Oz

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After another flight and another night "sleeping" in the airport, we arrived in Melbourne, Australia. We had been warned that Australia was quite expensive, but we were still shocked to learn that the shuttle to the the CBD (centre of business and development), in other words the downtown area, was $19 per person!  Nonetheless, this was the most cost effective way to go, so we bit the bullet. As we were pretty tired from our airport over-nighter, we checked into the first hostel we saw, a YHA Hostel called Discovery.

 

The Opera House

The city was vibrant, busy, and reminded us very much of downtown Toronto. This made us both happy and sad, leaving us missing what we had left behind at home. We spent two days walking the streets, exploring both high and low end shops in search of a birthday present for Alice. We were finally successful in finding her a Fossil purse and a new set of headphones from the expansive, seven floor department store called Myers.

 

We spent quite a bit of time drinking coffee (we learnt Melbourne is the official coffee capital of Australia) and sitting outside, and watching the buskers on the street. When the days came to an end, we chose fresh veggies and meat from the loud and hectic Queen Victoria Market and cooked our dinners.

 

On April 23, we took an overnight bus to Sydney and checked into another YHA near the bus station. We spent $42.50 per person per night for 2 beds in a dorm room of 6 people. We most likely could have found another place that fit into our budget a little bit better, but it was voted the best hostel in the world last year, and it was the closest one in sight. It definitely lived up to the reputation, with a rooftop pool, friendly staff, and great kitchen facility.

 

On our first day in Sydney, we walked down George St. and made it up and across the Harbour Bridge where we got an impeccable view of the Opera House and the bay’s surroundings. We then made our way back down and walked around the water for a close up view of the Opera house.

 

On Wednesday April 24th, we took a local bus to Bondi Beach and did the famous coastal walk to Congee Beach, making several stops along the way to take in the extravagant views and to picnic on the rocks. We walked past several beaches with breathtaking rocky cliffs and enjoyed watching the surfers surf and joggers pass us along the way. By the end of our walk we were exhausted and ready to head to the grocery store to get started on our new found favorite Curry Coconut Chicken dinner.

 

 

The next day was "Anzac Day” the day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand. Most shops were closed for the morning allowing parades to litter the streets. We woke up early and sat in Hyde Park watching the parade go by before we met up with a fellow traveller named Peter who we'd met back in Fiji. Peter walked us through the entire park and to the Cathedral, Art Museum and gave us a mini tour of many of the other popular landmarks in the area.

 

 

 

 Another overnight bus brought us to Byron Bay, a tourist town along the east coast, the next morning. The place was full of young and vibrant people walking around and eating at the many outdoor patios on the main street. We checked into a villa that was a 10 minute walk from the main beach and we were lucky enough to get upgraded to a shared apartment in the back of the grounds. We were only planning  on staying in Byron for 3 days, but ended up extending for a total 8 days once we realized how relaxing the atmosphere was and even ended up with the apartment all to ourselves by the end. We spent our days relaxing at the beach or at the pool on site, with the exception of the day we walked up to check out the light house at the top of the hill.

 

On the way up to the light house, we were able to stand on the most easterly coastal point of Australia, look for dolphins, and watch the surfers ride the waves. The views were  beautiful no matter where we drew our eyes and that was what made us realize we weren’t ready move on to the next city yet.

 

Most of our evenings were spent cooking up delicious dinners in our almost private kitchen, and watching movies with tea and Tim Tams, which are the most amazing cookies that we discovered and highly recommend to everyone.

 

On our 8th day in Byron we sadly said goodbye to our new friends and got on a bus to Brisbane, our final Australian destination. Brisbane was another fairly large city that we didn’t take the time to explore all that much. We spent most of our time taking short walks to the park and across the main street to a strip of cute restaurants and night life and trying to relax at our hostel, despite the fact we had a with a very annoying and inconsiderate room mate.

 

All in all, Australia was wonderful and if we would have had more time there (and a bigger budget), there would have been heaps and heaps more to the see.

 

Thanks for reading,

With love from Oz,

 

D’Alice