. When finding the "About" team, I loved that they specialize in only a few different places. I also liked how they gave us the ability to truly customize all of our vacation to make it exactly what we wanted. We wanted to include beach sitting, bungy jumping, nature walks & hiking, snorkeling, and a lot of sight-seeing but wanted to do a lot of it on our own timetable-she did such a fantastic job with that, it was just the right amount of free time versus planned activity time. From start to finish, they were prompt in returning emails, extremely organized with keeping all documents in order, and were very specific in the verbiage used to make sure we knew exactly what was included in pricing and what was not. And the best part, they were able to pack more into our vacation than I was and were able to do it much cheaper! We loved being able to have our vouchers and all travel documents early before our trip, just as promised. We loved being able to get suggestions from Ana about what she recommends and why. I'm never one to leave reviews, but we were so blown away by this agency, I knew right away I needed to do just that. If you're on the fence- book the trip, you won't regret it!

Fantastic trip, and so affordable! Great flight, outstanding accommodations with wonderful views--39th floor in Melbourne!--Great Barrier Reef and Penguin Island were excellent experiences! Monique and Yasmine were such entertaining guides. This trip with my daughter was one of the very best in this traveler's memory!

Great flights on Qantas, excellent room accommodations (awesome view from Short Stay apartment in Melbourne), loved being up-close with koalas, kangaroos, wallabies , and adorable fairy penguins. Our guides, Monique and Yasmin, were lovely, and snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, was amazing! Australia should be on everyone’s bucket list!

The whole trip was very well organized . Starting with planning the trip consulting Darin Hendry, he made us feel very comfortable and assured us that we would be well taken care of. He told us what to expect at every cities we stopped. The instructions at each airports when we arrived were so detailed. We felt so at ease in unfamiliar places. The whole trip was very relaxed because we travelled at our own pace. We could take a day or two off at our own digression. All the excursions we joined were wonderful, specially to the Great Barrier Reef. I highly recommend this trip to anyone and for the price we paid, it's very very reasonable.

All the planning and the vouchers worked out just fine. No glitches. Well done.

Absolutely no complaints! Great accommodation! Everyone was on time to pick us up! Really enjoyed Australia!

The trip was worth the money. However, VERY disappointed with location of hotel in Sydney. Although BREAKFREE ON GEORGE was a very nice hotel/apartment I did not appreciate being in the middle of Chinatown.

Koda was very helpful in assisting us in planning our first trip to Australia. The apartments in Melbourne and Sydney was Amazing. It is walking distance to major attractions and we felt very safe. We will definitely recommend about Australia to our friends. Thank you.

We had a wonderful time. We enjoyed all of the excursions that were included with our package. We would, however, preferred better hotels. The first one, in Melbourne, was located about 2 blocks from the office where we were dropped off by the shuttle. We had to drag our luggage to the building. We found the apartment to be well appointed, but we had to report to the management that the carpeting was filthy. The accommodation in Cairns was fine. In Sydney, the unit was fine, but the neighborhood left a great deal to be desired. We did not like staying in Chinatown. We found it to be noisy and generally not very clean. Not up to general standards in Sydney.

Melbourne: accommodations were clean and well-located, and the desk staff gave helpful recommendations - it's a walking and foodie city (excellent tour by Monique) - great tour to the animal farm and little blue penguins
Uluru: beautiful accommodations - good dining options - sunrise and sunset tours to Uluru and Kata Juta were amazing - again, informative guides
Cairns: (would have liked an extra day here to enjoy the beach-y city) good accommodations - exciting trip to the Great Barrier Reef (lots of options to see the coral and fish, but the snorkeling was the best we've ever experience
Sydney: lively and livable city (noise from street work sign of renewing city transportation) - fun to stay in Chinatown - hop-on-hop-off tour was excellent way to tour the whole harbor - we did Tour & Tasting Plate to see the Opera House which was perfect (go later in the day so you can experience the beauty of the Bay at dark)

Koda was great and kept in contact with us from the intial point and until our return and beyond. All of the events we booked were fantastic. Even though we were fresh off the cyclone the snorkeling of the Great Barrier Reef is a once in a lifetime experience. The tip about getting something for the flight crew paid off as all the flight crew treated us as though we were VIP's and other people on the flight were left wondering why we were so important.

Our trip was amazing! Sydney, Fraser Island, and Airlie beach are places we cannot wait to go back to!!! So grateful for the recommendations and trip planning/organization.

