If you read my article before, you must know that I did a road trip from Mourilyan Harbour in Queensland to Melbourne in Victoria. It was for 6 days. A lot happened during the trip but mostly the good ones. What I’m going to tell you now is one of the best places I’ve visited.
To be honest, the road trip made me realize that apparently I don’t really like Queensland. It’s like Indonesia and most of the view is similar. Maybe because they’re both a tropical land. In New South Wales and Victoria, the views are totally different from Indonesia and Queensland. So I got the best view when I was already in New South Wales.
Before, it was Byron Bay. This time, it’s a small town called Holbrook. Prior to doing the road trip, me and Aldi, my husband, made a plan which included places we’d pass through and places we’d stay over and Holbrook was not one of them. At first we wanted to stop at Albury after our stop at Sydney.
But it’s more than 500 km away and it’d take us nearly 6 hours to get there. Aldi didn’t want to drive after daylight, so we decided to choose the one before it. So Holbrook it was. As usual, I booked a hostel on the way.
And you know what? I got tricked! By ‘dollar’. So I booked the room on a website and it said $75 something for a night stay. Without thinking too much, I booked it. I thought it was a good deal because it had been more than that every time I booked accommodation during the road trip. This is one of the things that I don’t like from Australia. A hostel average cost is $100 while in Indonesia, we can get a 4-star hotel with that budget. But then again, Australia is a developed country. Everything here is expensive. Lucky, even with the minimum wage, someone can live here. He has to work hard, though.
We arrived at Holbrook in the afternoon. I think it was around 4 pm. We went straight to the Riverina Hotel. It was an old building just on the side road. There’s a bar on the first floor and that’s where we checked in. It was the moment of truth.
When I was checking in I was surprised to find out that the room cost more than $100. I asked the receptionist twice if she was wrong. But she wasn’t. I paid in the end with so many questions in my head. Then I got into the room to check the receipt on my email. It was, yes, $75.34 but in USD! I was like, screw me! Why on earth there are some countries that use dollar as the currency and they all have different rate. Why didn’t they make it the same? I bet a lot of people got tricked as well.
Anyway, it was a nice hotel. The room was kind of creepy, though. There were 3 beds in the room. I only slept on one of those. There’s a closed hearth in the middle of the room. I reckon it’s a perfect room for a family with 2 kids. Oh, the bathroom is a shared bathroom. Since my room was at the corner, so it’s quite far to get to it. The worst thing is that, I always wake up at midnight to take a pee. Too bad I don’t have any photo of the hotel. I do have some videos, though. But if you’re curious to see, you can check Google or my YouTube Channel.
My most favorite part of the hotel was the food. I ate dinner at the bar downstairs. I forgot what it was but it contained sliced beef with sauce on it, some veggies, and potato wedges. It was so good! It was also affordable. Only $16. I only ordered 1 meal since Aldi didn’t want to spend more money, so we shared the meal and in the room, he ate the instant food that we bought in Woolies.
As I guessed, I couldn’t sleep well at night. Nothing creepy happened. It’s just the vibes. But it was a short stay. In the morning we woke up and left the hotel before 10. I forgot what we had for breakfast. I think it’s just some cookies.
Before we left the town, we stopped by at IGA to buy some snacks and after that, we visited a historical site close by. I kind of like Holbrook. It’s peaceful and full of history. When we were about to arrive at the hotel the day before, I saw something like a submarine. And yes, it is a submarine.
It’s located right beside the road. We could climb up to the the submarine. Apparently, people could get into it. Because there’s a circle door that led to the submarine body but it’s closed. I saw from the windows that there were a lot of rubbish inside. It must come from irresponsible visitors.
After going around the submarine, I walked towards the museum. Unfortunately, it’s closed. It’s alright, though. We took that as a cue to hit the road again.
On the way to the parking lot, we took photos at a monument. It assured me that the town was named after an important person.
At the time I thought, I could live here someday. I’d love to if I have the chance to. Alright. I guess, it’s the time for me to sign out!
