Restaurants in Hobart, Australia

Day 1: On the first morning in Hobart we went to Maldini Italian Cafe Restaurant. It is located close to downtown by the bay. They had delicious toasted fruit and nut bread with jam ($6.50), fresh muffins with jam and butter ($7.00), vanilla bean pancakes with maple syrup and bacon ($15.50). The food was diverse and we noticed that they used raspberry jam for a lot of their dishes.
In the evening, we thought we would try The Saffron, an Indian restaurant. They told us that the food they serve is authentic North Indian. Everything on the menu looked delicious, and they had various dishes with curry. To drink we ordered mango lassi ($6), a drink with yogurt, milk and pureed mango. Some of us had beef with potato and curry sauce while the others had chicken curry. The dishes were well flavored with different Asian spices. One menu we ordered (chicken vindaloo) was very spicy, but all other dishes were rather mild.

Day 2: In the morning we ate at Criterion St Cafe. They had good omlettes with fresh herbs and feta ($11) and toast with eggs ($9). We enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and the food was good even though the feta in the omelette was unusual and we did not like it too much.
Later that day we ate at Marque IV restaurant which has been voted one of the best modern Australian Restaurants in the area. The location right by the waterfront was special. We tried beef fillet carpaccio with dressing, parmesan and roquette ($23) and pasta with broccoli, ham and anchovies ($22). We had high expectations of the food and it was exceptionally delicious.

Day 3: For breakfast we wen to Harbour Lights Cafe downtown Hobart. It is a small stree cafe with a nice atmosphere. Local people told us that this a great place for breakfast, and it is popular among regulars and tourists. They serve typical breakfast and some of the food we ordered were eggs, bacon and English muffins ($14.90), Harbor Light Muesli with oats and fresh seasonal fruits ($11.90). It was a little costly for breakfast but it was good.
For dinner we went to Blue Skies Restaurant by the waterfront of Hobart. Britney and Sam ordered penne with chicken, bacon and broccoli cream sauce ($18). William and Cooper had pork belly with potato and mustard salad ($19) and I ordered a pea and asparagus risotto with salsa verde ($20). For dessert we had dark chocolate parfait topped with fresh berries ($13.5) and sheeps milk panacotta ($13.5).We were all really hungry that evening and it was nice to dine by the waterfront.

Day 4: For lunch on the fourth day we went to Hobart Noodle in North Hobart. This place specializes in Asian cuisine and they serve different types of noodles with stir-fried vegetables and tofu. They had 11 sauces to choose from. It was a small restaurant and nothing fancy, but the food tasted very authentic.
For dinner we decided to go to a Mexican restaurant called Amigo's. They had the best guacamole dip, enchiladas and burritos with beef, beans, tomatoes and cheese ($20). Some of us also ordered tacos topped with salsa and sour cream ($14).

Day 5: On the last day we did not go out for breakfast and decided to eat at our hotel. We did not eat there the whole week so we thought we have to try it before we leave. It was great.
In the evening, we ate at Catch, a seafood restaurant located close to the harbor. All of the dishes we ordered there were delicious. Sam and I ordered fish and chips ($26), Britney and William had smoked fish and scallop pie ($28). Cooper went for something other than seafood, he had a dish with chicken ($15). It was a nice place to have dinner on our last day in Hobart because this modern upscale Australian restaurant was very nice, the staff was friendly, and we were close to the water again.
The total amount we spent on food during the week was $805 USD.

Activities in Hobart

This week we got the opportunity to travel to Hobart Australia! What an amazing trip. It started when we first arrived in Australia we decided to do the Port Arthur tour from Hobart. It was amazing, the landscape was beautiful and natural, formerly a convict site it has been transformed into a lush green area full of beauty. The tour was fully guided so we really got to learn a lot on the trip. It was a little steep at $104.30 a person ($521.50), but really worth it. The second day of the trip we decided to be a little more adventurous, we went on a cycling tour! Cooper was so excited to do this, he is big in to cycling. Will wasn’t quite as excited but we decided it would be fun. The tour was of Mount Wellington, we went all the way down the mountain, one of the most incredible experiences any of us had ever had. They even provided some great mountain bikes for us. The scenery was amazing. It was $74.00 ($370)a person. The third day of our trip we decided to check out the Mt Field national park and Russell falls. It was a full day tour where we got to see a whole lot of wildlife; they even picked us up from our hotel so we wouldn’t have to use more gas from our rental car. This was Britney’s favorite part of the trip, she really enjoys national parks and experiencing one in Australia was really a treat! This tour was $116 ($580) per person. The fourth day we let Mirjam pick our trip, I really agreed with her choice. The Cadbury Chocolate factory tour and Derwent River cruise from Hobart. Awesome decision! We were once again picked up from our hotel room and take to the factory we even got to taste some of the chocolates, delicious. After we ate our fill we took a 70-minute cruise on the river, such an exciting trip. This cost us $75.00($375) each. The last day of our trip we let Will decide what we would do, he chose the Tasmania West Coast Wilderness Railway tour, Will really enjoys riding trains so it was a good choice for him. We had a lot of fun, we got to see rivers and mountains and made a pretty steep climb during the trip, it was so awesome. This trip cost us $97.00 ($485) a person. The total amount we spent on activities for this trip was $2331.50. 

