Readers' Letters

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday December 11, 1999

A very civil experience

RECENTLY, on a trip to the United States, I took a day trip to the Gettysburg battlefield from Washington, DC, with Grayline Bus Tours. I am a history buff, so it turned out to be a wonderfully interesting day, and I would have liked to stay longer.

When I got back to my hotel, I realised I had left a bag of rather expensive souvenirs on the bus. With not much optimism, I rang the bus company. Amazingly, it had found them and I picked them up the next day from the terminus at Union Station.

Thank you, Grayline, and the driver and guide who helped make my day interesting and fulfilling. The driver really appreciated the guests who had taken the tour - numbers had been declining and it had been feared the tour might have to be taken off the program.

So, if you're interested in history, and particularly the American Civil War, it's worth going.

Dennis Mercer,

Castle Hill, NSW 2154.

Comfy in the Coorong

BRUCE Elder (Travel, November 20) was wise to quote poets in describing the Coorong. In any other terms, it seems indescribable. I first saw it at a midsummer dawn many years ago, and the words, the photographs, are not there to paint the colours, to draw the space.

But Mr Elder was less than fair in describing the Poltalloch boundary rider's hut as "modest accommodation", sitting "rather forlornly on the edge of Lake Alexandrina". I found the hut to be a very comfy cottage, ideally suited to a contemplative writer or artist, and sufficiently well-equipped to keep a fisher family happy for days. Just take your own tucker.

Poltalloch is listed in the NRMA guide under Narrung, SA; phone (08) 8574 0088.

B. McNamara,

ACT 2600.

More rooms at the inn

THE ARTICLE in your paper, "Dinner was history" (Travel, November 27), should have been thoroughly researched. My main points of disagreement are:

1. The hotel was in the midst of renovation and decoration when Ian Burns-Wood and Henry Szwanenfeld were seriously injured moving furniture to the first floor. This accident occurred in July. Opening the first floor of the hotel to guests will provide unique accommodation to visitors. As both the injured are not able to work, our plans have been put on hold. We have retained the services of an interior designer, Marsha Ogden, to refurnish all the guest rooms, complete the attic, refurbish the fernery and furnish the first floor.

2. The night Tony Kleu visited was a Sunday and is, as was explained to him, a quiet evening with no local trade (they need an early night - preparing for work in the watermelon patch). If he had reserved a room for a Friday or Saturday night, that would have been a different kettle of fish. (Should not all reviews be on an equal playing field, all reviewed on Sunday night, perhaps?)

3. No television: as the reception here is so unreliable we provide only the one set for important sporting events, and then keep our fingers crossed. Most guests are relieved to get away from the norm of the city - no TV, no muzak, no telephones in the room, no gaming machines. This is a country pub.

4. We welcome children. They have a beautiful garden to play in during the day, fishing, tennis, walking along the river. As noted above, this is a country pub and is of limited appeal to children at night. Adults love the atmosphere.

5. The hotel was not in darkness at 9.20 as I was having dinner with my daughter outside after our return from the hospital, where my husband was to undergo another operation in the morning.

6. The remark that the doors have not been adapted to modern diet and growth is ridiculous. Nothing of historic significance will be changed with the renovations; this would be unthinkable. We value our heritage.

7. The staff had no authority to speak to Mr Kleu on our behalf. Normally journalists arrange a mutually convenient time. Obviously with both owners at the hospital such an interview was impossible on Sunday, November 21.

In closing I regret that Mr Kleu, and therefore your newspaper, viewed the Settlers Arms Inn with a jaundiced eye.

Gabrielle Burns-Woods,

Co-owner, Settlers Arms Inn, St Albans, NSW 2775.

The establishments in Weekends Away reviews are visited anonymously to judge how the general paying public is treated on the night. - Travel Editor.

Lucky in Noosa

AFTER the run of letters castigating Noosa food, and your piece "Top nosh from Noosa" (Excess Baggage, November 27), I feel I must share our experiences in September.

Upon arrival we took a punt and asked our hire-car driver to recommend good places to eat. This turned out to be a wise move. Maybe writers to the Herald had just been unlucky, as we were when we found that the resort restaurant was abysmal.

We ate at an Indian restaurant, which was good. We ordered gourmet pizza on our driver's recommendation - it was delicious. We ate at a small cafe in the main street, which was quite acceptable for the money.

We must recommend Ricardo's. The food was fabulous, the wine list held lots of nice wines by the glass, service was very good and it overlooks water. The lunch we had was so good we felt compelled to return for dinner before we left. We were not disappointed.

Joy and Geoff Buckland,

Arncliffe, NSW 2205.

Let's drink to that

I HAVE a suggestion for any Australian travelling overseas who wishes to cement a friendship or offer gratitude for services rendered: buy the object of your attention a bottle of Australian wine. Not only are you giving them something distinctly Australian, you are also ensuring that at least a few of the dollars you spend overseas make their way back to Australia. An unexpected bonus is that Australian wines are frequently cheaper overseas than they are at home because of the high taxes here. So buy Australian and everyone wins.

PS: Apart from getting drunk now and then, I have no connections with the Australian wine industry.

J. Morcombe,

Manly, NSW 2095.

Try Croatia instead

SINCE returning from eight weeks' travel in Europe and Tunisia, we felt the need to write, warning unsuspecting travellers heading to Italy.

However, a long diatribe about rude, uncaring, indifferent hotel, bus and ferry staff, Italian drivers, the hideously high price of hotels and food, the closure until some time next year of most of the museums in Rome and churches in Assisi, waiting three hours for the hourly bus from Villa Hadrian back to Rome, the thick pollution haze that covered most of northern Italy (in the postcards of Lake Como you can see mountains!), the inability to organise or pay for anything with a credit card over the phone, no signs at archaeological sites, etc, etc, etc, sounded like one big whinge!

So, instead, we thought we would give a recommendation for Croatia. Not quite knowing what to expect, how refreshing it was to arrive and travel down the Dalmatian coast. With great-value accommodation, sparkling blue seas, sunny skies, incredibly cute historic villages and islands which leave those grotty, but more famous, Italian ones for dead, as well as the multilingual skills and friendliness of its people, constantly surprised us.

So when you've had a gutful of Italy, take the overnight ferry to Croatia (or Tunisia, for that matter), relax and enjoy the difference.

PS: I'm not Croatian, related to or friends with Croatians, or work for any Croatians.

Pam Valentine,

Liverpool, NSW 2170.