Our first trip to australia is awesome . Quantas airlines staffs are attentive , helpful to meet my needs & assistance .hotels & apartments provided are awesome , clean , spacious & most of all matrtra on kent , very close proximity at darling harbour in sydney. Tours best is penguin , barrier reef .the only minor complaint i have is to remember to call transfers 24 hours prior . . Australia is safe , nice aussie people but i find their foods is expensive but no taste , bland . Except their steaks. Weather is perfect . Thanks to about australia especially to koda for her expertise , that made this first trip enjoyable & lasting memories we will treasure . I cannot wait for new zealand tour

THANKS GUYS FOR THE SERVICE. HAVE NO PHOTOS TO ATTACH UNFORTUNATELY

TO BE FILED UNDER... WHO NEEDS A TRAVEL AGENT ... UNTIL YOU DO!

We traveled to NZ and AU in March and April this year. After a great deal of discussion with friends and colleagues about where to go and how much time to spend, we headed off.

NZ was first, not only was it one of the most spectacular Venues i have ever been lucky enough to visit, but the driving on the "Other side of the road" was much less concerning than originally thought and lead us to see many more parts of NZ than we might have otherwise. NZ IS THE ADVENTURE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD......Hang Gliding, and Mountain climbing were active parts of our visit. Unfortunately due to a Freakish storm, our visit to Franz Joseph was not possible. Our travel agent, Ana, called and emailed us right away to make alternate arrangements. She was on top of this in a way that allowed us no concern about wasting valuable time of our vacation planning, she did it all. We changed our itinerary and found our way to ROTARUA which was spectacularly interesting and relaxing.

The time we were in AU was equally well planned and spectacular. Each day had an activity or 2 with a couple of DOWN DAYS in Sydney or Cairns. Each location chosen was well located for our needs, and much to our surprise, the Laundry and Kitchen facilities in the apartments vs. Hotels during out sojourn, were well needed by the time we arrived there.

Thank you so much ANA and all of the team at ABOUT AUSTRALIA for an amazing trip, wonderful accommodations, great recommendations and support throughout! you are worth your weight in GOLD>

Thank you for making this amazing trip happen!

We enjoyed a great time in New Zealand. We particularly enjoyed the scenic South Island, and Hobbiton on the North Island.

Koda was absolutely amazing. Truly the best trip of our lifetime. We cannot thank you all enough for this. We will always use Koda for future trips. 100% satisfied. About Australia will be referred by us to everyone.

About Australia Travel Agency and Christopher R (agent), did a great job in organizing, communicating and providing me and my husband with top notch accommodations and exhilarating excursions. Even though we had a few glitches due to acts of God, everything else went as planned. I give them an 'A' for a job well done.

THIS TRIP WAS AMAZING WAS ABLE TO SEE DIFFERENT LOCATIONS THROUHGOUT AUSTRALIA, EVERYTHING FROM THE FOOD TO THE PEOPLE WAS AWESOME. ALL OF OUR ACCOMODATIONS WERE FANTASTIC. ABOUT AUSTRALIA IS THE ONLY WAY TO GO IF TRAVELING ABROAD TO AUSTRALIA.

Everything was well planned out and taken care of before we flew to Sydney. Plans went smoothly. We had a few changes to make during the planning and Koda was very helpful.

We usually do our own vacation planning. Grab a Lonely Planet guide book, hop on the internet and get started. I quickly realized that Australia may be different. First, its very large, 95% of the size of continental USA. Second, there is so much to do and see. Third, an itinerary can get very complicated very quickly; multiple destinations, multiple flights, rental cars, and a myriad of excursions. Where to go. How long to stay. How best to get there. What best to do at each location. It took a while for Darin at About Australia to fully understand exactly how we wanted to travel and the type of experiences we were looking for. We were looking for a personalized, customized and relatively affordable Australian adventure geared to 60 year olds, and that is exactly what we received. After five weeks in Australia, I would rate our experience and the About Australia process nearly perfect. In our case, there were 11 different accommodations, 2 international flights, 8 domestic, flights, airport pick-ups, 2 separate car rentals, and nearly 20 excursions. Everything was clearly documented on our daily itinerary and backed up by 32 different vouchers. We did have a few issues along the way and they were quickly resolved. On the flip side, there were moments when we knew that it was only because of the knowledge and expertise of About Australia that we were where we were and having this specific experience. thanks to all at About Australia, Joe and Diane

Can not describe how wonderful this trip was. Every flight perfect with pickups always on schedule. Each hotel was better than described. The excursions where a highlight of every city and where very fairly priced. We added some additional tours and Chris Reeh our agent from "About Australia" handled these additions with ease.
We enjoyed every day and night . Pickup for tours always on time with the vehicles in excellent condition and safe, with drivers so knowledgeable. and entertaining. We are foodies and found the restaurants to be way above par and not overly priced. Great bone in ribeye steaks and sea food.
This trip also had a bonus with our American dollar being strong. For every Australian dollar it cost us .72 cents. What a discount. That means $ 500 US gives you about $ 690 AU dollars.
We travel a lot and "About Australia" is definitely right at the top. You can not do better unless your filthy rich. Try using Chris Reeh for your trip planning. He is one of the best. Thank You for helping us have a great vacation.

