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Australia

January - February 2020
A 35-day adventure by Sarah Read more
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  • TravelerAustralia
    Day 1

    G'Day Sydney

    January 6, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 84 °F

    Day 1
    After a 15 hour flight and only 4 hours of sleep on the plane, I landed in Sydney to begin my Australian journey. I left LAX on January 4th at 10:40pm and I landed in Sydney on January 6th at 8:50am, so needless to say I was exhausted when I got out of the airport. After checking into my hostel, Wake Up Sydney, I dropped my bags off in my room and headed to the reception area to go on the free 4 hour walking tour of the city. The guide of the tour was in her early 20s and was born and raised in Sydney so she was very knowledgeable and pointed out good restaurants/ places to see throughout the tour. I was immediately blown away at how clean the city is, I didn’t see one piece of garbage on the ground. After we saw the gardens, china town, darling harbor, the bridge and opera house we grabbed lunch and then went back to the hostel. I went back to the room to relax, shower and meet some of my roommates, I stayed in a 6 person mixed dorm. The hostel had a bar in the basement called SideBar (one of my sister’s favorites when studying in Sydney and how I heard about this hostel) which had activities going on every night. Tonight was free pizza night so I went down with one of the people in my room to eat and mingle with others that were staying in the hostel. The pizza was awful but can’t have high hopes for free pizza in a hostel bar especially being from New York where we have amazing pizza. I managed to keep my eyes open for long enough to chat with some people and then headed up to my room at around 9pm to go to bed. Got a lot more done my first day than I expected and didn’t feel like I lost a day due to jet lag.

    Day 2
    I woke up the next morning at about 9am and facetimed with my sister Gaby and then grabbed breakfast (brekkie as Australians call it) and a cup of iced coffee before catching the ferry to Manly Beach. The weather has been very humid and pretty cloudy/ smokey with the sun trying to peak out here and there. Not the best beach weather but I was eager to see Manly after hearing such amazing things. The ferry only took about 30 minutes from the circular quay of Sydney and you get great views of the opera house and bridge from the water. Manly is a really nice beach town with cool boutiques and cafes. It’s crazy you can hop on a ferry and be at a gorgeous beach right from the city in such a short amount of time. After some window shopping I grabbed a burger and glass of wine at a restaurant on the water and then laid out on the beach to try and get some sun. After a couple hours of relaxing I took the ferry back to the city and grabbed a couple beers at a brewery called the Munich Brauhaus in The Rocks (a nice neighborhood in Sydney) that my sister and Dad recommended (since they lived in Sydney for several months a few years back). The place was cool, it was like being in Germany with all the staff dressed in lederhosen and live German music playing outside. Anyone who knows me well knows I have a weak spot for good beer with a nice outdoor seating area. It had great happy hour deals too, $10 AUS for 2 beers which is $6.84 USD. I headed back to the hostel and was invited out to a silent disco party at a bar called The Scary Canary by a couple people in my dorm room. This was my first silent disco and I would highly recommend checking one out. You are given headphones and there are 3 channels that you can switch between, each playing a different song and each channel is associated with a different color light. It is hilarious to watch since everyone is singing and dancing to different music. Shockingly enough I was able to beat jet lag and went to bed at 11pm.    Read more

  • TravelerAustralia
    Day 3

    I Never Want to Leaf

    January 8, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 84 °F

    Day 3
    We got a new dorm mate this morning from Scotland, Alix, and her and I decided to do the hostel activity together which was the Coogee to Bondi walk. This is a 3.5 mile coastal walk passing a couple different beaches with gorgeous views and is only a short bus ride from Sydney. There were probably 40 or so individuals from the hostel on the walk which made it a great way to get to meet people. It was very humid out and unfortunately due to the fog and smoke in the air, visibility was limited which was sad but it was still great to see. Bondi beach is beautiful and there is a pool right on the water which is one of the many pictures you see people post while in Australia. We had some free time to hang out on the beach and then we all grabbed lunch at the Wake Up Bondi hostel where we got a special lunch deal. I got the chicken schnitzel (schnitty) which is a thin chicken breast that is covered in bread crumbs and deep fried, they have them everywhere in Australia and they are surprisingly good. After lunch we made our way back to the hostel and I got showered and ready for the night. I grabbed dinner with Holly, a girl I met on the walk, in spice alley which was a hidden alley off the beaten path filled with different types of Asian food. Tonight at the hostel they had an hour of free cheese and wine, it was Goon wine which is Australian’s shitty boxed wine but hey, it was free. Then the hostel had a silent disco that a couple of us went to before heading to bed.

