The Best of What We Did and Where We Stayed in 2016

It’s been fun running around the planet this year staying in interesting places, doing exciting

Canada Geese in Texas

things and eating marvelous food! This blog is concerned with the best of the best; in this case, anything with a rating of four carrots, unless otherwise labeled, from my evaluation scheme (see Reading the Reviews). The review blog is actually divided into two parts. The first is about the places we stayed and our activities (The Best of What We Did and Where We Stayed in 2016), with the second having to do with food (The Best of What We Ate in 2016). Within each blog there are also two sections: International and US.

The Best of 2015 – Activities

Cynthia and Dave on a rainy day in Hawaii

This is part two of the year-end round-up and has to do with the activities we thought were fun, exciting, interesting, and so forth. For information about my rating system, see Reading the Reviews. If you'd like to see the blogs that describe these undertakings, just follow the links at the end of each short description.

Aloha – Coming and Going – Reviews

Diamond Head from Waikiki

I have always enjoyed the Hawaiian Islands. I like the climate, the plants, the beach, the mountains, hiking, swimming, scuba diving, the food, the culture and the people. I’m comfortable spending the day in sandals, a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, with little to do but enjoy whatever comes along. But this trip to O’ahu was bittersweet. Perhaps it was the time of year or the amount of road construction, but I don’t remember that the traffic was ever as difficult as it was this trip. I also don’t remember the large numbers of homeless people (locals and foreign) nor the regularity with which we encountered the obviously habitually inebriated (either through drugs or alcohol); for the first time I did not feel particularly safe walking just a block off the tourist areas. The environment seemed tired (for want of a better word), with litter in the streets, along the beaches, and even in some of the out-of-the-way places we visited. The local population of all of the Hawaiian Islands continues to rise as does the tourist population; perhaps population stressors are finally having a visible effect. Would I return to this island? Yes, but only to visit the few places I have not seen and to eat at one or two favorite restaurants. For information about my rating system, see Reading the Reviews.

The Best of 2014 Near-Normal Travels

We’ve had lots of adventures this year and it is fun to remember the best ones. Here are our top picks (four carrots or better) for lodging, food and activities with links to the particular blogs entries from which they were chosen. Because this is the first year of our blog, we spent some time trying to standardize our entries; that's why some reviews are difficult to find. From this blog, you can easily go to the original posts. The Near-Normal Travelers hope you find this information interesting and entertaining. Happy New Year and happy travels!

Rottnest Island Lodging, Food and Activities Review

The ride over to Rottenest Island is fun, and only takes a few minutes. If you are going to stay overnight, you probably do want to go during the week; particularly in summer Rottnest gets crowded.

Where we stayed...

Four and one-half Carrots

Top: Lodge bar, bathroom
Bottom: twin room

Rottnest Lodge is housed in the old prison. Inside everything has been modernized and decorated to welcome guests. There is a nice sized seating area near the well-stocked bar, as well as tables and chairs in the hotel courtyard. Trees and umbrellas provide shade, so this is a great place to take a break from hiking around the island. The room we stayed in was large with comfortable beds and windows looking out over one of the trails. There was a small refrigerator and supplies to make tea of coffee available. The bathroom was nearly perfect; the exception was that the shower tended to send water out onto the floor in the rest of the bathroom. The desk clerks were helpful and polite. Your bags are brought from the ferry and delivered to your room, so there is no bother about hauling them up the hill. The bags will also be picked up and returned to the ferry, but this must be done early in the morning. If you have carry-on bags, there is a secure storage area available at no charge.

Tasmania Lodging, Food and Activities Reviews

Tasmania Geologic
Map

While Tasmania is a rather small island, there are lots of places for the adventurous and not-so-adventurous travelers to stay, eat and do. The prices are about the same as they are on the Australian mainland. The people are warm, witty, and more than happy to talk to you about things to do. What we didn't know when we got to Tasmania was that once you are out of Hobart the restaurants will be with hotels for the most part; there may also be a 'game room' (casino), and a bottle shop associated with the hotel. You may need to order food at the bar, but you will have to pay there, and you may have to know your table number to do so. Before we go, again, we will be contacting some of the people we met to learn their perspectives on the best places to explore. Although there may be activities you want to finalize before going to this island, travel guides purchased in Australia or Tasmania have much more information than the ones I could find here in the US. For an explanation of the ratings, please see Sydney Review.

