To get to Sydney from Byron Bay we left on the bus at 8:30PM and didn’t arrive until about 10:30AM the next day!  A long, long bus ride.  It was our last though, so we were ready to be done and ready to get to a big city with lots to see.  We stayed in a part of town called Kings Cross that some locals we’d met said was their red light district, but we’d heard it was filled with tons of great restaurants and was a lively area.  We were both right.  It was a slightly dodgy area, with colorful people all around, but there was a ton of people at all hours which was nice and many restaurants to choose from.  The first day we were exhausted from our travels and just getting used to the colder weather so we decided to walk towards an area called Paddington to check it out.  It was such a cute little area, reminding me of my neighborhood SoHo back in NYC.  People dressed stylish (wished I had more clothes than my backpack can contain), little cafes and shops everywhere and we stumbled across a Saturday outside market.  It was fun being in a city again and doing a normal weekend activity and we saw some cute things.  After walking around for most of the day, exhausted we decided that even though it was a Saturday night in a big city we needed some down time.  So, of course, it was off to the movies!  We found an AMAZING movie theater.  Well, we thought it was just a movie theater, or rather cinema, but we finally found the address (that we’d gotten from our hostel) and discovered a restaurant called Govinda’s.  We asked the hostess where the movies were being played and she told a guy to take us upstairs.  As we we’re walking he tells us there are no more beds and that we’ll have to sit in a chair.  Beds?!  Um, what kind of cinema is this?!  To our relief and excitement, once we reached the small movie room, there were in fact beds everywhere with people reclining on them!  It was set up to have about five rows of reclining ‘beds’ (or platforms) to relax on while you watch the movie.  Brilliant!!  I was so excited I took a picture and I’m already thinking of a location to open one in NYC!!!  Obsessed!  [**trademarked idea dated as of the publish date of this post** ]

 

The next day we took advantage of the city’s hop off hop on bus since there is so much to see. Naturally our first stop was the Sydney Opera House.  It was much smaller than I expected and less bright white than you see in pictures, more of a dingy look.  We took a few pictures, but it was very crowded so we headed back to the bus and stayed on until we saw the Sydney Theater Company.  Allison wanted to try to get tickets for a show that Cate Blanchette was staring in, but they were closed.  Walking back under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, we stumbled into a part of town called The Rocks and found a huge street market, much like the one from the day before. We spent the next 3 hours here. haha  We bought many of our gifts for the family at these little tables because everything was just so cute and so Australian.   It was a nice afternoon of roaming around acting like we lived there too.   After the market we walked around the Harbour a bit more because it was nice and sunny and it was fun to see the atmosphere of this part of the city, with beautiful views of course.  Monday we did the hop on hop off again and went to try to get Allison tickets to the show again.  Of course they were sold out so she bought tickets to God of Carnage that was also playing, in a theater at the Opera House!  I’d already seen it in NY, so I didn’t get a ticket and planned to walk around while she went.  We took the bus around again for a bit and then went on a harbor tour that went all the way up towards Middle Harbour.  It was sort of a crappy day, cold and overcast, but it was still neat to see the different areas surrounding the Harbour.  After the tour we ran over the Opera House to try and get one of the last tours and we made it.  The tour was expensive, but worth it to hear about the creation of the unique design and the building process and controversies.  After the tour Allison went to her show and I walked up towards the Sydney Tower to try to get some internet time in.  By the time I found a cafe that was not double the price like down in the Harbour, it was nearly time to meet Allison.  The Sydney Tower, however, was almost closed by the time we got there so we decided to go another day and headed home instead.  

 

The next day was Bondi Beach day, so we headed out on the train (which is so organized…there are screens that show the time of the next train and stops the train makes).  To get to Bondi Beach you have to take a train out there and then take a bus to the actual beach.  I was surprised it took a bit to get out there, but I guess it was worth it.  It was so pretty, just like you’d think it would be.  But, again, it was a lot smaller than we thought it’d be.  Just a small bay really, so I can’t really imagine it being super crowded in the summer.  We took some amazing pictures of the beach and checked out the cool hotel/aquatics center right on the water in the corner of the bay.  It had a salt water pool right on the edge over the ocean, with the waves crashing into it.  So pretty!  We had planned to do the walk to Coogee Beach (that and to Bronte is a famous walk along the coast, takes about an hour or so I think), but we wanted to make it back to get on a ferry out to Manly Beach so we headed back to the city instead.  The ferry ride out to Manly was long, and the commuter ferry, but it was nice to see a another Sydney beach since you hear so much about them.  Unfortunately by the time we got there, it was getting late and there wasn’t much open and the sun was about to go down.  We walked around for a bit and watched some great surfers, you know, now that we get it   We hung around for a bit and watched the sunset and then headed back to the city.  We were already late to meet the girls we’d met on the Whitsunday sailing trip for drinks.  We rushed back and thankfully they were still at the bar because we had a really good time chatting with them.  You meet a lot of people in Australia that are not interested in America or Americans at all because of one reason or another, but these girls were genuinely interested in life back in the States just as much as we were in their life in Sydney.  It was fun swapping questions and notes on what we do on a typical weekend and the places we’ve each been or want to go.  They are really funny girls and it was nice to take a break and hang out.  

