The Quest for a Good Motel Room?

I read in the news story above that Meriton rigged TripAdvisor reviews and were found guilty of doing so by the federal court.
Meriton Sync
The irony was for me that when I was down in Sydney last year to see my football team win the 2016 NRL grand final I had one of the best stays in all of my travels staying at a Meriton motel and the worst ever experience in the dearest motel I have ever stayed in one week after my Meriton experience at the Quest at Sydney Olympic Park Motel where I paid $888 for two nights, plus $50 to park my car in the motel car-park for which Quest couldn't guarantee me a spot and advised me that if I couldn't get one that I could park my car down the road in a government owned car-park for the same price.

Playing musical carparks with
my car in Quest's #23 spot 

I was lucky to get a car-space after driving up from Canberra and arriving at the Quest motel, as there were only about two left at the time and one was #23, which is the day of the month of my birthday, so I wasn't game to use my car while staying at the Quest lest I didn't get a park on a return journey from the motel and have to park down the road somewhere.

A "lucky" Don Bradman coin on my Quest
dresser top, which would prove lucky that weekend

I also noticed that I had a Don Bradman coin in my change when I got to my room and emptied my pockets onto the dresser, so I thought this was a good sign also that my team might win their first ever NRL grand final.
"Fortune Used to Hide in the Palm of His Hand."

And while $888 (plus $50 to park my car) for two nights in a motel room seemed a bit steep I couldn't help thinking that 888 was a good number sign for me, as I once had a peddle car with 888 on the numberplate and that the Sharks might just win the thing I had been waiting all my life for them to win.

888

Looking up from the footpath
to the Quest motel rooftop

The only thing that stopped my stay being a totally bitter experience was that on that Sunday night my team would win the grand final for the first time in their 50 years of attempting to do so and I would have front row seats and get to shake hands with most of the team members on the victory lap.

My son and I congratulating the
players after the game on their victory lap

I don't think I have ever been happier in my whole life...or ever will again.

The view from my 1st floor balcony
at the Quest at Sydney Olympic Park

But I was far from happy with my stay at the Quest and will NEVER stay there again if the Sharks make another grand final in my lifetime.

I initially had a room on the top floor looking towards the back, but was moved to the 1st floor with a room looking towards the front, because I wanted to watch the AFL grand final on my motel room TV on a free to air station that every motel room in Australia had on its TV on my travels around Australia except my TV in my $444 a night room.
To put this in perspective I was paying $330 a week back in Brisbane to rent my townhouse.
A staff member from the motel was sent up to the room to try and get the TV channel working, but couldn't get it on the TV set so he arranged a room move to the first floor for me, so I could watch the AFL grand final between the Bulldogs and the Swans that Saturday afternoon.

The move to the lower floor didn't bother me that much even though I had just lugged all of my gear from the carpark to the top floor, got settled and then had to do it all over again.

The view out of my 1st floor window was probably better than the view from my top floor room looking out the back anyway.

I had booked a room for two, because my youngest son was coming from Canberra to stay the Sunday night after the final, so Saturday after watching the Bulldogs win the AFL grand final on my motel room TV, I took a walk around to see the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games artwork and have a walk around the stadium where the NRL grand final was going to be played on Sunday night.

It was good weather that weekend, so walking around the streets made a pleasant walk.

They were doing rehearsals for the grand final music Saturday night, and I heard a Bruce Springsteen song blasting out of the stadium, and since me and Bruce share the 23rd of September as our birthdays, I thought this was another promising sign for me.

I ate out and then headed back to my motel room on the 1st floor to have an early night so I would be ready for the big day on Sunday.
But the arseholes staying in the next room had decided to have an all-night party with their music up full bore.
I let it go until around midnight then started thumping the wall with my fist and telling them to turn the f#cking "music" down, but that didn't work, so I phoned reception and told them to make these bastards turn their music down.
Nothing happened, so at two in the morning I rang reception and asked for a room change, but they told me that wasn't possible, so I told them to make these f#ckers stop partying so I could sleep.
Nothing happened until 4 in the morning when these AHs must have partied themselves out.
Sunday morning, I asked for a room change and they told me these guys were checking out Sunday.
I also asked why my room wasn't serviced as I was running out of soap, coffee and milk.
They told me because it was a holiday there was no room service today.
WTF?!
$444 a night for a room and no room service because it was a holiday?!
So, they arranged for me to meet a guy at the storage room on another floor so that staff member could open the storage room and let me get what I needed for the day.
My son arrived from Canberra around Sunday lunchtime, and I noticed that the jerks in the next room were still there, so I rang reception and asked why those people were still in the next room and they told me that they had extended their stay.
I told reception that if they partied again tonight and nothing was done about it that I would do something about it.

They didn't party as far as I know, but when I got back to the motel I did ... because karma is a bitch and I had my TV turned up full blast on their wall and watched the Sharks win all over again.
You could say it was one hell of a weekend at the Quest in more ways than one and I wrote a one-star review and posted it at the Quest at Sydney Olympic Park Motel page on Booking.com, but it's not on there anymore for some reason.
Maybe the federal court want to do a check on Quest, as well.
I won't ever stay there again after my weekend with them, that's for sure.

Sydney Olympic Stadium

I'm glad I got to see the Sydney Olympic Stadium and it was rather sad news when I saw a few weeks ago in the news that instead of modifying the stadium like was originally planned the NSWs government are going to rip it down and rebuild it, just like what happened to the stadium that the Atlanta Olympics were held in.
Beyond Thunderdome?

There is still two more NRL grand finals to be played there yet before the stadium comes down, so hopefully the Sharks will make one or both of them.

Keith Urban walking past without saying
 hello on the way to the pre-game show

Sing & Don't Cry

The DVD I bought at the
Golden Guitar in Tamworth

Sorry Storm, but you'll have to wait another 12 months,
  2016 was not your year it turns out

Oddly enough, the young lady who sung the Australian national anthem before the game literally lived down the road from me back in Brisbane/Logan.

So, while I didn't like my stay at the Quest motel, at least I fulfilled my quest to see my team win the final in 2016, and I wasn't just chasing windmills.
The Windmills of My Mind

Monday at the Cronulla clubhouse
on my quest to follow that star?-)

And for all of you conspiracy theorists out there who were wondering how the Sharks could win the 2016 grand final.

The Freemasons of course;-)

And if you want to stay at a good motel around Sydney, try 
Rydges at Cronulla.

What a weekend that all turned out to be.
Quest over in a year that I'll never forget.
But just in case I do, I'll always have this to remind me.

That's if I don't lose my arm in life's travels.

Yesterday's Heroes