This was published 7 years ago
Best Australian luxury hotels for iconic travel experiences: Five of the best
By Mal Chenu
Whale sharks, the biggest fish on earth, can be found hanging out off the Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia from late March to early July each year.Credit: iStock
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We've come a long way from the "throw a shrimp on the barbie" days. Today, the archetypal Australian experience includes exploration of natural phenomena and exotic expeditions as well as luxury hotels and fine dining.
And wherever your Aussie adventure takes you, Star Ratings has you covered for quality accommodation, with options to suit every taste and budget.
The Star Ratings symbol is a mark of quality determined by more than 200 criteria and the Traveller's Ratings are aggregated assessments from guests who have rated the property or posted a review on more than 100 websites. Together, they represent the most complete and accurate accommodation evaluations available. No matter what your choice, you can be assured of the highest quality and standards.
Sail on Sydney Harbour
The views of Sydney Harbour and its surrounds are dramatically different when experienced from the deck of a luxury yacht. Cruising close to the glistening sails of the Opera House, passing under the Harbour Bridge and past Fort Denison, the ferries rushing about you, the spectacular coastline and million dollar real estate. Getting out on the world's greatest natural harbour with the wind in your hair is an enthralling adventure and Sydney's seafaring folk have nautical options to suit all tastes and budgets, from do-it-yourself catamarans to crewed luxe superyachts.
Be a part of the crew or sit back and relax with a glass of something fabulous. Join a twilight race or a night sail, or enrol in a sailing school. You can even have the skipper moor the yacht and leave you for a romantic evening on board with the sight and sounds of the harbour all to yourselves.
Examples of Star Rated properties in and around Sydney Harbour:
Intercontinental Hotel
Star Rating: 5 Star
Star Rating Traveller's Rating: 9.1/10
(2016 Star Ratings Australia Gold List Award Winner)
Pullman Quay Grand Sydney Harbour
Star Rating: 5 Star
Star Rating Traveller's Rating: 9.2/10
(2016 Star Ratings Australia Gold List Award Winner)
Radisson Blu Hotel Sydney
Star Rating: 5 Star
Star Rating Traveller's Rating: 9/10
(2016 Star Ratings Australia Gold List Award Winner)
Swim with Whale Sharks at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia
If swimming with the world's biggest fish isn't on your bucket list, you need a bigger bucket. Eighteen metre-long, plankton-eating whale sharks visit Ningaloo Reef off WA's north-west coast from late March to early July each year and Exmouth is the best place to find a charter to get amongst them. The docile beasts swim so slowly you can take the selfie of a lifetime as they cruise by.
And even when the whale sharks aren't in residence, Australia's 'other' coral reef plays host to green and loggerhead turtles, giant manta rays, reef sharks, shovel-nosed sharks, dugongs, dolphins, humpback whales and millions of brightly-coloured fish. And if you don't fancy going out to the deeper water by boat, you can see a lot of the reef and its inhabitants just metres from the shore. It's peerless snorkelling all year round.
Star Rated property in Exmouth:
Novotel Ningaloo Resort, Exmouth
Star Rating: 4.5 Star
Star Rating Traveller's Rating: 8.9/10
(2016 Star Ratings Australia Gold List Award Winner)
Dine at Australia's Best Restaurant
OK, this is going to start more arguments than Gordon Ramsay. But according to The Australian Financial Review's 'Australia's Top Restaurants', the current titleholder is Attica in suburban Ripponlea, seven kilometres south-east of the Melbourne CBD.
Attica's piece de resistance is its degustation Extended Tasting Menu which changes monthly but might include morsels such as Gazza's Vegemite Pie, Aromatic Ripponlea Broth, Wattleseed Bread, Salted Red Kangaroo and Bunya Bunya and Marron with Sweet and Sour Pumpkin Seeds.
Of course, there are superb restaurants right throughout Australia these days and many people are including a fabulous meal at an exotic restaurant in their holiday planning. Attica is an excellent epicurean example but there are literally hundreds of fine-dining opportunities to tuck into. Start your Pavlovian googling today.