 

Our last day in Sydney we decided to take a tour up to the Blue Mountains, something we’d heard a lot about from several people.  Unfortunately, it was a cold, windy and rainy day to be up in the mountains.  We were pretty freezing cold for most of the day and hiking for 2 hours didn’t always help, especially when it started raining.  There was also a famous rock formation with an elaborate story attached to it called The Three Sisters.  Obviously, even though we were without our third sister, Allison and I had fun with that.  Despite the bad weather, I am glad we ventured up there to check it out.  It was very pretty and a couple of the mountain towns reminded me of New England and Apple picking season back in NY.  Made me miss the east coast just a bit!   Once we arrived back in Sydney, we only had a little bit of time before it was off to the airport for our flight to Melbourne.

 

Once we got to Melbourne we were greeted by a friend of Allison’s she had just met on her Vietnam tour just before Australia…and she already offered to pick us up from the airport! So nice. That was the epitome of our Melbourne trip. We felt like we were visiting there, not traveling…if that makes sense. Jackie, the one who met us at the airport, and Tom showed us around Melbourne like we were old friends coming to visit. It was such a nice change of pace and change of experience. You get sort of exhausted from all the touristy things you need to see after 3 weeks of it, so being shown around and told what to see and do was great. The first day we were there was cold and rainy so we relaxed, got some internet time done and had lunch down the street on Degraves Street, a cute little alley. It reminded me of NYC, and downtown in SoHo specifically, right away! A bunch of cute little restaurants, people dressed stylish, making me wish I’d packed my cute winter coats and boots. It was my first wave of sadness realizing I won’t be back in the city I love for a while! And of course I missed all my warmer clothes, packed away in a 5x5x5 storage unit After lunch we wandered around the city for a bit, checking things out and ended up at a movie theater of course! We love going to the movies and a rainy cold down day is the perfect excuse! When we were buying the tickets at the kiosk we found that you get to pick your seat! So fun…we need that in NY! I also convinced Allison to be a bit of a rebel and told her about the secret a few of my friends and I have back at home to get cheaper tickets. Children’s tickets are usually about $6 give or take less and most theaters don’t check too closely, especially a large theater like most in NYC, when they are taking your ticket so we buy those. (yes, technically stealing I suppose) The tickets at this theater were $18 a movie for adults?!?!!?!? So I didn’t feel guilty at all only paying the $13 childrens fee for seeing the same movie!! Ridiculous. I figure if I’m caught, a quick fit of playing dumb and offering to pay the difference wouldn’t hurt. We’ll see…. but this time we were successful! That was pretty much the only excitement of the first day

The second day was a nice sunny day…but still cold! We ventured out to see the city sights and quickly found out that the reason the tourist shuttle in town is Free (!) is because there isn’t much to see at all! Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a cute little city and I loved it for the more cultural feel, with many restaurants and bars like NY, but the entire tourist shuttle took an hour and a half and we only got off once at the Queen Vic market and hopped right back on until the end. It was still a nice overview of the city set up and the guy told us a bit of history on the way. But then we were done. We walked around again and decided to check out the local Target (yes!!!!!!!!). Sadly, Target in Australia is NOTHING like the wonder that is Target in America! Our faces quickly fell as we bounced in excitedly and found ourselves in something more similar to the KMart in Astor Place (gasp!). Awful, awful. No cute mossimo tank tops, no fun dresses from Anna Sui, no cute shoes people are shocked were purchased at Target. Very disappointing. All we wanted was some leggings (our cure for the sudden onset of cold weather) and it was hard enough to even find that! Sad day. Once we were over the disappointment, we shopped some more and then got dolled up for our dinner.   Jackie, the girl who picked us up from the airport, had planned a dinner for us! So nice! It was at a cool restaurant called St Jude’s Cellars, with a very industrial look and wine racks everywhere…again, reminding me of restaurants in NYC. Noticing a theme here?! She had invited a bunch of her friends…all guys and doctors at that! Allison and I were feeling pretty ridiculous surrounded by neurosurgeons, a pediatrician, orthopedic surgeons, podiatrists, etc. Quite the group. They were all very nice guys though and we had a great time finally out on the town. We stopped a few doors down for drinks too at Polly’s, but didn’t stay out too late because Allison’s other friend from the Intrepid tour, Tom, decided to spontaneously take us down to his parents house for the night!

