Fabulous Gastfamilie in Victoria

Unfortunately it was not as I expected for a Homestay. A previous review mentioned the cold but I thought if I told him about the cold - as he instructed the other reviewer to do - that they'd take care of it, so I mentioned to the hosts about this, expecting they'd want me to be comfortable, but instead I was offered a refund. His text said "I can't heat the whole house all day and provide accomodations for just $23/day. It gets warmer upstairs where they live and it was 16-17 C in the basement with little sunlight. (I bought a thermometer). Maybe this temp is ok for some people or in the summertime, but I was cold. They gave me an extra blanket for the night which made the nights fine, but when I asked for mornings and evenings it was always something I had to ask for daily. I was gone 11+ hours per day plus gone on weekends (2 or 3 days and still paid), but then when I got 1 day off to stay in my room and rest and asked for the temperature to be up (still only 19 -20 C in my room, so not unreasonably high - normal room temp should be 21.5C), that's when he sent the above mentioned text.

I gave it a 2 instead of a 1 rating, because the permanent roommate in the apartment was very nice and easy to get along with and I was happy she was there. I feel bad putting in a bad review, but I rely on reviews to choose places and feel it is important for me to also leave reviews so that others at least are aware of what they are getting in to. Some people don't mind that temperature, but some do. Apparently the electrical system can't handle a space heater, which would have been a good solution.

As a female solo travelling one thing always at the forefront of your mind is safety. Offering to pick me up from the airport (slightly cheaper than taxi) and having a room with its own separate entrance and key to lock my room with, I felt safe staying with Ed and his family. The room was a good size and well furnished. Having a small kitchen separate from the family (although still shared with other guests) was nice though without an oven and one induction hob, cooking anything beyond basic is pretty impossible. The bathroom was nice and the shower is powerful. Being able to do laundry once a week was also really good. Ed was also always easy to get in touch with if i had any problems. Sound definitely travels in the house though so you will have to hope you have compliant room mates. Superstore was very close and price was fair so I can't really complain. This room was what i needed for my stay.