Everything was as good or better than we expected. Sydney was great. Melbourne was very good. The events all worked out well and were better then expected.The return flight was terrible, since it was badly planned by you or Qantas, who ever planned the connection. There was no way for anyone to make the connection to Phoenix. But other then that, it was a great trip. Lou

Great experience. Already planning our return. Would like to single out Monique on our foodie tour. Note. Some of our contact numbers at the beginning of the trip connected but hung up after being put on hold

Had a fantastic time. Great flight arrangements, great cities (Melbourne, Cairns, Sydney), great tours, great food! Our accommodations were very nice, but the location of one was a bit inconvenient (better if had a couple of upgrade options in larger cities). For the most part, we had excellent weather; it rained on two touring days but we were still able to appreciate the sites with the excellent guidance and timing skills of the tour guides. We saw the penguin parade (so adorable), snuba dived at the Great Barrier Reef, saw the beautiful Blue Mountains, and toured by land and water to see the sites of Sydney and the Opera House! Will definitely return to see more - and will definitely use About Australia/New Zealand when we return. GREAT TRIP!

Our trip was so smooth and so affordable we could not believe it! Accommodations were wonderful - clean and right in the middle of the action in all 3 areas we travelled. Flights were wonderful and transfers reliable and on time. I cannot think of a way it could have been better!

We truly enjoyed the trip you planned for us. Everything went smoothly, and the activities you chose for us were amazing.

Thank you, Darin for planning our trip of a life time to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. The whole trip ran smoothly because you had everything set up for us. All the tours were top-notch and beyond enjoyable. The fact that we didn't have to go through the hassle of buying tickets for our tours was super, definitely made our trip so much easier! We seen and experienced so much that we never would have without going through About Australia. We especially liked that we were transferred to and from the airports with a private car, they were there waiting for us....so easy and trouble free! All our room accommodations were great, most had a washer and dryer which was a nice added bonus. All the thought and detail that you put into our trip was so greatly appreciated! Our last stop at Namale Resort in Savusavu, Fiji was the best place to take a breather before heading home....loved, loved, loved it!! Can't thank you enough for this amazing journey!

It was a wonderful trip. well organized. Hotels and people I had to deal with were excellent. I would highly recommend
this outfit to anyone who wants to go to Australia.

Everything went smoothly. The accommodations were conveniently located. The transfers were on time. The Short-Stay property in Melbourne was above average. Cairns was an interesting experience.

We got such a great deal, it made me wonder “what’s the catch?” No catch, just a wonderful adventure!

Ana did such an amazing job! She was super kind and patient through out the process and helped answer any and every question I had. She did a wonderful job of getting a grasp on what I was interested in and everything I needed to support completing the entire trip. We had fantastic tours, hotels, and transportation the whole. It really took the stress out of the traveling and allowed us to just enjoy ourselves. It was absolutely stunning and a grand time!

About Australia put together a perfect trip for us to Australia. Their suggestion that we fly Premium Coach on Virgin Australia worked out great, we slept well both ways and literally experienced no jet lag either direction. We were pleased with all of our accommodations and excursions, and when one of our flights inside Australia was cancelled, the owner was immediately on top of the situation with the necessary guidance to assist us. They did everything we needed with respect to our documents, visas, vouchers and pre-trip tips and advice to make our trip as seamless and stress-free as possible. We particularly appreciated the assistance and input of Darin Hendry and Katie Rowe. We would recommend About Australia without reservation and have already done so with some of our friends.

I reviewed properties with the travel agency which had some issues, and these comments are said to be considered for future clients. I'm awaiting resolution of an airline baggage charge with which the agency is assisting.
I'll try to post photos after I'm back from catchup mode; having been away a month.
Thank you Ana, for your great service!

We really enjoyed our trip to Australia. The accommodations exceeded our expectations, especially the apartment in Melbourne. Our first trip to Australia was unforgettable!

The only feedback I would like to offer pertains to the Penguin Parade excursion. We had no idea how the day would unfold. Turns out, no one was dressed appropriately seeing that Phillips Island is quite breezy and the temps drop as the sun goes down! If you could suggest that long pants, or even a jacket and blanket are brought, would have helped keep everyone more comfortable as we waited for the very adorable guests of honor to appear!

We had a fantastic and wonderful experience. All our connections went smoothly and the Mantra hotels were very clean and in great locations. The three excursions that were booked for us were exceptional. We would definitely recommend your company to our friends.

