The Epic trip of OZ!!!

The Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House

Our ultimate night in Melbourne!!! 

Melbourne
Feeding the possums
Bells
Torquay's coast

Brisbane + the boys
Byron Bay
The beater board :)
Our Amazing Juicy Campa!

Part 1: Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

 

After a couple nights in Auckland, I departed to Australia.  I arrived in Sydney without incident and caught my connection to Cairns.  There I met Jen Roebuck (havn’t spent time with her since our sleep-overs in elementary school) and we checked into Gilligan’s Hostel.  Cairns surprised me after I finally got used to the cold and then was zapped back to summer with a little sun and humidity. We spend a bit of time at the lagoon which was a big man made public pool area.  The next day, Garrett flew in and we booked a dive trip and met Jen back at the lagoon. We had a pretty epic night at our hostel and ended up getting to bed rather early for the trip the next morning. 

 

Bright and early we got picked up at 7:30am by TUSA dive company and headed to our boat.  The ride out there gave the passengers a run for their money and required lots of little paper bags and motion sickness pills. Luckily Garrett and I didn’t get sick, phew! We suited up and jumped into underwater wonderland! The reef was amazing and the creatures were spectacular!  I am so glad that I was able to dive the Great Barrier Reef in my lifetime! The corals would have to by my favourite part of the reef, don’t get me wrong, the rays, sharks, fish, and invertebrates were spectacular but I saw corals blew me out of the water!

 

Part 2: The Juicy Campa

 

Cairns proved to be a myriad of adventures FOR SURE! Garrett and I then picked up our ‘Juicy’ campa and booked it down toward the Gold Coast and Brisbane.  The campa was amazing. It came with a sink, refrigerator, DVD player, stove and a double bed. The gas milage was not half bad either and we made it down to the gold coast on 3 tanks.  I would definitely recommend renting one if you really want to see the hidden spots and beaches of Australia.  One of the highlights of the drive was being able to stop along the A1 Bruce Highway and get a free cup of coffee or tea at these “driver reviver” stops.  The people manning the stations were absolutely full of character and spirit.  I thought it was an ingenious way to encourage people to stop, stretch and rest a bit.

 

Our first night was stopped in Airlie Beach and woke up to a cute little town with a beautiful public swimming/lagoon facility!  We parked next to this French couple who sold us a beater surf board for cheap.  The ‘beater’ actually was perfect for this trip and the timing was impeccable. After a morning swim in the lagoon we headed down the coast to the Sunshine coast.  We stopped in Noosa, spent the night and hit up the surf in the morning. The town of Noosa was really cute and Noosa heads offered us some fun surf and the Lighthouse at the top of the hill gave us a beautiful view of the area.

 

After Noosa we booked it through Brisbane and down to Byron Bay down on the Gold Coast.  Byron was an absolute blast! After some deliciously greasy Kebabs for dinner we ran around on the beach and hit the surf in the morning. 

 

Had some good laughs after introducing Garrett to Vegemite…”is it like Nutella?”…HAHAH! I have also probably eaten enough pita, carrots and hummus to last me for the next month.

 

Part 3: City travelling

 

We dropped off the good old Juicy in Brisbane and went out to an amazing dinner at Tukka.  Tukka featured native Australian cuisine with an artful, elegant flare.  We got to eat numerous native berries and tried Emu, Crocodile, and Kangaroo! One of my favourite parts of travelling is trying the native foods!  We spend day in the parks along the river and the evening and night with Liam, one of Garretts friends from his study abroad experience in Florence. Liam and his mate AJ showed us the best time in Brisbane! We had a great night out at the pubs playing old school video games and enjoying a few ‘Coopers’.  The Australians win a gold metal in my book when it comes to hospitality. 

 

The next day we caught our flight to Melbourne.  We actually didn’t spend much time in the city and instead hired a car and headed down to Torquay. We stayed at the cutest B&B called Bells’ Beach Surf Hostel.  The owners were treated us like family and we were spoiled with a home cooked lamb roast.  After dinner we fed the local possums, which was so funny! Their possums are thankfully way different than those in America.  We stayed two nights there and surfed some real fun waves at Bell’s beach and the surrounding beaches.  We also picked up Leo, a French bloke who was also on his way to Melbourne. 

 

We ended up having SO much fun that evening in Melbourne after a day in the waves.  We stumbled upon this sports club and ended up playing an EPIC ping-pong tournament. “Club 377” was such a hidden gem!  This basement sports club offered only the classic games, ping-pong, pool, darts, and golf.  After closing, we glamed it up and explored the surrounding bars and clubs.  After turning down multiple 20$ cover charges we ended up at ‘The Mill’ which had just the right ambiance we were looking for.

 

We all split up and Garrett and I caught our flight up to Sydney.  Sydney is my favourite city at a quick few day glance. We stayed in Kirribili at the Glenferrie Lodge which turned out to be the best place we could have been!  We had a view of the Harbour Bridge and our ferry rides took us right past the Opera house every time.  I loved the public transportation, especially the ferry!  We surfed at Manly Beach and had dinner in Darling Harbour. We went out that night and ended up walking back over the Harbour bridge at an ungodly hour.  Haha, probably shouldn’t have taken the route through the ghetto to find the bridge but everything turned out fine.

 

 The next day we went to the Taronga Zoo!  I was very impressed with the facilities and animals! We saw just about every animal you could see in three hours.  Everyone was excited about the baby elephant that was born a few days before we arrived.  We got some pizza out in Bondi Beach that night and took it easy. 

 

The next morning I said goodbye to Garrett and went back and surfed at Manly Beach again.  Had a GREAT day in the waves and then found a secret Korean place for dinner after exploring The Rocks which is a district under the bridge.  That night I went and saw the Syndey Symphony perform in the Sydney Opera House.  It was a really good show and after I explored the city and got a hot chocolate in Kings Cross.  Despite flying solo, it was an amazing night!

 

I had the whole day to myself today and went out and explored the Royal Botanical Gardens and went to the Art Gallery of New South Whales.    The gardens were beautiful and the Gallery was full of a diverse array of pieces ranging from classical to abstract to contemporary.  I went up and got some lunch up in Potts Point and then headed back to catch the ferry back to my place.  Then tomorrow I am off to Auckland, Nz for a few more days!