    Day 4
    Today I went with Rose (a girl I met on the Bondi walk) grabbed brekkie and then got on the train to Milsons Point and walked across the Sydney Bridge. Afterwards we walked to The Rocks where we walked into local shops, got fresh fruit smoothies and listened to some live street music. We then went to the Royal Botanic Gardens which is similar to Central Park but has more of a garden feel to it with a lot of flowers, trees, and lizards. It was beautiful and surprisingly big, you forget you are in a city when you are walking through it. We sat on the grass near the water for the afternoon after grabbing lunch at a cute little street cafe. My dad’s friend Nick (who he knows from working together and who I have met a couple of times) and I got together for drinks on a rooftop bar after he showed me their Swiss Re office space. The rooftop bar had AMAZING passion fruit spritzer and great views. After a couple of hours catching up, Nick recommended that I check out Newtown, which is a young neighborhood with restaurants and bars. After I grabbed dinner Alix and I decided to go and check out Newtown for a couple of drinks. Our hostel is in the center of Sydney right across from the train station and bus station, easy to get around and walking distance from a lot. All you need for public transportation is an opal card and then you just tap on and tap off at the stations or on the bus/train and it charges you based off the distance traveled. We hopped on the bus and when we got there we started walking and came across a bunch of closed tourist shops and like 3 bars with no one in them. We stopped at one and had a beer, I figured that I must have misunderstood Nick because it was far from what he was explaining, there was no one around. When we went back to catch the bus we realized that we had walked the wrong way and it actually looked like a really fun place. We were both so tired that we decided to go back to the hostel and head to bed instead of staying out.    Read more

  • TravelerAustralia
    Day 5

    On Top of Sydney

    January 10, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 81 °F

    Day 5
    When in Australia there are a couple of must do things that come to mind, one being the Sydney Bridge Climb. Today I headed down to the bridge to do one of the morning 3 and a half hour climbs. The building that you get all geared up in has an industrial feel to it and is directly attached to the bridge through a small tunnel. You get a gray jumpsuit (you had to take your clothes off to put it on, I knew this beforehand so I decided to wear a bathing suit) to put on and a harness which attaches you to the bridge during your climb. I would say the beginning is the scariest part, it is really narrow and in order to get to the top part of the bridge, you have to climb a series of skinny ladders. Once on the top portion it was really thick so I wasn’t worried at all and the views were well worth it. We were given headphones so that the guide could tell us about the history of the bridge, which was really interesting. Our guide was amazing, she was outgoing, knowledgeable and really made everyone feel confident and at ease through the whole climb. The weather was perfect, not smokey or cloudy and there was a nice breeze that kept me cool while on the bridge. The view at the very top was so incredible. I stood there for a moment and was overwhelmed with emotions. I felt so grateful that I had the opportunity to experience something so incredible but also felt sad knowing that there are so many people who won’t ever be able to. I will never forget how amazing it was and it was definitely worth every penny. I paid a little extra to get the picture package for the memories because you are not allowed to bring anything on the climb. Once we got changed and returned our gear, I headed to a brewery that my Dad frequented called Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel (the oldest hotel in Australia) for a couple beers and a snack. Since it was such a beautiful day I then met up with Alix and we grabbed the ferry over to Manly Beach for 2 hours of tanning on the beach. I headed to Darling Harbor around 9pm to a bar called Cargo to grab a drink with a girl I met at Scary Canary who is working as an au pair in Sydney. I am not usually a city person but wow I have really been loving Sydney!

    Day 6
    Weekends in Sydney are booming with markets, they have several throughout the city some focus more on food while others on local crafts and clothes. I met up with Gaby’s friend Kim, who she met and became close with when she studied abroad. We headed to The Rocks Market and spent some time walking around and looking at the local crafts. They had jewelry, soaps, fudge, painted tiles, skin product, clothes, leather goods and more. It was a cooler day out and after all the humid ones everyone was out and about really enjoying the weather. We facetimed with Gaby for about 45 mins and had worked up an appetite. We went and had lunch at a rooftop restaurant with amazing views of the harbor called The Glenmore. It was a Saturday and the place was packed with brunch goers and family parties. We shared a jug of alcohol, salt and pepper prawns and a chicken parmigiana schnitzel (there is a huge debate in Australia on whether it is a parmi or parma for short). After lunch we headed over to see the campus of the University of Notre Dame (where Kim and Gaby studied) and she walked me by the apartment Gaby used to live in. It was nice to spend the day with someone who is Australian since all the people I had met until this point were fellow travelers, mostly from the UK. I went back to the hostel to begin packing my bags since it was my last night in Sydney. Alix and I hung out in our room drinking goon and talking about our future travel plans. Traveling alone is such a unique experience that allows you to open yourself up to meeting so many new people. The con to it is that you are constantly having to make new friends and say goodbye to some really cool down to earth people.    Read more