Our 10 day trip to Eastern Australia was extremely enjoyable, and a valuable learning experience. Surfers Paradise was reminiscent of our days on the Jersey shores, only better. The area was very clean, there were many good restaurants and plenty of sites to see. We did sign up for a 1/2 day tour of the waterfalls and rainforest. We could have avoided this since the waterfalls and rainforests outside of Cairns were much better. In Cairns we had plenty of opportunities to meet and talk with several Aboriginals, and found their history, and knowledge of the land fascinating. The visit to the Great Barrier Reef was hampered by rough water; we had to fight the currents, and only spent 10-15 minutes snorkeling. The glass bottom boat and semi-submersible were a good alternative. It was also overcast, so the reef colors weren't bright. It was still worthwhile. A 2 day visit to Sydney is just about right. Sydney streets and traffic are a nightmare; none of the streets intersect at right angles, and there are non-synchronized traffic lights at every corner. We wish the accommodations had been a little closer to the sites so we wouldn't have had to spend so much time on the Big Red buses. The Opera house tour was well worth it, and the Harbour Bridge climb was a once in a lifetime thrill.
The hotels were all first rate although the Sydney hotel was in the middle of their Chinatown, which was a bit of a cultural shock. It was only a 15 minute walk to Darling Harbour, which had plenty of good restaurants. The local food was good once we learned that "bugs" weren't really bugs, and that basic coffee was a long black.

About Australia was a great company to work with, did a fantastic job in all the planning. thank you

We had a wonderful trip. Koda's help in planning all aspects of the trip was wonderful. Having never travelled abroad before, we relied heavily on her to help us with planning our travels while in Australia. All bookings were perfect for our likes. We only had one hiccup on a planned tour which was cancelled (no fault of Koda), but didn't bother our trip in the least

We couldn't be happier with our trip to Australia that we booked through "About Australia" Travel Agency. Our agent Ana, helped us customize our trip & figure out 3 cities to visit & an excursion in each city to do. The accommodations were convenient & comfy. The excursions got us out & about the city so we could figure out more places we wanted to visit. Ana walked us through getting all of our documents in order & made it easy for us to get trip insurance as well. When we had a cancellation of our train ride, Ana notified us while we were on vacation & helped us make other arrangements to get to our next destination. "About Australia" streamlined the whole planning process & let us customize the trip to suit our needs. Insightful & excellent service...would definitely recommend & use the "About Australia" Travel Agency again. Ana is the best agent ever!!!

Thoroughly enjoyed our vacation - Princess cruise New Zealand was great. Hotels in Sydney, Gold Coast were excellent, our hotel in Cairns the room itself was lovely, unfortunately the view from the room was a steel roof and brick wall - again the room itself and the staff were very nice.

Airline schedule, visas, hotel accommodations, tours were all excellent. The hotels chosen in Sydney, Melbourne, and Port Douglas were excellent both in terms of the venue and the locations in each city. In Sydney, Potts Point was relaxing but close enough to everything to provide a great experience. Melbourne felt busy, but Melbourne Short Stay Apartments were outstanding. And in Port Douglas, everything we really needed was in walking distance (we like to walk).
We will probably do Tasmania and New Zealand in a couple of years, and will definitely use About Australia.

My husband and his brother had a very nice time in Australia. Thank you for your help in coordinating this adventure.

Our flight to LAX was delayed due to weather connections (our booking), and therefore missed our flight to Melbourne. However, Virgin Australia was wonderful & put us on a flight to Sydney just a few hours later with a connecting flight to Melbourne to arrive only 5 hours late [THANKS VIRGIN!]. All accommodations were great [Rose Gums the favorite despite heat]. Also John & Sue in Port Douglas were very helpful as were the hosts in every hotel especially giving us advice on restaurants etc. where the locals frequent-which we loved. In retrospect, I think a month later might have been better if the temperature was a bit lower since we were quite hot most of our trip. Also it was Chinese New year, so some places were quite crowded due to this.
Our one main criticism was our Great Barrier excursion where the reef was disappointing. Our friends went to the reef a few days later from Cairns to see a different reef area, and their pictures and experience looked much more colorful than ours.
Most of our tour guides were excellent. However, the Wineglass Bay % Freycinet guide gave little material while we drove to locations [New Zealand guides kept us informed of what we saw the entire trips.] The Richmond guide also spoke little except when we arrived at the locations. The Daintree Dreaming Tour was outstanding as was the Aboriginal Explorer tour. Both showed Aboriginal concepts not available elsewhere.
Off days were spent seeing the cities. Melbourne tour of Alleys & Arcades was educational as to how Melbourne has adapted to small venues for Food & shopping. Hobart's Salamanca Market on Saturdays is an event to experience. The Tasmanian port came alive with a Wooden Boat Festival the weekend we were there. Sydney's Governor's House, Botanical Gardens , and The Rocks were all close together and worth any time spent. The Aurora Australis Opal [world's largest] was fascinating and only cost asking to see.
Our overall trip was very good, despite a few letdowns. We still highly and happily recommend ABOUT AUSTRALIA for tours of Australia and New Zealand.

