AUSTRALIA
LIVEBLOG
Australia - Liveblog
Welcome my darlings to the second country of our world trip! The country of kangaroos, koalas, dingos (I just figured out what that was), cassowaries, spiders, snakes, sharks, jellyfish and other dangerous animals. The land where the sun always shine (at least that is what we thought (little naive…)) and the temperature is always above 30 degrees (unfortunately, this is true). Please take your seat and take the time to read :) I am actually changing the layout of this blog by adding the newest dates on the top, which should be easier to read, but mostly easier to edit for me. Have fun!!!
Day 1 - Christchurch > Cairns
23 November 2024
Hello darlings, we are back again but with a new country. I also added this day as my last day in New Zealand, so it is sort of double? Our flight from Christchurch to Brisbane was at 15:40 and our flight from Brisbane to Cairns was at 20:25. At 20:00 they told us boarding was going to start, so at 19:55 we started walking to the gate and suddenly we heard over the speakers that boarding was about to close for Cairns, so we ran to our gate and everyone was already sitting in the plane. Yeah, this was weird. At 23:00 we arrived in Cairns. Please do not forget, it is three hours earlier in Australia (or Queensland at least), so it was 02:00 for us. We got our bags, got an uber to our hostel, showered and went straight to bed. We stayed at the Jack Hotel, which was… interesting. When we arrived a very, very, very bad band was playing at their bar downstairs and the music was extremely loud. We did get a warm welcome from the crew, who even carried my bag upstairs (kind). The hostel itself also had an interesting layout, but a very beautiful wrap around balcony. The room was simple, but had air conditioning at least, so it was fine. The rest of the hostel was a problem for laterrrrr. Goodnight
Day 2 - Cairns day 1
24 November 2024
Today was our rest day, but was nothing much of rest. Firstly we heard that there was a market next door called the Rusty’s market. This was amazing, it reminded me so much of Hawaii and Surinam (according to my mother). They had lots of food and drinks and jewellery and I loved it. We bought smoothies first (I had mango) and banana bread for breakfast (amazing). I also bought banh mi for lunch. It was actually my plan to have that for breakfast tomorrow, but I ate it for lunch already. After we had to do laundry, so we walked to the nearest laundromat. I also needed to get a sim card, so while the laundry was in, I walked to the Telstra. I hate Telstra Cairns, they were so mean and stupid and there was waiting line for 40 minutes. So I walked back again. It was so extremely hot and I wanted to cry. Then I put my clothes in the dryer and luckily they were dry after (that is not always the case). Then we walked back, but our laundry was so heavy, we could cry again. I really had to buy a sim card and the shop was closing before 16:00, so back to the Telstra again, where they could absolutely not help me. I will say it again, these people were the meanest ever, I hate them. So I went to Vodafone after, but I did not want a Vodafone sim card, but I had to, so that was sad (Vodafone does not work at all here in Australia). We also wanted an extra towel, but this was actually nice because the Kmart had towels for $2.50. Then we did some groceries at Woolworths for dinner and breakfast and we went back to the hostel. Then we cooked dinner, ate it and went to bed (I think, I can’t remember, I am writing this on December 5th, so it was a long time ago).
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Day 3 - Great Barrier Reef Snorkel Tour
25 November 2024
If I was able to foreshadow my whole life I would not go on this trip, but I will foreshadow you: I threw up three times today.
I was actually really excited for this day as I love snorkeling and the Great Barrier Reef is supposed to be really cool when snorkeling. We booked our tour with Reef Daytripper. On paper they were the perfect boat, it was a catamaran with seating nets, they would provide lunch, snacks and champagne, they would tell about the history of the reef, they would give two guided snorkel tours and you had the option to do an introductory dive if you wanted to, BUT IN REALITY IT WAS NOT NICE AT ALL.
It started with the nets. It was fine in the beginning, but the waves were high and there was no way you would not get soaked when laying on them. Secondly, the trip to the reef would take 2,5 hours. You can guess it, I was so extremely nauseous after hour 1 already and then we still had to go 1,5 hours :(. They actually told us, the waves were quieter than usual, but I do not believe them. Because I was so nauseous I did not eat any of the lunch they provided, which was very sad, because it was a good lunch. I had one piece of plain bread though, to at least have something to eat. I already threw up once, but as soon as I went into the water I had to throw up again and could not do the snorkel tour. I was able to have a short nap and after I felt ‘good’ enough again to go out for snorkeling. It was fine and really nice to see but as soon as I got out of the water I had to throw up again. I then decided this was it for me today and I laid on a bench and did not come off anymore. The crew was very kind though and helped me a lot during the tour. We both skipped the second snorkel tour as this was not it man. The only lucky thing by skipping the tour, was that our skipper told us stories about the reef which were really interesting. I do not really know why they didn’t tell these anyways, because they did say they would educate us about the reef. Then they gave us champagne, and they tried to convince us that bubbles would make it better, but not a cell in my body wanted to be near it, so we gave ours to the sweet lady who provided us with sea sickness medication.
The way back was a lot better, partly because I slept through it, but the waves were also less wild. After I stepped off the boat I treated myself to an ice cream, we looked at the lagoon and went to the hostel. After laying in bed for some time we heated up our dinner and went back to bed again.
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Ps. as you can imagine I do not have any photos of today xx
Day 4 - Daintree Rainforest Tour
26 November 2024
After our failure of a day yesterday, today was another chance for us to enjoy a tour. I did not have very high hopes for this as we had to wake up again at 06:00 and I was so extremely tired. We also booked the cheapest tour possible and had no clue what to expect. On the plane to Cairns, the girl that sat next to us warned us that the bus tour was not very nice as you would sit in the bus for most of the time and not see much of the nature, just like our Cape Reinga tour. The Cape Reinga bus tour was full of 60+ people, so we actually thought we would be the youngest again on this tour. However, when we stepped into the bus there were only people our age there! That made it already much more fun. We went with Cairns Adventure Group (we only figured that out once we saw a bus drive by with adventure on it and we thought, hmm that should be our bus probably), which is a really nice company to go with! Our tour guide (Clinton) was also a lot of fun and knew a lot about our surroundings. After driving for an hour we had a short stop at a viewpoint. This was actually not really note worthy, but just a break from driving. The drive itself was beautiful though and called the Great Ocean Road of the North. Then we arrived at our official first stop: the Mossman Gorge in the Daintree Forest. This is the oldest rainforest in the world and that was reason why we wanted to visit it. Firstly, they showed us a smoke ceremony. This was a ‘welcome to the country’ ceremony hosted by the original owners of the land the Kuku Yalanji people, where they cleansed our evil spirits. Our guide then took us for a walk through the rainforest and told us about the animals, plants and trees that grew there. Then we arrived at a natural crystal creek (I made up this name, no clue what it is actually called) where we could swim. When I studied in Canada I made a rule with myself that I had to swim in every body of water that I saw, however, I am not going to do this here in Australia, because half of the time I will potentially die. This creek was somewhat safe (only if you went in through one specific route), so swimming it was. It was beautiful and very special. When we got out of the water we immediately got greeted with Australias finest part of nature (bugs) and we walked back to the bus. This stop already made it worth it to sit in the bus for so long.
Then we drove to our next stop was lunch at the most random place, where I had a chicken burger. Thennnn we went to the crocodile cruise!!! This was just a bonus for us, we actually did not really know what we would do today. We didn’t see any crocodiles unfortunately because it was very hot and the crocodiles are mostly in the water then. It was a bit sad that we didn’t see them, but the boat tour itself was really nice too. They also gave us a free local drink (I had tropical juice, but you could also choose iced tea from the forest). After the tour they dropped us off next to the shore (I had genuinly no clue how our bus driver got there, because it was not the place where we got on the boat) and the bus brought us to the best stop of the tour: the Daintree Ice Cream Co. I actually think this was not the best stop as their ice cream was not my favourite ever, but it was a cool stop. They have lots of interesting flavours from the fruits they grow on their land. I just had mango ice cream, because I do not like any fruit every (and I was right, I tried the other ice creams and they were not good). After our ice cream break we went to the next stop which was Thornton’s Beach in Cape Tribulation. This place is also called ‘where the rainforest meets the beach’. It is the only place in the world where two UNESCO sights border each other (the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest). The beach was so so pretty and if the tide is low you can see the reef pop out of the water. The tide was high though, so we did not see it. You can absolutely not swim here, because either you get stung by a box jellyfish (deadly) or you get eaten by a saltwater crocodile (also deadly) so it was just looking at the water. That basically concluded our trip of today, however we had one small surprise stop (toilet break mostly) at Port Douglas. This place was so cute, it is next to the harbour and the sea with cute restaurants and bars and views. Around 18:00 we arrived back in Cairns where we had our dinner and went to bed. It was a really good day with lots of fun and pretty things.
Day 5 - Mission Beach
27 November 2024
This the day we are leaving Cairns already. I could have honestly stayed much longer. Spend a day at the lagoon, do a waterfall tour, visit one of the islands close to Cairns, but our schedule did not allow it, so off to our next stop: Mission Beach. Almost everyone is going with the Greyhound bus, but we are going with Premier Motor Services. They have the exact same concept as the Greyhound, but are almost $200 cheaper. They have a few disadvantages like they only go once a day, no wifi, no charging ports and it only goes to Sydney instead of Melbourne. Besides, it is more of a local bus, so there are not a lot of backpackers on it and you have more families on the bus. However, the bus is never full, you can book the bus a day in advance (Greyhound is sometimes full within 3 weeks in high season) and it drives the exact same route as the Greyhound with even the same stops in between. I am fond of the Premier bus.
Okay so off to Mission Beach. No clue why we put this in our itinerary, because the only thing you can do here is skydive or rafting and we did not do any of that. We did stay in a really cool hostel though: Jackaroo Treehouse in the middle of the rainforest. This was mostly chilling here at the pool and in the hostel. They also have a cute cafe with the best brownies and ice cream. I said I have no clue why we stayed here, but again I could have stayed one more night, to rest a bit from Cairns. We did literally nothing this day, okay bye!
Day 6 - Mission Beach, Townsville & Magnetic Island
28 November 2024
Today was mostly a travel day as we are going to Magnetic Island!!! This was one of the things I looked really forward to as they have wild koala’s living here (aaaaaaaaa). We first had to take the bus from the hostel to the bus stop ($7 each way, so $14 total). At the bus stop we still had an hour to kill, so I went to Woolworths to buy shampoo. The bus showed up half an hour late, so we could have also taken one shuttle later, but okay. We took the bus to Townsville where they dropped us off right next to the ferry. We then took the ferry to Magnetic Island and the bus to our AirBnB. The bus system on Magnetic Island is amazing, a single ride costs $0,50 and a day ticket costs $1. It brings you all over the east coast of the island (from Picnic Bay to Horseshoe Bay) and it goes around every hour (you do have to plan this out a bit, but it is very reliable). We actually thought we had to rent a car, but you can get everywhere with the bus, which was amazing. Our AirBnB was also amazing. We stayed at Sea-ESTA which was actually cheaper than the hostels on the island. It was really cute, with a kitchen, bathroom and air conditioning. The bus stop was right in front of the place which was really convenient. We actually wanted to rest a bit, but it would rain tomorrow, so we wanted to do most of the walks today. As this would be a very full schedule, we decided to do at least the famous Forts Walk today and if we have energy we would do the Rock Wallabies too. The bus stops right in front of the Forts Walks (amazing) so we could start the walk immediately. The track is actually meant to visit the old forts that were built during the second world war, buttttt they also have wild koalas living here, which is the main reason people do this walk. AND AAA YES WE SAW THEM. So extremely cute. We saw 2 koalas hanging in the tree it was the best thing I ever saw. You have to get of the path though and we only saw them because we saw other people look at it, but it was so cool to see. The forts were also nice, but not very interesting haha. We spent around 1,5 hours on the walk and then went back to the bus. As the sun was still shining we decided to also go to the Rock Wallabies quickly. This was a good decision as they were also extremely cute and there were sooo much of them! One even had a little child in their pouch and a lot of them were eating and they were not afraid of you at all. I can really recommend to do both of the things when you’re on Magnetic Island.
