G'Day My Fellow Adventurer
Today I'm Coming To You from A Land Down-Under!
For those of you who have been following my story, what prompted me to visit Australia (to be followed by another exotic destination), is the fact that I recently graduated from college (wahoo), and in preparing for that, a year ago my parents and I planned a once in a lifetime adventure – that yep you guessed it – started in Australia!
Now of course, by the time you read this post I will have landed back in America – for if you know anything about me and the way I travel it’s that I like to keep all social media to a minimum (in order to help myself be present in the moment) – as a matter of fact, by the time you read this I will have already returned from 30 DAYS of straight TRAVEL… “WHAT, Meghan that’s crazy”!
Even crazier, over the past 30 days I’ve not only been on 3 different continents in 3 different countries, but also 14 FLIGHTS to all over the place! Needless to say, a couple time changes here and there (give or take an hour to a day or two) … “So, Meghan tell me, was it all worth it” …. YES a million times YES… not only did I have the time of my life (and feel so grateful to have had this opportunity, counting my blessing everyday), but the second I got home I already started envisioning where my adventurous soul might take me next – so stay tuned my fellow adventuring friends!
Okay, back to Australia, my journey to the Land Down Under… now it’s important to note that for 10 out of the 14 days I was in Australia my family and I were apart of a tour group called Adventures by Disney, (meaning we did not plan the majority of the following highlights ourselves, rather they were already pre-booked, all we had to do was show up) – and boy let me tell you, from one planner to another, as much as I take pleasure in creating my own itineraries, traveling with a tour group is 100% worth it! You’re not gonna have to tell me twice to just go with the flow and show up when I’m asked to arrive!
Australia 2019 Itinerary highlights: (in no particular order)
Taronga Zoo, Sydney Opera House, Vivid Sydney (only happens one a year), Sydney Harbour Cruise, Tobruk Sheep Farm, Uluru Cultural Center, Uluru Base Hike in the Kata Tjuta National Park, Sunrise Camel Ride, Great Barrier Reef (snorkeling, helicopter ride, catamaran & submarine experience), Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park, Hartley’s Crocodile Farm, I got to Hug a Koala (& hold a tiny Crocodile), Visit ALL the Hard Rock Cafe's in Australia (& even eat at an Outback Steakhouse in the actual outback), Australian Outback Spectacular dinner show, Jet Boating, Kayaking, Tamborine Mountain Tour and of course no trip would be complete to Australia without learning how to throw a Boomerang at a good ole traditional Aussie BBQ!
“WOW Meghan, it sounds like you really made the most of your journey, but how did you make it to all of those places? Drive, fly… walk? Australia’s landmass is really quite large!”
Great question my fellow adventurer – as I briefly mentioned before, out of the 14 flights I experienced during my total journey, alone in the country of Australia I took 3-internal flights…
Flew from New York (JFK) à Honolulu (spent 2 days in HI)
Departed Honolulu à Arrived Sydney, Australia (spent 5 nights in Sydney)
Internal Flight 1: Departed Sydney à Arrived Ayers Rock, Australia (spent 1 night in Ayers)
Internal Flight 2: Departed Ayers Rock à Arrived Cairns – Palm Cove, Australia (spent 3 nights in Cairns)
Internal Flight 3: Departed Cairns à Arrived Gold Coast, Australia (spent 5 nights on the Gold Coast)
Departed Brisbane (transfer from Gold Coast to Brisbane airport took about an hour) à Arrived Hong Kong, China! (On to the second part of my journey, to be explored in a later blog post) ….
Hotels I stayed at in Australia (official reviews to be posted under ‘Hotel Review’ section) …
Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney
Sails in the Desert Hotel, Ayers Rock (Uluru)
Pullman Palm Cove Sea Temple, Cairns – Palm Cove
Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, Gold Coast
Personal (Favorite) Highlights…
All things considered, while my entire journey to the land down under was AMAZING, without a doubt my top five favorite moments were…
(1) My sunrise camel ride (even though it was FREEZING at 6am, wearing fuzzy socks as gloves, had toe warmers stuck in my shoes and only 5 layers of sweat shirts on… but HEY I rode a camel (named Doc), in AUSTRALIA, got to see the sunrise, and experience to the bone how cold their winter season was… still without a doubt, every moment was totally worth it)!