It was such a great experience to have a ‘homestay’ at an Australian home. His parents live down on the Mornington Peninsula (they pronounce Peninshula) in a rural area. They have a small winery on their property that they use to make a little bit of wine and sometimes do a mix with a friends winery down the street. Pretty neat. Tom’s dad had dug out a whole in the ground and made a wine cellar for their own wine. Allison and I were impressed and took a ton of pics of the neat little cellar. His parents couldn’t have been nicer…his mother made us an amazing dinner of stuffed chicken, yummy salad and potatoes and then a chocolate suffle for dessert! And of course there was lots of wine to go around. Tom invited a couple of his friends as well to stay the night, so it was a fun relaxing night of chatting and talk of traveling. Tom’s parents travel a lot too and had just returned from a long trip to Canada and a stopover in Seattle. They’ve all traveled quite a bit so it was fun to talk about where they’d been and compare notes. Tom also took us down to the town and the beach nearby which reminded me of New England beaches…especially since it was so cold J It was a lot of fun and I’m really glad that Tom took us down to see something different from the touristy spots we’ve been stopping at and welcomed us into his home after really only knowing Allison for about a month and me less than 24 hours! It was such a highlight of the trip for us. His dad also sent us home with a couple bottles of wine which doesn’t hurt JOnce back in Melbourne the next day, Jackie took us out to brunch at one of her favorite spots St. Ali. Again, reminded me of many brunch spots back in NYC and the food was so yummy…I love brunch! She then took us down to their beach, St. Kilda, and we walked along the open market for a bit but the weather wasn’t great so she took us back home to recoup from our weekend. That night she had another dinner planned for us at a Vietnamese spot…getting me ready for my trip in December! We headed home after dinner because the next day Jackie was taking us to a day spa out of the city (she took good care of us right?!). 

We headed out early the next morning to Hepburn Springs for a massage (for our tired backpacker backs) and some hot pools to relax in. The massage was wonderful and the place was a cool modern building in the middle of a small country town. For lunch she took us to a cute little lavender farm. The food was so good, it was a beautiful day and the place was a pretty little country cottage. I had to contain myself from buying a ton of lavender products since I don’t want to carry them around in my backpack (the hazards of traveling for so long with a small bag). That night when we returned to the city we had another dinner, this time with just us and the 3 friends from the Vietnam tour: Jackie, Marissa and Tom at a local pub with Bogan Burgers. Bogan is their term for the lower class…from what I gather, maybe similar to when we’d say white trash? Not 100% sure how it translates, but the burger was not the best. It wasn’t so much a burger as a sandwich with a ton of crap on it. There was fried chicken, a piece of ham, some other random stuff all on a baguette. 

Even though the food wasn’t the highlight, it was a nice last night there and fun to see how they all got along so well after only spending a couple weeks with each other. It shows you how much of a bond you have with people you travel with or meet while traveling. You share that and it carries over into everything else. Tom is already planning a big trip to the US next year and I know we both will be happy and feel totally comfortable having him stay with us in NYC and LA. As much as we laugh about Facebook, this is really a vital tool for everyone to stay in contact with those passing people you meet while traveling…you never know when you will need somewhere to stay in another country or vice versa! J Sadly, we left Melbourne early the next morning, ready again to be travelers not visitors in Alice Springs. 

ALICE SPRINGS:Arriving in Alice Springs you instantly notice the feel of the Outback and what a different environment it is from the east coast of Australia.  It’s hot, in fact the one word I would use to describe Alice Springs is HOT.  So very very hot.  We had just come from Melbourne with colder weather and lots of layered clothing.  Here you wish you could just walk around in a bathing suit all day…and you’re still hot.  Reminded me a lot of Palm Springs in this sense…but much hotter.  You get the idea   It was pretty nice to get back to weather that we were prepared for…or at least had better clothing for. We arrived here for a 3 day 2 night camping tour we were going to take to Uluru or Ayers Rock.  It’s a large rock formation in the middle of the Australian Outback that is likened to the Grand Canyon we have back home.  It’s a sacred spot for the Aboriginal people, the original settlers of Australia.  More about that in a bit….

