Been there, bought the T-shirt! — genuine Dive Hotel memorabilia for the converted (you will be!)
So, let's get the jokes about the name out of the way first... ooh, I hope it's not a dive — let's dive right in to this place, etc... That done, then I can say that the Dive is indeed not a dive, and is a very nice little hotel. You can actually buy a (quite funny I thought) T-shirt that says 'my favourite hotel is a dive' if you like the joke that much — they're framed on the wall in the entrance hall if you want to take a look!
The Dive bills itself as a 'small hotel', so it doesn't see itself as a guesthouse or a B&B — which is reflected, I think, in how it operates. However, there are no formal hotel-like rules and regulations, and the atmosphere is very much a friendly guest house feel, with a communal kitchen table and outside seating.
Pleasure and pain — those narrow, windy stairs (not ideal for heavy suitcase lugging!) and the free internet access
Now, I don't like to start with the down side of anywhere, but there is no getting away from the fact that a drawback of the Dive is that, to reach the front door, there is some suitcase-up-steps lugging to be done. However, you can apparently park at the back of the hotel and easily wheel your suitcases in to the building on one level through the garden and kitchen (sorry Andy). So make a note of that now!
And if suitcase lugging is not your thing at all, make sure you get a ground floor room too, as the staircase to the first floor of the hotel is VERY narrow and VERY steep, and also doubles back on itself (again, sorry Andy).
But suitcase-wrangling aside, it is worth getting a room at the front of the hotel for the sea-view. The building is narrow, so there are only 3 rooms with the sea-view. Therefore, you need to be organised about booking to secure one, but do try! The rest of the rooms in the hotel are in fact very nice, and if you want to see the sea then there is a street full of cafés to admire the view from, and also a lovely promenade area set up just for that, so don't worry too much if you get a 'normal' room.
Our rain-view... er... sea-view room in early evening light. (unseasonal weather not usually included!)
I must point out though that the sea-view rooms are also the nicest rooms in the hotel in terms of space, décor and fittings, so you get a double-whammy of best room and sea-view if you fork out the extra for these. Which we did. The room was great.
Actually not only was the room great but the bathroom was gorgeous. Without sounding too smug, the bathroom at the Dive was actually very similar to our bathroom at home — almost the same fittings and you-wouldn't-spot-the-difference tiles. However, I must add that our bathroom is in fact half the size of the one at the Dive, and admittedly I couldn't stretch to Villeroy & Boch when we had it fitted! No expense spared here though, and I had to make time for a bath just because. Which reminds me that another of my 'criteria' for a place to stay to make it on to the 'Inspired' list is if I feel comfortable enough to have a bath there.
A glimpse of the modern, minimalist, yet highly impressive bathroom facilities
If you are male you can probably stop reading this bit and skip on a paragraph or two, as there don't seem to be many blokes who 'get' the whole bath thing. But if, like me, you are a 'bather', then I don't often want to have a bath in a hotel as they can be too small or shallow or both, and (yuck of all yucks) have one of those horrible rubber mats in the bottom. Eurgh!
What I want is a nice proper stretch-out-able full size bath, preferably without a shower as part of it (don't want drips and extra pipes and hoses dangling in my water). And of course it has to be clean. I do also need some bubbles or something nice to put in it. I am actually not overly bothered about the whole 'spa' bath element — I can take or leave my power jets.
Although the thing you will find in Australia is that spa baths are everywhere. No sooner do you say 'couples retreat', or 'luxury accommodation' and there is the spa bath. Doesn't always follow that having a spa bath means it's a great place to stay, but a lot of the places we feature do have them, so if you like your bubbles you are in for a treat. So back to the Dive — the bath there was lovely. Nice and deep, with a big echoey bathroom to enjoy it in. I almost fell asleep!
Planning Your Trip
...We have just cashed in our Krisflyer points (Singapore Airlines) for return tickets to New York flying Virgin!
The rooms at the Dive are actually 'studios' and not just hotel rooms — in that they have some kitchen facilities and bits and pieces to make simple self-catering possible.
Our room was almost a small apartment in fact, as its layout meant the kitchen area was totally separate to the room, and a great 'vestibule' area for keeping beach stuff (if it was beach weather of course!).
The room was nicely decorated — understated but modern, with some interesting touches — like the fitted cupboards and funky bedside tables. Was for us a 'homely' room in that it was decorated close to how we have our home.
Great carpet, too — nice and sumptuous — an often overlooked factor but makes a difference!
The fabulous hallway leading down to the tall, skinny front door (it really is tall and skinny!)
Our room also had a cute balcony, which we would have enjoyed if it hadn't had been chucking down with rain with a close on gale-force wind when we stayed (!). Don't panic though — it was unseasonably wet when we were there. But does mean you have to imagine some 'sunny' photos to go with our 'grey and wet' ones of the beach and the view!
So, back to arriving at the hotel... the front door is great. It is an extra-tall, skinny door with a sliver of window in it showing you the full length of the Dive and its corridor.
The corridor itself has fabulous (I wasn't sure at first, but it grew on me) deep green carpet and ornate Victorian (I am guessing) matching wall tiles, which are a contrast to the modern finish in the rest of the hotel, but work really well.
The stylish kitchen where we (over)filled on croissants at breakfast. If you have your laptop with you here's a perfect place to sit and use wireless internet connection to send all your photos and emails back home
All the way through to the back of the building (past the nook under the stairs where the computer with free internet access hides) is the 'reception' and kitchen/dining room of the hotel. This is a very cleverly designed space with folding away cupboards to hide the kitchen, and a swing-down partition for the reception when this is closed. It's a great fun space. There is also access here out to the bamboo-screened courtyard garden which would have been a great place to have breakfast (if it wasn't raining!).
The welcome was warm, and all our usual arriving-somewhere-new-questions-about-places-to-eat-and-what-to-do were all answered knowledgeably and well. We needn't have asked so much though, as there was a fantastic guide to everything in the room — a great binding full of history, information, things to see, where to eat, walks to do etc. I was so impressed I took some photos! If only it hadn't had been quite so damp we would have taken in the coast on the fabulous walk to Bronte and Bondi beach (instead we cheated and went in the car!).
The completely comprehensive guidebook we found in our room (the diving girl is the logo of the Dive Hotel — look out for the sign of her outside!)
So why stay in Coogee? Well, it's Sydney with a beach. You can still quite easily do all your sightseeing from here but you have a beach to enjoy between times (see map of Coogee). It's also not an overly-hyped and busy beach compared with, say, Bondi. It allows you to be more like a local and enjoy a neighbourhood beach feel — which also means the restaurants and cafés are not at tourist prices, which is always good!
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