I am sorry to be so late in replying, life is always very hectic but working so hard allows me the resources to go on vacation, so it is a good thing! Speaking of good things, we absolutely loved our trip! There were highlights, and some things that we would do differently, but what a great time we had. April Stiles, our consultant, was excellent - when planning a trip of this magnitude, it involved a lot of back and forth calling and I found her communication skills, her timeliness and knowledge to be excellent. I thought the hotels were beautiful and as described or better. The ones in the cities-Melbourne and Sydney, were also ideally located. The hotel in Cairns was nice (I can`t remember the name right now) but it was a bit limiting due to the location, It was some distance away from town and the bus is no longer complimentary and doesn`t run that frequently. I found that the staff was a bit overworked-busloads of people would come to check in and there was one person at the desk. Their sister property seemed a bit closer to town and had more facilities to take care of people. If you were on the back of the check in line, it could be very off putting to have to wait 45 minutes to check in. Loved the white water rafting, the Blue Mountain trip, the camel at sunrise at Uluru and the Penguin Parade in Melbourne. The MacDonnell range was stunning, even in the rain, and the Daintree forest and sunset at Uluru were also enjoyable. While I thought the tour guides were excellent and the venues were terrrific, I find that I am not a big tourbus person. Extended minivans are OK, but getting off at a spot with more than a hundred other people at certain locations was not as much fun. It was OK for things like the Penguin Parade where you are on your own once you are off the bus, but for example, at a stop in the Olgas, you had 25 mintues to do a certain hike/walk. And it was weird, almost like being on a school trip, to set off with that many people. I don`t know if I noticed that it was a large bus when I booked the trip, and maybe that would be a suggestion-when people book the trips, that they know if it a large group or small group. The transfers and flights were great, except for the 8 hour layover in LA, especially since there were so many other flights on American departing for NY earlier in the day. It extended our travel day(s) immensely and really to no benefit. It turned out that they sent our luggage on a much earlier flight and we spent an extra half hour after midnight trying to find our luggage and it was already there. If our luggage had gone earlier (and really, I was under the impression that your luggage had to go with you or else it would be unattended), why couldn`t we have gone, too. I would recommend your company again and would certainly consider using them on another trip to a distant location. Thank you for a job well done and for some amazing memories.