RTW Lodging: Our very bad experience with Samantha Ford

Samantha Ford, property manager
Sydney, NSW, Australia

This is the story of how Samantha Ford (SF) of www.boutiquevillasandapartments.com left us with no place to live in Sydney a week before our arrival.

I found SF in September 2008 through www.stayz.com while searching the website for a suitable holiday rental for our month's stay in Sydney. After a few exchanges of emails I gave her a 500 AUD deposit to secure a North Sydney apartment for a 4-week rental period in February 2009. This apartment had everything we were looking for (washer/dryer, unlimited high speed internet, convenience to public transportation, A/C, etc.) for a reasonable price.

While I was in Boston for Christmas I received an email from SF telling us that the apartment we wanted was no longer available for rent, but offered us an "upgrade" to a different apartment in Potts Point, Sydney for the same rental price. Although this apartment did not look as nice in the pictures and did not have A/C we decided that as long as it met our internet requirements we'd just go with it. At this point I re-iterated the importance of internet access to SF and she reassured me that they can accommodate us (at an additional fee, but whatever).

On January 30th 2009 I received an email from SF telling me that they are not able to provide an internet connection at the new apartment, canceled my reservation and refunded my deposit. At this point, I was at the tail end of my South America cruise and was arriving in Sydney on February 8th!

My entire next week in Santiago, Chile was pretty much spent prowling the internet and calling various property management companies for an available apartment in our price range. SF said in her email that she'd help us look for a new place but she NEVER gave us any options or a hint that she was even trying.

In the end we ended up renting an apartment for twice the amount we were originally going to pay AND lost more money when SF returned our 500 AUD deposit. Due to the increasing value of the USD between Sept 2008 and Jan 2009, we lost over 100 USD in this transaction.

Given the situation she left us in I should have unleashed more anger on her. However, I asked J to compose the final email (he's more eloquent than I am) and this is what we sent to her:

Sam,

My husband and I leave for Sydney in 36 hours.  You really left us in a bind.  We booked our accomodations several months ago in order to ensure that we would be able to find a good place at a good price and your last-minute cancellation has left us with few, if any, options.  The only places we can find now are $1500+ over our budget and we are seriously considering cutting our trip short.  We have not gotten any options from you or any sign that you care about the situation we're in.  I realize that some factors were out of your control, but we really expected you to make this right.  Needless to say, this has been a horrible experience and will be reflected in our reviews online.

My recommendation: Do not do business with Samantha Ford!

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Puzzlehunt! in Sydney

March 1 was a beautiful sunny summer day in Sydney. J and I could have spent the day sunbathing at one of the city beaches or picnicking on the grass in the Royal Botanical Gardens or hiking the trails at Blue Mountain but no. We chose to hole up in our cave-like apartment for 36 hours to participate in the quasi-annual Microsoft Puzzlehunt competition!  Due to the time zone differences we joined our team around 4 AM Sydney time to set up for the event and hunted with them until the conclusion at 10 AM the next day. Somewhere in between I snuck in a 3 hour power-nap.

We've been preparing for this hunt since we arrived in Sydney about a month ago. Here were some of the things we did:
  • Bought the cheapest printer we could find at Harvey Norman - an all-in-one HP printer for $49
  • Saved over 3 GBs of roll-over bandwidth from previous weeks (we have a 2 GBs per week cap) - used about 2 GBs during the hunt 
  • Bought some white printer paper, mechanical pencils and a pack of tri-color BIC pens with a bonus highlighter from Woolsworth
Some things I had to talk J out of purchasing:
  • A Rubik's cube
  • Grid paper
  • Various sizes of lined paper
  • Colored highlighters
  • 2X last-minute plane tickets back to Seattle ($1200 per ticket) - I'm so not joking!
I have the best teammates! It's a real disadvantage to not be on-site for the hunt so we thank our team three times over for letting us join in from Sydney!

Australia, out!

1. Our limited array of supplies
2. J at 1 AM after solving a puzzle called "DICE"

Kangaroos, koalas and emus.... oh my!

The Taronga Zoo in Sydney must be the world's most scenic zoo! Many of the animals live in habitats that have a view of the Sydney skyline. Giraffes never had a better advantage (Picture 9)!

J and I spent almost the entire day there and had a great time. It was really nice to see that at least one third of the animals on exhibit were exclusively from Australia. The highlight of our zoo stroll was witnessing the "gorge" feeding of the Tasmanian devils, which apparently only occurs once per month.

