Over the past six months, Alex and I have been able to see, explore, taste and experience so many beautiful and amazing things while traveling around Australia and New Zealand. During the last few weeks of our trip, we started reminiscing and looking through pictures which led to a discussion of our favorite memories and highlights. Below is a compilation of our favorite memories and experiences we shared during this time.
Read MoreWe have officially left Australia and are back on the homeland! It has been an amazing adventure and I feel so fortunate to have been able to see so many places over the past year. Australia has always held a special place in my heart ever since I studied abroad there 14 years ago. And, after this trip, I have even more appreciation for the beauty and kindness of this wonderful country.
Read MoreAlex and I arrived in the Daintree Rainforest on Tuesday after leaving Cairns. On the way, we made a few stops at a couple of the smaller resort towns including Palm Cove and Port Douglas. Palm Cove is a beautiful little beach town about twenty minutes from Cairns. We each picked up a smoothie for breakfast and spent the morning walking along the ocean. It was a peaceful way to start the day.
Read MoreAlex and I arrived in Cairns on Saturday afternoon. Cairns is our second-to-last stop in Australia before heading back to the homeland! When I studied abroad 14 years ago, my parents came to visit over my Spring Break and we spent a few days in Cairns. I honestly can say I did not recognize much of the town and it felt like I was exploring it for the first time all these years later.
Read MoreWe arrived in Townsville on Wednesday after a 3 1/2-hour drive from Airlie Beach. After checking into our Airbnb, we walked to The Strand, a popular walkway which follows along the beach and passes by lots of shops and restaurants. We were pretty hungry after our long drive from Airlie Beach and decided to eat along the waterfront at Longboard Bar & Grill.
Read MoreWe arrived back to Airlie Beach after our cruise to the Whitsunday Islands and spent the next couple of days in the popular backpacker town. Our first afternoon was spent walking around the town and grabbing an early dinner. Both Alex and I were pretty exhausted after our cruise and we ended up calling it an early night!
Read MoreI have always wanted to visit the Whitsunday Islands as all the pictures of the area look absolutely stunning. The Whitsunday Islands are located off the Queensland coast in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef. The majority of the 74 islands in the Whitsundays are uninhabited national park islands and only four have resorts built on them. We booked a 2-Night/2-Day Catamaran Cruise with Sailing Whitsundays and had an amazing experience exploring this island chain.
Read MoreAfter leaving Hervey Bay, we continued north to Agnes Waters and the Town of 1770. These two small towns are situated next to each other and are located at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. The Town of 1770 was named after Captain James Cook when he anchored his ship, the Endeavour, here on Wednesday, May 24, 1770. It was only the second time during the voyage that Captain Cook had set foot on Australian soil and his first venture on dry land at what is now called Queensland.
Read MoreIt took us a little over two hours to drive from Brisbane to Noosa. Our first stop upon arrival was to Mt. Tinbeerwah. You can drive almost to the top of the hill and then it is a short half-mile walk to the viewing platform. In the distance, you can see the town of Noosa and the Pacific Ocean. It was a bit cloudy when we got there, but the views were still very pretty.
Read MoreWe are continuing our drive up the eastern coast of Australia and made our way from Byron Bay to Brisbane. On the way to Brisbane, we passed through the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast is located on the southeast corner of Queensland and stretches for 35 miles along the coastline. Over 500,000 people live in this region. We did not make plans to stay in this area, so wanted to be sure to stop and tour around a bit. Alex and I parked the car at Burleigh Heads Beach and walked the length of the beach. In the distance, you can see the Gold Coast's skyline. It is a much larger city than I realized! The beach was beautiful and there were lots of people and surfers enjoying the sunny day.
Read MoreWe left Port Macquarie early Monday morning and continued our drive north to Byron Bay. It was a 4 1/2 hour drive and we were both ready explore the town and stretch our legs once we arrived. The main town square has a ton of restaurants and shops and we spent a couple of hours walking around before checking into our Airbnb.
Read MoreFrom Newcastle, we drove to Port Stephens, a quick and easy one-hour drive. Our first stop was the Gan Gan Lookout. From the lookout, you can see views of Port Stephens, Newcastle and the Myall Lakes. It was a pretty incredible viewpoint, and both Alex and I were surprised how hilly this region was.
Read MoreWe arrived back on the eastern coast of Australia late Monday night. We will be spending a total of 40 days driving up the eastern side of Australia from Sydney to the Daintree Forest. We will be making plenty of stops (16 places to be exact!) to explore the coastline and I cannot believe we are in the last stretch of our travels. It has been an adventure for sure!
Read MoreAlex here!
Rachel and I feel so grateful for the opportunity to travel to all the incredible places we have over this past year. Rachel has done an incredible job documenting our travels so we can remember it for the rest of our lives. It takes an enormous amount of time and I wanted to thank her for all the hard work.
Read MoreWe left Exmouth and are making our way back to Perth. We spent the night in Geraldton to break up the drive before arriving in Jurien Bay Friday morning. We first went to Sandy Cape, one of the many areas to explore the beautiful sand dunes of this region. For $10.00, we rented a sandboard and spent time sandboarding down the dunes. Picture sledding but on sand and you have the right idea! After waxing the bottom of our sandboard, we tested it out and went flying down the dunes. It was so much fun and we both were covered in sand by the end of it! I'm pretty sure I'll be finding sand in my hair for the next week!
Read MoreIt is only an hour and a half drive from Coral Bay to Exmouth, so we took our time relaxing in the morning before setting off. Exmouth is our final stop in the northern part of Western Australia. We will be here for five days (the longest amount of time we will be in any one place for the rest of our travels in Australia!). Once we leave Exmouth, we will be driving back down towards Perth with a couple more stops before leaving the West Coast.
Read MoreWe left Shark Bay early Tuesday morning to make the six-hour drive to Coral Bay. We stopped once in Carnarvon to stock up on groceries and fuel. I read online groceries get more expensive from here on out. The town of Carnarvon is known for its thriving agricultural industry due to the Gascoyne River and aquifer which supports several local banana, mango, papaya and vegetable plantations. We made a stop at Bumbak’s where we each tried one of their chocolate covered frozen bananas and shared a banana milkshake. It was a potassium-filled lunch! Ha! The frozen bananas were delicious and I already told Alex we’ll be making another stop in Carnarvon when we make the return trip back to Perth.
Read MoreWe arrived back to mainland Australia after a seven-hour flight from New Zealand. When we started the process of going through customs, we were flagged and unable to use the automated entry machines despite not having any problems using these when we entered the country the first time after arriving from the States. We were then escorted to a separate (and off the beaten track desk) where we proceeded to be questioned by the customs agent. She wanted to know exactly where we had been in Australia and exactly where we would be spending the next two months. We also were asked to provide our outgoing flight information and details about our credit card limits and how much cash we were carrying (I had exactly $15.00 Australian dollars in my wallet!). Once we answered all the questions and she entered them into the system, we were free to go! My goodness, they do not want us to stay any longer! Ha!
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