When you are heading to Alice Springs you think that it’s going to be a very touristy city, obviously in the middle of nowhere, but active and lively since it’s a main point to travel from to most of the outback and specifically to Uluru.  We were surprised at how sparse and empty the actual town is…well really just one street.  There are also many aboriginal people roaming around, barefoot and appearing to be drunk.  This surprised me the most because in such an area where their heritage is so valued and celebrated, you’d think they would have a much better life.  It was sad and confusing to see how many of them appeared to be homeless.  Besides that and that the town is very small, nothing is open at night.  The first day we walked around for a bit but then had nothing much else to do so we went swimming at the hostel pool and that’s pretty much it.  We later found out from our tour guide that the Aboriginal people have a lower tolerance for alcohol because it’s not something their systems are used to.  They live in a very secluded life from the modern world most of the time and for those that can’t control their drinking once they are introduced to it, they are kicked out of what is called their ‘community’.  There is a lot of help for them, a lot of programs to get them back on track in Australia, but some of them still have problems.  This is what we experienced in Alice Springs.  It’s good to know the government tries to help them and hopefully they will succeed.Thankfully we left on a tour early the next morning.  We were on a bus with about 20 others for the 3 day trip.  Most people were pretty young and many people were by themselves which I thought was great.  Gave a good energy to the group since everyone wanted to make friends.  There were a few people from Germany, a girl from South Korea, one from Taiwan, a few French, an older couple from Sweden (who we felt sorry for because this was a hiking and camping trip…not a good choice for them!), a woman from Canada who had just competed in the World Masters in Sydney and a guy from England.  Everyone was pretty nice and I think it was a good size group because when you’re spending 3 days straight with people, you want to be able to get along or at least have some new conversation every now and then.  It took us a while to warm up to each other, but in the end we had a good time.The first day we went straight into a 3 hour hike in Kings Canyon.  Phew.  Exhausting because it was SO HOT!  The first bit of the hike it straight up this rocky mountain…the tour guide called it heart attack hill.  I don’t think I am in that good of shape, but I definitely can hike and I can keep up because I’m in pretty good health, but throw awful, thick heat into the mix and it’s rough!  I was overheated and nauseous by the time we got to the top…and we still had another 2 hours and a half to go!  The hard part about this hike too is that you are basically on the top of a huge mountain in the middle of the desert with not many trees to find shade under.  My favorite was when the tour guide would say, let’s just head around another 20 minutes to the next shade spot and take a break.  When we arrived at the so-called shade spot we’d find a tiny tree with only a few leaves on each branch for all of us to share for shade!!  It’s very difficult to hike so much in that kind of heat without shade.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it…the beautiful cliffs and rock formations and the guide gave us a lot of information while we hiked.   But by the end, on the last stretch, I was over it and ready to be back in the cold in Melbourne or at least in the pool back in Alice Springs.  A girl in the other group hiking before us had to be airlifted out of the area because of heat exhaustion! 

After all that hiking and heat and copious amounts of resulting sweat, we didn’t even get to take showers that night.  We made a couple more stops along the way to our camp site, to gather firewood and such, and made our way to the middle of the outback for a campfire and a night in a swag (basically a sleeping bag to fit your sleeping bag in with a flap to cover your head if it starts raining…which it did!) under the stars.  The stars were gorgeous out in the middle of nowhere, so it was actually a nice experience.  Even without the facilities. A little before sunrise the next morning we were up and eating breakfast, ready to be on our way to Valley of the Winds at Kata Tjuta for another hike.  Kata Tjuta is a formation of domed rocks, literally translating to ‘many heads’.  This hike was a little shorter and not as rigorous, but just as hot.  There were more shade spots…actual shade that is…on this hike too though so it was a lot nicer of a hike.  After this hike we finally headed over to the main event…Uluru!    We got there as a storm was coming, but managed to get in a little guided tour on a part of the rock to tell us a little about the magic the Aboriginal people believe this rock holds.  There is a climb on the rock on a very steep side of it which many people have died on from falling off the side, etc. Besides the deaths, it is a very controversial climb because the Aboriginal people view Uluru as a very sacred spot, one of the most sacred in their culture so they ask that people don’t climb out of respect.  Our tour guide put it very well when he said when you travel to Asia or India and they ask you to take off your shoes or wear clothes covering your legs or shoulders before stepping into their temples you respect that wish.  So why wouldn’t you respect the Aboriginal peoples wish to not climb their sacred site?   It was really very interesting to hear about this rock and how sacred it is to them and after hearing this I can’t believe some people still climb or are allowed to climb it.  Apparently that’s about to change soon, but as of now it’s still open.    Just as our guide was telling us a little about the rock it began to rain, which is an exciting thing at Uluru.The Rock is known to have many different colors throughout the day, at sunrise, during the middle of the day, sunset and when it rains.  It turns a silvery color, almost appearing like there is snow lightly covering the sides.  If it rain enough, waterfalls form, which according to our tour guide is a rare sight!  Thankfully, we got to experience all of this!  And a couple full rainbows at that!  It was beautiful and such a great way to see the rock.  I’ll have pictures up of that soon…when I get all the pics up I promise!   Although the rain makes the rock beautiful, it definitely doesn’t allow for a pretty sunset…or really a sunset at all with all of the rain clouds.  So although we saw the silvery Uluru, we missed the sunset against it.  At least it stopped raining before we made it to camp, because although we were staying near facilities this time (yay!  hey, girls need facilities!!) we were still staying in swags.  It managed to dry up a bit by the time we went to bed though.  The second night was much more fun because we were at a proper campground with other groups around, we knew each other much better and could sit around and chat and joke…and of course we were showered!!!   We had an early early morning so we could catch the sunrise at Uluru (supposed to create yet another amazing color) so we were asleep early under the gorgeous stars once again!