  • TravelerAustralia
    Day 7

    Bye Sydney, Hello Sunshine Coast

    January 12, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 79 °F

    Day 7
    After checking out and putting my luggage in storage, Alix and I jumped on the train to The Grounds of Alexandria to grab an early lunch. The grounds is a beautiful garden like venue that has different places to eat within it. It was a great place to visit and the perfect way to end an amazing week in Sydney. We then headed back to the hostel where I hung out for a bit and then got the train to the airport for my 6:15pm flight to Brisbane. Once I landed in Brisbane I got a shuttle up to Peregian Springs to visit my friend Zarli for several days (who I met on a group tour in Greece back in 2015) at her parent’s house. Everyone has been asking me if I am near the fires in Australia and what is happening with them. When I landed I couldn’t see anything from the plane until a minute before landing due to the smoke, it was actually really sad. During my first week in Australia I didn’t hear anyone talking about the fires (bush fires in Australia are common), I haven't been watching the news while being here so not sure how much coverage it was getting but I didn’t really hear anyone talking about them. There were fires in the Blue Mountains (somewhere that I planned on visiting because I heard the national park there is beautiful but due to the fires decided not to) which is a region a little less than an hour from Sydney. Throughout my week in Sydney there were definitely days that the smoke was in the air and it was gray out but those days were nothing compared to my last day in Sydney. I walked out of the hostel and I felt like I was sitting next to a campfire, you could literally smell the smoke in the air and it was pouring out. It got a little better as the day went on but it really put into perspective the reality of what was happening with the fires in Australia.

    Day 8
    Hello Sunshine Coast, if only the weather was fitting to the name, the forecast for the days I was visiting wasn’t very sunny. Today was a day full of nature, after brekkie on the patio we packed our bags to head out for the day. Our first stop was Kondalilla National Park, about a 45 minute drive from Peregian Springs, where Zarli couldn’t wait to show me the beautiful waterfalls there. Unfortunately, due to lack of rain, this thundering waterfall was a pathetic little trickle of water but the walk and views were worth the trip either way. We then headed over to Mapleton Falls National Park which had a really beautiful lookout even on the cloudy day that we had. We stopped in a town called Montville where we grabbed lunch and spent an hour walking around and window shopping. Now that we were full, we headed to Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve because I kept saying I really wanted to see some wild kangaroos and Zarli has seen pademelons (which are very similar to a kangaroo but smaller) on that walk in the past. As we were walking through we saw many pademelons hopping across the paths and even some that were mating in the bushes, they were everywhere (they are somewhat skittish so you couldn’t get too close). The one thing that we didn’t expect to see on our walk was the giant python (who had just eaten something) slithering across the path. Zarli has lived in Australia her whole life and has only seen snakes in the wild once or twice, and she has done this particular walk numerous times. Needless to say we were both high key freaking out, especially since we didn’t see it at first and could have stepped on it. What made us notice it was the pademelon who was lingering on the path even though we were walking towards it. As we got closer we saw three pademelons circling the python and stomping the ground; we think they may have been leading the snake off the path this way. It was very strange but cool to see animals in their natural habitat. After this encounter, every noise Zarli and I heard we were scared it was a snake. I am so glad Zarli was able to show me the walks that she loves so much and showing me a side of Australia that would have been difficult without a car. The sun goes down pretty early in the sunshine coast, so we headed to the river with a bottle of wine and a pizza in hopes of seeing a sunset but due to the overcast skies we had no luck. We headed back to Zarli’s to pack our bags to head to Bryon Bay in the morning for a couple of nights.    Read more

  • TravelerAustralia
    Day 9

    Bryon Bay

    January 14, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 79 °F

    Day 9
    After an early brekkie we were on the road on our way to Bryon Bay which is a little over 3 hours driving. On our way we took a little detour to go on a hike at Mount Ngungun which is about a 2 mile hike with amazing views at the top. The sun was shining in and out of the clouds and as always, it was humid. Once we got to the top, the view overlooked nothing but green farmland for miles. We stopped for lunch at The Farm at Bryon Bay, and yes, it is actually a farm. The atmosphere and wine were awesome, the food not so much. After walking around the farm we jumped back in the car and drove the last 20 minutes into Bryon Bay, a surfers beach town with a nice laid back vibe. We checked into our hostel, got settled into our room and then went to walk around the town. We went to the liquor store (bottle shop as it is called in Australia) and went to the beach to drink and watch the sunset (which again, was just dark clouds but I did see a little pink trying to peak out). We stopped at a grocery store and picked up chips and snacks and went back to the hostel to sit outside and finish our wine before heading out for the night. Our bar of choice for the night was Cheeky Monkey (through the hostel we got a free drink, but of course we lost our vouchers) the only bar I have ever been to that doesn’t serve shots. Zarli and I bonded in Greece over our love for fireball (it is difficult to find in Europe) and they didn’t have it at Cheeky Monkey so we had Jack Daniels Fire with water, since they wouldn’t sell us shots. It sounds gross but it actually wasn’t that bad.

