And finally my long
awaited trip to…AUSTRALIA!!!!
The day after my last
final exam, I met up with Werner for lunch and he spent the afternoon with me
until my bus came. He even walked me to
the bus, delaying the goodbye. So once the
bus arrived, we said our goodbyes and I hopped on with tears in my eyes, but
excited for my travels ahead of me!
The bus ride was not
the most pleasant experience and it even broke down, so what was supposed to
take me about 5 hours to get to Christchurch took me 7. But I finally arrived and was greeted with a
huge hug from Olivia! Since it was way
past dinner time, I grabbed some takeaway nood;les and we headed to her flat, exchanged
all of our recent stories, watched some tv, and went to bed pretty early.
But not nearly early
enough, as my body was willing me to push snooze repeatedly the next morning at
4am! But I had to catch my flight, so I
said goodbye to Olivia and grabbed a taxi to the airport. I checked in and was feeling super excited
and all grown-up flying to another country by myself J My flight went great as I slept most of the
way and soon enough I was in Sydney! I
took a taxi to my backpackers to drop off my bags, but it being too early to
check in, I grabbed a city map and started exploring!
I walked down to the
Harbor to see the Sydney Opera House and Bridge! It was a beautiful day and a very enjoyable
morning. After walking around the opera
house and learning a little about it, I headed across the bridge, which
provided magnificent views of the city and Opera House! I am not a huge city girl, but I surprisingly
loved Sydney! After walking across the
bride, I spent the afternoon getting lost (literally, somehow I came out on the
opposite side the gardens than what I was intending) in the beautiful Botanical
Gardens and then walked the opposite direction to check out the University of
Sydney. The campus was absolutely
stunning and I lounged in the sun for a while in the quadrangle! After grabbing some dinner, I headed back to
the Harbor to watch the sunset and then made my way back to my backpackers (not
the best that I have stayed in, but it served its purpose). 
The next day, I woke up
and headed out to explore some more. I
walked to Chinatown and to Darling Harbor.
And then explored Paddy’s market for a little while. Afterwards, I walked back to the Harbor and
just hung out for the early afternoon.
And I had a silly “you know you have been in NZ too long moment” when I
heard a huge crack of thunder. I am
convinced that thunderstorms do not exist in NZ and so I believe I jumped a
mile high when I heard it in Sydney. But
anyway, I was trapped without an umbrella or rain jacket like the rest of the
tourists and ended up squeezing under an awning while the heavy rain even
turned to hail. But I talked to a really
cute older couple for a while; they were so adorable. After the rain stopped, everything dried
super quickly in the hot sun, and I was able to enjoy some time sitting by the
harbor. After an hour or so, I headed
back to my hostel to take a quick power nap and meet up with Alex! She and I planned part of our Australia trip
together to have someone to hang out with!
So that evening we took a ferry to Manly Beach for dinner with some
people from the tour that she had been on.
The city was even more beautiful at night from the water! And it was great to meet so many new people! We took the train back to our hostel that
evening and went to sleep almost instantly.
Our first day in the
city together, we walked down to the harbor in the morning together and then
around the Botanical Gardens and up to Ms. Maquerie’s Chair! After lunch, we took a bus to Coogee Beach
and walked the coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi Beach! It was a little windy and chilly, but it was
still great! And all I could think about
was how perfect of a running track this would be! That evening, we grabbed some pizza and met
up with Alex’s tour group again to hang out at the Harbor at night. That night, we went to bed pretty early to
wake up and catch a train to the Blue Mountains.
The Blue Mountains
reminded me a lot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, except a little more flat at the
top. We started at Echo Point and hiked
down to Katoomba Falls and had a cute little picnic in the sun by the
falls. We also explored the Three
Sisters, which are three little mountains in aline and then hiked to Leural
Falls. There were lots of stairs and
hills, but great views at the end. Once
back to the train station, we headed back into Sydney and ate a late
dinner. It was quite the exhausting day,
but super fun! I even saw my first
Australian kangaroos on the train ride back!
