Tassie's Wilderness Icons Reviews

My Tasmania Icons bus trip was just excellent. Visited places on my bucket list, plus more. Guide Carolyn Tipper has so much local knowledge as she lives in the state! Met some very nice travelling friends and plan to catch up in the future. Climate was great, humans can' t control that, Carolyn said March was a good time to visit, agree. Accommodation ...read more was beautiful, clean & well presented. Staff working at reception, restaurants very helpful & friendly.

I had booked AAT Kings' Tasmania tour (6 day tour from 29 Dec 18 to 3 Jan 19) through Jemma of Global Journeys. I was impressed by Jemma's efficiency and professionalism.

My husband and I had an enjoyable holiday in Tasmania, however, if AAT Kings could make more of an effort on the following items, it would enhance and sustain its brand and image.

1) ...read more Ensure accuracy of its documents prior to being sent to its customers (I needed to send an email to Jemma prior to the commencement of the trip and requested confirmation on the pick up venue on first day of the tour).

2) Incorrect information listed on the documents resulted in 4 customers being unable to assemble at the correct pick up venue (Travelodge Hobart) at 2:00 pm on the first day of the tour, so they missed out on visiting 2 spots and the driver needed to drive back to the Travelodge to pick them up. This incident shortened our time for sightseeing (visited Hobart's down town...) as the welcome drinks started at 6:00 pm.

3) Time for bag collection was at 7:00 am (4 days) and 8:00 am (1 day), the former collection time gave us discomfort as we needed to wake up at 6:00 am at the latest so as to meet AAT Kings' request. We needed rest on our holiday, however, this request put us under pressure ...

4) Most of the hotel accommodation arranged was pretty good except "Travelodge", the grading of the motel does not meet AAT Kings' brand.

Most of the food arranged together with service rendered by the Travel Director and Driver were good.

I would consider both Global Journeys and AAT Kings in the future as they offer value for money.

This was our second trip with Global Journeys and AAT Kings. Booking was easy. The trip was fantastic and we travelled on a brand new coach. Both the driver and tour coordinator were friendly and helpful. Carolyn shared her knowledge about the area we travelled and you could tell she just loved her job. Hotel accommodation was far beyond our expectations ...read more especially Tall Timbers Smithton. Staff were always friendly and helpful as were all tour guides. All inclusions were great as were the optional extras. Being the first tour of the season we had a small group all of whom were friendly and easy to get along with. Even the weather played its part and only rained one day. Saw fantastic sights. Would recommend this tour.

Gordon River cruise operator excellent from start to finish - best day, experienced crew, good meal on catamaran and knowledgeable guide.

Hobart to Launceston on the AAT King coach. The organisation on the coach was great as this was our first time on this type of holiday. Especially like the rotating seat allocation. The west coast of Tassy was well worth a visit, especially the Gordon River cruise. Accommodation varied but clean and comfortable. The communication about arrangements ...read more and times was excellent. The tour broke up the day into achievable sitting and leaving the coach for sights etc except for a couple of 2 - 2.5 hour journeys that were a bit long at times.

Beautiful stops on this 6 day trip to iconic places in Tassie. Very efficient helpful knowledgeable driver and tour director. Quite q full coach of 42 people more than what I expected but we managed. Only non positive was the last day optionals which had to be left out as it was in afternoon leaving little time for airport transfer. Loved Cradle mountain ...read more hotel where the a wallabies and joey came to greet us. Beautiful place and it snowed slightly. Great job overall. Will travel with AAT Kings again

Organisation 9/10, our Driver and Tour Director were both professional and helpful. Margaret and Mark are to be complimented. Would we travel with AAT Kings again? Must say Hannah's suggestion we do the smaller version 6 nights was the correct one for our plans. The shifting of seats each day is a must and a good policy. Our fellow travellers were nice ...read more and punctual in returning to the coach. (not always the case). There were two talkers but sharing them around was OK.

We would consider using Global Journeys again and especially if Hannah was available. Her follow up and explanations and research was exceptional. Made online easier than expected. Accommodation at Wrest Point Excellent. Driver excellent. We plan to travel to Europe Aug 2017 if all goes well. Many thanks Hannah and Global Journeys.

Experience with AAT Kings was great. Would travel with them again anytime. Experience with Global Journeys was excellent too. Hannah especially, answered all my questions and got back to me quickly. As a first time tour traveller (and travelling alone) this made all the difference to me. Some of the tour was a bit fast paced. Could have spent more time ...read more in some places and people were a bit rushed when leaving. Would let travellers know that the coach is fitted with USB chargers for phones. As a first time traveller I wasn't aware of this until I actually got on the coach.

A most enjoyable experience. Tony, our guide, was marvellous and nothing was too much trouble for him. He definitely knew everything about the places we visited and that made it all the more interesting. Dareen, our driver, was excellent. Going around all those corners was made to look easy and we certainly enjoyed the drive. We were also blessed ...read more with wonderful weather for the time of year. All in all a great holiday.