    Day 10
    We stayed up way too late last night and got up early to make the most of our day. We grabbed breakfast sandwiches, coffee and water and went to the grass overlooking the ocean to eat. It was high 80s out and the sun was strong so we went swimming in the ocean (Australia’s oceans are unbelievably salty) and laid out on the beach. Since it was so hot and we were somewhat hungover, we decided an hour was long enough. We grabbed some smoothies and walked back to the hostel to relax in the shade for awhile. Zarli has been to Bryon on several occasions and took me to this Mexican restaurant for lunch that she really liked. It was probably one of the best Mexican places I have been to, I got a salad in a fried taco shell and a mojito. Bryon is known for its surfing scene and beach, it’s not really a place with a lot of sights to visit, people go there to relax. One of the things to do other than beaching is to visit the lighthouse, which is the easternmost point of the mainland of Australia. Lighthouses have always had a very special meaning in my life and I always really enjoy seeing them. It had beautiful views and at the lookout point I turned around and there were three different beaches in view, it was an incredible thing to see. We went to the beach again since the sun wasn’t as strong and then went back into town for dinner at the Balcony Bar & Oyster Co, where I got the king crab linguine which was incredible. Instead of going out again, we decided to go to bed early and catch up on our sleep since we were driving back to Zarli’s in the morning. One of the things that we had originally planned to do while in Bryon was skydive but the weather forecast said it was going to rain (ended up being very hot and sunny) so we didn’t want to risk booking and then it getting cancelled.    Read more

  • TravelerAustralia
    Day 12

    Fraser Island

    January 17, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 90 °F

    Day 12
    I woke up around 5:30am to pack up the rest of my things and get picked up by a taxi to go to Noosa Nomads Hostel where the Fraser Island tour began. After putting our luggage in storage (we only were allowed a small bag for the trip) we got on a coach bus to Rainbow Beach, where we picked up our 4x4 Toyota SUVs and grabbed a ferry to Fraser Island. There was one tour guide on the trip and 4 total cars, 8 people in each car (3 drivers in each, you had to be over the age of 21 and have had a license for over a years, I was in car 4). My car had a couple in their late 20s from Ireland (Sarah and Marcus), 2 people from England (Tasha and Ewan), a girl from Canada (Mia) and another guy (can’t remember where he was from or his name). Myself and the Irish couple were the only ones who could legally drive in our car for the next 3 days. After getting off the ferry Sarah drove on the beach to the hostel we were staying the next 2 nights. We unpacked lunch as it started pouring out (hardest rainfall I may have ever seen) and started chopping the veggies for sandwiches. I was unaware that on this tour we were all responsible for cooking our own meals (my car was responsible for lunch sandwiches, so cutting the veggies, laying out whatever meat we were having and cleaning up from lunch), car 2 was responsible for cooking and cleaning up dinner. For the amount I spent on the tour, I thought they would at least cook the meals for us. We ate and once the rain died down, we got back into the cars and made our way on the beach and off road paths to Lake Mackenzie, a warm crystal blue lake with the whitest sand that can be used to exfoliate your skin. Unfortunately due to sharks, sting rays, and jellyfish you are unable to swim in the ocean at Fraser Island because it is too unsafe; but they have different lakes, rivers and natural pools that are safe to swim in. We spent about an hour here swimming and getting to know each other on the tour. I grew up on a lake and have been to so many in my life, but nothing compared to this. The water was so clear you could see everything. Must see while on Fraser Island! I drove back to the hostel from Lake Mackenzie and with the narrow paths and all the mud from the rain it took a little to get used to. The steering wheel is on the right of the car and in Australia they drive on the left side of the road (first time I ever had to drive like this, and it was in a car of strangers whose lives were in my hands… no pressure). No one was allowed to bring their own alcohol so we all had to purchase it at the convenience store on the hostel grounds, which was very overpriced, so I only bought a six pack of beer. After a Aussie BBQ dinner of potatoes, sausages, veggies and bread we all hung out at the picnic tables near the campsite playing drinking games. The first game we played was think while you drink and the second was good day bruce (a really fun and confusing at first Australian drinking game). We got a free drink voucher for the onsite bar and I was the first in my room to go to bed. Half the group was camping and half were staying in dorms, I was staying in a 6 person dorm and it wasn’t great. There was no AC just a fan, it was dirty with a very small bathroom that had a broken sliding door. The first night was unbelievably hot so I slept awful.

    Day 13
    We had to get up early for brekkie and be ready at the cars by 7:30am for our day out. Marcus drove in the morning and our first stop of the day was at SS Maheno (a washed up shipwreck on the beach of Fraser Island). It was originally a commercial ship but was converted into a hospital ship during WWI and then returned to its commercial life once the war ended. The ship was eventually sold to a shipbreaker’s yard in Japan, so they took the propellers off to tow it from Sydney however the towing line broke during a cyclone and they weren’t able to reattach it. A few days later it washed up on the beach, they were unable to return it back into the water so there it stayed, laying on the beach. Now it is a tourist attraction. We stopped here for only about 20 minutes enough time to hear about the history and take some pictures. Next we headed to Indian Head, a coastal lookout named by Captain Cook (first recorded to sight Fraser Island) when he saw the aboriginal people (Australia’s native people) all gathered at the lookout when he was sailing by, and the name stuck. It is just a short inclined walk to the top where you get incredible views and if you are lucky, you can see some great ocean wildlife (we only saw a stingray). We had time to enjoy the scenery and take pictures before heading to our next stop, which was probably one of my favorite spots on Fraser Island, the Champagne Pools. The pools are naturally made by the ocean waves coming in and pooling into the rocks, the name comes from all the bubbles that form after the waves crash against the rocks. You got to enjoy the ocean water without all the things that could kill you in the water at Fraser Island. It was really amazing to see and I felt like a kid again swimming waiting for the waves to hit and come into the pool. We stopped at a park for lunch and then I was back in the driver’s seat (this time driving on the beach which is like driving in a huge snow storm when you are sliding around the road) to Eli Creek, our last stop for the day. It started raining right when we got there but cleared up really quick. We floated down the creek, which was freezing, and then spent some time laying out in the sun. We even had a dingo (wild dogs found in Australia, they are pretty aggressive) come over to our car and linger around before our tour guide scared it off. After a long day we finally made our way back to the hostel to have dinner. We had spaghetti bolognese with garlic bread, which was surprisingly good. The hostel had a beer pong competition which I went to watch and then I went to bed around 10ish. I realized that the night before the windows in our room were closed, so I opened them for the night and it really made a difference.

