I did a few hours at Basair just to see what they were like before starting my CPL. 'Pilot factory' is the best term as described previously. Very busy and quite disorganised. Bankstown is also very busy (not so much as it used to be I'm told) but you still waste a lot of money sitting on the ground.
I used to fly in Port Macquarie though - at Johnston's competitor before it closed down. I've heard good things about Johnston as a good professional flight school but have no personal experience. Port Macquarie itself is pretty boring though.