We managed to see many of the highlights of several locations in Australia without feeling too rushed. Also received good advice how to plan for the excessive heat, which was quite a change from the snow we left here, and some inside information on hot spots and recommended activities. I especially appreciated Ana's patience as we made some last minute changes in plans. Having the transportation to and from hotels and tours pre-arranged was a great convenience. Thank you for being so thorough.

Best Vacation EVER! I'm not one to write reviews - but our trip to Australia was perfect in every way. From the flights, to the transfers, accommodations, & excursions - everything went without any hitches. Accommodations were comfortable, and the people so very nice. We have NO complaints.

Ana, our rep with About Australia, put a trip of a life-time together for us. Thank you so very much!! Top Shelf!

Overall, our trip was wonderful. Unfortunately, they had to change agents in the middle of planning so we lost some continuity. Majority of accommodations were great. Tours selected wonderful. My only recommendation for those using About Australia, thoroughly check and read all final documents including seat assignments on airlines.

It was an amazing family vacation almost everything was pre-paid and booked we just had to show up and have fun!! Ana was very patient with me and she was able to accommodate all my requeats and answer all my questions.

We used About Australia for our 2 week honeymoon. They were very easy to work with and helped us create the perfect itinerary. I loved how customizable everything was and it was very reassuring knowing everything was taken care of. We only had one issue the whole time and that was with our pickup from the airport when we first arrived in Sydney. It wasn’t the way we wanted to start our honeymoon and it was frustrating that we had to track down the company (while paying international calling). We didn’t have issues with any other transfer company and my recommendation to About Australia would be to consider a different transfer company. The fact that they had our confirmation but no driver was assigned (their exact words) is very frustrating. Other than that, all the excursions and hotels were beyond amazing.

They helped me plan a amazing anniversary trip that I will never forget. We had minor hicks up but it was taken care of. I just wanted to share how much I enjoy dealing with About Australia. You have great people working to make business travel as painless as possible. I have worked a lot with Chris Reech – he is brilliant.

He is customer focused, cheerful and always willing to help you find the best travel options. He has great follow up and always is armed with a “how might we” attitude. Everyone at About Australia is helpful and informative!

We had a great time and we were so grateful that About Australia had taken care of all the details. Eventhough we kept making changes to our plans (dates, cities, activities, etc) even during the trip, the staff was super patient and accommodating.

A couple of suggestions: the hotel in Queenstown was not the best (very dated) and it didn’t have air conditioning. We were also surprised when in Rotorua we were book in the three floor presidential suite when we didn’t request luxury accommodations. We wondered how much we would haved saved staying in another room... but aside from that everything ran smoothly and we had a blast!

Thanks,

Alexandra

Thanks, Darin, for the wonderful trip you designed for us in Australia. We had a blast! The hotels were right in the middle of things, the tours were amazing and first class, and if I needed advice you were right there for me. I would not have been able to plan this trip without you because you had been to Australia and you knew just where to send me, and in the style I wanted.

Thanks again for the trip of a lifetime!

P.S.-I know you didn't have anything to do with this but the food in Australia is amazing!!

My boyfriend and I (both 72 years of age) have just returned from a six-week, custom-tailored, independent trip to Australia and New Zealand.

We started talking about this trip over a year prior to our departure date. After my initial 2.5 hour telephone conversation with Christopher at About Australia, I knew we had found the perfect "partner" on whom we could depend to help us with all the details. Not only did Christopher listen to our lists of where we knew we wanted to go and what we knew wanted to see, but he also asked a myriad of questions to determine the types of surroundings, activities, accommodations, modes of travel, etc. that appealed to us.

Within two days, Christopher got back to us with a detailed suggested itinerary and optional excursions which we then had time to go through and tweak as we wanted. Christopher worked so diligently and closely with us to get everything just perfect - for us. This was our trip - no one else's.

Once we finalized the locations and activities, About Australia took care of all the rest. Our adventure included stays in nine different locations in Australia and six locations in New Zealand. Our hotels were booked by About Australia and were just as we requested - smaller boutique hotels, when possible, centrally located so we could walk whenever and just about wherever.

Once in Australia and New Zealand, we traveled by plane, train, automobile (self-drive), boat, and a lot of walking (which we like). About Australia figured out how the means/times of travel in order to get everywhere we wanted to go and took care of all the bookings.

Our activities included the Sydney Bridge Climb, Sydney Opera House, A Night at Field of Light by Camel (Ayers Rock), snorkeling/diving the Great Barrier Reef (Port Douglas), an America's Cup Sailing Excursion (Auckland), and others far too numerous to list.

About Australia made all the arrangements for the optional excursions. All of the optional excursions/tours were small groups making each experience more personal, friendly, and satisfying. Everything went off without a hitch. We were simply astounded at the ease of our six-week trip considering all the travel and excursion schedules and the level of professionalism and organization that obviously went into the customization.