    Day 14
    Another early start to the day, after brekkie we packed up our bags and brought them to the trucks at 7am to head out for the day. Our last stop was Lake Wabby, a lake created by Hammerstone Sandblow (a large sand dune) which is adjacent to the lake. The lake will eventually disappear due to the sand blowing into it. It is about a 40 minute walk through the woods to get to the lake and when you finally get out of the woods all you see is miles of sand. As you walk through all the sand you stumble upon a greenish colored lake down a very steep sand hill. The lake has catfish in it and garra rufa (the fish that are used to eat dead skin during fish pedicures). The lake wasn’t really somewhere that you would go to lay out and get a tan, since it is a very steep hill and then drops right into the water, but it was a nice place to cool off and spend a morning. It is crazy that in the future this lake will no longer exist. After about 2 hours, we jumped back into the car and I drove us on the beach to the ferry. The ferry took us to Rainbow Beach where we had lunch, dropped our trucks off and hopped on the coach bus back to Noosa Heads. We got back into town around 4pm and I grabbed some sushi then got a shuttle at 7pm to Brisbane where I was going to spend a couple of days. Unfortunately, my shuttle had a connection at the Brisbane airport where I had to wait 90 minutes for the next shuttle that would take me to my hostel (Brisbane City YHA) in Brisbane.    Read more

  • TravelerAustralia
    Day 15

    Brisbane

    January 20, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F

    Day 15
    I woke up and facetimed with my Dad and then my sister before heading into Brisbane to explore the city. My hostel was a 20 minute walk into downtown, with it being very hot out, I stopped in a museum to cool off in the AC and then went over to the river to see the Brisbane sign. I jumped onto the ferry and went all the way up the river to see the city from the water, which was really nice. I grabbed lunch and walked around a little then headed to Kangaroo Point to go see the point overview. It started pouring out so I got back on the ferry to grab dinner closer to my hostel. I went to a Mexican place in the city and got a quesadilla, which had a thin layer of cheese and thin layer of chicken, it was disappointing and overpriced. I walked back to my hostel and met a girl in my dorm, Beth (she is originally from South Africa and is going to school in Adelaide) who I started chatting with. We decided to go up to the rooftop bar of the hostel to grab a beer and see the view of the city (which was incredible from our hostel and part of the reason I wanted to stay there). After a very long couple of days, I headed to bed early to try and catch up on some sleep.

    Day 16
    Obviously you can’t go to Australia and not hold a koala and feed kangaroos, so today Beth and I headed to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (a 20 minute Uber drive from our hostel) to spend some time with the Australian animals. I am always aware when going to animal places that I am supporting local companies that treat the animals correctly and don’t just use them to make a buck. At Lone Pine they rotate the koalas and don’t allow them to be held more than 25 minutes a week. The staff times each encounter the koala has, and if one is being fussy or doesn’t want to be held, they switch them out (this happened with the first one I tried holding). You have to put your palms out, one on top of the other, and then they place the koala onto your hands. They are actually pretty heavy and they only let you hold it for maybe a minute. We got there as soon as the place opened so we didn’t have to wait in a long line. We then headed over to grab some kangaroo food and spent some time feeding them. They had wallabies and kangaroos both were surprisingly friendly, they would just come up to you and start eating out of your hand, one even licked my hand. I was expecting them to be a little more dismissive and mean, it was a really cool experience and I could have spent all day there but it was too hot. We grabbed an Uber back to the hostel so we could do a load of laundry and eat some pizza. Beth had some things to do in the early afternoon so I took some time to start writing this blog and watching some TV. Brisbane has a public pool and man made beach right near the river in downtown so two of the girls in my room (they were on a gap year between high school and college from the Netherlands), Beth and I all went there to hang out and enjoy the late afternoon sun. Of course right when we laid down it started pouring (Australia is kind of like FL where it will downpour for 20-40 minutes and then the blue skies will come back out like it never happened). We went to a nearby bar to wait out the rain and grab a couple of drinks. I had the idea to go pick up some snacks and a couple of bottles of wine and head to kangaroo point for a picnic. We walked up the steep steps and unfortunately it had already gotten dark when we got up there. We couldn’t find the park that we were looking for but we found a spot on the cliff that was thick to lay out our towels. The view of the city all lit up with the river was just breathtaking and we spent some time up there chatting, eating and drinking.