Then it was time for dinner and we saw that there was a restaurant next to the Rock Wallabies (also a reason we still did the Rock Wallabies on this day). We had dinner at the Bikini Tree. You have to order your food at the bar and then you can pick it up when it is ready. Not very fancy, but they had so much food options and it was really good. It got even better when they started trivia! We had no clue this was happening and it was probably only for the hotel guests, but we still decided to join. It was so much fun, they had four rounds of trivia with the most random questions ever. We did not win any round, but we did became second in the Beer Logo round (you can see where our talent lies)! We really had to catch the bus as we were sitting at the restaurant for 1,5 hours already and the next bus would come in an hour, so we skipped the fourth round unfortunately, but it was a very unexpected, but fun night. When we got back it was finally time for a shower (we were so dirty) and we went to bed after such a fun day.
Day 7 - Magnetic Island Day 2
29 November 2024
As we literally did everything we wanted to do yesterday already, today was another rest day. We got out of the door around 14:00 and decided to go to Horseshoe bay. This was a bit boring, but you are able to swim in the sea here without a stinger suit (they have nets in the water to keep the jellyfish out). We did not have our bikinis though, so no swim for us. Then we did the butterfly walk, but the only butterfly we saw was before the walk. It also smelled very bad on the walk, so after a minute we turned around. The butterfly walk was next to the bird feeding at Roamer. This was very weird. I thought they would spread some seeds on the ground and birds would come run to it, but they had some kind of banana mash that you had to hold in your hand (it was disgusting) and then a few birds would come eat it. It was only one type of bird too, which was a bit boring. It was not at all what I expected, but it was kind of fun. That was our only activity of the day and we went back to do some groceries. They had not a lot of food options in the grocery store, so we went with potato wedges and tomato soup. That was our day, goodbye.
Day 8 - Magnetic Island Day 3 & Airlie Beach
30 November 2024
Today was another travel day, but not until 12:00. We had nothing to do here anymore (not true, there is a lot to do on the island, but the weather wasn’t great and for the other things you need a car), so we walked around the neighbourhood a little bit and went back to the ferry. At the ferry station we waited for the bus to get us to Airlie Beach. The bus took around 4 hours and we arrived in Airlie Beach at 17:30. Airlie Beach is really nice, very lively, partyvibe, nice restaurants, cute shops, I like it here. We decided to get take out for dinner as all the grocery shops were closed already. I got some chicken and noodles, which I was craving and that was our day :))) Tomorrow is an early wake up call, because we are going to the Whitsundays!!!!!
Day 9 - Whitsundays Day 1
01 December 2024
Today was an exciting day because we are going on one of the two multiple day tours we are going to do in Australia. We went with British Defender, which was really really nice. At 08:00 we dropped off our bags at the Travel Shop and I ran to the pharmacy to get a waterproof phone case. We were a bit late, so we had to run to the marina, but we made it (I was extremely red, but okay). There we got assigned a stinger suit that we had to wear if we wanted to swim and we got onto the boat. First impression: it is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. Unfortunately we had to share a double bed, but I’ll tell you later what that was like. The people were very fun on this trip and we all sat on the deck while we sailed to Whitehaven Beach. It was mostly people our age, from around 18-30 years old I think. After some briefings they gave us some fruit to snack on. We actually heard one horror story of a couple that got on the boat and they couldn’t get off as it just rained for the entire three days. Besides, all the tours before us got canceled or also had rain the whole time, so we were a little bit afraid. It was pouring rain unfortunately on our first day, but we did see that tomorrow would be a bit better. Then we arrived at Whitehaven Beach where we had lunch. It was a hamburger bar, and I have to say, British Defender fed us very well during the whole tour.
After lunch we got on the smaller boat that took us to the beach. Here we walked to a viewpoint where you had views of the beach, but the weather wasn’t great, so it was meh. Whitehaven beach was voted the most beautiful beach of the world, but I am not sure if I agree, it is just a beach… When we got down to the beach again we put on our suits and went swimming. The sun actually started to come, so yay! Besided the rain we still got burned, the sun is extreme here in Australia. Then it was time for another snack platter while we were watching the sunset on the boat. It was very peaceful. When it got dark it was time for dinner, which was mash & sausage (is this an Aussie thing?) and we played some games on the deck. I was quite tired so I went to bed early around 21:00.
And I stayed tired, ohmygod I had the worst night of my life. They told us they had air conditioning and they had! It was actually very cold on the boat. BUT THEY TURNED IT OFF. WHy would you do that?????!!!!!! It was so extremely hot. I was drenched in sweat, I couldn’t breath, remember we had to share a bed together and it was the upper bed to, it was so so so hot and uncomfortable. I tried to lay on the deck, but it was so hard and uncomfortable too, so I went back to bed again. Madelief did stay on the deck, but at some point it started to rain which was horrible. It did cool down a little bit, but not enough for us to be able to sleep again. We stayed awake the whole night it was so bad, and definitely a very big downgrade of the boat tour.
Day 10 - Whitsundays Day 2
02 December 2024
After no joke the worst night of my entire life, I decided to mostly lay on the bench in the ‘living room’ to get some extra sleep in. Ultimately this saved me in two ways: I was less tired and I was not able to be in the sun. We started our day with breakfast, which was a cereal bar and toast with spreads. Then we headed to the next viewpoint Hill Inlet Lookout. It was raining though so the raining jackets came out, which was actually really nice that they had them for us. It was a short walk up to the viewpoint and there are three viewpoints total. Here you can see the ‘famous’ swirls of the Whitsundays that change everyday. However, it was a bit cloudy, so harder to see. We also saw a snake, which was cool. Then we walked down to the beach, where we could go into the water without stinger suit!!! (It wasn’t actually allowed, but chances of jellyfish were very small here, so we just did it). Here we walked to the famous tree in the water, played some games and walked back to the boat. Then it was time for the first snorkel of the tour! I love snorkeling and the reef is so so beautiful. There were also some fishies that I tried to photograph, but not a lot of luck. When they picked us up from snorkeling it was time for lunch and this was my favourite meal of the whole trip! We had burritos and they were so so good. I did get a bit seasick after, so decided to lay back in my nap spot again. I was doubting if I wanted to go to the second snorkel of the day, but everyone said it was their favourite spot, so I went anyways. It was not my favourite spot, but I get why they were enthusiastic. In this place you would just sit in the water and all kinds of fish come swimming to you. Some were huge and they came so closeby. I did get out of the water rather quickly, but it was a fun spot to snorkel. Then it was already time for sunset. The crew made nacho platters and brought us to a cave where we had to climb through to watch the sunset on the rocks. It was a beautiful place, but I do wonder how they managed to find out that this was the spot. We sat there for around 1,5 hours and they picked us up again to have dinner. I had a quick shower before dinner to be fresh again. It was spaghetti for dinner which was very nice, but after I went to bed immediately because I was so tired. Madelief and I just made a game plan how we would spend the night, which was in our favourite bench in the living room, however, they would put the air conditioning on this night and the bench was located right underneath it, so we had to sleep in our own bed because it was to cold otherwise. Obviously we vouched so hard for airconditioning to be on, we could not say we actually did not want it to be on anymore. It was still e
Day 11 - Whitsundays Day 3
03 December 2024
Day 3 has arrived after another interesting night. I cannot remember if it was raining and what we did actually. I think we went snorkelling but I skipped the first snorkel? The second snorkel I did join as it was the last snorkel of the trip. Okay yes I remember again, because I was sleeping downstairs and that is why the captain remembered my name. So again, the second snorkel I did go into the water, I was actually snorkelling for a long time, I like it. Thennn I even tried to sunbathe! But after 5 minutes I decided it was enough and I went down to my living room spot again. I think from then I just laid there and slept because I can genuinly not remember anything more of the trip. When we arrived back at the harbour it was time to pack our bags and head back to our accommodation. We stayed in Nomads again but this time in one of their renovated rooms! It was super nice and pretty and I had sweet roommates. After the best shower of my entire life and a nap we were ready for the after party of the Whitsundays tour. I did not have high hopes for this party, but it was so much fun. We had the party at Beaches where we could eat for a discount including a drink. I had chicken schnitzel and fries (love it!). Because we were an afterparty apparently we got free pitchers as well, so more drinks for us. Next to that, it was also ladies night and all the women got free champagne! I gave away all my champagne to the poor boys that did not get any free drinks, but what a night, free drink after drink after drink. The music was also incredible, I have never met a DJ better than this sweet old man. Hit after hit was dj’ed and it was so so so much fun. Then I went to bed byebye.
Day 12 - Airlie Beach day 1
04 December 2024
Today I didn’t do anything. Goodbye.
No, I went to the Woolworths to buy breakfast around 14:00 or something. And I laid in bed. Our dinner was microwave mashed potatoes and microwave lasagna.
Day 13 - Airlie Beach day 2
05 December 2024
Omg today we did something that I said from the beginning I wanted to do here in Australia: a scenic flight over the Great Barrier Reef and Whitsundays!!! Sooooo coool. In reality, this was horrible, I have never ever been in a plane with this much turbulence and I was extremely nauseous, buttt the views were amazing. First we flew over the Whitsundays Island where he explained what islands were inhabited and what happened to it. Then we flew over Whitehaven Beach and my oh my these pictures are stunning, by far the prettiest view from the flight. From Whitehaven beach it was a 7 minute flight to the Heart Reef. I did not completely understand that this was a literal heart, I thought we would go to the heart of the reef, so the middle, but this was a nice surprise too. The captain already said it was super small and you see it very shortly, so I didn’t understand anything about it, because the entire reef is really big right, but this heart was indeed small. The reef looked sooo cool from the top, but I wasn’t able to make very good pictures because I was trying not to throw up. Luckily soon after we landed again and I was my good old self. I did go to bed immediately because I was not feeling this day anymore. It was also Sinterklaas that day and we wanted to celebrate, but that didn’t happen, so instead we just got ice cream and went for a walk. This was nice too. Fun fact: on the beach of Airlie Beach a lot of palm trees are planted that were used for the set of Pirates of the Caribbean 5 when they were filming on Whitehaven beach (the palm trees were not allowed to stay on Whitehaven Beach so they planted it on Airlie Beach).
Day 14 - Airlie Beach day 3
06 December 2024
If you are on shoptok, you know that Australia is thé country to buy new clothes. Airlie Beach is really small so all the shops were located closely to our hostel. I had a blast, the shops were amazing and they had such cute clothing, however it was very expensive and I do not need anything. So I went back to the hostel again after swooning over all the clothes I saw. We wanted to have dinner on the beach today, specifically pizza, so we bought our pizza, went to the beach and ate it. It was a good day. Airlie Beach is all about chill.