(2) Holding a koala (now it’s important to point out my fellow friend, that while I was apart of a tour group, this particular excursion of holding a koala was not apart of the itinerary, it’s something we paid extra for. With that being said, I’m SO glad we did, because holding a koala bear in Australia is currently illegal in all states except Queensland and South Australia. Since we were in Queensland when we did this, don’t worry adventurer, this experience was 100% legal, however we were told in about 10 years’ time in ALL of Australia it will be illegal to hold koala’s… so if my cute photo of me hugging a koala inspires you to do the same, don’t waist a single second and hop on the plane before it’s too late)!
(3) Helicoptering over the Great Barrier Reef (now as someone who personally doesn’t snorkel, my family and I opted to add onto our tour group experience with the purchase of a helicopter ride over the reef… now ‘wait what, Meghan, don’t helicopters fly in the air… how on earth were you able to see the reef’… great question my fellow adventurer! While I could go on and on for pages as to how AMAZING of an experience this was, I would like to take this time to direct your attention to the photo’s I’ve included alongside this post of my ride so that you may visually see just how clear, crisp and once in a lifetime this was! Even though I didn’t snorkel, I don’t regret trying to one bit because between the helicopter ride and the submarine voyage though the reef that I did, I can honestly say that I’ve been above and below one of the wonders of the world, and will never forget this moment)!
(4) Finding/visiting ALL the Hard Rock Cafe’s in the country (as visiting such cafe's is a tradition in my family… true story, we once visited ALL three cafes in Italy… I know this may seem silly to you, but sometimes there’s nothing like a good ole American hamburger, fajita, flatbread, or yes even caesar salad, like the one’s you can get at the Hard Rock! Ever since I can remember, my family and I have always made it a point to visit every Hard Rock in every city/country we go to, get a good meal, collect a pin and cross it off our bucket-list… to tell you the truth, I’m not even sure how many worldwide we’ve been to at this point, guess it looks like I’ll be doing a Hard Rock cafe blog post soon just to give you some insight! Regarding Australia, and again, not apart of the tour group itinerary, these restaurant stops were something my family and I added, we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe's in Sydney & Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia… check and check)!
(5) Last but not least, the Sydney Opera House tour (plus getting to see Vivid Sydney)… now I hate to burst your bubble my fellow adventuring friend, but for all my Finding Nemo movie lovers out there… P Sherman 42 Wallaby Way Sydney does not really exist… ‘WAIT WHAT Meghan’, yup, I’m sorry it’s true, but have no fear as both Sydney and the Opera House are of course real! And BOY oh BOY are they a beauty to see (one of the reasons why the opera house tour and seeing light/art exhibit Vivid Sydney made my top 5 list is because I never got tired of looking at it! Every time I did it just reminded me more and more of how lucky I was to actually be in the country, looking at an internationally recognized symbol in person, made the entire moment wanderlust worthy, not to mention I was able to take some great photos of it)!
Oh and but I also loved the Australian Outback Spectacular dinner show, the jet-boating experience and kayaking… well there you have it my fellow adventurer, in case you can’t tell I’m having a hard time deciding what events I liked the most as I can whole heartily say every excursion and every person I met contributed to the overall joy I felt during my trip!
Traveling, experiencing cultures and connecting with others is without a doubt my greatest passion in life – and now that my Outback journey has come to an end, I’m already counting the days until I can go back and visit again!
So there you have it my fellow adventurer, my time in the land of kangaroos, crocodiles, and koalas (oh my), was undoubtedly one of the best ways I could have ever imagined celebrating my college graduation and highly recommend that you yourself visit one day!
Can’t wait to share with you where my post-graduation trip journey took me next… think a little farther West, panda bears and chopsticks… until then…
Cheers!
Lady Meghan Chayka
Comentarios