Christopher and About Australia did what we never could have done on our own - and most certainly, not at their price. Their attention to detail allowed us, prior to the trip, to concentrate just on where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see and do; their attention to detail allowed us, after departure, to just relax and enjoy every moment of the adventure. It was the trip of a lifetime. We would recommend About Australia to anyone looking for a terrific travel experience with no hassle. Thank you Christoper and About Australia for our trip-of-a-lifetime.

My daughter and I had an amazing time Down Under thanks to About Australia. Our hotels were wonderful and located perfectly in order to explore more of the cities we were visiting. All of the recommendations before we left were extremely helpful. It made a last minute trip into a relaxing vacation.

The accommodations were wonderful and the excursions were amazing and informative. Thank you for some amazing memories

We really enjoyed the tours that we were scheduled for. The guides on all the tours were excellent, they were all knowledgeable, a lot of fun, we enjoyed chatting with everybody.

We have traveled all over the world. Never have we had a trip so well planned. By the third day, we were checking our itinerary and asking ourselves, “what’s the next adventure?” Everything went like clockwork. Hotels, flights, transfers, tours, all were on time and more than we expected. Our only disappointment was having to come home when it was over. Thank you, About Australia, for planning the trip of a lifetime..

A most excellent vacation as a result of working with Marissa Stroud! Perfect accommodations, wonderful tours, and accommodating flights with Virgin Australia.

I wrote as soon as we got back, but the email did not go through. You did a superb job of booking everything! The trip was perfectly smooth. Both Australia and New Zealand are beautiful and the people are kind. We snorkeled, zip lined, walked, went on planes, trains, gondolas, boats and ferries. We attempted to do every activity and site available and I think we succeeded! Thank you. Great job!

This was my first time using About Australia and I was extremely happy with their services. They did an excellent job. Everything was just perfect. The transportation, the hotels, the locations was all spot on. My sisters and I were very pleased. I highly recommend anyone visiting Australia and New Zealand to use About Australia. Thank you so much Marissa for everything you did to make our vacation to Australia and New Zealand such wonderful experience.

It was am amazing trip that covered a lot of the country. Only regret was we were running out of time and would have liked to spent more time in each location. Do your study before you go, the instructions in the voucher help but the little things you can miss make it important to study and plan.

Accommadations were excellent except at the Short Stay Apartments where we were required to walk to another of ther properties— The Australis—which was quite difficult for us to get to with all our luggage. I think it was the one at Kangaroo Island that also wasn’t a good experience because of having to climb 2 flights of stairs to get to the room. The trip to the Great Barrier Reef on the Quicksilver was 2 hours out and 2 hours back; snorkeling was not a good experience because we got kicked by other people because it was so crowded in the roped off area. The additional trip we had booked to the Low Isles the next day was fantastic and snorkeling there was great! The flights and transportation you arranged were great. Other than the things listed above, it was a wonderful trip—thanks for your help in getting things arranged so well for us.

We engaged with About Australia (Darin Hendry) nine months ago for a recommendation on an itinerary for a first time visit and 20th anniversary trip to Australia.
From the beginning the guidance, interaction and ultimate proposal was spot on.

The 2-week journey offered an exceptional variety of terrain, climate and experiences. First stop the Tablelands, rainforest, then beach town, then outback visiting Uluru, the Sydney city exploring the different water ports, harbor bridge and a few days to wind down the vacation in roratonga the Cook Islands. We were pleased with the itinerary and felt safe in all locations.

Accommodations, a few tours and transport (flights, rental car, ferry pass) were organized taking a huge load off us in researching this level of detail.
The New Zealand airline skycouch was a great recommendation for our longest leg 14+ Hours, we enjoyed the SEIT tours in Uluru and of course our trip to the Great Barrier Reef.

All in all this trip was epic and will be a very special part of our memory bank.
Special kudo to Darin's with his personal guidance and touch.

About Australia (Joanne) did a great job working with us and customizing our trip. It was what we wanted. We certainly saw the bush and outback several times. We found animals in the wild besides at sanctuaries and Steve Irwins Zoo. We believe we saw the real Australia and not just cities. The train trips were what we expected and then some. When they stopped and let us off it was very interesting in the outback. Met Aussies that were RVing and could talk to the campers. Of course, the Indian Pacific and Ghan are older trains and travel slower than the Queensland. But, you can see so much of the country that way. This is what we wanted. The service on the trains was very good. The food was excellent and plentiful. It was nice that all was included. At times the bus tours were long. But, the ride was worth it. Tour guides/drivers were very nice and informative. The native people we met were exceptional and very helpful in relating their culture and long history to us. We certainly appreciated their patience and kindness.

Once or twice the pick up times/places were confusing. Maybe we just did not understand. It was not a real problem. Just a little hiccup.

Overall it was great. We would strongly recommend About Australia to our friends and any one interested in customizing a tour of Australia.