Day 15 - Airlie Beach day 4
07 December 2024
If you think today is the day we will finally do something, think again, because we did nothing. At 11:00 we had to check out, but housekeeping didn’t show up until 12:00, so I stayed in bed until then. Then I moved myself to the lagoon where we laid for a bit to wait for our bus. Then it was finally time to get to the bus, but the bus to the bus was half an hour before out bus left, so we still had to wait for our bus at the bus stop (are you still following?). Actually, before we had to prepare our food for the trip, because we are going to Rainbow Beach and it is a looooooong trip (14 hours). The trip itself was fine and went by quite quickly. My body was hurting a bit though, but that is a luxury problem. On the way we stopped at some gas stations where I had fries and a chicken wing for dinner. I will tell you the rest tomorrow.
Day 16 - Rainbow Beach
08 December 2024
First of all, why is every city here called beach? At 07:30 we arrived in Rainbow Beach after a nice bus trip. At the bus station we met a friend of the Whitsundays tour, so we had a chat with here as we both had to wait. At 08:00 the reception of our hotel opened and we were able to lay our stuff there. Then we laid next to the pool (Madelief went for a run, crazy girl) and swam until we could check in. FINALLY at 14:00 we could go into our room which was amazing. I had a shower and a short nap. From the hotel we heard there were a few nice things to see: The rainbow steps and the Carlo Sandblow. Madelief already saw the rainbow steps, so I went for a walk in the afternoon to it. The steps itself were cute, but the entrance to the beach was beautiful (they did not tell me that this was nice). It was a beautiful beach and a lot of people were surfing either in the air or on the water. Then I walked back and we went to the local fish&chips shop to buy our dinner. We heard the sunset was nice at the Carlo Sandblow so we wanted it to eat there. The reception said it was a 10 minute walk to the sandblow, but this is a complete lie. It was already a 25 minute walk to the place Google Maps called the sandblow and from there it was another 15 minute walk to the actual sandblow. We were not really prepared for such a long trip so we were tired and hungry with cold food. The sandblow itself was amazing though. Beautiful view of the sea on one side and on the other side the sun was slowing setting. We stayed there for an hour or something before heading the long way back to our hotel.
I actually really liked Rainbow Beach, I think it was nicer than Mission Beach and you can just enjoy the views here mostly.
Day 17 - K’gari day 1
09 December 2024
Today we had the last of our planned tours: K’gari or Fraser Island! We went with the company Drop Bear which is know as one of the more luxurious companies. They have glamping tents where you sleep with an ensuite bathroom, an inside kitchen and seating area and they cook for you, so you don’t have to do anything. It sounded like music in our ears, so we chose to go with them. Besides we heard they have the most knowledge of the island and also explain the most about it. Other companies are Pippies, Dingos, K’gari Safari, Island expeditions and I’m sure I’m forgetting one. Nomads? I don’t know. Anyways, as the tour originally departs from Noosa and we were in Rainbow Beach we did not have to get to the pickup place until 10:00. When we arrived, 4 4x4 cars showed up and we had to choose a car to sit in. We ended up with an English (?) couple and two Danish boys (who had embraced the Australian lifestyle). I have to be honest at first I thought who are these people, but after a while everyone started to seem nice. To get to the island we had to get the ferry. You have to know when and where the ferry shows up, because there are absolutely no signs and there is no harbour, it just stops in the sand and you drive on it. K’gari is known for being able to drive on the beach. Actually the only roads they have are either the beach or some very hilly inland roads. I was not aware how incredibly ‘natural’ the roads were on the island, but we figured that out really soon. It genuinely took 1.5 hours to get to the camp while it was only a distance of 20 km or something and all my organs have been shaken around. The poor Danish guys who sat in the back of the car also hit his head a few times on the ceiling. Good start of the trip. I was fearing for my life. When we finally reached camp we were able to relax a little bit and thank god we chose the luxurious camping because if I had to lay in a tent now and eat outside I would cry. The camp was so nice and beautiful and felt very luxurious. The staff was amazing and the food they served us was insane. The kitchen was so big and the staff and guests were a little bit separated, but not so much that you weren’t able to talk to them. After lunch it was time to hit the road again. I braced myself, but certainly it could not take so long to get to our first destination: Lake Birrabeen. This was a very positive thought because it took extremely long and the road was even worse than the road we drove before. It also took a bit longer as one of the cars broke down so we had to wait for them to pick up a new car. When we finally arrived at Lake Birrabeen there was no one and it was beautiful. The sand is pearly white, made out of silica so it doesn’t get hot and the water was warm and clear. There even was a sweet dingo on the beach! We had a swim here and then I laid down on the beach. Here I got attacked by mosquitoes, but well. The weather was also perfect, the sun was shining and it was a good day. However, it shone too much, because Madelief got a sun stab (hahaha what is the English translation?) and I also was cooked. Then we headed back to the camp. The entire way from lake to camp is 13 km, but again it took 1.5 hours… At camp we chilled a bit, had a nice shower (they also provided shampoo and conditioner!) and then it was time for dinnerrr. The menu was kangaroo burgers (yes you read that right). I have to say if no one told me it was kangaroo I would not have noticed. It tasted a bit like cheap beef. The fries they served with it was amazing and I was well fed. We ended the day with an insane camp fire (I still do not know why they would make a fire with 30 degrees outside) and I had my first drink! (The one I actually bought for the Whitsundays haha). It is bad juju to leave alcohol on the island so we had to drink everything now of course. However, after 1 drink I thought it was enough and I went to bed.
Day 18 - K’gari day 2
10 December 2024
Goooood morning :) It is 06:30 and we are having breakfast. Our first stop of the day: no wait I want to say something about breakfast first. They said they would serve mushrooms, but they didn’t??? I was looking so forward to it, but when I arrived at the breakfast table there were only tomatoes :( Okay back to the planning; first stop of the day: Champagne pools. This place gets extremely busy and you can only visit during low tide, so we had to leave eeeaaarly. 07:15 was the aim and we actually left around 07:20, so not bad. And for good cause: we were the first to arrive at the pools. On the way we passed some pretty stones, so I also added a picture of that. The Champagne pools get their name because when it get high tide they start to bubble. After an extensive photo shoot it was time to enjoy the view, but not for long because the other tours started to come in and disrupt our peace. It was very nice though and the wind made it less hot. After the pools it was already time for lunch I think. We go very quick, but don’t forget, to get somewhere you need to drive for at least 1.5 hours. Our guide really wants the best for us, so we had to get to the lunch spot before the other groups so we could have a shady spot with running water. Again, we were the first to arrive so hooray. For lunch they had a wrap bar, so so nice, I love wraps. At the lunch spot they actually had a little shop where I bought a sticker (crazy that they have shops here). Oooh wait before lunch we had a photoshoot with the car first (sorry guys, I am writing this 2 weeks later, so I forgot half of the thinkgs). Yeah, that was nice. Then we drove to the ship wreck that we actually passed on the way already, but skipped because we had to be the first at the Champagne pools. I do not remember anything about the ship wreck story except it was a luxury cruise. Our guide also did not tell how it got here, just that it was a nice ship that was later used during the war. Then it was time to go to Eli Creek, one of the highlights. But first I have to tell you about my driving experience on the beach! As driving on the beach is obviously off road driving, I really wanted to try it, but just for a few minutes. I also didn’t buy extra insurance, so I did not want to drive for a long time. To Eli Creek it was just 10 minutes, so everyone encouraged me to just drive this short distance. I am not sure if I liked it. No actually, I did not like it at all. Driving in sand is sooo weird as your steering wheel just has a life on its own. You actually have to let the wheel go in order to stay on the track, but that did not feel right at all, however steering also didn’t work, so I had no clue what to do. I managed though and it is a great learning experience, but these 10 minutes were enough. The destination was amazing though. Eli Creek is a freshwater creek where the people actually get their drinking water from. If you stand at the beginning of the creek you can drink it (it tasted normal). If you have a floatie you can float down the creek, which is what all the people do. What makes Drop Bear different is that they first explained the history of the creek and the nature surrounding it. Other tours do not have that and it is really nice and interesting to hear. After the information walk it was time for the floaties though. For some reason no one wanted to float, so we went three times haha. We had so much fun and I genuinely felt like I was truly enjoying myself for the first time without stress. We just laughed the whole time and it was a really really good vibe. On the way back to the camp we kept the good vibe and had the best party in the back of the car (for some reason the three most car sick girls sat in the back (the car has 8 seats by the way), but we had a blast, we were not car sick at all and just had jam after jam). The ride was so much fun and for only this moment I would say it is my favourite part of my whole Australia trip. Back at the camp it was time for games where we cracked open the last of our drinks. I was in really good spirits and had so much energy, so I was ready to drink the last bits. Then I had a shower and it was time for dinner (chicken curry). Really good and to our surprise they also had brownies (lactose, gluten, sugar, chocolate, water etc. Free (no it was just a normal allergy safe brownie, but he kept saying thing it did not contain I just started laughing). Our guide said at the beginning of the tour we would play some didgeridoos at the camp and now finally was the time. I was looking forward to this as I have always wanted to play a didgeridoo. It was so much fun, but the sounds were not necessarily good… After our didgeridoo sesh it was finally dry for a moment, so we went to the beach to see some bioluminescence. It was not very clear, but in the sand you could at some point see some small dots lighting up. Back inside we continued playing games and headed to bed. This was by far the most fun day I had during this whole trip and truly unforgettable.
Day 19 - K’gari day 3
11 December 2024
Our last day on the island :(. The weather was horrible and it was pouring down unfortunately. The only thing that was left on our itinerary was Lake Mackenzie. This lake is the most popular lake of the island, mostly because of its white beach and blue water. Right now there was nothing but rain… However, this could not press the fun (mag de pret niet drukken). It was another 06:30 breakfast call and then we left early again for Lake Mackenzie. We were again the first to arrive and our guide said to just take off all your clothes and walk in your bikini because you would get wet anyway. I actually really liked that our tour did not wait for the rain to finish because swimming in the rain was so much fun. Besides, there was literally no one else besides us, so we could do what we want. We had some paddleboards with us and some people of the group decided to try as many tricks as possible on it. We also had to built human towers obviously, and try to fit as many people on it. When it stopped raining the other tours came in, but at least we had half an hour or something just for ourselves, which was a lot of fun. The group was so nice and the vibe was so good. After the lake we went for a rainforest walk. I was packed in a towel and rain poncho, which actually kept me quite dry! Our guide explained a lot about the rainforest, which was really nice. Then it was time for lunch, which was wraps againnn (amazing) and then we headed back to the ‘city center’. There is a bakery and a shop there and it is very very expensive. I bought another sticker though, while our guide picked up the trailer with our bags. Then we headed back to the ferry. When it has rained the sand is actually quite nice to drive on, but still it was a rocky road.
Back in Rainbow Beach we said goodbye to the people that would stay in Rainbow Beach and then we drove with the cars back to Noosa. The road was so nice and I think we drove a bit of a back route as we saw sooo many kangaroos on the side of the road. We also had the best songs on, so it was a super fun trip back. In Noosa we stayed in Flashpackers with 6 people from our trip. That made it so fun as we would be able to see each other more often.
