Any tips for hotel accom?

We flew to Sydney for a long weekend when Oli was 18mths old. We stayed in an apartment in central sydney, it was quite expensive but worth it to have our own kitchen, bathroom (& laundry) and a seperate bedroom for Oli. We stayed with these guys Meriton - there are lots of options - otherwise just search "serviced apartments" on google.  We liked the fact that we were central and it was easy to walk everywhere too. Are you taking your own portacot - make sure you ask wherever you end up staying as some places will organise a hire one for you. We hired a cot and a hirechair and had it delivered to our hotel / picked up at the end of stay...made life super easy.

In terms of flights, we thought getting an early morning flight was the best - but it backfired - Oli hated it. He was a little sick at the time too, but it would have worked so much better later in the day (even mid morning would have been better). By the time we got to our hotel at lunchtime, we couldnt check in until 2pm and he was beside himself by then. Would never do that again. I think I would make the trip all part of the holiday - acknowledge that if it takes a whole day then thats fine, but just be a little more relaxed about it.

Who are you flying with - we went with Jetstar and they were good about things like excess baggage (the Mountain Buggy)....but they werent much help on the plane.

I wanna come!!!! We used the Quest Apartments in Melbourne they were great (and Hamilton also). You get a lounge/kitchen area and a separate bedroom or a studio room or even two bedroom apartments. You could go to questapartments.com and have a look to see what is available (pictures available) and I'm sure they have them in Sydney. Wotif.com might be a good site to have a look at as well you can search for apartments.

We stayed at the Somerset Hotel in Darling harbour Sydney - we had a one-bedroom apartment with full kicthen and our own washing machine and dryer. They can lend you a portacot free as well.

We stayed our last night at a normal airport hotel as we had an early morning flight home, and it was a nightmare all being crammed in one room. DD wouldn't go to sleep as she was aware we were still up and in the same room as her and it got really claustrophobic.

I would definitly recommend getting a one bedroom apartment so you can put your daughter in the bedroom to sleep and you and your partner can stay up in the lounge area. You also get much more space. It is certainly handy having a washing machine too - cuts right down on your luggage.

To be honest, i wouldn't be so bothered about a full kitchen again as the gorceries were so expensive we probably could have eaten out for the same price . . .

We flew to Sydney in October last year, we flew with emirates, had no issue with amount of luggage but they were totally hopeless on the plane, flight attendants all young girls with no concept of babies / toddlers. So be prepared for that but really it is only a short flight so you will be fine. I just would not fly long haul with emirates with toddlers / babies. And ditto going prepared with lots of toys, snacks etc.

Get accomodation with one bedroom, so brooke can go to bed at normal time and you can stay in lounge, then we just took soph out of cot and shifted it to lounge then put her back in it, was no problem. Also Sophia woke up super early cos of time difference, (no matter what time she went to bed), our hotel had an indoor pool that opened at 6, was great, we went swimming everyday before breakfast as there is nothing to do in a city at 6 in the morning!!!

Just had a look at a map of Aussie - cancel the island idea!  The only other feasible place that is a short flight from Syd / Melb seems to be Adelaide.  I like the idea of lots of coastal walks and scenery.  I don't want to be trying to do too much shopping (like I used to!) with a baby in tow.  Would rather get outside, as Brooke would appreciate that better.