We stayed a couple of nights at the Billabong Gardens on a weekend. I chose this hostel because I wanted to stay in Newtown so we could go out there. Billabong Gardens is in a fantastic location- just off King St, so very easy to access all the great restaurants, bars, shops & pubs King St has to offer. The hostel is actually in a couple of buildings, and as we had a private room, we were in the second separate building- a large house. Hence it was very quiet, which was excellent. Our room had a double bed, as well as bunks, a small verandah and a tv. There was a fan in the room, but no window, however- only a door to the verandah with no screen, so it couldn't be kept open at night to let air in. The shared bathroom we used was clean and had a good shower.

The main hostel building seemed very crowded- there were lots of people in the kitchen area at day and night. The pool at the hostel was actually quite small, and we didn't see anyone use it in the time we were there. I was glad we were staying in the second building, as it was definitely more quiet and more private than the main building. We didn't actually use any of the facilities such as the kitchen, so I can't comment on these.

A tip if you are taking a cab to the hostel from Central- just get the cab to drop you off on King St and walk down the little street that the hostel is on. It's a one-way street so you can't go down it from King St and it's pretty complicated to get to from the opposite way unless you know where you're going, so it can hike up the cab rate significantly!

My boyfriend and I spent 10 nights here and loved it. We booked a private room for the duration of our stay but I'm guessing it was normally a dorm/family room as it had a double bed, bunks and en-suite bathroom.

It was pretty basic, like most hostels and didn't have as many walls as we were expecting (the communal parts are very open plan!) but we enjoyed our stay here and loved being so close to King Street where there are LOADS of nice restaurants, vintage clothes shops, music stores etc.

It's 10 minutes to the city by bus, the staff were really friendly, there were plenty of leaflets about day trips and activities and there was a massive noticeboard advertising jobs and stuff going on in the local area. The free internet access certainly came in handy, too!

When we visited, the weather was rubbish and the other residents (mainly long-term) kept themselves to themselves. But I imagine the hostel is great in summer, when everyone socialises around the little pool.

We stumbled across the hostel's website online but when we got chatting to people in Sydney, they were impressed we were staying in Newtown as it's such a trendy area and most tourists miss it completely and head for the city centre.

I'd definitely recommend it to anyone.

the pictures on the web site are very nice. unfortunately, the reality looks quite different! be aware of the fact that it is a backpacker hotel... further, the staff wasn't helpful at all. in conclusion, a very disappionting experience.

just came back from sydney yesterday and had awesome trip! As poor uni students from brisbane, we trawled through tonnes of webpages to find accommodation that was: cheap, safe, convenient transport and clean. luckily we found billabong gardens!... which was our first backpacker's experience. stayed in a 6 mixed dorm with ensuite, tv, fridge and hot water jug. staff very helpful (luggage storage if checkin/checkout early/late), communal kitchen useful (clean and big and has fridge, stoves, microwave and cooking utensils), free internet (3 computers), clean and safe (keycard access to reception and key to rooms)
newtown is such a cool place to live in... lots of shops, restaurants and pubs/bars, transport easy by bus or train (only 15 mins to city and regular.. didn't wait for more than 10mins). staff and ppl friendly.. no seedy or dodgy ppl... highly recommended for fellow poor uni bums!