East Coast Travels

I have officially been in Australia for over a month! It has been filled with so many adventures and memories. At the end of September, I started my journey up the East Coast. I took an overnight bus (14 hours) from Sydney to Byron Bay. My time in Byron Bay was excellent and I loved the hostel I stayed in (The Surf House). I immediately made friends with two lovely girls from Ireland; Kirsty and Sinead. It happened to be Kirsty's birthday so I spent the evening with them and some guys from our hostel; Sam, Tom, and Finn. The next day, we spent our time at the beach and caught some rays. Then, we walked from our hostel to the Cape Byron Lighthouse. While it was an exhausting walk up lots of stairs, the view at the end was absolutely worth it. We saw the sunset right over the beach and then saw some amazing stars, which I somehow caught on my iPhone. On my last day in Byron, I did the Cape Byron Kayaking Adventure. While dolphins are usually spotted on this day trip, we saw lots of Southern Right Whales. The best part of this experience was when 3 whales swam right up to our group of kayaks, swam underneath us, and bid us goodbye on the other side on their way to continue migrating.

My next journey was a several-hour bus ride to Surfer's Paradise. While I ended up enjoying my time there, I would never visit again. Surfer's Paradise is on the Gold Coast and while it has gorgeous beaches, the city is just trash (in my opinion). It was very similar to Gatlinburg, TN, or Orlando, FL; filled with touristy attractions such as water parks, wax museums, Ripley's Believe it or Not, and amusement parks. This reminded me so much of the cringy parts of America and was catered towards families on holidays versus backpackers. This all being said, I ended up doing some fun adventures and meeting lots of great pals. The first day I got there, I visited the Crazy Cat Cafe and spent an hour of my time with some gorgeous kitties and get my fix. That evening, I met a group of people staying in my hostel who were on an Ultimate Travel Tour of the East Coast. They kindly invited me to spend the evening with them and we all bar hopped together. We had a fantastic time ( shoutout to Joe, Joey, Charlotte, Liam, Gerard, Amelia, Macy, Chloe, and the rest of the gang) and I miss them so much! After that, I was able to try surfing lessons for the first time. I do not have any pictures or videos, but I had the most amazing time and am super excited to try again. The rest of my time in Surfer's was spent recovering from bar hopping before hopping on a couple-hour bus to Brisbane.

Brisbane was a wild ride in the beginning. The hostel I was staying at had a bar attached to it (Birdees). This bar was holding a DJ Competition called Your Shot. It was an all-day event, and due to how loud the music was in my room, I figured my best option was to go and enjoy the music. I ended up dancing for hours and meeting lots of locals. After this, I switched hostels to be closer to the city. I started job searching as I plan to stay in Brisbane until late October. My friend Bri, whom I met during my first adventure to Australia in 2020, is also at my hostel. Brisbane has been a great experience so far. I have been on a day trip to the Australia Zoo, which was phenomenal. There, I was able to pet a koala, wallaby, and kangaroo. Additionally, I got to see the croc show, where the Irwin Family showed us one of the zoo's largest crocs. It was incredible to see everything Steve Irwin has done, and I learned even more about him.

I have been back down to the Gold Coast to Coolangatta Beach. I went with some new girlfriends I met, Erin and Charlotte, who are also on working visas. We saw dolphins and whales, as well as lots of surfers. I enjoyed spending the day with them and cannot wait to have more exciting days with them soon.

I also met two guys in my hostel, Patrick and Aiden, who have been keeping me company and helping me stay busy. It is such a nice feeling to know I have friends who can support me here when I am so far away from my friends back in the US.

Currently, I am working at a bar/restaurant and saving up money in order to continue my travels north and hopefully get a job on an island or boat in Cairns.