Tinbilly Travellers is a dirty and impersonal backpacker !
The bathroom in the room was just terribly disgusting and the backpacker is not clean in the common area

Having stayed in a number of hostels down the East Coast my friend and I thought we'd treat ourselves to a Diva Dorm in Tinbilly. We wonder now why we even bothered! We paid $38 a night for a 6 bed dorm and almost all the other people in the dorm were those who had paid for a normal 13 bed dorm and had luckily for them been put into this dorm as the others were full, this made us feel that the only benefit of the Diva Dorm was the free toiletries and towels, which weren't really anything to get excited about anyway! Although the room was from what we had heard one of the cleanest in the hostel as there were rumors of cockroaches in the other dorms, the hostel itself was a bit of a joke.

Firstly they advertise a free BBQ on a Monday and Wednesday, don't be fooled...this consisted of one sausage, a slice of bread and some lettuce that was it! And they only made so much so they had run out by the time we had queued to get one. They also advertise a ladies night on Wednesday night, which was supposed to include free champagne, but this wasn't the case it was actually some rather disgusting cocktail, there were supposed to be topless waiters, nope there was one topless waiter who was a disappointed to be honest. There was also meant to be a male stripper having been in the bar since 7pm we got really bored of waiting as the stripper didn't turn up and we left at around midnight. It was all false advertising to be honest.

The kitchen in the hostel is absolutely disgusting, the worst one we have ever encountered. I would be surprised if it's cleaned either that or the cleaning ability of the staff is 0! The plates, cutlery and pans etc are never clean and just pile up in a mess in the sink along with everyone's food, which resulted in the sink being blocked the majority of the time we were there. It was awful! We chose to eat out most of the time as it probably would have been more hygienic to eat off the toilet floor!!!!

We were also in our dorm when the cleaners came round to clean the room, this reinforced the fact that the level of cleanliness in the hostel was really poor. On watching them change the beds we noticed that they do not wash the quilt covers and they are now a shade of yellow rather than the 'fresh hotel quality linen' that they claim it to be!!!

All in all our stay at this hostel was a huge disappointment!

I stayed here on two separate occasions in November. My first stay was in a 4 person mixed dorm. All the rooms have an ensuite (which has it's advantages and disadvantages) and an air con unit. I loved that the room actually stayed cool and had air movement, unlike several other hostels I have stayed in. As with all hostel rooms with ensuites it can smell and there is no hand soap or towels unless you bring your own (or your roommates do). It is nice not to have to walk down a hallway to use the bathroom, but if one of your roommates happens to be using the ensuite when you need to, you are out of luck. My second stay I was in one of their "Delux Diva dorms" a 6 share all female room with some upgrades like a free towel, larger bathroom with more counter space, an extra pillow, hotel sized shampoo, conditioner, lotion and shower gel, and a free bottle of water. I enjoyed this room and would recommend it for females traveling alone or together. To me it is worth the extra bit of money.

I checked in for 3 nights and left my cell number on their form. The room was not especially clean and nothing seemed to work (i.e. the printer) but its a backpackers and you need to balance this against the budget of the girls/guys on the road. They threw my luggage out of the room the following day because they couldn't be bothered reading their form and only checked me in for one night. Nor could they even call my cell. When I got back that night after starting my new job in a new city, the girl smirked through the whole process of finding out what went wrong. I've never been so embarrassed in a new country. Welcome to Aus.