I had a particularly amusing moment when I overheard a little Australian boy pointing to ostriches and calling them emus because just a few hours ago I had been pointing at emus and calling them ostriches (Picture 7).

Australian Animals
1. Dingo
2. Koala
3. Kangaroos
4. Australian White Pelicans (my personal favorite of the day)
5. Tasmanian Devils
6. An Australian Ladybug?
7. Emus vs Ostriches

Non-Australian, but interesting
8. A pregnant gorilla
9. Giraffes living on some prime real estate

Views across Sydney Harbor from the Taronga Zoo
10. Areas east of Sydney CBD
11. Sydney CBD
12. Downtown Sydney

Tasty bites from Sydney

I swear we do more than just eat.

1. Musashi Lunch Set from Dining Bar Musashi
2. DOV Chicken Salad from DOV Delectica
3. Flat White from Toby's Cafe
4. Dim Sum from China Grand
5. Roast Duck and BBQ Pork on rice from BBQ King
6. Homemade pork and chive dumplings from my uncle. Commercially available. If you'd like a business card let me know.
7. The Tiger meat pie from Harry's Cafe de Wheels
8. Chili pig ears from Mother Chu's Taiwanese Gourmet
9. Tokyo Ramen from Ichi-ban Boshi
10. $4 Wednesday Rump Steak Dinner Special from the Beach Palace Hotel
11. Steamed Crab Meat and Pork Xiao Long Bao (Dumplings) from Din Tai Fung

Restaurant Alert! Fresh fish in Manly

Manly Fish Market Cafe
25 South Steyne
Manly, NSW, Australia

Under the "non seafood" category on their menu board there's only one choice: some kind of chicken burger which they may have purposely made sound unappetizing. This is a sure sign that everyone comes here for seafood, especially the fish of which there were 10+ different catch of the day varieties.

Since it was raining outside, we decided to prolong lunch by ordering an appetizer (or, entree as they call it in Australia). The salt and pepper squid was extremely tender and not at all chewy. It was served with a sauce which I can only describe as a hybrid of sweet and sour and chipotle sauces.

J's main [course] of fish and chips was absolutely superb! The batter was fresh, light and crispy while the fish meat was tender, hot and juicy. I don't think I've ever had fish and chips quite like it! My grilled blue cod (one of the catches of the day) was also extremely good. It was simply seasoned, but cooked perfectly with the meat flaking off at the touch of the fork. Both mains were served with a fresh field of greens salad and very nicely fried chips.

When I come back to Sydney I will definitely be visiting this restaurant again. Yes, it's no longer a matter of "if", but "when." =)

1. Salt and pepper squid
2. Fish & chips
3. Grilled blue cod

A Manly experience

Two days ago we decided to head to Manly (a northern ocean-side suburb of Sydney) to try our hand at surfing. Today, my arms are absolutely killing me! Surfing itself is not that bad. It's the paddling out that kills you.

Can you get from a downward push-up position into a shoulder-width China-man squat in one sweeping motion? If so, you'll be screaming "Cowabunga!" in no time.

Surfing was lots of fun, but I think the ferry ride from the city to Manly was the highlight of the day.

1. Some say the opera house looks like copulating turtles from this angle. I say it looks more like copulating frogs.
2. View of Sydney CBD from the ferry
3. J on the Manly ferry with the Sydney skyline in the background.

Day 100: Beauty... plain and simple

Since today was the first day it hasn't rained in the 10 days we've been in Sydney, we decided to head out to the coast and do the 6 km Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk. Every person and guidebook mention this walk and now I know why. The scenery is absolutely breath-taking! Pictures alone is not enough to convey how incredible it was - you need sounds of the howling winds and crashing waves to complete the experience. You will just have to see it for yourself one day!

If anyone comes to Sydney with plans of proposing to his/her significant other this is definitely the place to do it!

1-7. Spectacular scenery along the Coastal Walk
8.    Bondi Beach
9.    Bronte Beach
10.  Waves breaking at Bronte Beach
11.  Waves crashing into the salt-water pool at Bronte Beach
12.  J and I at Coogee Beach
13.  Dog park with a view
14.  Clovelly Bowling Club - lawn bowling is somewhat like bocce
15.  Fitness stations were located all along the northern half (Bondi to Bronte) of the trail
16.  "If I had a million dollars..." or, five.... or ten...
17.  Or, none - cheapest oceanfront home ever!
18.  When I die I want to be cremated and have my ashes scattered. But, if I were to have a traditional burial this is where I'd like to rest in peace for eternity.

What a memory for the 100th day of our trip!

Current Location: Sydney, Australia