The trip that Ana put together for us was nothing short of spectacular and exceeded our expectations which were high. As we traveled from Sydney to Hamilton Island to Byron Bay and back to Sydney we were able to enjoy all the sites and activities we planned and then some! We were privy to some “insider tips” which added so much to our trip. We highly recommend AboutAustralia and plan on using them again.

Chris was great at helping me plan my trip to visit my daughter in Australia while she was studying abroad. We had 2 weeks and a tight budget! He was great at accommodating me. We decided on Cairns, Sydney and Melbourne. The only hiccup was the transfer from Melbourne airport to hotel. The company called con-x-ion (I think that’s how it’s spelled) had the smelliest van I have ever been in. The drivers body odor had wafted throughout the van to the point where breathing was difficult and we were forced to put our head on our lap and breathe in our own clothing smell instead! It was a late flight or I would’ve demanded a different van. We had some bad luck on the day Chris booked the Blue Mountain excursion and it was rainy and had so much fog we couldn’t see anything. So we drive around for 8 hours and stopped for a delicious lunch but it was a waste or time and non refundable. Other than that it was an amazing trip! I highly recommend Chris and About Australia!

The trip you helped me put together for my clients was absolutely perfect!
Thank you so much!!

About Australia and Christopher set up the most amazing vacation for us. If there was a rating above 5 stars, we would place these travel experts into that category.

Traveling to New Zealand and Australia had been on our wish list for awhile and putting trust in Christopher with our travel plan destinations was the best decision we could have made.

Thank you for the memories.

Marissa really helped us plan the perfect vacation. She was always available by phone or email, even sometimes after hours. I had a lot of questions and made some changes, and she was very accommodating. We were visiting our son who is attending the University of Newcastle for a semester. We stayed in Sydney and Newcastle during our trip. Some of our favorite things were the sunset cruise of Sydney Harbor, Bondi Beach, the Blue Mountains, petting kangaroos at Oakvale, and visiting the university.

Awesome trip, can’t wait to do another!

My husband and I heartily recommend About Australia. Although I had done a great deal of research myself, it was wonderful to have these pros take over the details of day trips, accommodations, flights, transfers, and car rental. They put us in hotels that were wonderfully located but met our budget requirements. All three weeks of our Aussie adventure came off without a hitch.

Booking through About Australia made the trip very easy. It was nice not to worry about finding accommodations and flights and they provided good recommendations for each location. I would use the service again. I did feel that we spent too much time in some places and not enough in others, but that likely kept flight costs down.

My only concerns were that two of the accommodations didn't have complimentary wifi which was a bit of a nuisance since we were visiting from out of the country and didn't have local plans. Additionally, one of the rooms they had requested two separate beds but this was not a formal booking so we were given one and had to pay to upgrade to two.

Great trip. Loved every moment of it. Just what I wanted and more.

About Australia was amazing to work with making this a vacation of a lifetime! I would highly recommend their services to anyone wanting to travel to Australia. The itinerary was great. The hotels we stayed in were not only wonderful, but were located in super convenient in relation to exploring the cities we were in. Any questions or concerns i had were immediately addressed. Customer service was spectacular and i couldn't of asked for anything better. By far the best experience I've had with a travel agency.

Really wonderful trip. Everything was arranged ahead of time. All hotels were great. The tours were lovely, including the optional daintree dreaming tour. Well, well worth the money

About Australia and About New Zealand planned our honeymoon amazingly! From listening to the activities we desired to do while there, to ensuring those happened, and arranging all our flights and accommodations, About Australia was great to work with. Our visas were secured and all our travel documentation was provided, which made traveling a breeze! And we had a lot of traveling to do in the two weeks while there (USA to New Zealand - Melbourne - Cairns - Brisbane back to USA). We only ended up missing one connecting flight (airlines fault) and we were immediately booked for the next flight out - no questions asked. The only wish we had was that our flight from Queenstown, New Zealand to Melbourne, AU was earlier in the day - we ended up getting in around midnight and didn't get much time to scope out the City before we were up early and on to our planned activities (hind sight is 20/20), but I'd just make sure to triple check the flight schedule once received to make sure its what you want. Otherwise, all the flights and tours were booked seamlessly and we were able to do everything we asked for. We've made so many wonderful memories and were able to really soak up this once-in-a-lifetime vacation! We couldn't thank About Australia enough for helping us make this dream come true! I highly recommend them when planning this type of trip.

The trip of a lifetime for us. All the arrangements worked out beautifully. The accommodations were excellent. All the transportation arrangements happened as expected and we were extremely pleased. Loved all the included tours and those that we chose to do on our own. One day at the Great Barrier Reef, the next at the Rainforest. We especially loved the city of Cairns. Truly one of the best trips we have ever done and About Australia made is SO easy!! Thank you Marissa!
G'day Mates!

