Does anyone else remember that TV advert from the Australian tourism board where they all sing 'there's nothing like Australia'? No, just me? Anyway, at the end of 2022 I finally got to see for myself whether there really is nothing like Australia, and I hate to say it, but the advert is right. Australia is more than just avocado toast, beach bbq's and mullets, it stands for adventure, and that's exactly what two of my friends and I did for three and a half weeks during November and December last year.
First stop: Darwin
We were arriving into Australia from Bali, so the easiest place to fly to in northern Australia was Darwin... this was our second mistake (our first mistake was underestimating the strictness of Australian border control). Once you'd eaten a slice of avocado toast and had a wander around the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, there wasn't much else to do. Lucky for us, Darwin was simply just a pitstop, a place where we needed to go before flying onto our next destination, Cairns. However, if you are looking to stop in Darwin for more than twenty four hours, I would suggest bringing some form of entertainment because you might not find any here.
Second stop: Cairns
I promise you there's more fish in the Great Barrier Reef than you can see in this photo...
We were staying in Cairns for three nights, so we arrived in Cairns with the hope of filling our days with something more exciting than the things we got up to in Darwin. We spent the first day relaxing around the Esplanade and I tried my very first frozen Coca-Cola (I'd give it a 7/10 - not very thirst quenching). While we were in Cairns it was so so hot, I don't know whether it felt hotter because we came from England, a place where seven degrees in November is often described as 'positively warm for this time of year.' So, because of the heat we were more than happy just being around water, especially water where there wasn't the risk of being stung by a jellyfish or 'stinger' as they're called.
The next day was definitely the trip I was looking forward to the most, as it was our trip to the Great Barrier Reef. The company we chose to go with was Passions of Paradise as we read they were a local company in the area, and you could definitely tell that while you were on board. I don't usually like boats (stems from an awful experience I once had in Turkey, all I'll say is our boat nearly ran into the side of a rock), but I can honestly say that the Passions of Paradise boat was the nicest boat I've ever been on. Both the inside and outside seating areas were clean and spacious, the food was delicious and the toilets were also very well-kept. The Great Barrier Reef itself was also an amazing experience, you know one of the experiences that I'm now able to tick off my bucket list. While we were snorkelling we even swam with a couple of sharks who were just below us, which is something I never thought I'd ever do, but weirdly enough I wasn't scared at all. Although we all know the Great Barrier Reef as one of the seven natural wonders of the world, I know that it's dying, but to see it with my own eyes was honestly quite sad. There definitely isn't as many fish as you may assume there may be, and a lot of the coral has become bleached white due to the fact it's not as healthy as it once was. Obviously this didn't ruin the trip for me at all, but I just thought it was something important to note.
Oh, and if you're wondering where we stayed while in Cairns, it was the infamous Gilligans Hotel & Resort. In all honesty I would probably avoid if you're over the age of twenty and want a decent nights sleep.
Third stop: Port Douglas
Once we had collected our hire car in Cairns, that gave us a lot more freedom than we'd previously had, so we headed further up north to Port Douglas.
We chose to hire a small SUV, I believe ours was the Hyundai Kona, and it was the perfect car for three of us and our luggage.
I had no preconceived idea of what to expect when we got to Port Douglas, but we stayed there for two nights, and honestly we had the best time. On our first day we took a crocodile cruise from the Marina in the hopes of spotting a croc (we didn't actually end up spotting any, apparently it was too hot for crocodiles to sit out on the bank that day). However, our second day is where we ended up having the most fun. Last minute we decided to book a zip line course through the Daintree Rainforest with Treetops Adventure. The course itself is very varied with both short and long zip lines, some lasting only 15m, and others a whopping 130m. My favourite zip line was definitely the dual one, where two people could race alongside each other. Ultimately, I would recommend this to absolutely anyone, it's probably one of my favourite things we did, besides that, it's pretty cool to say that you've zip lined through the oldest rainforest in the world.
The Daintree rainforest was a road trippers paradise.
Fourth stop: Townsville
Fifth stop: Airlie Beach
Airlie beach was the next stop on our trip, and we stayed in a hostel which you'll be pleased to hear was a lot nicer than Gilligans hostel back in Cairns. It was called Magnums and we stayed in a three bedroom dorm room with its own en-suite - there's just something about showering in your own shower isn't there?
The weather while we were in Airlie beach looked pretty stormy on most weather apps, but the locals said to just ignore it and plan your holiday as normal. So we did. The next day we booked on a tour of the Whitsunday Islands regardless of the iPhone weather app telling us we'd be in the midst of a big storm. The locals were right. There was no sign of any storm throughout the entire trip, as you'll see by the photo I'll insert below.
