We were driving back from Toowoomba, after visiting our daughter in the Toowoomba Hospital, when Val insisted on taking me to see Lake Broadwater.

He waxed lyrical about how beautiful this lake is and how it is a conservation refuge area for water birds and other wildlife such as kangaroos. Lake Broadwater is one of the few remaining areas where you can see the vegetation that was common to the Darling Downs before the area was settled.

It is (so Val tells me) a lovely place for a picnic outing as the park is provided with tables, barbecues and toilets on hand. A perfect place to eat by the lake under the shade of the large blue and red gums.

And after you have eaten you can get a boating permit from the caretaker so that you can go out on the lake if you so desire. The park is great for bird watching (of the feathered kind) especially from a hide at the neck of the lake.

You can even stay overnight at one of two camping areas – Lake Broadwater or Wilga Bush. Both areas have toilets and Lake Broadwater also has cold showers and picnic facilities along with caravan and motorhome parking. Wilga Bush has fireplaces and a shelter shed. To do this you will need to get a camping permit before you arrive or if you forget, you can get one from the self registration station in the picnic grounds.

So by the time we driven along the 20 klms along Moonie Highway heading from Dalby to Tara, I am warming up to this visit to see the glistening waters and relax watching the birds wading etc.

Okay, we turn down the Lake Broadwater road and drive for another 10 klms and miss the turnoff to the lake. So once we reach a closed gate over a stock bridge we realise we have come too far so we back track and finally see the sign to the boat ramp that we had missed on the way in.

We take particular note  of the  instructions on the board outlining the ‘Rules for Boating‘.

And have a look at this -here is a photo of the lake from the boat ramp.

Something of an understatement on this sign. Not likely to get my feet wet here. And although there weren’t any water birds, there were plenty of kangaroos grazing.

In case you don’t know we are currently in a drought situation, in fact nobody knows it better than me. I now live in rural Qld on a property in Tara and as we rely on tank water, I get up every day hoping it is going to rain.

Val assures me that when he last went to see Lake Broadwater it was full of water so I will go back after it rains and I am sure it will be beautiful with the flocks of water birds skimming across the glistening water.

Like most people, I just love to travel and spend as much time as I can on the road or in the air.

Finding cheap flights online is the easy part; it’s finding a hotel at a reasonable cost, in the right location with the right facilities that can sometimes be a challenge.

Fortunately there are some excellent sites available to help you to choose the right hotel at the right price.

In October we are planning to travel to Auckland in New Zealand and then driving down to Queenstown in the South Island.

I intend to book only accommodation in both places and book as we go once we are there for the rest of the journey.

This is how Paula and I traveled around the West Coast of America just recently and found booking as we went to be a huge success as we weren’t locked into leaving an area if we wanted to stay on longer to enjoy the sights. Traveling like this also allowed us to take advantage of specials, such as the great deal we found to San Fransico through Priceline

And it is so easy nowadays to book online, I had a laptop so it was only a matter of going to Expedia.com or Hotels.com to check out the availability and costs of the various hotels. And I have now found another excellent website, Hotels Combined.com that allows me to check the prices of my chosen hotel with a number of travel websites, all at the same time. So that also saves me some time.

I am a bit of a fan of Holiday Inn Hotels as they are always comfortable, generally have free internet, complimentary breakfast and a laundry, which I find necessary when traveling light.

So the first step in planning my trip is to decide what I want to see. Well Auckland will be mainly spent visiting relatives, but I am also taking my granddaughter and as I want to show her around the many attraction in Auckland, I want to stay somewhere central.

I have previously stayed in the CityLife Hotel , because of its great location right in the heart of Auckland. It is close to the shopping in Queens Street, the Skywalk Tower, Kelly Tarltons Aquarium, the Casino, Museum, a great selection of restaurants on The Quay and the hotel itself is very comfortable with large rooms and all the facilities to make your stay enjoyable.

The rates  varied  from $150-$190 per night, quite a difference really. I actually found that going through Hotels Combined.com I  I could get a cheaper rate than going directly to some of the other travel sites. So keep that in mind when you are looking and be sure to check out all your options.

So now I am going to look for a hotel in Queenstown using the same process of checking each of my favorite travel websites plus my new found search partner, Hotels Combined.

Well I have finished my search on Expedia, Hotels Combined and Hotels.com and have decided on the Comfort Inn Melbourne Mtr Ldge as apart from being close to restaurants, shops and activities it is also reasonably priced at around $103 per night. It has all the amenities I am looking for and the reviews are positive.  Always make sure you read the reviews from people who have stayed in a hotel previously. But keep an open mind as some people are hard to please and find fault with any little thing. So read reviews objectively.

So there you are. I am all set with my accommodation and it took no time at all.