Making dreams come true. My trip to Australia was amazing and worry free
knowing About Australia had made all the arrangements for an adventure of a lifetime
Thanks a million

This is the 1st Australia trip, we already thinking going back!

What an amazing experience. The accommodations and extra excursions we did were wonderful. The only thing I would have changed was I wished we had a little more time in Sydney (it was more like a very long layover rather than a visit to the city). Ana was wonderful and helped us plan a trip I will always treasure!

We had a fantastic experience. Knowing it may be our one and only chance to see down under, we squeezed in as much as possible in 2 weeks. We went to Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland (Tasmania) and New Zealand. The flights, tours and all airport/hotel connections all went off without a hitch. We scheduled many tours but our favorites were the Feeding Frenzy at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary in Tasmania and the Hobbiton Express tour in New Zealand. Who doesn't like the Hobbit holes?!? I would advise anyone interested in the Wineglass Bay/Freycinet tour to be aware that it is a VERY strenuous climb to see Wineglass Bay. I mistakenly assumed it would be a driving tour like The Great Ocean Road Tour.....boy was I wrong. We made it and it was beautiful but you must be in reasonably good physical shape. Also be aware that Hobart is kind of a sleepy town and activities are kind of limited on Sunday. Saturday in Hobart was the open air market at Salamonca Square which was very nice. Sydney and Melbourne were much busier than we expected and very much like a small NYC. The Sydney Opera House was a must see and if you can pre-purchase tickets for a show you will not regret it. It was a long, long flight but worth every minute. It was the trip of a lifetime!!!

The entire experience was amazing! From booking in the short time we had, to the surprise of such a great value and then when we were there, we could not believe how wonderful everything was...from the hotels, to the excursions to the flight and transfers. Absolutely flawless, best value and would highly recommend Marissa and About Australia again! Thank you so much for a wonderful experience!

It was an awesome vacation except for the 24 hours of traveling(LOL).
The hotels were great but made you pay for WIFI, the US does not make you pay for it.
I would definitely recommend to everyone.

Koda Boulton was the one who helped me and she's was amazing even with all my questions and my unfortunate criminal background. Still got in with no problems and had a great itinerary set up. Couldn't have seen Australia in a better way than that. Strongly recommend About Australia. Good price too! Flexible.

In cairns our pickup to airport for trip to sydney was not organized well. The driver picked us up too late and had 6 additional stops! Claudia and I ran to checkin and there was a long line. So she went to priority and I went to service desk. The service desk checked us in. We were lucky to make the flight due to our quick thinking. Also, we were not that pleased with the location of hotel in sydney. Would have preferred closer to harbor. Overall we had an amazing trip and loved Australia. The people and places we visited were wonderful! Beautiful country!! Thank you for making our trip so wonderful!!!

This was the best trip of my life hands down. I was afraid that since I was saving so much money I would be getting a lesser quality trip, but I was pleasantly surprised!

About Australia made it easy to plan our trip to Australia and included everything we needed, ensuring we did not miss any of the most popular attractions. We absolutely loved our trip and are already talking about going back.

We had a great first time trip to Australia. Darin and About Australia were great to work with. The sites we visited were fantastic. The hotels were excellent. The day trips and operators were first tier. Everything about the trip went smooth and was above expectations. Well Done!

The trip was incredible. People were unbelievably friendly. Enjoyed the peaceful serenity of Port Douglas. Am very glad we opted for Douglas instead of Cairns. Meridian Hotel was great. Four Mile beach is a must see (sunrise is fantastic) and be sure to climb Flagstaff Hill. Great Barrier Reef trip was ok, but opting not to go into the water was a mistake. Be sure you can tread water or you will be harnessed into a life vest with mask and snorkel. Brisbane, south bank was great. Walked through the Technical University Grounds and Botanic Garden. Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (although a bit of a tourist trap)is worth the visit. Be sure to wear shoes that are easy to clean because stepping in kangaroo and emu waste guaranteed. Uluru was very interesting. Accommodations were good, but be aware that everything--food, beverages,... are more expensive as you are 350+ km from anywhere (Alice Springs). Light Display was great. Sydney was interesting. Vivid was still on the the laser show was exciting. Although the accommodations were fine and George St is a great location, there were several massage parlors which seemed to imply the area was a bit sketchy. However, had no problems. The up-side was a great off-track betting restaurant with great fish and chips. Dinner cruise was ok, especially if you drank alcoholic beverages. Asked for a "long black" (coffee) but was told that coffee was not included. Could have all the beer and wine but no coffee?!! No lemon for salmon either. Was not able to do bridge climb. Very pricey but if done doing the week and during the day, affordable. Governor's Palace tour is free and very informative. However, although the Governor was in, we were not granted an audience--just the tour.

It was amazing, the experience was well worth the cost.