Sightseeing Tours Australia — Local services in Melbourne

Visiting from Canada, I'd been looking at seeing the Great Ocean Road a few different ways - Public transit would have meant a car rental, organizing hotels, etc. and this trip looked like a good alternative to all that headache, while still getting to see the highlights - We had clear skies most of the day, and the views were amazing. Rather than ramble, I'll list the things I liked and disliked about the trip.

Pros: Excellent value for money. The day winds up being about 600km of travel over 12 hours, and you're given something of a "Greatest Hits" of the great ocean road.

Very friendly guide. I can't remember the guys name, but he was a younger guy who was excited to share as much as he could with us about the area, and made an effort to connect with everyone on the bus.

Great variety of stops - Lots of great photo opportunities from koalas and quiet beaches, to roadside bluffs and of course, the highlight of the trip, the (not actually 12 of them) Apostles. This was a seriously great trip, and the unofficial priority given to tour groups for the nearby helicopter tours convinced me to take one - It's a memory that'll stay with me for life!

Cons: Could the bus have been more comfortable? Sure, but a lot of the negative reviews about the bus seats seem overblown to me - they weren't upholstered leather stuffed with goose down, but they were comfortable enough, and both my girlfriend and I were happy with the amount of leg room. Again, for the low price we paid, I wasn't disappointed in the seats (Make sure you sit on the left side of the bus for the best views!)

Some of the stops were a little short - I understand this is part of cramming so much in to a 1 day tour, but if you're looking for an opportunity to explore towns along the road (Apollo Bay), this may not be the trip for you.

The tour guide was extremely charismatic and knowledgeable, but this is a double edged sword! He was talking for most of our journey, and while this was far from obnoxious, it would have been nice to have a little more quiet time along the way.

Overall, I'm thrilled with the value I got out of this trip for the price I paid. It saved us a lot of trouble trying to rent a car, organize hotels, etc., and the curated nature of the trip meant we got to see the best of the best. I booked another tour with them a few weeks later, and I'd recommend giving them a shot!

PS, please don't let the reviews about the coaches dissuade you - The seats weren't heated upholstered leather seats stuffed with luxury goose down, but this was the biggest complaint I read about before booking, and they're seriously overblown. The seats...

I rarely write negative reviews but my experience using STA was beyond dissapointing. I booked a day tour for five people (two adult, one kid and two seniors) to go see Blue Mountains. I was really looking forward to the tour as I heard so many great things about the Blue Mountains. I should of done more research on the tour company althought. We did the tour on our second day of arrival to Sydney and this trip totally ruined my trip to Sydney. Our tour guide was Fiona and maybe she was having a very bad day but she was doing this weird thing of moving the bud three meters at pickup points to pick up the passengers (instead of waiting for all the passengers to board the bus). She did this in the morning after we visited the zoo but she gave people notice and we were able to take our seats before she moved the bus. However she did this again in the afternoon, after lunch, and this time she didnt give any prior notice and I almost fell (as I was just about to take my seat and wasnt holding to anything). I went to talk to Fiona at our next stop to ask her to give us notice and be more careful next time around but she denied the whole thing and just said she always tells people to sit down with their seat belts on before moving the bus. She does ask that for when leaving the pit stop conpletely but not while moving the bus for passenger pickup. The whole pickup and drop off process did seem misorganized and we were not given the full one hour at the zoo, etc... I did provide my feedback to the company and they did do an investigation and said there was no mistake done on their behalf. I was in severe pain after I almost fell and strained my neck and lower back. They refused to provide any compensation. It was lucky my senior parents were already seated when this happened (when Fiona just decided to suddently move the bus without giving us a prior notice). Next step is to complain to their regulating body but I have hard time finding out any major organizations they are accredited with. Super dissapointing experience and a lesson to do more research before booking operators for next time around. There were some folks in the office who were helpful and empatetic, like Alex, Emma and Nikayla. I am grateful to them but not to others in the...

I was on this tour as part of the 2-day Essential Sydney Tour Package which included a Harbour Cruise, Opera House Tour, and the Blue Mountain Deluxe Tour.

The Blue Mountain Deluxe Tour was good. Our bus driver, Emma, was very friendly and informative. It was really cool to see her excitement when she spotted two black cockatoos flying by. Because of her we were able to experience them when we might not have otherwise. She was very knowledgeable of the area and explained that it is rare to see them like that. I loved seeing all the birds in the wild along the way that are considered 'exotic' in our country.

We really enjoyed the Sydney Zoo. The First Nations cultural talk and demonstration was interesting. And of course, feeding the kangas was fun to experience. There were native animals at the zoo that we hadn't yet experienced while visiting Australia.

The Three Sisters area was beautiful. The Blue Mountain part of it was just okay for us. There are three rides, two gondolas and a short train, and then a walkabout at the bottom with dinosaurs. That part is geared more to children who were very excited by it. But it was a nice, cool, walk (it was 40 degrees that day) so we took our time before heading back up.

I will also say that Emma took steps to make our time there better. It was busier than normal and after we crossed the first gondola she was on the other side and had checked out the lines for the gondola or train down the mountain. She guided us to the gondola that didn't have as long a wait. Her doing that allowed us the time to experience everything that we might not have had time to do.

The opera house tour was very interesting and we were fortunate to be in one of the theatres while some performers were doing a dress rehearsal.

I only took a star off of the rating because of our disappointment with the cruise portion of the trip. We were unaware that we needed to download the commentary to our mobiles. We did enjoy a relaxing ride though and got some good pictures of the opera house and bridge...