Overall we had a wonderful time. It was a great overview of Tasmania. A huge disappointment was the 'free afternoon' with the recommended option of going on the wilderness railway - we were so excited about going on it, however the morning's cruise ended too late to take up the option.

Although I was concerned about touring with a coachload of 50 other people, it actually worked out very well, despite the coach being full. The tour guide and driver were both very good, as was the itinerary, although I didn't realise they were running two tours concurrently - ours and a longer departure which ended back in Hobart, whereas we finished ...read more in Launceston. This was only really a problem at the end of our tour, when dinner was not included on the last two nights, so it was harder to bid farewell to our fellow travellers; those on the longer tour had a farewell dinner, but we just seemed to be cut adrift. Additionally, the first night in Launceston was a Sunday, with many restaurants (including that in the hotel) shut, so it was difficult to find anywhere to eat anyway. Breakfast the next morning (the last of our tour) was also chaotic with two tour groups trying to eat at once - the hotel messed that one up and should have given different times! The transfers were also not ideal - lots of hanging around while passengers from various flights were collected on the inbound trip and a tediously slow return on the Redline airport bus, rather than a dedicated transfer, but in general we really enjoyed Tassie, felt that the tour was well organised and included some real highlights, including Cradle Mountain, The Nut and McQuarie Harbour. We also loved the trip to Tasmania Zoo to see all the local wildlife, including Tasmanian devils. Would consider another AAT Kings tour on our next trip to Australia.

Didn't we just love Tassie. The hotels and food were brilliant. So was the coach and driver. The Tour Guide James was exceptional, he made it a whizz. Disappointed we hadn't booked to go all the way round back to Hobart. The coach was full to capacity and the fellow travellers, mostly Australian were great. We only had one day of rain, the rest ...read more was lovely weather. Would certainly recommend this particular tour.

Our coach driver and tour guide were fantastic! Full of knowledge personality and just a complete pleasure! Would love to tour with them both again! An asset to the company!

Overall I was very pleased that I did the tour as the drive from Hobart to Queenstown is boring and would be terrible on your own in bad weather. It was good to meet interesting people on the tour and visit many great sights. Tall Timbers accommodation was the best, wish we could have spent longer there while the accommodation in Queenstown was less ...read more than average, though clean, the staff were very pleasant however the owner lacked friendly service skills and we had 2 nights there. There must be a way to change the tour to avoid Queenstown all together or only stay for one night. The river cruise was brilliant, especially the visit to Sarah Island, the staff were friendly and helpful and the lunch was excellent. A great day out. The tour guide spoke well and while he gave us some good information on the tour, I felt he was just doing his job and didn't want to do any more than he had to. The driver was excellent and felt very safe as he drove around the winding road.

Thanks for the opportunity to provide feedback. I was generally happy with the tour and also meeting up with people I didn't know. We really seemed to get on really well which made the tour more enjoyable. The following are some things worth considering. The stay at Queenstown and the tours taken from there are worth reviewing. The tours could include ...read more a new destination in order to avoid return trips. For the 7 day tour it was a shame we didn't have a final night meal together - everyone went in different directions. And finally the mix of Single and Married Couples was good - thus allowing the Single people to mingle easily! Is this something you always consider!

Our recent trip to Tasmania was outstanding. I can't thank Kirby enough for all her advice and help, and yes I e-mailed and called her a lot. Kirby was always willing to help me with even small questions and everything went without a hitch. Kirby even planned my 2 extra days stay. All our paper work was in order, simply great. I would highly recommend ...read more Global Journeys and AAT Kings and plan to contact Kirby should I travel again. Just saw Kirbys' photo and she is simply lovely - you have so made a difference to travel for me & my elderly mother in law whom I travelled with, are still talking about our trip and we share such happy memories.

Only downside was the incredibly early included evening meal 6.30p.m. and once 6p.m. All over by the very latest 8 p.m. These early dinners were in small towns were there was nothing to do after dinner. If the meal was (say) 7.30p.m. we could, at least, have a leisurely shower and a pre-dinner drink in the bar before going in to dinner. Better for ...read more us and more profit for the hotel.

The itinerary, organization, accommodation, and general efficiency were great. However, the tour director, Caroline, made the experience extra special because of her pleasant manner but especially her great knowledge of Tasmania's geography and history. I can't comment on 'Value for Money' as I have nothing with which to compare it. We were well satisfied ...read more with the cost.

First night accommodation (Wrest Point) was very ordinary. Queenstown and Smithton better than expected for smaller towns. Overall tour was very good. Note that your web site contains a reference to the West coast wilderness railway (optional). This is closed.

It was Western Icons tour around Tasmania. Very informative. The tour director Carolyn is very professional and friendly. Extremely well organised. Enjoined every minute! Thanks!