Actually this was a really sad night as it was our last night together :( Madelief will go to Brisbane tomorrow already, while I stay in Noosa. Because of this we went out for dinner at Someday Pizza. They had the best pizza and we also met some people of our tour here already. It was a good night and a perfect ending of our trip (don’t worry, we have one more adventure left together tomorrow morning).
Day 20 - Noosa day 1
12 December 2024
Today was chill day and I had to do some chores. First Groceries so I could eat breakfast. I finally was able to go to the Coles and wow, what a store, I love it, it was amazing, I spend 1.5 hours just doing groceries. Then I did laundry while making breakfast/lunch and then it was already 16:00. The weather was not great, however this afternoon the sun actually came through, so me and my roommate decided to go to the beach and enjoy the sun while it lasted. We also wanted to catch the Noosa vibe that we saw on TikTok, so this was our only chance. In the bus to the beach we met another Dutch guy that spontaneously joined us on our sunset walk. We had the idea to go to Little Cove Beach, but actually it was not as nice as we thought, so we walked a little further along the coastal walk. We ended up at a place with rocks (no clue what is was called) and watched the sunset from there. In the meantime the sky was turning pretty pink and we saw some dolphins! We sat there for an hour or something and it was very fun :) Then we walked back along the beach and took the bus to our hostel again. Another group was still going out for the trivia night, but I decided to stay in and finally have dinner. It was a nice day.
Day 21 - Noosa day 2: Coastal walk
13 December 2024
For today I had planned to do the Coastal walk to the Fairy Pools. The weather was still not nice and I did not want to walk in the rain, so I just waited and waited and waited… Until at some point I thought, okay well I’ll just go the weather is not getting better. And what a lucky girl am I, it actually cleared up! The whole walk is about 40 minutes to the pools and back, but I wanted to do a loop and for the whole time being outside it did not rain and the sun even came through! We already walked part of the Coastal walk yesterday, so I went quite quickly through the beginning. I wanted to go as fast as I could to the fairy pools so I would be there without the rain, but I completely missed the turn and walked straight to Hells Gate. I actually wanted to walk further to do the loop, but I also had to see the Fairy Pools so I walked back. I watched from a distance and then walked back to Hells Gate again as it was starting to rain a little bit and I got stressed. However, I felt the feeling of regret slowly creeping in and I walked back to the Fairy Pools to have a swim there. At some point I was the only one swimming there! A sweet 12-year old girl made some pictures of me, which you can enjoy under this text. I’m very glad I went back. Then I walked further to Hells Gate again where I had lunch. Like I said I wanted to walk a loop, so I did, but the loop was closed, but I didn’t want to walk back, so I walked a much longer road to get back to the beginning. It was in the middle of nowhere and I had to walk through bushes and avoid spiders. But I got there, so it was okay. It was still not raining (except for the few drops at the fairy pools) so it was a good day. In the evening we had a sausage sizzle at the hostel, which was also my dinner (super nice) and we went for drinks at Bounce. There were so many Dutch people in the hostel, so we had a nice group of Dutch girls which who we went to Bounce. There we got free drinks from the owners (thank you owners). Some people still went out, but I decided to go back to the hostel to sleep. Good nighttt.
Day 22 - Noosa day 3: Noosa Everglades
14 December 2024
This morning was for sleeping in which was amazing. I actually had to watch the time a bit because at 12:50 we got picked up to go to the Noosa Everglades. I also went to the Everglades in Florida, so I of course had to go to this one too, so I could say I went to the only two everglades in the world. It was again raininggg, so I did not have very high hopes for it, but nonetheless it would be a nice activity. The bus was perfectly on time and quite luxurious. On the way we picked up some more people and arrived at Noosa Habitat to go for the Everglades Tour. There was no toilet on board, so I was a little afraid about that as the tour had complimentary prosecco and beer (spoiler alert: I managed to not have to got to the toilet the whole tour). It was pouring when we had to walk on the boat and people in front of us were going so extremely slow that I was soaked when I got on. The curtains were down too, which made you couldn’t see anything outside and I was afraid they would not go up for the whole tour, but then they said they would lift them as soon as we are in the Everglades. Unfortunately the rain did not stop yet, so all the rain came inside the boat and we closed the curtains again. After 15 minutes or something it stopped raining and we could finally enjoy the tour in peace. The drinks were amazing, they had a beer they made at their own brewery that you could only drink there and they had prosecco and orange juice so I had myself a few mimosas. The Everglades itself were very peaceful and the guides told a lot about the wildlife (mostly birds, but also koalas!). The Everglades are know for their ‘River of Mirrors’ where you can perfectly see the reflection of the trees in the water even with bad weather conditions! It was very nice to see and so strange that it was so calm, while the weather outside of the Everglades was so bad. We met some other Dutch boys on the tour and we had a lot of fun during the whole tour (although I think I appreciated the tour more than they did). The guides were very kind and knew a lot too. It was a nice activity! When we sailed back we could watch the kangaroos again for an hour and then the bus took us back to our hostel.
In the evening we of course had to celebrate my birthday!!! We were with a small group of Dutch people so we went out to the KB’s. This was extremely boring and very empty haha, so around 22:30 we decided to go away and have a drink at another bar (everyone was so kind and wanted to make it until 00:00 for me). At 23:55 we were back at the hostel again and waited for 5 minutes to celebrate and then we all went to bed (I was completely fine with this, I love sleeping). It was a nice, chill day and I’m glad I met so many lovely people.
Day 23 - Noosa day 4: Farmer’s Market
15 December 2024
Everyone asked me today if I did something nice for my birthday, but I did absolutely nothing today. There was a farmer’s market happening, so in the morning I went there, ate a burger, met one of the guys from the hostel and walked back to the city center. The market was a bit underwhelming, I thought it would be bigger. At the exact moment I made it to the bus stop it started pouring, so what a timing. Then I went back to the hostel and just chilled the whole day. In the evening it was time to call with the home front (finally awake), so I called with Lucas, Nicole and my parents. Then I went to bed, byebyee.
Day 24 - Brisbane day 1
16 December 2024
Around 10:00 my bus left to Brisbane. I heard such bad stories about Brisbane, but I actually was looking very forward to it. I had some fun things planned, but also a lot of free time, which was exactly what I wanted. I stayed in YHA Brisbane, which was a super nice and clean hostel. They have a pool, wellness room, chill room and a bed where you can sit upright! It is not very social, but I did not mind that as I knew a few people there and I also wanted some rest. I did some groceries and chilled a bit. In the evening I saw there was a trivia night and I thought I would just join. There was a random group of two Germans and a French girl, so I joined them and we got some company from an Indian guy and American girl. The trivia was a lot of fun and we actually got a shared first place, but the trivia quizmaster did not understand how that worked so in the end we won nothing. We complained and still got a free pitcher of beer, which was nice. It was a fun evening.
Day 25 - Brisbane day 2: Felons & Enchanted gardens
17 December 2024
I am very easily influenced and the Brooki cookie was no difference. It was my only goal to score a cookie here in Brisbane, so at 12:00 I made my way to them. What a disappointment was this, they were completely sold out. I just wasted 2 hours of my life trying to get here and back to the hostel. But well, I still have three days here and I HAVE to get it, so I will try later in the morning. I also had another goal which was having a drink at Felons. I was meeting up with a guy from whatsapp (sound sketchier than it is) and he actually worked at Felons, so we decided to go somewhere else because it is sad for him. However, the place we wanted to go to was boring, so he suggested to go to Felons anyways. Yay happy me. As he worked there he also got a 50% discount, so I was even happier. It is a very nice place to have a drink as you have good views of the bridge and the skyline behind it. I also wanted to go the the Enchanted Gardens this evening, however it was completely sold out. The guys from the Everglades tour told us it was very easy to just go in, so I hyped up this guy and we tried to get in. Another friend joined us too at the gardens and we were actually able to get in via the exit. Was this the most honest way ever: no of course not, but it was sold out and we really wanted to see it. It was not foolproof though as the whole crowd was walking one way and we were walking the other way, so it was very obvious we didn’t belong here. The gardens were extremely pretty and for the first time I had a bit of a festive vibe. This was such a nice thing to do here and if it was not sold out, I would have definitely bought a ticket to see it.
Day 26 - Brisbane day 3: Carindale shopping center
18 December 2024
Today was meant for shopping. Like I said before the shops in Australia are amazing and this was my time to change my wardrobe. I took the bus to Carindale (just 50 cents!), which was about an hour to get there. They had all the shops I wanted to go to and more. I thought I could just arrive at 15:00 and then I still had four hours to shop, but this was not enough time. They had all the shops I wanted to visit and more. It was amazing, I had the time of my life and wanted to buy every single thing I saw. At 19:00 the mall closed and I happily returned home. I had dinner and went to bed peacefully. Tomorrow is an early wake up call, so goodnight :)
Day 27 - Brisbane day 4: Australia Zoo
19 December 2024
If there is one thing on the top of my Brisbane bucketlist it was going to Australia Zoo. I love the Irwin family, so a visit could not miss from my itinerary. The zoo is not located in Brisbane at all and actually takes 2 hours to get there, so I woke up at 06:00 to make sure I had the train at 07:30 that would leave to the zoo. I arrived around 09:20, so perfectly on time to enjoy my day here. I was told you were able to pet the koalas and the receptionist told me it was the best in the morning or afternoon, so I went straight to the koalas to pet them. On the way I had to walk through the birds, which were being fed at the time, so I stopped to watch them. Then I made my way to the koalas and they said it was still another 30 minutes before I could pet them, so I was a bit lost, because this was not part of my planning. Going to the koalas first is definitely not the best route to follow and I can recommend to just start with the reptiles and then go to the koalas because you will be able to pet them when they’re sleeping which is usually in the middle of the day. While I was waiting I went to the Cassowaries (I finally saw one!) and some other big birds. Then I went back to the koalas and aaa I pet one jeeeej! Now I could finally go through the zoo at peace. I walked back to the reptiles and made y way through. Then I went to the Crocoseum and walked through the museum of the Irwin family. I was doubting a bit what to do as the croc show would start at 13:15 and they told me to be there at 12:45. I still had half an hour so I went to Asia and watch the elephants, red pandas, turtles and tigers. It was already 12:35 now, so I had to walk back to the show. This was not necessary as it was not busy and I was alone so there was a lot of space even during the show. The show was done at 14:00, but I still had to do the snakes, Africa and the hospital. The shuttle to the train station left at 15:20, so I decided to not have lunch here and just see all the animals. Africa was so nice with giraffes, rhinos, zebras and cheetahs amongst others. From there I took the shuttle to the entrance, which took 2 minutes, but walking would cost half an hour, so amazing that they had this. I actually thought I would just take the normal bus at 16:30 and still enjoy the hospital at peace, but the hospital was actually really small and there was not much going on (I only had the sneak peek), so I was done within 10 minutes and managed to take the shuttle to the train station. The train brought me back to Brisbane and I bought some sushi and fries for dinner, while enjoying the sunset. What a good day. If you are going to the zoo, just start at the beginning and make your way through, the feedings and everything are not the most interesting ever and you will be able to pet the koalas throughout the day. Omg I forgot to tell you can also pet and feed the kangaroos! So just take it easy and you will be able to see the whole park before the croc show. Oh also, Robert Irwin was not there so that was a bummer… However, I still had the most amazing day!