Paradise on earth.
For me, the Whitsunday Islands were a massive highlight of our trip, as it was the most stunning place I'd ever seen. The Whitsunday Islands have everything you'd expect a tropical island to have: crystal clear waters, white sandy beaches and sprawling rainforest. It was truly gorgeous. The best way to get to the Whitsunday's is to get a speedboat, there are other options, I know you can get a catamaran, but the speedboat is the quickest way of getting there.
On our day trip our first stop was to snorkel in some of the turquoise waters. I'm not a massive fan of jumping off a boat into the ocean, but I knew that this was such a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity I just sucked it up and did it. The snorkelling itself was definitely better at the Great Barrier Reef, that's expected, but it was still really good and we did eventually see fish swimming below us. Our second stop was Whitehaven Beach, which, as you can probably guess by the name, is a beach where the sand is perfect white. Whitehaven Beach showed up British beaches, badly. Lunch was included with our tour so we ate our lunch at the picnic shelter on Whitehaven Beach, and then we were given some time to relax on the beach, which of course was appreciated as I still needed to work on my tan. The final stop of the tour was at a photo spot, and from a platform you were able to see the entirety of the Whitsunday Island (whatever you do, don't skip this photo point, you'll regret it). It's about a ten minute walk to get up to the photo point, but it's an easy hike for most to do and it's definitely worth it for what's at the top (the photo I've put in this blog of the Whitsunday's was taken here).
Sixth stop: Fraser Island
Our trip to Fraser Island was certainly memorable, whether that was for the right reasons is a different question. Here's the thing, we knew what we were signing up for when we booked a 4x4 tour across Fraser Island, however what we didn't plan on was the pouring rain that happened alllll day. We boarded the ferry to Fraser Island in great spirits, ready for an adrenaline-filled day. The ferry itself only lasts about 40 minutes so it's a pretty quick journey. Pretty much as soon as you drive off the ferry that's the last you see of an actual road, as all the roads on Fraser Island aren't really roads at all, they're just mud tracks. We first headed towards the beach before the tide came in at 1pm, and driving across the beach was a lot of fun. I must add, we opted out of driving ourselves, we chose to take a tour with a driver so we didn't have to worry about driving on terrain we had no idea how to drive on. The S.S. Maheno shipwreck was definitely worth seeing, even if we were a little sceptical about getting out the car after spotting a dingo a few hundred meters away.
The main problem of the day arose when we got stuck in the mud (quite literally). Yes, our car got stuck in one of the mud tracks. Now this is pretty common but because the island is so large and sparse, it did mean we had to wait about 45 minutes in the pouring rain while we waited for someone to come and drag us out.
The glamorous reality of Fraser Island: getting pulled out of the mud by a local tour bus.
The rest of the day was pretty much spent in the car, we stopped to have lunch at an undercover picnic spot but the rain really ruled out any outside swimming or activities we would've had planned. We did visit Lake McKenzie, which would've been absolutely stunning, apart from the fact we were soaked through from our unexpected stop.
The main thing I would say with this excursion is if you get travel sick, this is not the trip for you. I don't usually get travel sick in cars, but my friend and I were sat right at the back of a 7 seater car, and because you get thrown around so much by the end of the day we didn't feel too great.
Seventh stop: Noosa Heads
Now, Noosa is a tricky one for me to judge because it rained the entirety of our stay. This unfortunately (some say unfortunate, others say fortunate) meant we had to remain cooped up in our cosy Airbnb watching the new 'Wednesday' series on Netflix. Side note, we really enjoyed it so if you completely missed the hype then I suggest you put it on tonight while you're scrolling for something to watch. I'm sure Noosa is gorgeous in the sunshine, but the weather was not on our side while we were there - it was the only place in Australia where I had to whip out the jeans I'd hesitantly packed saying 'I won't need these but I'll just take them just in case.'
Eighth stop: Ocean View Estates Winery
Between Noosa and Brisbane we decided to stop in a winery for the night. Strangely, the only wine tours they offered on the day of our arrival was at 10:30am, so there the three of us were, sat there on a Friday morning sipping the best white wine Ocean View Estates had to offer. Although it was a little early for alcohol, we embraced it and said screw it we're on holiday. The tour was just over an hour long and within that you got four small glasses of wine, two white, one rose, one red, and a platter of cheese and biscuits (I suppose to make sure you're not too hammered at 11am on a Friday). On the site of Ocean View Estates they have two small cabins you can stay in, we stayed in the Shiraz cottage, which had two bedrooms, a little kitchen and a hot tub on the decking. As the sun set over the winery we decided to go for dinner in the award-winning restaurant, which was exceptional, I had the duck and I still think about it almost two months later.