Where we stayed:

Four Carrots

Bath and King Bed

The Travelodge Airport, Hobart, 1 Holyman Avenue, Cambridge Tasmania 7170, +61 3 6248 3555 has a great group of people who are super helpful. I emailed them with a concern and they responded immediately; they even told us how to get to the hotel on a free shuttle. The room was great with free, high-speed WiFi. Breakfast was passable; basically it was cereal, toast, or muffins with coffee and juice. The next morning one of the desk clerks drove us to the car rental office at no charge. 




The West Coaster Motel, Batchelor Street, Queenstown 7467, +61 3 6471 1033 provided a

Bath and Twin/Double Beds

great room, super internet (cheap, but free if you book online), and a guest laundry. There is also a nice restaurant and a bar. We wondered why we were asked to make reservations for dinner immediately upon check-in; then the tour bus arrived as did a lot of other travelers. Evidently this is a popular place.





And since we practically lived in the rent car:

Vroom, vroom car got us a cheap rental with Red Spot Car Hire, Hobart Airport, Cambridge, Hobart 7170 Tasmania, +61 3 6248 4045. The people at Red Spot gave us lots of information about the car and what charges we did and did not actually need. However, I don’t want to rent a KIA Rio again, ever. Even though the car is small its seats are made for tall people. I could barely see out and the seatbelt practically decapitated me every time I moved it from under may arm.

Three Carrots

The Waterfront Lodge Motel, 153 Risdon Rd, New Town, Lutana (Hobart), 7008, 1-866-

Queen/Twin Beds and Bath

332-3590 is an economy hotel. It has a portable heater and a floor fan, along with a tiny, but well stocked, kitchenette to go with the furniture-packed room. The café table, two chairs and heating/cooling appliances are near the foot of the queen bed. The beds are comfortable and the bathroom is clean. A guest staying in one of the lodges reported that the heat didn’t work well. While there is no breakfast on-site, you can order food brought in; there are also snacks and drinks for purchase in the lobby. The motel is located on one of the bays and rather difficult to get to. It’s not somewhere I’d stay again because of the location and the internet is only available in the lobby, which closes at 8:00PM.

The Argosy Hotel, 221 Tarleton Street, East Devonport 7310, +61 3 6427 8872 is a moderate hotel, neither outstanding nor awful. The room was comfortable and clean. The

Bath and Double/Twin Beds

downside, that really irritated me, is that the free internet that they say works in the room doesn’t; you must go to the lobby. The hotel’s location allows easy access to tourist sites and to freeways.

Two and one-half Carrots

Bath and Six-person Room

The Olde Tudor Inn, 229-235 Westbury Road, Launceston 7250, + 61 3 6344 5044 is like old Las Vegas without the charm. Perhaps some of the rooms were like those seen on their website, but this one wasn’t. Because it was a Sunday, we had to check-in at the bar. The folks there didn’t seem to know exactly what to tell us about breakfast or the availability of the internet. One of the bartenders did supply me with a code to access WiFi from my room. On Sundays they closed the bar at about 8:00PM and there was no access to WiFi because the code had timed-out before it was given to me. The room was very dated but it would sleep six: two on the bunk beds, two on the double bed and two on the couch. The bunk beds are awful; they are hard as a rock. The double bed and the couch were comfortable enough; the linens were quite worn. There’s a bathroom that’s a bit small but at least has a heater and a good shower. The room and bathroom are clean. 

What we ate:

Four and one-half Carrots

Man O’Ross Hotel Restaurant 35 Church Street, Ross, 7209, +61 3 6381 5445 was

Angus burger and Crumbled Scallops

excellent. Dave had an Angus burger which he said was very good and the chips were delightfully crunchy. The lettuce, tomato, beetroot, and onion were crisp and tasty. The ketchup could have been homemade with its wonderful sweet-hot flavor. I had scallops, evidently one of the typical dishes for the area. They were ‘crumbled’ (lightly breaded) and fried and they were fabulous! The cook actually knows what he/she is doing with shellfish. The scallops weren’t overcooked – fresh, tender, wonderful. The tartar sauce was homemade, a bit sweet with a touch of horseradish. Vegetables in the slaw were fresh; it was apparent that this was homemade, as well. My food was so good I didn’t pay any attention to what Dave was eating, nor did I try to steal any of his lunch.

Four Carrots

Julie and Patrick’s, 2 Alexander Terrace, Stanley 7331, +61 3 6458 1103 had been a finalist in the Best of the Beach food competition. If they didn’t win, I really want to eat at the

Crayfish in Mild Curry Sauce and Prawns in Garlic Cream

restaurant that did! Dave had prawns in garlic cream sauce and I had crayfish (rock lobster) in a ‘mild curry sauce’. Both were fantastic. Thankfully, we were given spoons so that we could scoop up all of the delicious sauces. Service was friendly and prompt. The waitress was happy to visit with customers while paying careful attention to everyone’s needs. Had we been in the area longer we would have been back to try other items on the menu.

