My wife and I stayed a couple of nights at this Motel and found it to be ok. Not the best, but not the worst.

The room was smallish, but not too small. Pretty well appointed, walking distance to Southland Shopping Centre (approx. 15 mins), walking distance to Highett Railway Station (approx. 5 mins) if you want to catch a train into the city for any events.

The bed was a bit uncomfortable but bearable - I've certainly slept on worse. The room came with complimentary wireless broadband, but unfortunately I wasn't able to connect (I still don't know if the issue was my laptop or their router).

We opted for breakfast in the restaurant after the first night and would not recommend that at all. Nothing at the breakfast buffet was brought out fresh whilst we dined and the hash browns were inedible.

Would I return? Yes, if the price was right and if it was conventient?
Would I recommend it? Yes, with a warning about the bed and breakfast aspects

Could have been better, but could have been much worse.

I was put in touch with these guys when I needed a warranty repair on my Toshiba netbook computer. Unfortunately these guys seems to be Tasmania's only authorised Toshiba repairer.

My initial contact seemed positive, friendly response and captured some details before telling me I'd get a call back in 15-20 mins to get more information (not sure why it couldn't have been captured on that first call but I guess they have their processes).

2 hours later I still had not received the promised phonecall back so I rang them again. After playing the blame game, they grabbed the details they needed, provided me with some information and then left it at that.

Due to illness, I realised I wasn't going to be available at the location I'd advised for the courier to pick up the device, so I phoned them to make alternative arrangements. Through the course of this conversation it was discovered that I had not been given all the information I would have needed for the courier (frustrating) so I requested that the information I needed be emailed to me.

I'm still waiting for the promised email more than 36 hours later.

I have since contacted Toshiba and have arranged to have the device shipped to a repair agent in Victoria instead.

If I can't rely on these guys to follow up on simple customer service promises like phonecalls and emails, then how can I trust them to fix my computer???

I can't comment on the quality of their workmanship, nor their pricing, as based on their appalling service, they will never get the opportunity to service me as a customer again.

This is a really difficult review to write as my experience AT the restaurant was fantastic. Food was delicious, service was excellent and pricing was pretty good, however what came after was the killer.

My wife, myself and my mother (her first Indian cuisine experience) dined here recently and enjoyed the food amazingly. The flavours were amazing, portions sizes excellent and in general had a really enjoyable experience in the restaurant.

About 6 hours later it was another story. All three of us were struck down with diarrhoea and vomiting. The only thing we ate in common all day was the meal at Horsham Masala.

Needless to say it's not easy to recommend a restaurant that you suspect made you ill.

Good grief, what can I say about this place other than DON'T DO IT!!!! Turn around and go to ANY of the other Motel's in the area. Hell, sleep on the beach if you need to. I guarantee it will be better than this place.

After booking a couple of nights through an online booking service, I ventured in and checked in. That should have been my first hint. When I was asked how I wanted to pay. Ummm, hello?? I already paid when I booked online.

Next was the room - if you could call it that. It was reasonably spacious, but that's the ONLY thing it had going for it. The room itself had been cleaned in a half-arsed kind of way. The tea & coffee making facilities had been rinsed rather than washed, the floor hadn't been vaccuumed and the table was so unstable I was reluctant to sit my car keys down for fear it would collapse. There was no alarm clock, phone or bible in the room and there was actually a hole in one of the walls.

On the back of the door was a sign suggesting that if you were staying more than a single night (a rarity no doubt) a request needed to be lodged with reception to have the room made up. Based on how I found the room, needless to say I didn't bother.

The next incident was the following day, whilst I was enjoying myself at a bucks event, I get a phone call to say I've left all my things in the room. That's the idea, I'm staying two nights remember? This information was questioned and it took a bit of prompting from me for them to actually check (perhaps it's just unheard of that anyone would actually stay a second night) and confirm what I was saying was correct.

The final thing (which isn't that much of a big deal but it was still an irritant) was the cleaning staff wanting to enter the room BEFORE I had checked out. Hang on, until I give the key back I'm responsible so you can just wait til I'm done thanks very much.

In short I would recommend you NEVER EVER EVER stay at the Frankston Motor Inn. I

Worst Accommodation EVER

Approximate cost: $95

Last night my wife and I dined at Rockwall to celebrate our wedding anniversary and the night was nothing short of fantastic.

From the moment I received a lightning fast confirmation of my email booking (I had a response within 30 mins of an email sent at about 9am), they off to a great start.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by friendly staff and who showed us to our table (and offered us a choice of where to sit). The two waitresses that were servicing our table were bubbly, friendly and attentive without being too smothering or "in your face"

The food was fantastic, the Rock Lobster Pate for an entree was amazing, and my wife and I both thoroughly enjoyed our mains (which were of a generous serving, unlike some restaurants where you have to hunt around the plate looking for the food).