Day 28 - Brisbane day 5: Brooki & Eat Street Northshore
20 December 2024
Attempt two at getting a Brooki cookie. I set my alarm for 09:00, so I would be there around 10:00. I ended up being there at 10:30 and luckily there were a looot of cookies left. I bought double chocolate and white chocolate with pistachio, but I have to be honest: they were not the best cookies I’ve ever had. They were nice, but not the best. I’m still glad I tried them though, because it was all I could think about. Then I went back to bed and watched an ice hockey game. In the evening I wanted to go to South Bank and Eat Street Northshore. I thought I would just have a quick walk through South Bank and then take the ferry to Northshore, but South Bank was so much fun. There was a lot going one as it was the Christmas week, so they had an outside cinema, a show, markets and food stands. I did not expect this at all, so I didn’t have that much time there, but it was so cute to see. Then I took the ferry to Eat Street where I would meet a girl via whatsapp again. The ferry was amazing haha it took an hour and we sailed on the river of Brisbane and they dropped me off in front of the food hall! Eat Street is a very big hall with food stands that is open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. It was my last day in Brisbane, so I had to go today of course. This was such a fun place and the vibe was amazing. Lots of lights and cute signs, the food stands had amazing food, I was not able to choose at all and there was sooo much. There were also a few penguins walking around to give hugs and there were several shows going on. I decided to go for fried chicken and fries, because it is my favourite food ever and they had so much of it here. It was really really good and we were entertained by a show of an acapella group. Then we had a drink which was surprisingly cheap for a food market. We walked around a bit and were doubting for dessert, but we were so full we decided it was good and we took the ferry back to the hostel. The girl I was with actually stayed in the same hostel as me for tonight so we could go back together. We got out at South Bank again and walked 20 minutes to our hostel. The staff was able to put us in the same room so that was a lot of fun. I can really recommend going to Eat Street when you’re in Brisbane and it is the weekend!
Day 29 - Brisbane to Surfers Paradise
21 December 2024
Last day in Brisbane and I could honestly have stayed here longer, I really liked it! My bus left at 12:30 so I decided to stay in the hostel this morning and do some yoga and swimming after checkout. I am going to Surfers Paradise and I saw some nice stories of people of this place, so I was semi excited to go. I also heard a lot of bad stories of this place and I believed all of them. And the rumours were true wat a horrible place this is. The hostel I stayed in was just not it and it was so extremely busy and hot and cramped, I did not like it at all. I was completely overwhelmed so I just decided to walk around a bit and have some chicken nuggets on the beach. There was also a market on the beach that I walked through, but again it was so so so busy. I wanted to see the view of the city, but I read you had to pay $35 to see it, however I now think I could have just done it. Even going to the Coles did not make me happy here and my dinner existed of some chicken. This was not a good day. My plan was to go to the beach tomorrow, but when I looked today, it did not look appealing at all, so I will see where I end up.
Day 30 - Surfers Paradise day 2
22 December 2024
Today is one of those days where everything went wrong. I had to go buy a new simcard as mine would end tomorrow. I wanted a Telstra simcard, so I went to a shopping centre half an hour away. However, I did not have a go card and you are not able to check in with your credit card, so I sat there without being checked in. FOR SOME REASON they decided to check the bus I was in. However, the man was very sweet and gave me a day pass. When I arrived at the Telstra they told me that the day was completely booked and they could not help me anymore. That’s okay, I could come back later and maybe there was a place. I went shopping again and bought some nice clothes that I was doubting about last time. At 13:00 I came by Telstra again and they said they had a spot at 14:00! I waited and then I went to the Telstra. However, apparently you need your passport for a simcard and I did not have that, so mission failed…. They were closing in an hour, so I had no time to pick up my passport anymore. Then I went to the Cotton On where I had a really t-shirt in my hand. However, I wanted to ask a question there and they couldn’t help me so I just walked away with the t-shirt. I didn’t notice it when walking away, but I brought it back, no worries. Then I decided I really need to sit down and just do not hink of anything, so I went to the movies! The only good thing about today. I went to Moana 2, but there were a lot of movies that I actually wanted to see. It was good, and I finally could sit down for a bit. After the movie I went back to the hostel and cooked for the coming days and went to bed.
Day 31 - Surfers Paradise to Byron Bay
23 December 2024
Finally the day I could leave Surfers Paradise. But not before making another trip to the shopping center to buy a new simcard. Yesterday they told me I could just get in and I already doubted it, but he kept saying I didn’t need an appointment. Well, I arrived and I definitely needed an appointment, because waiting times were 2 hours. I could cry. Stubborn me arrived and I asked if I could just wait there until someone didn’t show up. The girl did not like me I think, but she let me sit there. And actually after 15 minutes someone didn’t show up and they could help. Moral of the story: be stubborn or something? I got an ice cream as a treat and went back to the hostel where I made lunch. Then I just went to the bus too early because I wanted to leave as soon as I could. The bus was already there, so I could load my bags and sit in the bus, but apparently the bus I actually had to be in had to switch to the bus that was standing here already so we had to wait for the other bus to arrive. They were an hour late lol, but it was fine. We the made our way to Byron Bay where we also arrived an hour late AND the clock was set an hour to the future if you now what I mean. I really had to do laundry so I did that first thing when arriving in the hostel. I am staying in The Surf House, which is really nice! Lot of nice people and the atmosphere is good. I had dinner and then I spoke to some girls I have met before and some girl I had some app contact with. I was really tired, so it was an early night for me.
Day 32 - Byron Bay day 2: Christmas Eve
24 December 2024
It’s Christmas Eve, which means nice activities and parties. In the morning we got invited for a barbecue at the beach and in the evening we wanted to go to the famous Piano Bar. The first thing I had to do today was going to the church to light a candle. However, the church didn’t have candles, so that was a fail. Then I went to the beach and chilled there. The barbecue started at 17:30 and we had to do groceries at 16:45, so we had to be back at the hostel at 15:45 (girl math). It was very very hot and I felt cooked, but it was a nice beach day. Then we got ready for the barbecue and met another girl at the store for groceries. It was an all Dutch barbecue and lots of fun. There were actually a lot of people and people also just kept coming haha. We wanted to go out and heard that the Piano Bar would be full at 18:30, so we had to leave at 18:30 to go to the bar. Half of the group left then, but me and one girl stayed for a bit longer and went to the bar at 19:30. Well we were both too late because it was already full and we had to be put on a waiting list. This honestly was such a bummer as we really looked forward to this evening. We went to another bar called Railway and had a drink there. Then we went to the Backroom where we had one more drink and waited for our text to get into the bar. At 22:30 we still had no text, so we gave up and went back to the hostel. There we talked for a bit and went to bed. FINALLY at 00:30 we got the text we could get in, but we were already safe and sound in bed. It was a bit of a weird night, but the barbecue was a lot of fun.
Day 33 - Byron Bay day 3: Christmas Day
25 December 2024
After our weird night yesterday you would think we could sleep in today, but no, the hostel had a mimosa breakfast for us ready at the early time of 9 o’clock. Of course we couldn’t say no to this, so we sat there freshly at 09:10 to drink our mimosa’s. We also had some croissants, fruit salad and muffins. It was actually really fun, but I did go to bed after to get some more sleep in. Two people decided to go to the beach already while two others also wanted to go later, so that was perfect. I had a nice nap that did nothing for my fatigue, so around 11:30 I was ready again to hit the beach. This of course turned into 13:30 when we finally left, but that is okay, we have a lot of time today. On the beach we met some other friends and we just chilled there, made some group pictures (of course), had a swim and tanned (the sun is strong here). Around 16:00 we decided it was enough because you literally burn alive there and we had to be fresh for our Christmas dinner (pizza on (again) the beach). After our shower and make-up it was time to hunt for dinner. We had no clue what restaurants were open, but we really wanted pizza, so off we went. We heard of one place where they had pizza, but they only sold slices which was a bit more expensive, but at least I got to try different flavours. For some reason I had imagined that for Christmas in Australia you either need to barbecue on the beach or eat pizza, and luckily we were able to do both (bbq yesterday). We went to the beach but stumbled upon a band that was playing on the field next to the beach, which had the best vibe ever, so we had our dinner there. It was genuinly the best ‘picnic’ I ever had and so wholesome. When we finished our pizza we joined the dancing crowd and enjoyed the music that was playing. We stayed here literally for hours it was so much fun. It started with one band that was playing some sort of melodic techno or something, no clue what to call it, but it was such a good vibe and then they switched to another band that started to make dancing pits and everybody was jumping and singing and then they joined together! It was pure chaos and I actually think these people had no clue what they were doing and just showed up. They also collected so many people to play, I saw no joked at least 20 different people making music at some point. While the music was playing there was also a fire show going on on the beach so we went there to have a look. In the crowd we met some friends from the bbq, which was very fun. Around 23:00 another girl and me called it a day, the band was getting weird too and I was sure we already heard the songs at least once. It was a perfect day, such a different Christmas and I have to be honest I did not feel the Christmas spirit at all, but it was still an amazing day filled with dancing, laughter and good food.
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Day 34 - Byron Bay day 4: Lighthouse Walk
26 December 2024
Today I finally was able to rest and do absolutely nothing. I woke up around 11:00, did nothing and then had some food. Then I worked on the blog because I was 14 days behind (the same for writing this article it is Jan 9 right now lol). It actually took so long to finish this and I did’t even get to write everything. Halfway during my writing, my besties all left to go to another place, so I was alone for two days (alone is a strong word), but luckily I will see three of them in Sydney too! Around 18:00 I decided it was good for the day and I went to go watch the sunset at the lighthouse. This is one of the popular activities to do in Byron Bay, so I looked very forward to it. From the hostel it was a 50 minute walk to the lighthouse and you walk past beautiful beaches and viewpoints. It was so pretty and tropical. When reaching the lighthouse I was met with a beautiful sunset over the hills. It was very busy and it is a popular spot to have a picnic dinner there. If you walk a bit further you also have beautiful views of the beach, that I wanted to capture before the sun was down. I would have loved to go there a bit earlier next time to enjoy the sunset more, but this was perfect too. The road back also took fifty minutes and I decided to grab some ice cream and do some groceries before heading back home. It was a really chill day with a nice ending.
Day 35 - Byron Bay day 5: Beach & Piano Bar
27 December 2024
This evening will mark a historic event for my travels because we are going to the PIANO BAR. I was looking forward to this for the past three days haha. But not before I went to the beach this morning. I first got an almond croissant because I have always wanted to try it. Then I went to the Ghanda to try to bring back my t-shirt and buy it again with discount (this was a hassle, they did not want to let me do it, but I did it anyway (luckily I had support from the Dutch girl that was working there)). It no joke took me two hours to fix this, but okay, I got what I wanted. Then I went to the beach finally, but the wind was so strong and it was just not completely it. Yesterday they told me to arrive at the piano bar around 18:00 to try to get a ticket but when we arrived at 18:00 they told us to come at 19:00, which didn’t make any sense, so we went back again. I already showered before, so I only had to get dinner which was fine. Then at 19:00 we finally got our tickets and it was not busy at all which was so nice. We did have to pay, which was less nice, but it was okay. Before heading to the bar we decided to have some drinks on the beach, which was really nice. Then we FINALLY went to the piano bar and yes, it does live up to the hype, it is so much fun! What a concept every song is a hit. Mr. Belt & Wezol also gave a free show in Byron Bay so we went there during our Piano Bar time. They were also so nice, I was really surprised. After we went back to the Piano Bar again to finish the day. I had so much fun this evening and it actually was the first time properly going out here (I was also a little tipsy). I’m glad I went even though it was with complete strangers, but they were so nice and fun to go with.