Examples of Star Rated properties in Melbourne:
Intercontinental Melbourne The Rialto
Star Rating: 5 Star
Star Rating Traveller's Rating: 8.9/10
(2016 Star Ratings Australia Gold List Award Winner)
Crown Towers
Star Rating: 5 Star
Star Rating Traveller's Rating: 9.3/10
(2016 Star Ratings Australia Gold List Award Winner)
The Langham Melbourne
Star Rating: 5 Star
Star Rating Traveller's Rating: 9.2/10
(2016 Star Ratings Australia Gold List Award Winner)
Whitsunday Islands by Air
This middle part of the Great Barrier Reef is a magical sight from the air. A popular seaplane odyssey is Air Whitsunday's Panorama Tour from Airlie Beach, which takes in a low altitude pass over the famed heart-shaped reef, a sea landing at a coral lagoon for a spot of snorkelling and a champagne lunch on the blindingly white sand of Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island, regularly rated one of the world's finest stretches of sand.
This spectacular seaplane sojourn gives you the wonders of the Reef from the air, the beach and underwater and you are back at your hotel in time to catch some rays before cocktails and dinner. Other airborne expeditions on the Whitsundays include helicopter charters and skydiving but whatever wide-blue-yonder mode you choose, you'll come away with the holiday story of a lifetime.
The Whitsundays is also a sailing Nirvana and there are plenty of thrilling seaborne adventures to be had around this pristine jewelled archipelago on a crewed charter or a sail-yourself yacht.
Examples of Star Rated properties in and around the Whitsunday Islands:
Peninsula Airlie Beach
Star Rating: 5 Star
Star Rating Traveller's Rating: 9.2/10
(2016 Star Ratings Australia Gold List Award Winner)
Pinnacles Resort and Spa, Airlie Beach
Star Rating: 5 Star
Star Rating Traveller's Rating: 9.4/10
(2016 Star Ratings Australia Gold List Award Winner)
Indigenous Experience of Uluru and Kata Tjuta
The Red Centre is redolent with the Anangu peoples' Dreaming - a cultural wealth measured in countless time and quiet, irrefutable connectedness. Stand in the chill desert wind and witness the sun's first rays caressing Uluru and you'll feel it. Watch an elder sit in the dust and create a dot painting depicting his or her journey – a story stretching back eons – and the elegant, spiritual simplicity will touch you.
The Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park's Cultural Centre is a good place to start. Here you'll discover 'Tjukurpa' – the basis of knowledge and the all-encompassing term for the history, tradition, art, language and ancestral spirits of the Anangu. Learn about traditional weapons, bush tucker and the medicinal use of local plants, visit the Wintjiri Arts + Museum centre, see Putitja dancers showcase traditional inma (ceremony) and explore the countless petroglyphs in the rock's caves, cliffs and fissures.
There are fascinating and poignant indigenous experiences to be found all over this wide, brown land. The oldest continuous culture on the planet has a lot to offer and they are happy to share the wealth.
Examples of Star Rated properties in and around Uluru
Sails in the Desert Hotel
Star Rating: 5 Star
Star Rating Traveller's Rating: 8.2/10
(2016 Star Ratings Australia Gold List Award Winner)
Emu Walk Apartments
Star Rating: 4 Star
Star Rating Traveller's Rating: 8.7/10
(2016 Star Ratings Australia Gold List Award Winner)
This article brought to you by Star Ratings Australia, the leading independent accommodation accreditation program in Australia. The 'star' symbols are a licensed trademark and can only be used by properties that have been licensed to use them by Star Ratings Australia
You can be assured Star Rated properties maintain the meticulous quality standards of their Star Rating and the new Travellers' Rating, an aggregated score sourced from more than 100 websites, provides an up-to-date assessment from recent guests. Visit www.starratings.com.au.
Planning your next holiday? Visit Star Rating Australia's Autumn/Winter campaign travel portal for inspiration and itineraries, www.star-tripping.com.au
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