    Day 17
    After checking out of the hostel, Beth and I went into the city for brekkie and then went back to the pool/ beach spot for a take two on our tanning sesh before hopping on my 3pm flight to The Whitsundays. It was hot and humid as usual so we were only out there for about an hour before heading back to the hostel for me to collect my bags and take a shuttle to the airport. Australian airlines are very strict when it comes to baggage weight, most airlines allow a 23kg check in bag and 7kg or 11kg carry on. I left home with a backpacking backpack and a medium size suitcase (both 30 pounds), I had compression bags for my stuff and had to bring a suitcase for colder weather in Japan. So obviously, I ended up bringing things I originally wouldn’t have since I had another bag. I didn’t have weight restrictions on my flight to Australia so I didn’t even consider that this would be an issue down the line. Well, I got to the airport and was about to board the plane when they had everyone line up to weigh their carry on bag (I have never had a carry on bag weighed before). They made me put my purse on the scale as well even though it said you were allowed a personal item also. Instead of 7kg mine was 11kg and they made me pay $65 AUS since I was over. Seriously the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of before. Once I landed, I collected my bags and took a shuttle to Airlie Beach. I checked into my hostel, ate dinner and packed my bags for my Whitesunday sailing tour which was starting the next day (we weren’t allowed to bring bags with zippers on them because bed bugs can hide in them). I spent some more time blogging and then went to sleep.    Read more

  • TravelerAustralia
    Day 18

    Whitsunday

    January 23, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 88 °F

    Day 18
    I checked out and put my bags in the hostel storage for the next couple of days. I went to check in for my tour down the road after eating brekkie and then went back to the hostel to hang out in reception until 1pm when Natasha (she was on my Fraser Island tour also) and I walked down to the marina to meet our tour group. Before getting on the boat I went to the bottle shop and got white goons (the tour was BYOB). What I really wanted to be drinking on a boat in the middle of paradise was White Claws but unfortunately they don’t have them in Australia and don't have anything similar. These are something that I didn't expect to miss while traveling. Once we were on the boat, we went downstairs to choose our beds (which were small beds like you would expect on a sail boat) and went back up to the deck to get an introduction to the ship and what to expect for the next couple of days. After a little while of sailing we dropped anchor and they put out a diving block for us to jump off into the water for some swimming. We had to wear stinger suits, which were head to toe zip up suits to protect you from jellyfish and stingrays, which the waters are filled with during this time of year. They aren’t the most fashionable but they keep you safe and protect you from the sun while swimming. The current was very strong and even as a strong swimmer it was really tiring to swim against. On the boat there was a chief who prepared all of our meals for us. The first night we had a white fish, mashed potatoes and green beans; it was pretty good. The sun went down pretty early and we spent the evening/ night drinking on the boat. I was really tired and went down to bed around 10ish, the lights and music on the boat turned off at 12. The reason I chose this particular boat (there are a lot of boat options for the Whitsundays) was because there was air conditioning on it, but it was so hot that I could barely sleep. I went upstairs to go to the bathroom (there were 2 on the boat both with showers) and stuck my head outside to look at the stars. The sky was light up with them, more than I have probably ever seen, but I was too nervous to go outside and actually look (we were in the middle of the ocean and who knows what I may have seen in the water).

    Day 19
    At 6:30am music came on over the speaker and we were all woken up for the day. We had brekkie which was cereal, toast, and fresh fruit and then got dressed as we started sailing to our first destination of the day. We went to Whitehaven Beach where we went on a walk up to 3 lookout points and then headed to the beach to spend a couple of hours. Whitehaven beach has the clearest waters and you can walk out so far. Whitehaven Beach is known for its very fine white sand, which is 98% pure silica. The sand here does not retain heat so it is very comfortable to walk on it barefoot. If you get caught trying to take sand home from Whitehaven Beach you will get a $10,000 fine; the sand is very protected. We saw baby reef sharks and stingrays (good thing we had our suits on) while swimming in the water. We headed back to the boat and had lunch (some pasta salads and sandwiches) before heading to our afternoon spot where we had the choice to snorkel (which was included on the tour) or pay extra to go scuba diving. I decided to pay and do the scuba dive and man, am I glad I did. It was such an incredible experience. We got all geared up, the tank was about 30 pounds and then they put a weighted belt on you as well to help when you are in the water. We took a small boat to the area we were scuba diving and learned all the signals and how to breath in the water before going down. The instructor had me and the other girl (Emma) on our knees under water to get used to breathing. I came back to the surface because I felt like my lungs were tired from breathing in and out too hard and I started panicking thinking I wouldn’t be able to breath when I went under. It turns out I was breathing way harder than I needed to be, so once he explained that to me, I was able to calm down and go back under the water. We gradually made our way down along the ocean floor, we went down to 12 meters, which is 39 feet. It felt amazing being able to swim along the fish and coral and not having to worry about coming up for air. Typically, your first time diving the instructor will be linked up to you but ours let us swim behind him on our own which was sooo cool. When scuba diving, you need to keep your body horizontal and keep your head down; so in order to go deeper into the water you need to exhale air and to move up in the water you need to inhale air. This seems like it would be hard but it was surprisingly easy to do. I am so happy that I decided to scuba dive and proud of myself for getting out of my head about the breathing and really let myself enjoy it; if I saw a shark I may have freaked out though! We were down there 20-30 minutes before coming back to the surface. I would definitely recommend everyone try it at least once. We got on the boat and made our way to a beach with our wine, where we got out to watch the sunset (due to cloudy skies there really wasn’t much of a sunset). We returned to the boat for dinner, which was spaghetti bolognaise with garlic bread and salad, and had our final night drinking on the boat together. While we were all drinking we saw 3 stingrays in a mating circle next to our boat, where they stayed for hours just swimming in a circle. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any other wildlife from the boat. It is crazy how quickly you become close with other people when almost everyone is traveling alone and you spend 2 nights on a boat in the middle of the ocean together. A bunch of us decided that we were going to sleep on the deck of the boat since it was so hot in the cabins the night before. The breeze was amazing but about 25 minutes after laying out there on beanbags, it began to rain so I went back to my bed while others slept upstairs on the kitchen floor and kitchen wrap around couch. It is crazy how quickly you become close with other people when almost everyone is traveling alone and you spend 2 nights on a boat in the middle of the ocean together.