Day 36 - Byron Bay day 6
28 December 2024
As you can imagine (and if you saw my Instagram stories) you might have already thought that I would not feel my best this morning, which was absolutely true. Unfortunately, I had to leave my very comfortable bed at 10:00 and I also had to pack and shower before. So at the early early time of 08:00 my alarm went off, just a mere 5 hours laters after I went to bed. With all my willpower I managed to checkout in time and move myself to the couch in the lobby (which was really comfortable). I had my nap and watched an ice hockey game, while still feeling miserable, but slightly less. As it was my last day in Byron, I just had to go to the beach, so around 15:00 I moved to the beach where I was able to get the last bit of tan in. I also took a dip in the sea and wow what a cure this was, I felt alive again. I had to go back thought to have dinner and to catch my bus at 17:35. I was also able to have another shower and wash my hair, so I was fresh again. I made my dinner and walked to the bus station. I thought it would have an hour delay, but it actually was quite on time, just 15 minutes late. And so my long journey to Sydney began. I made dinner myself so I didn’t have to buy anything, but we stopped at McDonalds which was so unfortunate, because I love McDonalds, but I already had food myself, so that was very sad. I did buy an ice cream as a treat. Then I tried to sleep again so make this 14 hour bus ride as comfortable as possible. See you tomorrow!
Day 37 - Sydney day 1: Bondi to Coogee Walk
29 December 2024
I made a mistake, because I thought that I would arrive in Sydney on the 28th, but it was the night bus obviously so I arrived the 29th. Actually it was very nice because I could go to bed immediately as I had 0 sleep on the bus. I stayed at Nate’s Place Backpackers and I had my doubts about it, but it was actually really nice. Definitely not the best place I’ve every stayed in, but for the price (60 euros per night, during NYE (extremely cheap)) it was good for me. The bed was very hard, but I was so tired I fell asleep quickly. Around 13:00 I woke up by my alarm as I wanted to the Bondi to Coogee walk today, which takes around three hours. I woke up, took a shower, ate my leftovers and walked to the bus. It takes around 30 minutes to go to Bondi beachOooh actually I wanted to go a bit earlier because the Bondi markets were happening and I wanted to see it before it closed (16:00). It was not very big and I didn’t buy anything, but it was still nice to see. Then I had lunch at Fishbowl, so I finally had my pokebowl that I was craving since New Zealand. It was very good and I sat next to the beach to eat it. Then I started my walk. It started with the famous lifeguards, but I do not watch Bondi Rescue, so I didn’t recognize anyone. Directly after Bondi Beach you meet the famous Iceberg Pool, which was very cool to see. After that you have seen all the highlights, so I could have stopped here after 5 minutes, but I did not and finished the whole trail. It was a nice walk and you pass some nice beaches such as Bronte Beach and Coogee beach of course. I did bring my swimwear, but I did not feel like swimming so I just walked past everything and took some pictures. A lot of people said they walked the trail in 1,5 hours, but not me, it took me 3,5. I did take a lot of breaks though. After my walk it was time to go grocery shopping at my favourite store: the Coles. I wanted to cook for 5 days, so I bought ingredients for 5 days. Or so I thought… First of all, it was cramped in the kitchen and I had to wait before I could start cooking. But then I finally managed to get a spot and I started making my sauce. The hostel had amazing pans that were very big, so I thought: perfect, I can add the pasta in the pan too. I could not fit the pasta in the pan too. I had so much sauce. It no joke took me an hour to make. People were staring at me why I had so much sauce and I’m sure I heard people whisper about me. I was alone too, everyone knew it, but I was cooking for 10 people. The pan was completely full with sauce, I did not know what to do with it. I also did not have enough tupperware for it, so I used the tomato cans to put the sauce back in. I wasn’t even that hungry but the only place to store the leftover sauce was in my belly, so I ate anyways. It was horrible, I will never ever ever make so much sauce again, but if you want to cook for 10 people, I can give you exact ingredients. After this disaster I went to bed (a lot later than I anticipated).
Day 38 - Sydney day 2: Viewpoints & Manly Beach
30 December 2024
This morning the people I would watch the fireworks with decided to check out some viewpoints to decide where we want to watch the fireworks from. We first went to Hickson Road Reserve, which was honestly an amazing place to watch. You had beautiful views on the bridge and Sydney Opera House, but it was a bit closeby the bridge. Nontheless a very nice spot and nice to see anyways. As we were so close to the Opera House we also decided to walk by at have a look at it. What a majestic building, it is even cooler in real life. It was extremely busy though (logical, if you want peace do not go to Sydney around New Years), but it was still so cool to see. We wanted to go inside too and lucky for us you were able to just walk in! We went to the toilet and then made our way out again. Cool experience 10/10 can recommend. Unfortunately, I was not able to go to a show as they did not have a lot of shows and most of them were sold out, but next time I visit this is on my bucket list. After that Anniek and I went to Manly Beach. To get there we had to take the ferry, which was, ohmygod, so busy. I did not know what to expect, but it was not this. It is a famous ferry as it sails by the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, so you have the perfect view on them. We were very lucky to be a bit in front of the line so we had the best seats on the ferry to enjoy the view. After 20 minutes we arrived in Manly Beach. In Sydney I made it my goal to hunt for cookies and I knew that they have very good cookies in Manly Beach at a place called Butterboy. A friend went there yesterday and warned us for the long lines, but there was no one when we arrived! I got a chocolate chip cookies with soft serve and oh my this was delicious, it lives up to the hype. Then we made our way to the beach where we tanned a bit and had a swim. Around 16:00 we decided to go back as we wanted to check out one more viewpoint called Mary Booth Reserve. I saw this place on TikTok and had high hopes for it. When we arrived we didn’t know exactly where to go, but after a bit of exploring we got to understand what the place looked like. We went at a good time as all the toilets and food trucks were already set up, so we knew exactly where you were able to sit and where not. Mary Booth Lookout Reserve is together with Bradfield Park, so while Bradfield Park is not very busy, Mary Booth is. Another friend that we would go with already sent some videos of the place, so we knew we had to go all the way to the top to have the best view. This is also the actual lookout, and when we arrived there we knew immediately that this was the place we want to look at the fireworks. You had the most perfect view of the bridge and the opera house. As the lookout itself is a bit further you are not standing directly under the bridge but look at it from an angle, which was perfect. We also thought this place would fill up less quickly as you have to walk all the way to the end, climb up some stairs and then you arrive at the lookout. After discovering this viewpoint we took the train back to our hostels and had an early night sleep as we decided to be in the line at 07:30….
Day 39 - Sydney day 3: New Years Eve
31 December 2024
OHMYGOD it is tiiiiime. To give a bit of background story: it was always on my bucket list to watch the fireworks in Sydney during NYE, but when I was planning this trip and looking at hostels etc. I got so stressed out as everything was crazy expensive and I did not want to spend so much, so I decided to skip NYE in Sydney and do it in Airlie Beach or something. However, we then decided to start in Cairns, so I thought: okay fuck it I will do NYE in Sydney because I want to. I then saw a very good deal on booking for a hostel (Nate’s Place) so I booked immediately. I actually had tickets for an event this night at Luna Park (where seriously every single Dutchie went too), but for some reason this event did not feel right for me and I decided to sell my ticket. I have not regretted it one moment and now we are here waking up at 06:00 to watch the fireworks from a viewpoint. I thought traffic would be crazy, so I took the train to the viewpoint, but there was no one on the road and literally no one in the trains too. I arrived at the viewpoint around 07:15 and I was shocked by how long the line was. Last year a friend of us went to the exact same spot as us around 11:00 and was the first to arrive, but now at 07:15 there were already hundreds of people queuing up. I was very glad we decided to be here at 07:30 and not 08:00, because by the time it was 08:00 we could not see the end of the line anymore. It was mad and very chaotic. The doors would open at 09:30 so we patiently waited to get in. Around 09:00 the line suddenly started moving and this was the most chaos I have ever seen, everyone was running, trying to grab their stuff from the ground, they were making a queue in snake form and then everyone decided to take their own place in the line and the queue did not exist anymore it was just random people everywhere. We used this too to get a bit further in line (pls don’t tell anyone). When they opened the door it actually went really quickly within 18 minutes we were inside. We decided to split up so 2 people could go to our favourite point and 2 others could go to another point, so we would at least have a good spot if one of them was full. Anniek and I were running up to our fave spot and we were again shocked but this time by how empty it was!!! We laid out all of our blankets, called our friends to come here and we secured the best spots ever to watch the fireworks. How truly lucky were we. By now it was just waiting for 14 hours until the fireworks would happen. I thought we were well prepared and bought umbrellas for the sun, enough food, toilet paper etc. But man oh man the sun was hot. If there will ever be a next time (which I don't think will come) I would lay there in my bikini the whole day and a washcloth to wash myself once it gets dark. The location it self was very well organized though, there were enough toilets and water points where you could fill your water bottles. Because we were quite far from the main field of the location getting water would require a 10 minute walk to the water point. This was actually perfect though as we could stretch our legs and walk to the big shade on the main field where it was a lot cooler than at our place. We took turns walking to the shade and to get water so everyone was able to get out of the sun. Around 17:00 the sun finally disappeared behind some clouds and we were able to relax. We bought some pizzas from the food trucks and had dinner at our waiting spot. We were extremely tired by this point, but napping was horrible in the sun, so we decided this would be our naptime. Around 21:00 the festivities would start, so we still had some time to kill. We slept a bit, read, ate snacks at then at 20:00 I started to get ready for the first firework show. I cleaned myself with some wet wipes, put on deodorant, changed my outfit and I felt alive again. At 20:45 people started to stand up to get ready for the first fireworks. Everyone was so polite actually (except for the annoying French people next to us), and they all watched from their own blankets. The field we were on was diagonal or how you would call it, so the people at the back were standing higher than the people in the front, which was perfect because everyone was able to see it very clear. The first fireworks were such a surprise for me actually, I had no clue they would do it. It was not very spectacular in comparison to the ones at 00:00, but it was still so fun to see and such a treat. After the fireworks we played some games, and tried to watch the other activities they had planned for us. They said there would be a light show with the boats, but either we looked at the wrong thing or there was no light show. There was also a smoke ceremony even before the fireworks, but again no sign of it from our viewpoint. Then Robbie Williams was giving a show at the Opera House and while they actually showcased this on the bridge too we could not hear anything haha. I still think it is super nice that they organize all this to keep you entertained. Then it was time for another nap because I was falling asleep at this point. We had secured a very big spot as I said before, so I was not afraid of people standing at our place. However we did rearrange some things as people started to walk to the front and we wanted no one in front of us (we were the first to arrive here, so they should have come earlier if they wanted to sit in front of us). Around 23:30 I woke up again because everyone was getting excited and trying to scooch over to our spot. We told everyone they were not allowed to stand on our blanket and they were not happy about it (you can already guess it were the French people that had been trying to get our spot for the past three hours). I have to say, we probably were a bit mean because we had a ridiculous amount of space for the for of us, but it had been our space for the past 14 hours, so no mercy man. After defending ourselves for half an hour it was finally time for the big moment. Anniek and I were so excited and nervous at the same time haha. We waited patiently at 20 second before 00:00 everyone starting counting down.