The sunset was beautiful of course, but a ton of tourists experience it all at the same time.  Many were in the way of my pictures actually, which is not too cool. haha  Once the sun comes up, the rock is a sort of orange color.   Provides a ton of great pictures…again, to come soon!  The preferred way to see the rock, other than climb, is to do a base walk.  A 2 hour base walk.  Again, not too much shade and the rock is pretty and all, but 2 hours walking around the base of it you see a lot of the same thing.  We were glad to do it and experience all the sides and see the sacred spots (some are only for female eyes so the men are supposed to avert their eyes away until told otherwise by signs indicating the end of the female sacred site.  Very interesting!).   Once we were done with the base walk, it was pretty much time to start heading back to Alice Springs.   ALong the way we stopped at a Camel farm and Allison, Garreth (our English friend who plays Rugby all over and is heading out to LA!) rode a camel.  It was only for about 5 minutes but it was so fun!  It got me ready for my Camel ride in Israel in February

I’m really really glad we went on a tour of the Outback.  I think it was very important to see something different in our month of traveling in Australia.  Along the east coast you are seeing beach after beach and  city after city, so it was such a nice change to see the core of Australia and learn about the Aboriginal people and see the sacred Uluru rock.   It gave our trip such a well-rounded view of the country and the people.  

All in all I loved Australia just as I knew I would…it’s a beautiful country with nice people and so easy to travel around.  It was much more similar to the US than I expected, but in the best way possible.  I’ve been compiling a list of my Favorite Things about Australia, so stay tuned!  　

In the meantime, I’ve finally posted some Australia Pictures!!!  yay!  You can see links to both albums over on the right in the menu column.  They aren’t edited and there isn’t any comments on them yet, but enjoy!!! 

 

Thanks again for reading….hope everyone is well!  Cheers! xo 

 

 

First a little about all the places I’ve been in Australia.  I’ve been wanting to go there since I was a kid, already caught with the travel bug, but was told it was too far away.  And it is… After 2 final months at my job after quitting, 2 weeks living on a couch, 6 hours across the country from NY to LA, 5 days at home packing, 14 hours on a plane to Brisbane and another 2 to Cairns, I finally made it to AUSTRALIA!   It was a long time coming, but in the end all happened so quickly.

 

You think before you get here that 1 month is Plenty of time!  But this is a big country and there is so much to see beyond the typical musts like the Great Barrier Reef, the Opera House in Sydney, or the Kangaroos!  Here’s a little about my many stops throughout my time in Australia:

 

First stop CAIRNS:

 

Arriving in Cairns I was surprisingly Not jet lagged despite the 16 hours in flights.  I was thankfully able to sleep most of the first flight to Brisbane because the good people at VAustralia gave me my whole row!  Yep, that’s right, I had the dream flight experience to Australia.  I was originally seated next to a toddler, but without me saying a word, a flight attendant whisked me away to my very own 3 seat row!  Lovely!  I stretched out my legs, threw on the head phones and watched movies, TV (who knew How I Met Your Mother really was a funny show?!), and blissfully slipped in and out of a deep, relaxing sleep.  I was on my way to AUSTRALIA!  It was my first moment to sit back and realize after all the planning and the quick escape from NY that I really was unemployed and about to venture onto a 3 month trip to 5 different countries!  My second flight to Cairns was not quite as blissful, but let’s not dwell on the negatives by telling that story…I arrived safely and with my baggage in Cairns so it was all worth it!

 

My sister Allison, aka my travel companion for the next 6 weeks, was waiting for me at baggage claim as she had just flown in from South East Asia.  That was nice to have a familiar face greet me right from the start.  We spent the first day catching up (she’s been traveling since the end of July) and planning.  This is when we found out how little time one month really is.  We both had our own opinions of good things to do from various people or things we’d read, but in the end we agreed on the important spots and our trip was nearly all planned.  The thing about trying to spontaneously travel through a country is if you have an end date, you need to map it out before hand.  And if you map it out before hand, you really might as well book somewhere to sleep and if you’ve booked somewhere to sleep, you really need to make sure you’re going to get there on time.  I have found that planning is the most fun and the least fun part of any trip.  And that is how we spent our very first day in Australia…planning. 

 

We decided to get a one way ticket on the Greyhound Bus from Cairns to Sydney.  It is the easiest and most common way for backpackers to travel throughout Australia with flexibility to stop where and when you want along the way.  Cairns is the pushing off point for boat trips out to the Great Barrier Reef.  The next boat leaving for a 1 night, 2 day trip was a couple days away, so first it was up to Cape Tribulation and Port Douglas on a day trip.  Cape Trib, as it’s referred to by the locals, was less than exciting to us.  We only stopped there for an hour and had lunch on a beach that was not that pretty (hard to find in Australia) and that you couldn’t swim in because of jelly fish.   We were on a tour with a guide that laughed like Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons. Port Douggie, as it’s called, is known as being a wealthy town with visitors like ex US Presidents and celebrities.   It was a very cute little beach town with lots of shops and restaurants and people walking around, but we only drove through it.  Neat.  The highlights of the trip were a small animal reserve a couple owns on the drive up that introduced us to our first taste of Aussie wildlife and a river tour on the famous Daintree River.  It was really pretty and we saw some snakes and birds, but alas no wild crocodiles.  All in all I was happy that we went on the day trip as it gave us a little taste of what was to come on our trip. 