    Day 20
    Another early morning, today was our last day on the boat so after brekkie we started making our way back to Airlie beach. We stopped to jump off the boat and go down an inflatable slide they attached to the boat (it immediately started pouring when we anchored). We had the option of paying for an extra activity, one being a jet boat ride the other being the banana boat ride. I chose to do the banana boat and it was sooo much fun. It was a big banana shaped tube that held 6 people which was pulled by a jet ski. The person driving the jet ski is essentially trying to throw people off the tube the entire time, going over waves and wiping it around. Needless to say we were constantly stopping to retrieve bodies in the water and there were limbs flying in all different directions. It was a blast! Once we got back on the boat we had lunch, which was a hotdog with onions and then we headed back to Airlie Beach to end our trip. We docked about 1:30-2pm and I had a lot of time to kill until 8pm when my overnight bus to Cairns was leaving. I went back with Isabel, a girl from the boat and hung in her room at the hostel then took a shower and grabbed some dinner before getting a taxi to the bus station. The bus ride from Airlie Beach to Cairns was 10 hours and I got about 3 hours of sleep before the bus arrived a little before 6am.    Read more

  • TravelerAustralia
    Day 21

    Great Barrier Reef

    January 26, 2020 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 84 °F

    Day 21
    After arriving at my hostel (Global Backpackers Cairns) very early, I put my luggage in storage and hung out in their Netflix room and took a nap for about 2 hours. I had brekkie in the hostel kitchen which had an outside seating area overlooking the lagoon in Cairns. I started chatting with a German girl (Melina) and we decided to walk around together and see the town for the day. Before leaving the hostel Melina stopped at the travel desk at reception and was able to get booked onto the same Great Barrier Reef day tour as me. I booked mine through Tripadvisor doing a 2 day deal, first day being the Great Barrier Reef and second day being Cape Tribulation (a rainforest). We then walked around the town and came across Rusty’s Market, which was a semi outdoor market with jewelry, clothing and hemps (aussies word for lots) of fruits and vegetables from local farmers. They were really good and cheap. We went to the grocery store to pick up some snacks and lunch and then went back to the hostel to eat. I was able to check in at 2pm, after settling in, I put on my bathing suit to go to the lagoon to swim and hang out for the afternoon. Unfortunately, right when I went outside it started raining and it continued all afternoon. So I took the time to write more blog posts and relax before going to get dinner. For dinner we went to the night market right next to the hostel which had souvenir shops and food stands. We got pho from one of the stands and watched some young aboriginal kids (the native Australian people) dance. We needed to get up a little before 7am the next day so after hanging out a little we both headed to bed.

    Day 22
    Melina and I met in the hostel kitchen where we had brekkie and then headed to the docks where the boat departed for the Great Barrier Reef. The staff showed us where to sit for the beginning of the trip (to be able to watch the safety demonstration) and we were given complimentary tea and coffee. We went upstairs to get our snorkeling gear and wetsuit and were given a locker to keep it in so that the inside of the boat didn’t get wet. The trip out to the first reef stop was a little over an hour long. We started chatting with a girl from Oklahoma (Jordan) and she was a solo traveling who had just landed in Cairns a couple days before from the US. When we were close to our first stop, the three of us got geared up and went to the top of the boat for a snorkeling demonstration. The water was perfect temperature and salty, just like everywhere else. Gaby has been to the Great Barrier Reef before and warned me that a lot of it was dead and not filled with colors like you would expect. It was worse than what I was expecting, hardly any color but still so huge. After about an hour swimming around we got back on the boat and had some lunch which included steak, prawns, white fish, salads and pasta salads. Then it was off to our next and final reef spot. This one I thought was better than the first stop, it was bigger and had a little bit more color to it. I was really excited to see sea turtles, stingrays and reef sharks while snorkeling, but unfortunately I saw nothing but fish. Of course the Great Barrier Reef is a must visit while in Australia, and I don’t regret going, but it was definitely the most disappointing part of my trip to date since I feel like it is always talked up. It’s really sad how dead all of it is and it may have been better if I did a trip that was overnight and stopped at reefs that were further out in the ocean that may be more colorful. We headed back to the hostel to freshen up and then Jordan, Melina and I grabbed dinner at a restaurant across from the hostel and then called it an early night because I had another tour the following morning.    Read more