And then the show started... It was honestly spectacular and I was left speechless. The fireworks were from another level, I had never ever seen something like this before. It just kept going and going and it was beautiful. Truly worth every moment, I was so so happy to be there. What an experience, absolutley once in a lifetime. The fireworks on the bridge were the best ever and so mesmerizing to see. It was beautiful and it was perfect. It went on for 12 minutes, getting more and more spectacular. After the show we fell into each other's arms and wished each other a happy new year. We were the only ones to do that though, everyone around us left immediately, which I get, it was a very long day. The park also closes at 00:30, so they wanted us to leave too. We walked to the train, which was extremely busy it was insane. However, it went quite quickly and within 20 minutes we were sitting in the train. I got out at Town Hall and from there I walked to my hostel. The city was packed to and the vibes were so so good. On my way to the hostel I called with my dad and in the hostel I called with my mom and some friends. By the time I was in bed it was 04:00 already and I was incredibly tired. What a day it was, I will never ever forget this.
Day 40 - Sydney day 4: New Years Dive at Bondi
01 January 2025
This morning I slept in haha. I was so so tired, so this rest was much needed. However, the next big thing is on our planning soon and you do not want to miss this. I was maybe looking more forward to this than the fireworks (no kidding). But I was excited to do my first New Years Dive ever. As it would get very busy at Bondi Beach we decided to go a little bit earlier and arrive there at 15:00 (the dive started at 16:00). We met up in front of the Yo-Chi and I finally got to eat my first Yo-Chi ever. It was not wow, but it was good enough for me, I had to try it at least once. This fuelled us well enough to participate in the New Years Dive. I have to be honest when we arrived I did not think it would be well organized, but in the end it went very well actually. We made some photos with the Unox hat Anniek brought and looked at all the orange gathering around.We put our stuff next to the lifeguard house and all the Dutchies gathered around to run into the water. After a nice peptalk of the lifeguards and some dances it was time to run. This was so inredibly funny and now that I think back on it, it does not make any sense at all, but we had so much fun. It is not really running as there were more than 900 people present, so you were just jogging in place mostly, but it looked so cool from the drone shots to see all those orange hats run into the water. In the water we danced and laughed and then everyone went out again. It was not over as it was still time to party on the beach. With true Dutch classics we danced while all the non-Dutchies stared at us from a distance.
After the dive we still laid on the beach to soak up some sun and calm down from the festivities. Then I went back to the hostel again because man I was tired. The bus back to the hostel was crazy, it was so busy, but luckily I was alone so I could sneak in and have a spot on the bus. Then I had dinner and went to bed as tomorrow would be an early wake up call too.
Day 41 - Sydney day 5: Blue Mountains National Park
02 January 2025
Everyone said 5/6 days is enough for Sydney, so I thought, okay 5 nights is fine here, but I did not think of losing two days to New Year's so in the other 3,5 days that I had left in Sydney I wanted to do as much as possible. A trip to the Blue Mountains cannot be absent when you visit Sydney, so that was our planning for the day. Getting to the Blue Mountains is easy, you take the train From Sydney Central, get out in Katoomba and voila, you are there. It is a long ride though, so we had the train at 07:55 from Central and it took me half an hour to get to Central, so it was a very early morning. I prepped my lunch and snacks and off I went. I had a very good nap on the train to give me some energy for the day and around 10:00 we arrived in Katoomba. When we got out of the train it was so fricking cold. I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, because yesterday it was still 30 degrees, but not today. We checked and it was not even 15 degrees now... Luckily I was prepared and brought leggings and a sweater, so we immediately changed. From Katoomba, it is a 30-minute walk to the Three Sisters. We were just in time as the clouds were coming in. We actually did not think we would be able to see them, but they lay very low, so even with all the clouds you were able to see them. However, half an hour later the clouds were so dense the Three Sisters were also gone. Then we were standing there with no clue what to do here and the weather that was absolute shit. The woman from the information stand told us to to the cliff walk to Katoomba Waterfall and from there walk to Leura Falls. When we arrived at Katoomba Falls apparently the trail was closed which I did not realize, so we walked the cliffwalk back to the Three Sisters to think again of what we wanted to do. The Katoomba Falls were not impressive, I would skip it. In the meantime, it was already 12:00 and I had breakfast at 07:00, so I was hungryy. We sat at a cafe and had our lunch and one soldier left us because she couldn't walk anymore. We still wanted to go to Leura Falls so we had to take a different route than planned. The lady told us that we had to take some stairs and walk the trail to Leura Falls. We arrived at the stairs which was another highlight point, so it was very busy. It was called the Giant Staircase, but we didn't quite understand why it was called that, because it was extremely busy, so it could not be that giant. We were wrong. This was by far the longest staircase I've ever been on in my life. There was no end coming to it. People turned around after 1/5th of the staircase and I understand why, because everything you walk down, you have to walk up again. It was crazy. It was so incredibly steep and I made some slips. Halfway we picked up a girl who was making her way up again as she saw no one going down and only people going up that thought there would not come an end to this staircase. We told her we were going to finish the stairs as the visitor center told us it should be possible and we believed them obviously. However, she told us that people told her the track was closed, but we didn't believe her. And we were right! After half an hour or something, we finally saw the bottom of the staircase and I was relieved. But not for long because we walked so many steps down the idea of having to walk them all up was not appealing at all. I was secretly hoping the 2km track that was in front of us would go up already, but it was flat as a door. It was beautiful though and you didn't notice the clouds at all. Then we arrived at the bottom of the Leura Falls and here we had to mentally prepare ourselves for the way up. This part was way busier though and we felt bad for the people that wanted to walk up the giant staircase instead of these stairs. The way up was hard, but we were rewarded with some epic views of the waterfall. When we got close to the top we enjoyed the view over the Blue Mountains that was exactly what I thought of it (very orange, not blue at all). At the top we were tired and it was raining again. We walked back to Leura Station where we all decided to call it a day and skip the Wentworth Falls. I bought some snacks at Woolys and we got on the train back to Sydney.
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Day 42 - Sydney day 6: Australian Museum, Hyde Park & Chinatown Night market
03 January 2025
This is my last day in Sydney and I could have stayed here for one more week. What an amazing city this is. I had to check out at 10:00 and I just dumped my clothes in the hallway and took a shower after checkout. Then I had breakfast and finally left the hostel around 12:00. My first destination was the Australian Museum, just a 10-minute walk from the hostel. Entrance is free, so this was a perfect place to kill some time. They have several expositions, a few being about pacific nations, which was very interesting and one about dinosaurs, which was also fun. After three hours I saw everything I wanted to see and walked to Hyde Park where I took a nap. I was so extremely tired from the past days, but as I do not have much time left here, I do not want to take a day off to rest. After my nap, I went to CBD to buy a sticker. It took me a few stores to find the sticker, but I got it. Then it was 16:00 already and the Chinatown Night Market opened. Initially I thought my train was at 17:30, but iw as actually at 20:42, so I was still able to go to the market. It was not the best and very Western. Then I walked to a cookie place called Kuki. Their cookies were not as good as Butterboy, but it will pass. Then I decided to walk home, but I passed the Rusty's Market. They were closing in three minutes, but no one seemed to be in a hurry to leave. They had super cheap souvenirs here, so in a hurry I bought a magnet (for $2!). While walking home I was craving chicken so much, so I stopped at a Korean Fried Chicken place. I was really good and I walked to Hyde Park again to eat the rest. Then I walked to the hostel where I grabbed my stuff.
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Okay and now disaster begins. I was walking to the train station with my backpack, daypack and snack bag. While looking on Google Maps it said the train was not going anymore, so I ran to the most nearby bus stop (which was on the hill). The bus did not show up, but I had to be at the station at 20:12 to be able to check in my bag (otherwise you have to carry it yourself). The second bus came 10 minutes later but had a delay which would get me to the station at 20:10. No way that I would make it in 2 minutes. The bus arrived at 20:08 however, so I ran to the station. There I was confused, so I asked for directions. I should not have done that because I got in line at 20:12, but when it was my turn it was 20:13 and the stupid woman closed the check in. So here I was half an hour early with a backpack that I wanted to get rid of. As if it was not bad anyway, the train had a delay of an hour. This was a lie. The train arrived at 23:13, a whole 2.5 hours later than planned. I was so extremely tired and by the time we left it was 23:30. I had the best seats in the house though, so I was very lucky. OR SO I THOUGHT BECAUSE THEY SAID THE TRAIN WOULD STOP IN ALBURY AND WE HAD TO GET A BUS FOR THE LAST FOUR HOURS. I could not handle it anymore and started to cry internally. I was seated next to a very kind man though who told me all about his life, which was super interesting. I did not sleep at all on the train and I was so extremely tired. Okay rest of the story is for tomorrow.
Day 43 - Melbourne day 1
04 January 2025
Around 07:30 we arrived in Albury and got on buses that would take us to Melbourne. I'm not gonna lie to you, the bus was actually more comfortable than the train. We arrived around 10:45. I had no energy left anymore, so I called an uber to take me to the hostel. There I still had to wait for 3 hours until I could check in. I stayed in The Village, which was genuinely horrible. Maybe it was because I was so tired and I had to wait, but their kitchen was dirty, there were no pans and no towels, the only bathrooms were in the rooms, so I wasn't able to shower when I arrived, there were hairs in my bed and you cannot take the stairs to your floor, you have to wait on the slowest elevator ever. I was not having it. While waiting I ate the rest of my breakfast and visited the Victoria Markets next to the hostel. When I could check in I finally showered and slept until 19:00. I was hungry, but not in the mood to cook or make a quest out of finding food, so I wanted to walk to Coles to buy chicken wings. However on the way I passed the Hungry Jacks and I had not eaten there yet, so I decided to get something there. I had a chicken wrap and fries (both kids size) and it was actually the perfect amount and not bad at all. This gave me the energy to do some final groceries and after I walked back to the hostel and slept.
Day 44 - Melbourne day 2
05 January 2025
I was so tired that I got out of the hostel at 15:00 lol. I wanted to do a lot today, but it was too much for me and I just wanted to chill. I decided to walk around CBD today and try to get some souvenirs. This was actually harder than expected, but I managed. Then I bought TimTams and went back to the hostel where I did some last finances and had dinner already. As I did not want my day to be a complete waste I went to Hosier lane and AC/DC lane for the streetart. Then I walked to a park and just walked around a bit before heading back to the hostel. It was not at all what I hoped I would do, but that's life.
