巴林頓頂峰藍桉小屋飯店

Our stay at Bluegums Cabins was superb. We have been very keen bushwalkers and loved time in remote places in the bush. We can no longer carry all our gear for multiple days camping in the bush, but the Bluegums Cabins experience was the next best thing, plus we were able to enjoy watching the wild life (eg stunning satin bower bird a few metres from the cabin) while staying in luxury accommodation.

In January I stayed at this hotel based on people’s reviews, the pics in the hotel’s website as well as the hotel’s star rating. Unfortunately, this was far from the truth as explained below: 1. Although the hotel places emphasis on their cabins, at this National Park you will find several cabins that are “private property” and do not belong to the hotel. Hence their emphasis on cabins being relatively far from each other. 2. Private check-in and check-out. This allows guests to arrive from 3pm onwards and get the key to the cabin from the key locker adjacent to the door. However, I was not provided with the access code to the key locker. Besides, when I arrived, I had no mobile reception and could not call the hotel’s manager. I decided to hack the code of the key locker since it was extremely hot on the day of arrival. Hacking was easy since you can learn it from You Tube. 3. After having my shower and rested for half an hour, I started to unpack my things. To my surprise I found out the cabin was not very clean: a. There were spider webs at the entrance door of the bathroom. b. There was dust inside both bedside tables. c. There were ants in the bathroom and in the lounge room. 4. The kitchen did not match my expectations as below: a. All pots showed their age and were due for renewal. Because of this, it was difficult to cook with suitable pans. b. The toaster also showed its age, and it was rusty inside. c. The kitchen’s range hood was greasy. d. Some plates and coffee mugs were dirty. e. The kitchen’s grill and oven also showed their age and were rusty inside. f. The fridge was handy but noisy. g. The cutlery was also due for replacement. 5. The kitchen also had olive and canola oil, as well as sugar, tea and coffee. Anything else, needed to be brought in by myself (i.e. Salt, Paper towel, etc). 6. The bed was quite comfortable. 7. The air conditioning was not a split unit. This meant that it was noisy inside the cabin when using it. The unit also showed its age. 8. The hotel provided shampoo, conditioner and body gel, as well as toilet paper and tissues. 9. There was also a 32” Kogan flat screen TV with a DVD unit. You could also watch TV channels and listen to the radio on the TV. Both TV and DVD units also showed their age. 10. The balcony had a nice view since the cabin was located on top of a small hill. Although I mentioned the cleanliness issues to the hotel manager, I was not provided with a better and cleaner accommodation. Any proper 5-star hotel would either give you an upgrade free of charge or your money back for all the inconvenience. In a nutshell, although the cabin was located close to nature, the accommodation was not a 5- star hotel. Hence, I would not recommend it.