Really great service - we will definitely use you again
Thomas was great, as always
As ever, Charlie answered any queries or questions very promptly
Your staff were very polite, friendly and helpful. They made arranging our trip a lot easier than I had expected
Taylor was amazing. He looked after us from start to finish. Much appreciated. This holiday was 3 years in the making
Everything worked really well for my mum and all her fears were unfounded! The special assistance worked brilliantly. Thank you for your help sorting the flights and making my mum's travels very straightforward
Very thoughtful and Trevor was excellent
Plenty of help as required
Stan organised our holiday and did an excellent job as usual
Excellent service provided by Orlando and the team.
As usual fantastic service especially from Lincoln. Our trips to Australia wouldn’t be the same without him.
Ian Newton and the team were excellent
Dubai is a rubbish place to transit. You walk a mile to end up the other side of a glass screen from where you landed and de plane straight into security where you need to get out electronics just to get back on the same plane. Real pain for those in wheelchairs or with kids. Thank you Tony. Your advice and flights were spot on.
What a fantastic company. Everything on my trip went so smoothly and I couldn’t recommend DialAFlight enough. If I had any questions they were more than happy to chat about it.
Isaac was excellent and very helpful.
Malaysian Airlines was the worst we have ever experienced by quite a long way. The service was shocking. We won’t fly them again. But you guys were EXCELLENT and we always recommend you to everyone
Tammy was really helpful throughout the booking experience and after. It took all the stress out of booking flights and I will be using DialAFlight in the future
Very reliable and efficient. Service is second to none. Ryan is a pleasure to deal with and really knows his stuff. Highly recommend.
Very good service by all the team. All went according to plan.
Everything went smoothly
It was an amazing flight
Great service from start to finish.
I wouldn’t book with anyone else - your service is excellent in every way
Excellent. No issues. Will use again
I couldn’t have had a more enjoyable travel experience. I would recommend Ross and his team to all my friends and family
Special thank you to Declan McClean, totally professional, friendly and helpful service which resulted in reasonably complex travel plans becoming so simple. We had nothing to worry about and simply enjoyed the eight weeks away.
All flights went well apart from my luggage being damaged when I arrived in Australia
Fantastic job as always
Flights were great, hotels were great. Qantas flight was excellent. Service on Emirates was disappointing
Smooth and fully supported throughout
You're flying half-way round the world to get to Australia so you need at least a couple of months for a proper crack at seeing it, right?
Wrong. It's possible to get a real taste of the country and see lots of sights in a fortnight if you know how.
3 nights in Sydney
Jump on a ferry at Circular Quay for a view of the city from the water - the Darling Harbour ferry takes you under the Harbour Bridge and round the Opera House.
On a four-and-a-half-hour trip with Sensational Sydney Cruises our skipper Margie pointed out celebrity dwellings, from Russell Crowe's house to the place that Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise used to own. The cruise included a stellar three-course lunch, with time to swim too.
Watch ant-like figures climbing Sydney Harbour Bridge and debate whether you've a head for heights. You also get a great (and much cheaper) view from the Sydney Tower.
Don't just take pictures of the Opera House - you need to go inside. Whether or not you take in a performance, it's worth doing a backstage tour - we were lucky enough to see a rehearsal of the Australian Ballet.
Stretch your legs with a free guided walk through the Royal Botanic Gardens or just walk to Mrs Macquarie's chair, a sandstone rock cut into the shape of a bench by convicts in 1810 for the wife of the governor of New South Wales.
Sydney's most famous beach is Bondi. But Manly is my pick - hire bikes to ride along the pine tree-lined beach and enjoy barramundi and chips.
Ovolo 1888 Darling Harbour hotel is a converted wool store with bright furnishings, modern art and exposed brick walls.
3 nights in the Blue Mountains
Its blue haze created by sunlight on droplets of eucalyptus oil from millions of trees, this mountain range is two hours west of Sydney. The scenery is epic, with sandstone cliffs, waterfalls and hidden canyons - and you can ride the world's steepest passenger railway, with 64-degree inclines.
3 nights on the Great Barrier Reef
It's not easy deciding on the best place to see the world's largest coral reef system, stretching more than 2,300km, with 900 islands, especially with warnings of large areas being affected by coral bleaching and mass tourism.
For serious divers, Cairns in Queensland is the gateway to the best of the reef, reached on live-onboard boats - there are day trips from Cairns, but transfers are lengthy.
Otherwise, stay on one of the islands. Heron Island is a good choice, a two-and-a-quarter-hour ferry ride from Gladstone, itself a short air hop from Brisbane, which means you can spend nearly a day getting there. There's a strong smell of fishy guano as the island is home to 30,000 mutton birds. But it's worth it, because you swim to the coral reef - or take a boat.
Marine biologist Sue took us for a fascinating reef walk armed with sea periscopes for viewing the amazing sea-life - with zillions of sardine-like fish swarming round us.
Best of all was the channel by a shipwreck, which you can swim in. Here we spotted eight massive rays lying in the sand, one with half-a-dozen small sharks on its back, as well as black-tipped reef sharks, green turtles and a rare loggerhead turtle.
2-3 nights at The Red Centre
It's essential to visit the iconic Uluru, a massive monolith rising 1,142ft above the desert floor, with a six-mile girth. There are many ways to view the rock from the 15km trail at its base - walk, cycle, ride a Segway, or even roar round on a Harley Davidson.
You can also fly over it - and you get great views just flying into Ayers Rock airport, with direct flights from Cairns, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Just don't climb up it because it's sacred to the Aborigines - that will soon be officially banned.
We took in the highlights on the Uluru Sacred Sites and Sunset Tour, whilst our guide pointed out honeycomb erosion on the rock, all the while telling Aboriginal stories.
We visited the spot where the first man known to climb the rock ascended in 1873, saw the Mutitjulu cave, with its atmospheric rock art, and touched and listened to the rock (some say they can feel vibrations or a sense of deep emotion).
If you want to explore the nearby spectacular domed rock formations of Kata Tjuta - it's worth doing - you need to add a night to your stay. And there's no better finale to your trip than Uluru sunsets, when the iron oxide in the sandstone glows best.
First published in The Times - May 2019
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