Transportation in Hobart, Australia

China Southern Airlines 384
	Depart: 1:40am Arrive: 12:30pm	Dubai, United Arab Emirates (DXB) Guangzhou, China (CAN)

2 stops

• Economy
• 6hr 50min
• Boeing 777

Change planes. Time between flights: 8hr 35min

		China Southern Airlines 325
	Depart: 9:05pm Arrive: 9:30am	Guangzhou, China (CAN) Sydney, Australia (SYD)

• Economy
• 9hr 25min
• Airbus A330

Change Airline. Time between flights: 4hr 45min

		Qantas 1019
	Depart: 2:15pm Arrive: 4:05pm	Sydney, Australia (SYD) Hobart, Australia (HBA)

• Economy
• 1hr 50min
• Boeing 767

Total duration: 31hr 25min

We flew out of the airport that was located in Dubai. We boarded our first plane at 1:40am and flew to Guangzhou, China arriving around 12:30pm. It was a long flight, but wasn’t too bad because we were all very tired and we caught up on rest. We had about a nine-hour lay over while we were in China; we just relaxed at the airport and talked about our trip so far. At 9:00pm we boarded our next flight that took us to Sydney, Australia. We arrived in Sydney at 9:30pm, which was right on time! While we were waiting for our next flight we all took naps because all the flying was making us tired. Once it was time for us to board our next plane we did so at 2:25pm instead of 2:15pm because the airlines were running behind. We had a quick two-hour flight to Hobart, Australia where we landed around 4:30pm. Our flight cost us a total of $1,128 USD, each which is $1120.78 each in AUD. The total for the flight was $5640 USH, which is $5603.90 in AUD. We were all very excited to finally be at our destination because all the flying made us not want to get on another plane again. Once we got our bags and things we made our way to the car rental service they have at the airport and rented a Hyundai that cost $155.56 AUD total. For transportation while in Hobart, Australia it cost us a total of $5,759.46.

Food in Dubai

Day 1: Since we were not exactly sure where we wanted to go eat, we just had breakfast at the hotel especially since it was free! It was pretty good the fruits were so fresh, it was light and refreshing. For dinner we went to Gaucho, known for their steaks. We got Tira De Ancho (a rib-eye spiral cut slow grilled with chimichurri-31.95) it was really good. Sam and William shared the chatequbriand (a fillet centre cut Lomo-52.50). They loved it the seasonings were awesome. Cooper wanted something classic so he got the Gaucho burger (A blend of all four cuts of beef with bacon, Dansglad cheddar, tomato, onion & chipotle chutney and malbec
mustard mayonnaise-16.00). He said the seasoning was a lot different from home but enjoyed it. We aslo tried out their special peppercorn sauces and bearnaise sauces (2.75 each) they added an extra kick to the food. We also shared our sides spiced sweet potato puree (William said it was like baby food-4.00), spinach with garlic and lemon (Mirijam thought that was a different way to serve spinach-4.25) and we ordered some chips (3.25)


Day 2: For dinner we ate at the Blue Elephant, its said to be one of the best Thai restaurants. We were very impressed they drive you to an authentic Thai village complete with traditional huts, waterfalls, streams and lush greenery. It was so beautiful. It was the complete package the food and the atmosphere. We decided to the the Royal Platter Blue Elephant. This allowed us to taste a variety of things (Sample Thai cuisine at its most magnificent a sumptuous variety of dishes recalling the royal banquets of the King and I..-120.00). I was curious about the Konng Ma Karm (deep fried tiger paws, so me and William tried this-90). I would say its an acquired taste. Lastly we got the Poo Phad Dok Khunchai (stir fried blue crab Thai celery, garlic and chili-105) that was Coopers favorite. I'm not sure if we were just bored or actually hungry but we ended up going back out again to Century Village later that night. We ate a place called The Sapphire. It was a nice bar atmosphere, we enjoyed our food and drinks outside. It was such a nice way to end our day. We split steaks (110.00) and lamb chops (110.00) with mashed potatoes and steak fries (17.00)

Day 3: For lunch we went to Local House Coffee Shop and Restaurant to try there famous camel burgers (45.00) We also tried their charcoal grilled lam and camel, chicken and camel kababs (30.00) and their arabic bread and rice(15.00). It was nice to try their native version of fast food, I guess that's what you would call it. Sam was the brave one that tried the fried camel milk ice cream (35.00), I don't know how she ate that but she said it was pretty nasty. For dinner we ate Choice, a buffet style restaraunt with all kinds of foods ranging from Arabic, Italian, Indian, Japanese and much more. They had live cooking stations including tandoori, noodles, pasta and more. (200.00)