The following day, I
slept in a little bit and then spent part of the day at Bondi beach lounging in
the sun and walking along the beach.
Afterwards, Alex and I met back up and grabbed some dinner in Chinatown
and then went to watch the sunset by the Harbor for our last night in
Sydney. It was gorgeous and we sat and
talked by the water for an hour or so!
Our final day in
Sydney, we walked around Hyde Park and visited a War Monument and Museum. And then we caught a shuttle to the
airport. The shuttle was supposed to
take an hour, but it only took us about 15 minutes to get to the airport, so
unfortunately, I had way too much time to kill.
And Alex and I were located in separate terminals because she was headed
home to Canada and I was headed to Cairns!
So I used that time to call my mom and talk to her for a while which was
great! My flight to Cairns went smoothly
and I grabbed a shuttle from the airport to my hostel. Ironically, a girl that was on my flight and
on my shuttle was also staying in my hostel.
So we talked in line while waiting to check in and decided to get dinner
together since we were both traveling alone.
And then we were even put in the same room! So we went down to the water and ate the
absolute best fish and chips I have ever had!
After dinner, we walked back to the hostel for an early night since we
were planning on waking up super early the next day for the solar eclipse! Ironically, I planned my trip very well, because
Cairns was the best place to see it in the world. And I had no clue until about 2 days before
the actual event! People came from all around
the world to see it and I just happened to book my flight during that time! Ali, my new friend, even had tons of eclipse
glasses and gave me a pair!
So the next morning,
we woke up super early for the sunrise and eclipse! It was a little cloudy, but luckily the sun
cleared just in time to see it! It was
crazy to witness the 2 minutes of darkness.
So basically I had 2 sunrises and 2 sunsets in the same day! After the eclipse, I headed down to the
harbor to catch my boat headed out for a day of snorkeling in the Great Barrier
Reef! The water was super choppy because
of high tide and the eclipse, but luckily it was fairly calm around the
reef. But seriously, all I can say is
that it was absolutely gorgeous and there is no way I am going to be able to
snorkel anywhere else ever again.
Everything was so colorful and there were so many beautiful fish!
Nothing can compare! And my cheap as underwater camera came nowhere close to capturing it! I even chased after
a few sea turtles and was verbally reeled back closer to the boat by the crew a
few times as they teased me regarding how adventurous I was. I also met some guys named Dom and Lyle,
whom were great snorkel buddies! We
stopped at 3 sites total and they were all unique and different in the own
way! After the ship reached the harbor
again, I met Ali for dinner and then met up with Lyle and Dom for a couple
drinks that evening. 
The next day, I woke up early to catch a tour of the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation. The safari van picked me up from my hostel and headed north. I instantly met 2 girls, Alex and Demi, who were studying abroad in Sydney and traveling the country. They were great and so fun to be around! The rainforest tour was also super cool! They provided us with wonderful food and lots of information about the rainforest and beaches. Our first stop was down at a swimming hole where they introduced us to many different tropical fruits (some I had never even heard of or seen, but they were delicious) and hung out near the free-of-crocodile water area! Afterwards, we drove on into the rainforest, stopping at various beaches and places of interest. Our tour guide was wonderful and super funny, which made the day even better, despite a little rain. Fun fact that he told us: besides Australians, Americans are the most likely to be eaten by a crocodile…so of course everybody gave me and another guy a hard time the rest of the day warning us about getting gtoo close to the water.
For my final day in
Cairns, I spent the morning wondering around and then hanging out in the sun
near the esplanade before it was time to catch my shuttle to the airport. My flight from Cairns to Melbourne went
smoothly and I was even able to talk to Kelsey and Hannah (not sure how well
they could hear me though) with my extra international credit on my Australian
SIM card. Five hours is a long time to
spend in the Melbourne airport alone, but I was eventually off to Auckland, which
is another story for another blog post…
