East Coast Australia

Finally I understand everyone's obsession with Australia! This vast, sparsely populated country has just about everything to offer. It took me awhile to get over the initial jet-lag when we arrived in sydney. We walked over the harbour bridge, checked out the opera house and wandered through the massive botanical gardens with bats constantly gliding over our heads, but I still didn't get Australia. I was still pineing over South America and missed the magic of Australia to begin with.

A couple of days later, after flying to Byron Bay however, everything changed. We stayed in a super-cool hostel with a pool, juice bar and loads of workshops. Our first night there was a beach party with a huge bonfire and a couple of guys playing the fiddle and guitar- it created such a great atmosphere. We met all sorts of people, mainly other backpackers and I can honestly say that this was the moment I realised my love for Australia. Our time in Byron was spent relaxing at the more secluded beach, rather than the main one and checking out the cute hippish town, one morning we even got in a yoga class.

We went to Brisbane to meet our friend there for a couple of days. It was lovely to stay with a family, the meals were fantastic! We didn't have much time to look around, but hung out by Brisbane's fake beach and wandered around the town. Cairns was our next stop, home to the Great Barrier Reef. I've wanted to go to the great barrier reef ever since I can rember so it was one of the first things that we did when we got here. Tea, coffe, muffins, a big lunch and afternoon tea were included, as being able to snorkel through the most incredibly beautiful reefs, spotting giant, colourful fishwasn't enough. I had an amazing time and spent the rest of my time in Cairns exploring the different beaches (minding the crocs- I heard they can slip through the stinger nets) and lazing by the lagoon. Our last couple of days in Cairns were amazing- we went to cape tribulation, a beautiful rainforest that runs all the way down to the great barrier reef. We went croc spotting on a trip down the daintree river and saw a snake hanging on a tree whilst we were there too and did afew walks through the different types of rainforest. On our last day we went to the Aborigional Cultural Park where we go to watch live shows in which they performed the creation story, traditional dances and played the digaredoo. I even got taught how to throw a boomerang and spear, needless to say, my skills were such that I'd make a terrible hunter.