Day 4: For lunch we wanted to try something different, so we went back to the Blue Elephant. Mirijam thought it would be great for us to learn how to cook some of their native foods. So we took the cooking class. It was so much fun we cooked some of their authentic foods. It also included 2 glasses of wine, tea or coffee and the chef outfit, even the hat! We cooked Pla paw, sweet and sour prawns, chuchi koong and a host of other things (500.00). We had dinner at the Exquisite Taste of Arabia. There we had Reem Al Bawadi Mixed Grill (50.00), the spices were amazing. Sam and Mirijam tried the Curry Chicken (55.00) the spices were amazing a lot different from what we may try here in the states. William and Cooper Meat on Saj and Beef Starganoff (50.00). The Meat on Saj looked kind of weird but they tried it and said it was great!

Day 5: We were so tired from yesterdays activities we wanted to sleep in as late as possible, so we just had breakfast at the hotel. The dome where you can get breakfast from is so pretty. The pastries were nice and warm and tasty. They also had little sandwiches. It was more like brunch than breakfast. The activity we did included lunch for us. Awesome that we had a 2 for one deal!

(1645.20 AED)

Flight and Car

We flew using Emirates airline from Johannesburg South Africa into Dubai international airport. This flight was economy class and non-stop. It costs $2884 U.S. dollars (23135.00 Zar). Once in Dubai we rented a car from the airport in which we landed for $32.67 a day. ($163.35 total) Since we rented a Honda Accord we got awesome gas mileage and only spent $79.56 on gas for the trip. 

Activities in Dubai

Day 1: The next day after getting to Dubai we decided to go visit the Skeikh Zayed Mosque which was very cool and we all wanted to see what it looked like because we have seem several pictures of the Mosque and we heard it was a must see. We arrived at the Mosque around three and we were surprised to find out that there was no entry fee or a fee for a tour. However there was a dress code. It included no shorts for men or women, no tight clothing, shoes taken off before entering the mosque, and all women will be asked to wear traditional rope and headscarfs. Briteny, Samantha, and Mirjam were not too excited about having to do that but they did. The tour was amazing and it was crazy to me how it was designed! That was really neat.

Day 2: We went to Ferrari World. Cooper and I were really wanting to go and see this place, so we all went for the day. Ferrari World is the worlds largest indoor theme park. It cost us $60 US dollars each to get in to the park. Once we got in the park we went right to the rides that would give us the most trill. We went on a V12 simulator, several roller-coasters, saw how ferraris are built and how it was started. The coolest thing we did was the Forumla Rossa roller-coaster it is the faster roller coaster on the planet according to them. It got up to 240km/h and the sharpest turn on the roller coaster was 70 degrees.

Day 3:I had heard that there was a really cool helicopter tour that would take you around Dubai and show you several locations from the air. This sounded really cool so we decided to go and see what it was all about. We went with a group that was ran by the Falcon Aviation Services that offer helicopter tours of Dubai. It cost us $130 US dollars each and the tour was only 30 minutes long which was short to me but it was pretty cool. We toured the Emirates Palace, Skeikh Zayed Mosque which was really cool to see it from above since we had visited it a couple days before, and we also went over the Al Raha Beach. During the tour we also got to see how the place to growing and how much change is happening in Dubai.

Day 4:The last activity that we did while we were in Dubai was we went on a 4x4 tour of the Desert. We went with a group called ABU Dhabi Adventure tour. It was $60 US dollars per person. We Went in two Jeeps since there was five of us in our group. The tour lasted all day from 8am to 6pm. We toured the Hajar Mountains which are considered the rolling desert dunes of Dubai. We had a picnic for lunch at a natural oasis which was surrounded by great views. The last stop on the tour we went to an ancient village that was named Hatta. There we also saw the oldest fort in the Dubai empire. The tour was really a fun experience to see the dessert how it is and seeing the ancient village was the best part of the tour to me.

We spent a total of $1,250 US dollars on activities in Dubai which in Dubai cost us $4,591.25 United Arab Emirates Dirham.

Accommodation Dubai, United Arab Emirates

We decided to stay at the Rihab Rotana located 1.2 miles from Dubai International Airport and very close to downtown. It was a good place for us to stay at and its location close to the center of Dubai was convenient and allowed us to walk to some of the activities and restaurants. We booked two classic studio rooms which each cost $195 per night. The total amount we spent for the week was $2340. The rooms were very clean, spacious and well equipped.


The staff was very polite and helpful whenever we had questions. A breakfast buffet was also included in the price so we had the option of eating something there before heading out to see Dubai.