Day 45 - Melbourne day 3: Great Ocean Road pt. 1
06 January 2025
A while ago I put a text message in the Dutchies in Australia app to ask if people wanted to do the Great Ocean Road with me. Three girls replied and here we areee. I was actually excited about this as it is supposed to be incredible. We rented a car, accommodation and we were ready to hit the road. We rented our car through Sixt which was conveniently located and we were able to return the car 24 hours. We picked up the car at 09:00 and around 09:30 we drove away. We had to pick one of the girls up at Avalon Airport, which was en route, so again very convenient. We hadn't planned anything besides the car and hostel, so while driving we decided to stop at some points. The first stop was Geelong waterfront. Skip this please. Then we went to Torquay Beach, but it was raining and windy, so not very fun. There was a surf camp happening though, so that was fun. Our next stop was Bells Beach. This is famous surfing beach and yes we saw some boys surfing here. It is a beautiful beach, but the sun was still not out, so it was a bit gloomy everywhere. It was starting to get better though, so we had hopes. Oh besides, it was extremely cold the whole time which also made it harder to have a good time. We actually wanted to drive straight to Lorne, but on the way, we saw a lighthouse and decided to go there too. This was not in the itinerary we looked up, but should definitely be in it. It was a really nice stop aaand the sun came out! It was Split Point Lighthouse by the way for anyone curious. They have the cutest tea house there too, so if you have time and money grab a drink or bite. From the Lighthouse you have several lookout points that look at Sentinel Rock and Eagle Rock.
Then it was time for the road trip to officially start haha. The Great Ocean Road sign is only after the lighthouse, so you haven't officially started the Great Ocean Road until you have passed this sign. It is underwhelming, but nonetheless funny to see. Then we had a stop in Lorne where we walked on the beach. From Lorne it is a 15 minute drive to Erskine Falls. These falls are one of the prettier falls I think on this route and an easy walk down. After the Falls we had our last stop already before spending the night. The Kennet River Nature Walk is supposed to have koalas on the track so we could not skip this of course. We saw 1 koala, very very very high in the top. I did not know they could climb so high. We walked further on the trail, but at some point, we decided to go back because we could not see any koalas. Then we drove to our final destination: Apollo Bay, where we spent the night at Apollo Bay Backpackers. This is the cutest most laid back hostel ever, but it is houtje touwtje. The owner is very chill and told us all about what we have to see on the road. When we were putting away our bags he came running to our room yelling: do you want to see a koala up close??? And there it was just across the street a koala on eye height. It was beautiful. We actually were in an insane rush as it was 20:15 when we arrived and all the restaurants closed at 21:00, so we had to hurry to be able to have something for dinner. We left at 20:45 after admiring the koala for too long and arrived at Pit Stop Bros at 20:50. We weren't allowed to sit anymore, but we could order to go. I ordered a bucket that was a special and I thought nothing of it until I saw how extremely big the bucket was. You could easily eat with 3 people from it and there were more than 20 wings in it hahaha. I don't know why they didn't market it as a multi-person meal, but everyone was happy with the extra chicken wings and I had breakfast for tomorrow too. When we were satisfied with dinner, we walked over the fair that was happening in the center and then we went back to the hostel where I booked a hostel for my next nights in Melbourne (not the Village) and we planned our highlights for tomorrow. Good night!
Day 46 - Melbourne day 4: Great Ocean Road pt. 2
07 January 2025
We woke up at 08:00 and I put my leftover chicken and fries in the oven to heat up. At 09:12 we were ready to go off to our first stop of the day: Marriners Lookout. It is just a 10 minute drive from Apollo Bay and it gives you amazing views of Apollo Bay and the ocean. Onto the next one: Elliot River Road. This road leads to a beach but we were much more interested in the koalas on this road. We drove with 5km/h heads up to the sky. We saw over 8 koalas!!! Everytime someone saw one we stopped the car, got out and admired the animal. It was so coool! When we arrived at the beach we turned around and continued our route. From this point we have to drive a bit land inwards, which is weird as it is called the great ocean road, but you will not see any ocean from now on. We have two bush walks on our planning, the first one being Maits Rest Rainforest Walk. It was supposed to be very busy an touristy, but there were not a lot of people and it was really nice! They have some landmarks with information signs, which are interesting to read. The whole walk takes about half an hour.
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Then onto Lavers Hill, where there is absolutely nothing except the choice to either continue your route or go to some waterfalls. We skipped the waterfalls and I do not feel like I missed out, but if you have time definitely visit them. It is good to know that from Apollo Bay to Lavers Hill there are no options to get food or drinks and here you have a very small restaurant that sells some snacks. Close to Lavers Hill is the park Melba Gully. Apparently this had to have the forest walk that was not touristy at all, but when we arrived there were two tour buses parked, so we already imagined it was very busy. And yes, it was, but a lot of people do not finish the entire walk but just a small part of it. The walk takes around 45 minutes and goes quite uphill. I though the previous walk was prettier, but this one was nice too. There is also a toilet here! Aah and now we arrive to the most famous part of the Great Ocean Road: The Twelve Apostles. In my mind these were just a few rocks in the water, but it was actually so cool to see. The rocks are giant and it seems impossible for them to have formed in the ocean. We wanted to first do the Gibson Steps and look at it from the beach, but it was so insanely busy, there was a line on the road just for this, so we skipped it and went straight to the official lookout point. Form the point we saw that the view from the Gibson Steps is not that amazing and you have to walk a lot of steps down and up again, so we did not go back anymore.
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After the Twelve Apostles we went to the Loch Ard Gorge. In previous months you were allowed to swim here, but now it was closed off unfortunately. That does not mean that it was absolutely beautiful. The story behind it is also 'fun' to read and really adds to the place. We walked to a few different viewpoints which all had another great view on the gorge. From the gorge we went to our last viewpoint called the Grotto. It is just a 10 minute drive form Port Campbell where we wanted to have dinner, so we decided to do it now and have dinner after. The Grotto was beautiful too. Such a cool view on the ocean and really special to look at.
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Back to Port Campbell where we had dinner at 12 Rocks Beach Bar Cafe. Very nice restaurant with lots of different dinner options and amazing desserts. When our bellies we started our trip back to Melbourne. It was 19:00 by now and we still had to drive for three hours. The drive was beautiful and so peaceful. We decided to drive through the inland and enjoy the countryside of this part. It is very quiet and you have to take some roads that you do not expect, but a nice drive nonetheless. Around 22:30 we arrived at the car rental and from there we took an Uber to our hostels. I had a new hostel, so I still had to check in, but when I was finally checked in, I showered and went to bed. Goodnighttt.
Day 47 - Melbourne day 5: Australian Open
08 January 2025
I wanted to do so much today and I did not do that. I woke up at 10:30, bu left the hostel at 12:30. Then I went to the Victoria Markets, but apparently they were closed, so I went back. Then I decided I still had to see the library, so I went there (it was beautiful). Then I wanted to buy kangaroo jerky, so I walked through half the city to find it. Then I went back to the hostel, but not before I got myself Betty's Burgers!!! Finally :) I actually wanted to go to St. Kilda beach, but it takes 30 minutes to get there and they do not have a Betty's Burgers there. Then I tried to not stress out and be accepting of the fact I would not see everything in this city and surprisingly I was fine with it. I ate my Betty's Burgers in the hostel and then started packing my stuff. This evening though I had something very exciting planned! We are going to the Australian Open!!! Not the official matches, but some friendly matches, which is absolutely fine because I would not have noticed the difference anyway. The tram to the court was so busy, it was not normal. Then I arrived at the park, but my friend were apparently at the other side of the park and we did to understand anything, so I just got inside and waited for them there. Then we watched the first game which was between Zheng Qinwen and Elina Svitolina at 17:00. It was so much fun to see and it made us even more eager for the next game that we would watch. Around 18:00 we left the stadium and got some food. I had a Filipino sandwich, which was so good. At 19:00 we had to get back already for the next match: Carlos Alcaraz vs. Alex de Minaur. This was incredibly fun to watch and they were so equal to each other! They had some amazing plays that even I understood were impressive. I was so glad I went to this, what a once in a lifetime experience and so nice to see. At 21:00 we went back to the city. I still wanted to go to the Victoria Night Markets to see if they had boomerangs that I could buy. With 15 minutes left on the clock I ran in, but no luck unfortunately, because there were no souvenirs, just food... I bought a cookie for dessert and I went back to my hostel. The last night in Australia...
Day 48 - Melbourne to Guangzhou
09 January 2025
The day I have been looking forward to is finally here. It started very very early as I wanted to buy souvenirs before my flight. The market opened at 06:00 and I got there at 07:00. The shops were still setting up, but that did not prevent the market guy from trying to sell everything he had to offer. I got my stuff and was on the tram back at 07:21. I got myself a pie for breakfast and packed the rest of my stuff. Then I checked out and ordered an Uber at 08:10. Uber is a bit more expensive than the Skybus, but I did not want to walk with my backpack, so Uber it was. He dropped me off safely at the airport around 09:00 and I was ready for check-in. Apparently, you have to buy a trolley at the airport to put your suitcase on?? So I just stood in line with my suitcase. I chicken in my bag, ate my pie, went through security and waited for my flight to go. I flew with China Southern to Guangzhou and everything went perfectly. I only had to go to the toilet once during the flight after 7 hours!!! The guy next to me said he was proud. After 8 hours and 45 minutes, we landed. I already bought some data beforehand so I had internet immediately when I landed. That is when I found out that my niece was waiting for me at the airport! Together we went to the customer service where I got a hotel assigned to me and then we took the metro to the city center to have dinner there. I actually wanted to go the river too, but we were both very tired, so she ordered a taxi for me back to the hotel. I stayed at Southern Airline Pearl Hotel, which was very nice. I had to share my room with another woman, but she was so sweet. I do not think she slept actually because when I went to bed at 00:00, she was still very busy on her phone and she had to leave by 05:00 already. I slept safe and sound though and was so comfortable in the bed. This transit hotel service is genuinely such a good complimentary service when you have a long layover (I chose a long layover on purpose so I could have this hotel) and it made my travels much more comfortable. Besides it is included in your ticket so I paid €495 for two flights and a hotel night (amazing!!).
Day 49 - Guangzhou to Amsterdam
10 January 2025
The last stretch of travel is here. I woke up around 08:30 as I had to check out at 10:00 and the shuttle would bring me to the airport. Breakfast was included which is again such a good deal (although it was typical Chinese, I do not think most people would have liked it). At 10:10 the shuttle picked us up and brought us to the airport. I was a little skeptical about my bag as they said it would just go to Amsterdam, but I have experienced once that they said that and I still had to pick up my bag during transfers, so I was hoping for the best. I went through security again with just my backpack, through customs and then I still had to kill two hours. I got some food at a restaurant because today I am a bottomless pit. The food was just €6 (crazy), in the Netherlands you would pay €12 at least. We boarded the flight half an hour early and left for Amsterdam. On the screen it said the flight was just 10 hours and 45 minutes and we would arrive at 16:45, but the moment we left it changed to 12 hour flights and arrival at 18:00, but I already texted everyone that I would arrive at 16:45, so that was a small problem, but all went well. Smooth flight again, had to go to the toilet once (I'm improving so much). When we landed I was so excited to get out and see everyone again. I ran to luggage, but it still took 20 minutes before my bag got out (luckily it came out at least) and then I walked out of the airport. In the hall my parents, Madelief, Lobke and Nicole were waiting for me! What a surprise, I was so so happy to see them and so glad they came. We went home, picked up Lucas from the station and met Nicole at home for dinner! I was the perfect end to this trip and while I could have stayed longer in Australia, I am so relieved to be home again.
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Thank you all for following along (mostly my dad). It was a crazy three months, filled with epic adventures, smiles, tears and new friends. I do not regret going at all (now that I am home and look back at it) and I cannot wait to see where my next trip will take me :))