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“Would you like a buggy back to your villa? Here is a hot water bottle to keep you warm.”
Recently returned from our wonderful 4 night stay at the Emirates One & Only Wolgan Valley Resort. Try saying that 10 times! Located in the greater Blue Mountains 3 hours west of Sydney, it consistently ranks among the top luxury resorts in Australia. This would be our last trip before the wife gives birth to our first little one, so I figured we might as well go all out on this one!
The trip actually all started after seeing a post on Point Hacks regarding the redemption of 60,000 Emirates Skyward reward points per night at the Wolgan Valley resort. For a long time I’ve been accruing Amex Membership Reward points but never had the time off work to redeem them for first class tickets on various redemption partners such as Singapore Airlines. So when this post came up, I was instantly intrigued. The redemption value was great considering one night here can range from $1400 to $2000. Beats redeeming a toaster! Conversion from Amex Reward points to Emirates Skyward was simple enough at 3:2 conversion. I then confirmed with Wolgan Valley Resort directly in regards to availability of the dates I wanted and then submitted my redemption request via the Emirates Skyward membership portal. A few days later I received my confirmation from Emirates for my stay.
Being from out of town, getting to the resort would require choosing one of several options. 1. Hire a car for a week then drive out there. 2. Use a private transfer service which was around $650 AUD. 3. Take the 3 hour train ride from Sydney Central to Lithgow then take a 40 minute taxi ride to the resort costing around $150 all up. 4. Take a helicopter from Sydney Airport direct to the Resort in 45 minutes. Arriving on the red eye into Sydney and with a pregnant wife in tow, we have a winner in option 4!
We were met at domestic arrivals by the driver from Sydney Helitours and were driven 5 minutes to the heliport where our lift to Wolgan Valley was waiting.
Our flight path would take us through Sydney Harbour, over the Harbour Bridge and up the Paramatta River towards the blue mountains. Flying over the bridge and Sydney Opera House was undoubtedly the highlight of the flight.
Cleared for takeoff, we had a nice view of Sydney Airport’s runways
Here we have the Sydney Cricket Ground
Coming up to the iconic Sydney Opera House
No bridge climbers just yet
After 45 minutes, the pilot began his decent into the valley with cliff faces on either side of us. In the distance you could see the cleared grazing land and the resort in the distance. The landing was great and very smooth as we touched down near the old homestead and our 4WD waiting to transport us to the main homestead.
“Would you like a buggy back to your villa? Here is a hot water bottle to keep you warm.”
Recently returned from our wonderful 4 night stay at the Emirates One & Only Wolgan Valley Resort. Try saying that 10 times! Located in the greater Blue Mountains 3 hours west of Sydney, it consistently ranks among the top luxury resorts in Australia. This would be our last trip before the wife gives birth to our first little one, so I figured we might as well go all out on this one!
The trip actually all started after seeing a post on Point Hacks regarding the redemption of 60,000 Emirates Skyward reward points per night at the Wolgan Valley resort. For a long time I’ve been accruing Amex Membership Reward points but never had the time off work to redeem them for first class tickets on various redemption partners such as Singapore Airlines. So when this post came up, I was instantly intrigued. The redemption value was great considering one night here can range from $1400 to $2000. Beats redeeming a toaster! Conversion from Amex Reward points to Emirates Skyward was simple enough at 3:2 conversion. I then confirmed with Wolgan Valley Resort directly in regards to availability of the dates I wanted and then submitted my redemption request via the Emirates Skyward membership portal. A few days later I received my confirmation from Emirates for my stay.
Being from out of town, getting to the resort would require choosing one of several options. 1. Hire a car for a week then drive out there. 2. Use a private transfer service which was around $650 AUD. 3. Take the 3 hour train ride from Sydney Central to Lithgow then take a 40 minute taxi ride to the resort costing around $150 all up. 4. Take a helicopter from Sydney Airport direct to the Resort in 45 minutes. Arriving on the red eye into Sydney and with a pregnant wife in tow, we have a winner in option 4!
We were met at domestic arrivals by the driver from Sydney Helitours and were driven 5 minutes to the heliport where our lift to Wolgan Valley was waiting.
Our flight path would take us through Sydney Harbour, over the Harbour Bridge and up the Paramatta River towards the blue mountains. Flying over the bridge and Sydney Opera House was undoubtedly the highlight of the flight.
Cleared for takeoff, we had a nice view of Sydney Airport’s runways
Here we have the Sydney Cricket Ground
Coming up to the iconic Sydney Opera House
No bridge climbers just yet
After 45 minutes, the pilot began his decent into the valley with cliff faces on either side of us. In the distance you could see the cleared grazing land and the resort in the distance. The landing was great and very smooth as we touched down near the old homestead and our 4WD waiting to transport us to the main homestead.
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