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We had a great few days out on the boat! We had a 45 foot, with myself and my partner (now fiance!), and we were able to grab my parents in the motorised dingy to come on for one of the nights. Highly recommend getting the motorised dingy (costs bit extra) if you plan on doing any trips to shore, we also used it to just go explore a little during the trip! They recommended our parents went to McKell Park, as there is a spot for you to moor there, and we used the dingy from there to collect them. The team were amazing to deal with before we left, and on the day to get things organised. Organise ice when you get there to take straight on, lots easier. Lots of room in the fridge for your cold items, and two eskies outside, bbq was really great and easy to use. We also brought a bunch of card games to occupy some time in the rain, but was so lovely to just sit and watch it all around you! Overall amazing trip, we'll be doing it every year :)…
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Date of experience: December 2020
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THE GOOD: A week on a houseboat is definitely "something different", and I mean that in a 100% good way. Unlike our highly regulated roads with lines and signs, the spirit of freedom and exploration is all part of the houseboat experience, and the staff at Holidays Afloat all help make that happen, including getting you comfortable with the basics of handling a houseboat and what you can & can't do with it and where you can and can't take it, all with your own safety top of mind. Holidays Afloat have a range of vessels available. We inadvertently chose one of the oldest vessels in their fleet, the "Islander 35' 4-berth", and although the kitchen and bathroom were comparatively renovated and functional, the houseboat overall is very tired and surely not long for this world; I'd not want to be in a boat like this in the colder half of the year, either. THE NOT-SO-GOOD: Our biggest problem was powering/recharging our gadgets. If you're planning to "work remotely" on a houseboat, you really need to plan the details carefully. At the helm (and only at the helm) there's 2 USB sockets (which admin *did* tell us about), and 2 x '12V cigarette lighter' sockets (a fact that the admin refused to confirm for us even when I inquired), and a single 240VAC socket on the inverter - THAT'S IT; nothing at the kitchen table, nothing upstairs on the sun deck. Also, the built-in audio system is only useful for inside the cabin; but one can argue as to whether it's a good idea to be playing music outside, when you're in a quiet cove of the Hawkesbury river system, I could imagine your boating neighbours appreciating your lack of sound amplification on the top deck. Thankfully we bought a little Bluetooth speaker... Of far more consequence is the 150Watt 240Vac inverter which was *incapable* of supplying more than about half that power (so you can't recharge a MacBook Pro or any other "large" laptop with it *mic-drop*). Quite by chance we brought another lower-powered 240Vac-to-USB-C adapter which allowed us to recharge MacBooks at a slower rate, thus not tripping out the inverter - so we got lucky. As an electronics engineer, I looked into this and discovered that it's because there's too much voltage drop along the cable between the battery and the inverter when under load, so the inverter trips off once power draw goes above about 70-80 Watts. Also, the Voltmeter on the 12V battery bank at the helm also seems "off", even after hours of motoring when the batteries should be recharged and showing 13.x VDC with the motor running, I never once saw it showing more than low-12.x VDC, so it's basically impossible to know what the battery state-of-charge is and manage that resource. How sh*t like this doesn't get fixed in the years/decades(?) this inverter facility was added to the boat, I'll never understand, but in this 3rd decade of the 21st century, that's just not good enough. I hasten to add that there's not many of this "Islander 35' 4-berth" in their fleet, the vast majority appear to be larger and newer (with higher prices, of course), and some with solar panels (so recharging the batteries doesn't only happen when motoring), so *most* customers will hopefully have a better experience than us when it comes to powering their gadgets. THE BAD: None!…
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Date of experience: December 2020
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+1
Friendly, professional, and good humoured staff, despite my dreadful navigation on the water. We took one of the smaller houseboats and it was fine for two, be they friends or partners. The interior has a hint of Uncle Barry and Aunty June’s caravan about it but having said that it has everything you need, and the best bit is outside the window anyway. We decided on the Cowan Creek area, as opposed to the Berowra or Wisemans Ferry areas. We took staff advice, and as we’d arrived before lunch Friday, we headed as far up as we could manage that afternoon. We spent our first night in a bay of four public moorings just short of Waratah Bay. Heading off early the next morning we found a bay with only two public moorings just short of Bobbin Head marina. A beautiful spot, like so many others, but due to proximity to the marina around the corner it is a 4 knot area. This has the benefit of slowing down 90% of the ‘JetSki Jaydens’. The fishing was adequate, the beer cold, and the landscape breathtaking. My suggestion to you, no matter what vessel you hire is to get an outboard for your tender, row if you want, but a motor makes exploring the little shallow areas at the head of the creeks far more enjoyable. …
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Date of experience: November 2020
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We have a wonderful 6 nights on one of the 47' - 12 Berth houseboats. The boat was great and with two families the entire time we have room for both kids and adults to have their own space and time but could still come together for meals. The Hawkesbury is a top spot to cruise on even on a busy holiday weekend. Importantly the team at Holidays Afloat we professional but relaxed. We felt well prepared before we set off and completed without stress. Great job team - look forward to our next outing!!…
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Date of experience: October 2020
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Great experience. Such friendly service and the facilities on the boat were superb. Would highly recommend Holidays Afloat for an awesome Houseboat experience.
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Date of experience: October 2020
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