 

Our boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef was next.  We were really excited to snorkel the famous GBR and were planning on possibly learning to scuba dive too.  The boat had a captain and 4 crew members.  It was a small boat and we ended up on bunk beds at the front of the cabin in a ‘room’ and another set of bunks holding a couple girls from Germany that had coincidentally been on our day trip to Cape Trib.  Other than that there were about 12 other people on the boat.  The schedule for the next two days was up on a white board  and we followed it pretty strictly.  It basically consisted of eat, snorkel, move to new spot, snorkel, eat.  It was really fun snorkeling so much and at a different spot each time.  My family has been snorkeling many times on our trips to Hawaii but I have never snorekeled so much in a two-day time period.  It was really interesting to see the spots they picked for us and the way we were always the only ones at the coral spot.  The GBR is so big that although there are several boat tours out there each day, it often felt like we were the only boat in the middle of the ocean.  That was a new experience for me too…I’m sort of intimidated by the vastness of the ocean so to jump off the boat and swim in the deep water about 20 feet to the coral in the middle of the ocean was a little frightening at times, but such a great experience.  The first time we went out my sister and I decided to try to scuba dive.  I was a little afraid, but the instructor was only going to take us down for a few minutes.  So he gives us a quick lesson on board and we get all our gear on and we jump off the boat.  I panicked immediately.  We are in the middle of the ocean and I am supposed to submerge myself in water and breathe?!  Terrifying.  He tried to do a couple breathing exercises with us gently going down under water on a rope but I couldn’t calm down my breathing.  It was very scary for me and once I accidentally inhaled a gulp of salt water I was done.  Back in my snorkel gear and swimming along the top of the water looking at the coral and fish I was completely fine.  I need to be able to pick my head up and take a real breath once in a while and I’m just as happy seeing the depths of the ocean from my  ”>bird’s eye view.  It was a little lonely at first, snorkeling by myself, but Allison ended up only scuba diving the once because she couldn’t get certified on this trip and she was just as happy to snorkel.  The first night on the boat after dinner the Captain sat us all down and pulled out a map of the GBR and a poster of several different types of fish and gave us a sort of lesson on how the coral grows, what different names were for the coral and habits of many of the fish.  It was such a great idea to teach us about what we were seeing, something I’ve never had before and really enhanced the rest of my snorekling the next day.

 

The day we returned from the boat trip was our last day in Cairns and we had a lot of time before our bus that night so we decided to check out the movie theater.  Allison wanted to see a film I’d already seen so we split up and the only other option was an Australian film called Charlie and Boots.  It actually had Crocodile Dundee Paul Hogan as Charlie!  It was a very cheesy film with poor writing and awkward acting, but I was happy I saw it because they were on a road trip to Cape York which is the Northern most point of AUS and passed through many towns we were about to see as well as Cape Trib and Port Dougie.  That combined with all the Aussie accents and terms I could listen to and take note of was nice.  I felt like I was at a film fest  

 

Next stop AIRLIE BEACH:

 

We took our first overnight bus of the trip from Cairns and it actually wasn’t too bad.  We got to watch a movie and ended up sleeping most of the way.  We arrived in Airlie Beach the next morning and quickly discovered a small beach town, really just one street in the center, but a lot of energy and people around.  We were here to go on another boat trip, this time sailing the Whitsunday Islands.  After checking into our hostel, a small room with bunk beds (the first of many!), we strolled around the city and discovered mostly touristy shops.  My favorite part about Airlie was the Lagoon near the water.  It was a salt water lagoon shaped to look like a beach and was open to the public with mostly kids taking advantage.  There was grass and trees all around though so many people were hanging out just as you would at the beach.   Something we could use in Central Park in NYC!!!

As we got on the sail boat for our next boating adventure, we thankfully got downstairs first because we ended up with ‘good’ beds. ‘Good’ being used lightly as they really were just hard wood bunks with thin mats on top, and under the hatch so I could see the amazing stars at night.  However, some people had cot like beds hanging from the ceiling in the kitchen!  There were definitely too many people (about 21) on this smallish sail boat, but it ended up being such a great trip!   We started out sailing in the heavy wind out to the islands, which was fun at first, but we had to ‘tack’ which for all of us meant switching from one side of the sail boat to the other, scooting along as the boat tips to a 45 degree, sometimes 70 degree angle.  It got old after a while…  Once we arrived at our first stop, a small cove, we anchored and had dinner.  The first night was a little awkward, really just getting to know each other.  There were 3 sets of sisters including us, one from Italy and one from England (who much to the surprise of my England loving self Hated England and especially London because of the people and weather…Never heard that before!!).  There were also a couple Norwegian girls, a couple NZ guys, a Dutch couple, some Germans and a couple girls from Sydney.  