Three and one-half Carrots

Mixed Satay and Sweet and Sour Pork

We went to the Hong Kong Restaurant, 53/55 Main Road, Moonah (Hobart) 7009, +61 3 6228 3985 for dinner. From the extensive menu, David had a great sweet and sour pork and I had a pretty good mixed satay. Mine was quite a bit spicier than I expected; unless the menu says ‘sweet chili’ you cannot assume the dish will be ‘mild’. The restaurant was well furnished and clean; there were a number of people who knew the hostess by name, leading us to believe that there was repeat business.

The West Coaster Motel Restaurant (Queenstown) has a pretty good buffet, but you can order from the menu. For the first time the crumbled scallops weren't as good as the shrimp,

Calamari, Shrimp and Fish;
Crumbled Scallops

calamari and fish Dave had. Since Tasmania is an island, there are a lot of fishermen and they pull in lots of shellfish so it’s plentiful on menus. What restaurants don't have is red (cocktail) sauce, but the chili sauce will take your head off. Dave turned red and his head cold finally cleared up. Although we didn’t try any, the pizzas looked good and the size was certainly more than adequate. In a one hour time frame, I counted more than 20 of these pies going out through the ‘Take Away’ door. The breakfast buffet was okay but really expensive for the standard scrambled eggs/bacon/toast/fruit/cereal provided.

Olde Tutor Shopping Center, 227 Westbury Road, Launceston 7250 has an IGA (grocery

Cheese, Crackers and Wine

store) with a decent cheese section, a good cracker selection, and more varieties of Tim Tams than I knew existed.  We found a good cheese and some crackers with a decent wine (Olde Tutor bottle shop) for dinner; grocery stores are a bunch cheaper than eating out. The cheese had coconut, mango, and almonds; it was great; the crackers had garlic and the wine was a Tasmanian Riesling.  Yummy!

Tahune AirWalk Visitor Center had a small restaurant with a good sized menu. Along with soups, salads and sandwiches, there were homemade meat pies. Dave had a chicken and

Meat pie and Chicken sandwich

cheese pie; there was a chicken sandwich for me. The food was really fresh and good; we had to ask for ketchup for our chips. Since there is a hotel on the grounds, they also had breakfast offerings and what looked like some nice hot coffee drinks.

National Botanic Gardens of Tasmania’s on-site restaurant was under reconstruction, but

Croissant and Chicken wrap

that didn’t keep the food from being very tasty. Dave had a chicken wrap that was packed full of veggies ~ he said it was wonderful. I had a ham/cheese/tomato croissant that was good as well. There were tables of amazing looking desserts that we would have sampled if our meal hadn’t been so filling.

The Argosy Hotel Restaurant (at Devonport) produced some really good ‘crumbled’ scallops and a better than average roast beef. The roasted sweet potatoes were super, too,

Roast beef, Crumbled scallops, Moscato wine

but the rest of the veggies were uninspired - canned pea/corn, squeaky green beans and some mashed potatoes. It's amazing how many potatoes they have and serve here. Their breakfast was ‘made to order’ and the prices were the best we found in Tasmania. Eggs, bacon, pancakes and the requisite toast and cereal bar were good enough to bring up our rating of 3 Carrots that we would have given the restaurant, otherwise.

Three Carrots

We actually got supper at a Pizza Hut, Corner Newton and Forster Roads, New Town

Mushroom, pepperoni pizza

(Hobart) 7008 because we were too tired to find something local. No ice in the soft drinks unless you ask for it but the pizza was okay. They did have a buffet, and from the way the locals were eating, it must have been good.

Levee Food Company, 27 Seaport Boulevard, Launceston 7250, +61 3 6334 7011 was supposed to have some great seafood. I had calamari and Dave had fish and chips. The calamari were 'crumbled' with salt and pepper, put on top of a salad with almonds, sun-dried

Beer; Fish and calamari salad

tomatoes, cubes of fried cheddar cheese and some sort of greens. It was dressed with oil/vinegar. Dave's fish weren't particularly firm but the batter was really good ~ sort of a beer flavor. Of course there were fries with the fish. He did have to ask for ketchup and tartar sauce. Service was very slow and not particularly attentive. The waitress would ask a question then walk away without waiting for an answer. My food was substantially better than Dave’s and at least there was a view of the harbor and some boats. Almost everything had onions that they couldn't take out or Dave would have had a pizza or pasta with seafood; we assumed that this meant that one sauce was used for both pizza and pasta.