Et voila, that's how wine is made.
Ninth stop: Brisbane
By this point on our trip I was so happy to finally see a large city, so I loved Brisbane. We stayed at Oaks Brisbane on Charlotte Suites and I had nothing but praise for this hotel. It was the perfect city centre hotel, it had so much parking for us to park our car and it also had a rooftop hotel which was gorgeous in the sunshine. The first day we got there we went to the Queensland Art Gallery (Gallery of Modern Art) which had a few very cool pieces of art in (it kind of gave me Tate Modern vibes). Then we spent the afternoon shopping, because how else can you judge a city if not by its shops?
The big Brisbane letters, I'm such a tourist.
The food we ate in Brisbane was also superb. Two key places to point out was the Greek restaurant we went to on the first night. I believe it was called Greca and you pay 65 Aus Dollars for a set menu, which includes lamb shoulder, fried calamari, olives, salad, roast potatoes and taramasalata. The restaurant itself is set on the river, and the views are incredible. The only downside of Greca was that my friend did book two months in advance for our table, saying that I think they take walk-ins during the evening so if you get lucky with one of those then that's a massive win.
The second place we ate that is definitely worth mentioning is called Maya. The only way I can describe this restaurant/rooftop bar is that it's definitely the place where you could see Made in Chelsea being filmed. Maya is a Mexican restaurant with views across Brisbane (which is absolutely stunning). Many aperol spritz were consumed on this rooftop, along with some guacamole and quesadillas.
Tenth stop: Byron Bay
Moving onto the home of Chris Hemsworth. Byron Bay itself is quite small so this is probably one of the only places in Australia where I'd say it wasn't too necessary to have a car. Saying that, we stayed in an Airbnb a little bit out of the centre of Byron Bay. Although the Airbnb itself was so nice (the photo I've added below is the view from the living room which overlooked a massive private lake), I would say if you're going to Byron it's probably better to stay somewhere a little bit more central.
Our home for the four days we spent in Byron was pretty surreal.
Byron did have everything we were looking for, from sandy beaches to surf lessons, to shops and iced matcha. We found that the vibe in Byron was a lot more relaxed than anywhere else we stopped, and pretty much everyone we'd spoken to along the way had said that too. One thing I would recommend doing if you ever find yourself in Byron is parking at the lighthouse and walking down to the most easterly point in Australia. It's just cool to say you've been there really. Other than that, Byron for us was about relaxing, taking in some of the worlds most gorgeous beaches, eating and drinking.
Eleventh (and final) stop: Sydney
Last but not least, Sydney. We stayed in Sydney four days but honestly I could've easily stayed longer. The first day we were in Sydney we took a trip to the Blue Mountains. We went with a company named FJ Tours, and they were brilliant. The trip started with a stop in Featherdale Wildlife Park, then we continued to Katoomba and Scenic World at the Blue Mountains. You take the steepest railway in the world down to the bottom of the Blue Mountains, then you take two cablecars back up, one with a glass bottom so you can see all the trees and mountains beneath you - it's really incredible.
Another recommendation from me will come as no surprise, but it's the Opera House of course. We paid to go for a tour around the Opera House, which was actually so interesting. While we were on our tour, 5 Seconds of Summer were doing their soundcheck for their performance the same night, so we got to see that in our tour (15 year old me was fangirling, in fact who am I kidding, 22 year old me was fangirling). After the tour we popped into the box office to see whether they had any tickets for any performances for the next couple of evenings, we were thinking something along the lines of Romeo and Juliet or a ballet, however they only had tickets to The Wombats. Now I love some of The Wombats songs, and the tickets were fifty Aus dollars each, so we bought them for the next evening.
The best views of Sydney are from the Shangri-La bar.
Although Bondi beach is arguably the most famous beach in Australia, Manly beach is quieter and nicer. From Sydney Harbour you can get a boat directly over to Manly, and it only takes about thirty minutes to do so. On the other side it's a short walk to the beach, there's some shops and places to eat along the way too. Manly beach itself is a lot less crowded than Bondi, and it just has a great vibe, there's people swimming, tanning, playing volleyball.
Out of all the places I stopped in Australia, Sydney was definitely my favourite, from the people to the food to the sights. To be honest I could bore you with all of my photos and stories, but I'll stop there. East Coast Australia was all I expected and more, and if you ever get the chance to do it, just do it. Australia was somewhere I'd never had the desire to gravitate to before, but I'm so glad I did.