 

The first day we went out to Whitehaven Beach, a beautiful white sand beach with very shallow waters and a look out point overlooking the surrounding island.  It was so pretty, especially early in the morning with no other groups around.  We were the first on the beach and we must have wandered around taking pictures of the paradise for an hour.  We were there for a few hours, so it gave us an opportunity to talk to some of the others in the group a bit and discovered that many people were studying somewhere else in Australia and were just on a weekend vacation.  That is so neat to me that people in Australia have these kind of weekend getaways!  In the US, especially in NY, there is a ton of places to go to spend the weekend like Maine or Vermont, but I don’t think there are tours you just sign up for and go on.  You’d have to do all the planning yourself.  After hanging out for a bit there under the hot Australian sun (every tour guide liked to emphasize how much hotter the Australian sun was, sending us into a fearful frenzy putting on spf 30 sunscreen at every chance…which is why I’m still so WHITE!), we sailed off to our next spot.  It was our first snorkel spot in a little cove.  It reminded me more of the kind of snorkeling we’d do in Hawaii rather than GBR…in the shallow water, up against the rocks.  But it was still pretty.  It was not always as colorful as the GBR, but there were different things to see.  It was also more fun in many ways because Everyone was snorkeling this time and was sharing what they saw as we floated around.  We managed to see a baby turtle, slowly swimming around letting us follow closely behind.  There was also a massive fish they called an Elvis with big lips that would swim around the dingy when were getting out of the water.  One of the skippers brought out some bread for us to feed him and so we could try to touch him when he’d jump out of the water a couple times to grab the food.  Everyone was having a really fun time with that and as one of the New Zealand guys said, it was a real highlight of the trip for us!  The second night everyone was a lot more comfortable with each other and chatted a lot more.  The British sisters invited us to have some of the wine they’d brought on the boat, so we had a good time getting to know them and hearing about their year in Australia living and traveling.  The girls from Sydney were also really nice and funny and we chatted with them about horrible American TV in Australia and differences in American time off from work compared to everywhere else (2 vs. 4-8).  We were headed to Sydney in a couple weeks so we planned to meet up with them.. 

Watching the sunset on the sailboat made me think here I was out in the middle of the ocean drinking wine and watching the sunset after spending most of my two weeks here out in the sun and fresh air, and I was so grateful in that moment to not be stuck sitting in a cubicle in a stuffy office building.  I spent every day at my old job trying to get out into the sunshine for just a few minutes a day at least (I mean I did grow up in CA!) and now spending so much time outdoors and in such beautfiul surroundings has been amazing an I’m so grateful for this time!

  

 Another overnight bus later and we found ourselves in RAINBOW BEACH:

 

Rainbow Beach is a stopping point for camping tours of Fraser Island.  It’s a very small town.  We walked out to the main road to grab something to eat when we arrived and walked about 1 block and that was the end of the center of town!  Most everything was only on one side of the street too!  Random.  There was a beautiful beach down below the cliffs at the end of the block, however, so that’s the one draw I suppose.  The kind of tour we were on was a self guided 4×4 camping trip.  Meaning, there was a group of strangers who are provided camping materials, an itinerary, a 4×4 truck and sent out to navigate the sandy roads of Fraser Island on our own.  It’s a great idea, however they make you watch a video with so many warnings about safe driving on these unstable sandy roads and dingo (similar to coyotes) warnings that by the time you’re setting off you are worried about everything going wrong.  You’re supposed to have a group of about 11 people, but we ended up with just 6 of us.  We meet and plan a shopping trip for food for the next 3 days, having to agree on everything (not the easiest with people you’ve just met!) and then go do the actual shopping together!  We had to check all the equipment and the car to make sure we wouldn’t be charged for any damage.  Again, they seem to be trying to scare you out of taking this trip!  Our group consisted of one guy from England, a couple (the guy from Ireland and the girl from Germany) and a guy from Spain. Once we left the next morning it was a little scary watching the guys you’ve just met try to navigate the island after all the warnings we were given.  In the end, however, the two guys were great drivers and we felt totally safe!  (the cars were stick shift and only a couple guys knew how to drive)

The first night we camped on the beach, which was fun, but there were no facilities…at all…which isn’t that fun when you’re a girl.  Thankfully the second night we were at a proper camp site which we were very grateful for!  Three days on the island was a bit too much, but I’m really glad we went.  The best spots to see on the island is a cliff called Indian Head with beautiful views of the beaches and the clear water below and a fresh water lake called Lake Mackensie that clearly reflected the mountains around.  So pretty!   