  • TravelerAustralia
    Day 23

    Chasing Waterfalls

    January 28, 2020 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 79 °F

    Day 23
    Today I went to Cape Tribulation and Daintree Rainforest which are popular places to visit when in Cairns. The day started with a stop at the animal sanctuary in Port Douglas where I saw several kangaroos with babies in their pouches and being fed by their mothers. It was so precious and really cute to see. We then made our way to Cape Tribulation and went for a walk in one of the rainforest national parks in Daintree called Mossman Gorge (we walked really slow and didn’t go too deep in which was disappointing, there was only one other girl my age, others were older or families with teenagers). We stopped for lunch and the tour guide showed us 2 big spiders on the fence in the parking lot; Australia has a lot of deadly spiders. Lunch was at Cape Tribulation Beach House, it was included on the tour and we had several options to choose from. I decided to go with the kangaroo steak (stepping out of my comfort zone). Kangaroo is similar to steak but it was very gamey. I felt guilty eating it after spending part of my morning hanging with baby kangaroos so I didn’t eat all of it. After eating we headed down to Cape Tribulation beach to walk around for a half hour before getting back on the bus. We had extra time so we were able to stop at a local fruit farm that makes their own ice cream and gelato onsite. I got to try 4 different flavors in a cup and it was incredible. We returned back down to Daintree River where we went on an hour long river cruise to spot crocodiles and see other wildlife (we did see a couple of crocs but not many). On this tour we headed up spending a lot of time on the bus due to everything being so far apart but parts of it was a beautiful coastal drive and other parts were surrounded by rainforest so there was still plenty to see from the window. When I got back into town, I grabbed dinner and hung out in the hostel relaxing a little before going to bed.

    Day 24
    Today I went to Atherton Tablelands, a region of rainforests and waterfalls. This was another early morning, I got up at 6:45am to walk and meet my tour group. Unfortunately, it was pouring out but it actually ended up working out great because the waterfalls were in full effect. Our first stop of the day was at a rainforest where we went for a walk and then had morning tea and biscuits at a couple of picnic tables under a gazebo. We were all soaking when we got back onto the bus. Our next stop was Josephine Falls, which has a huge waterfall and then a flat rock in the water that is used as a natural water slide that you can slide down when swimming. Due to the weather the falls and water flow was very strong and we were unable to go swimming here. It was still amazing to see, and crazy to hear how high the water levels had gotten overnight because of all the rain. We then got on the bus and went to Milla Milla Falls, this waterfall is famous for being the location they filmed one of the herbal essence commercials. You can’t visit here and not take a picture flipping your hair in the water. Since the weather wasn’t great, we were the only group here. The rain didn’t affect the swimming conditions here so me and a couple other girls decided to get in for a swim. The water was pretty cold and it was very rocky making it difficult to walk into without hurting yourself. We got our hair flip pictures, swam next to the waterfall and then got out to have lunch which was an assortment of different deli meats and veggies to make sandwiches. We stopped to see the Cathedral Fig Tree (an enormous 500 year old strangler tree) to take some quick pictures. Our last stop of the trip was to Lake Eacham, which has beautiful blue green water and has a freshwater crocodile in it that has been sighted on very rare occasions. Some people choose to go for a swim, I decided to take a walk around the lake to take in the scenery. It was a beautiful walk through the woods with views of the lake peaking out here and there. We had another snack before getting onto the bus to head back to Cairns. On my walk I managed to get bit by a leech between my second and third toe. When leeches bit they insert an anesthetic and anti clotting so you don’t feel that you got bit and it bleeds a lot. By the time I noticed the leach had already fallen off my foot. Very strange. The beginning of the day was very wet but midday the sun came out and it actually turned out to be a great day. When I got back to the hostel I packed my bags because I was leaving the following day.

    Day 25
    I checked out of my hostel and facetimed Kelly before getting on my shuttle to the airport. My flight to Melbourne left at 2:30pm and landed around 7pm so it was a day of traveling. Once I landed I grabbed a bus to the city and then walked 20 minutes to my hostel, which was right near Chinatown. I stayed in a 16 person dorm with a lot of long timers staying there so people’s stuff was everywhere. I got settled and went to bed in probably the worst hostel bed I have ever stayed in; the springs were coming out of the mattress.    Read more

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