When it came time for dessert, I was unable to decide between a couple of items on the menu so I asked our waitress to surprise me with one of the two desserts I was torn between. She chose the chocolate pudding for me and I must say she made an outstanding choice (though I'm sure the Turkish Delight Panna Cotta would have been equally exceptional).

All told, we had a fantastic evening and would not hesitate to recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a fantastic unpretentious meal in Hobart.

Approximate cost: $25-35

Update - 1/07/2010 - This business has since closed down and a new cafe is in the same location.

*****

The Bogan Cafe. Wife & stopped in for a coffee & a bite to eat while we put the final touches on our Christmas shopping and it was a little disconcerting.

The food and coffee were OK but not spectacularly good or disasterously bad but the image and service were a bit of an eye opener.

You know you're in the Bogan Heartland when you're served your coffee by a waitress wearing thongs (surely an OH&S issue), khaki cargo pants, and a hoodie.

In a word - FANTASTIC. I first had Kirsty recommended to me by a colleague at work.

I contacted her in May with a vague request for some holiday ideas - I had no real thoughts on where we wanted to go, only the times we had leave booked and our approximate budget. Kirsty snapped into action and within fifteen minutes had replied to my email with a details response asking some very key questions to quickly narrow down what we wanted in a holiday.

Within a couple of days of answering, I received another email with three very details options for us (all of which sounded fantastic) complete with itineraries.

My wife and I looked them over, and being conscientious shoppers, also did some research into pricing if we booked things ourselves for the same sort of thing. Not only did we find that the prices were not ridiculously inflated (which is something we'd heard about with other travel agents) but in some cases were better than we would have been able to secure ourselves.

Not long after that, we booked a face to face meeting to ask a few final questions and lock in our chosen holiday - then it was Noosa here we come!!!

When all our travel documents were received, they came in a professional little folder, with a hand-written note and even a couple of little chocolates. Just another personal touch that did not go un-noticed.

After all this fantastic service, we went away, had a great relaxing time.

Finally, to cap it all off, the morning after we had arrived home I received the following email (names deleted)

"Dear xxxx and xxxx

Just wanted to welcome you home from your trip to Noosa!

I hope you had a wonderful, relaxing time away and enjoyed the sights of Noosa. When you get a moment, would love to hear your feedback.

Cheers

Kirsty"

This last, personal touch really made us feel like our business was valued, and probably locked in what was pretty certain anyway. We will be dealing with Kirsty again for any future holiday needs and will not hesitate to recommend her to anyone.

Approximate cost: $2K

I've used these guys several times now when I've travelled interstate and never had an issues. Their website enables easy booking of your parking, and confirmation email generally arrives within 24 hours of booking.

They offer a shuttle service from the carpark direct to and from the airport terminal no matter how early or late your flights are. Even when you're flights are delayed, they are keeping in contact with the airlines to ensure they are on time and there to meet you when required.

As well as secure parking they offer a number of other services including car detailing (they always do a very good job) and automotive servicing (not a service I've used at this stage).

I use them regularly because their pricing is around the same (or less) than I would pay in taxi fares and I get the car cleaned to boot.

While we were recently holidaying in Noosa last month, we were fortunate enough to be staying very close to this little gem. Of the 6 nights we stayed, I think we sampled there wares on at least 3 of them.

So many flavours of hand-made ice-creams and sorbets and each of them magnificent.

The staff were always friendly, and happy to make recommendations when we couldn't decide which flavours to try. Would not hesitate to go back again next time I'm in the area.

Firstly, let me qualify this by stating up front that my experience may have been somewhat jaded by the elderly gentleman seated near me with poor bladder control so I was under duress from a pungent odour of urine the whole trip.

That aside, the trip was just a boat trip really. Whilst Captain Gav was enthusiastic and friendly, the experience lacked a professional polish that you would expect for the price.

The brochure looked good, promising a leisurely cruise with informative commentary with water views to Fraser Island etc (all of which were delivered on) as well as sightings of dolphins, dugongs, turtles, whistling kites, brahminy kites, white breasted sea eagles or stingrays. We did see one sea eagle, well we were told it was a sea eagle but it was so far away there was no way to be sure. Other than that was saw a couple of Pelicans and we got the option of tossing some bread to the fish of the back of the boat at Rainbow Beach but this was better suited to the kids on board.

Overall it was passable, not really worth the $20 each we paid, but had the potential to be so much more.

Approximate cost: $20 per adult