 

Impromptu stop in BRISBANE:

 

We were planning on skipping Brisbane because we’d heard it wasn’t easily missed and we needed to cut things out.  However, I’d been talking about wanting to hold a koala since before I arrived and we didn’t want to miss any of the famous Aussie wildlife, so we decided to take a detour and stop in Brisbane where we’d get a day tour to the famous Australia Zoo!  Brissie turned out to really not have too much to see, but the day at the Zoo was worth it.  The guy who ran the tour gave us a lot of information about Steve Irwin, how he started and was very passionate about what Steve’s mission was for wildlife preservation, as was everyone we came in contact with at the zoo.  It was really interesting to hear and made the experience very Australian to me.  The tour guide even gave us a bit of Bindi Irwin gossip which was fun.  She seems to be a big celebrity already…she just shot a film…a Free Willy prequel of course!  We actually had a sighting of Bindi and her brother Bob at the Zoo!  The Zoo is a lot smaller than we had imagined, especially hearing about it so much it just seemed like it must be huge.  It is very interactive though, which was fun.  There is a big field of Kangaroos roaming around and they sell food so you can feed them.  It’s pretty impressive considering these wild animals are pet, tugged and jumped on my all the little kids at the zoo and don’t even bat an eye.  We got a walking tour of the Zoo so we could get some more information about the animals since it was only $15 and ended up with a tour all to our selves!  It was great, the guy was so nice and chatty and has worked there for some time and we were able to ask any questions we had about the Cassowary (colorful birds that are very dangerous and are can disembowel a person!), the Koala (so freaking cute how the cuddle up on the beaches and sleep allll day!), Wallaby (look like a Kangaroo except for a stripe on the fur), Dingos, Elephants, many Birds, and of course Crocodiles!  They have many kept in small pools and do a show with one in the morning in the…wait for it….Crocoseum!!  There are also a few older Crocs that Steve caught early on in his career and are known to be some of the meanest Crocs around.   Scary!  After the tour we ran over to the line to hold a Koala!  Yay!  One of the top things I wanted to do in Australia! ha I know, nerdy, but they are so cute and I always see pics of people holding them…so I had to do it!  Of course it only ends up being for a second, but it was fun!  They are pretty smelly though because of all the eucalyptus leaves they eat and have sharp claws for clinging to the trees, but they are so cute and cuddly!  My shirt smelled for a while after, but it was worth it.

 

 

BYRON BAY:

After our quick stop in Brisbane, we headed down to Byron Bay.  It wasn’t too far so we arrived late at night and stayed in a private room in a dorm.  Interesting set up and awkward since we weren’t actually in the dorm.  The next day we discovered that Byron Bay is a cute little beach town with lots of shops, cute local restaurants and of course the famous Byron Bay.  Our plan was to take surfing lessons there with Style Surfing, but that wasn’t until the next day, so we walked around and enjoyed checking out how much it reminded us of a little beach town in California.  It started to get a little cold at this point in the trip, mostly windy, but not a good sign for the rest of our trip and we were only heading further south.  The cold made us a little nervous about getting up early and surfing in the most likely cold water, but we did it anyway!  It was so much fun!!!  The lesson ended up being just me, Allison and a younger brother and sister (who were about 14 and 16).  I was worried since I haven’t surfed for about 10 years when I took a lesson in Hawaii, Allison had just surfed in Bali and I didn’t know how good these little kids would be.  It ended up being totally fine though because the kids were just as new to it as me and very friendly and sweet.  We had a quick lesson on the beach about how to get up and then we were out into the water.  Pretty quick, but it ended up being great because once we got out there he had us try wave after wave one after the other and it was so much easier that way.  No time to think about it, just hop up, try to ride it all the way in and turn around and do it again.  After only an hour or so the instructor got worried about how the waves were crashing on the sand and called the lesson to an end and asked us to come back later in the day with the afternoon group and get another lesson.  We were hesitant at first because it was cold out (yes, we’re babies) and because we had to catch a bus that night.  In the end, however, we decided to come back and we were so glad we did.  It was a long day of surfing but it was good to see different, calmer waves and there were more people in the lesson which was fun.  I am very proud to say I was able to get up several times…but really I only rode a few waves all the way in to the beach.  Each time, even if it was only for a second, standing up was exhilarating!  Definitely something I wish I’d grown up doing since I’m from Southern California (yes, the surf instructors did make fun of us for not knowing how to surf even though we’re from CA!).  I got much more confident on the board which each time as well, so I guess I’m ready for Newport Beach!   

 

….Australia TO BE CONTINUED…more about Sydney, Melbourne and Alice Springs next week! 

Pictures will be up for all of Australia once I have good enough resources to upload them all so Stay Tuned!!   For now, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed hearing about my travels! xox