My Trip to Australia

Jun. 20, 2024

I've just returned from vacation in Australia. I spent about three and a half weeks with my Dad exploring the country, and I thought it would be a good idea to document my experience here. We visited Sydney, Melbourne, and Port Douglas during our stay and we thoroughly enjoyed each city for different reasons.

My journey started just three short days after finishing my second year of college. I flew direct from Los Angeles, CA to Sydney, NSW on Qantas and met my Dad at the airport. We stayed in downtown, near the Queen Victoria Building (QVB). During our first day in Sydney, we explored the Chinatown area and bought some fresh fruits and vegetables. One of the first things that struck me about the city was the fact that modern highrises were built right next to old historical buildings. It's clear that Sydney is a very modern and active city, but it is also able to keep its history intact, which I found really interesting. Even though it was Winter in Australia, the weather in Sydney was quite nice. We took the ferry from Circular Quay to Manly Wharf and spent some time at Manly Beach.

Darling Harbour

We walked to The Rocks one evening to see Vivid Sydney, which is an art show where moving images are projected onto buildings surrounding Circular Quay, including the Sydney Opera House.

Vivid Sydney

The next day, we went to check out the Sydney Opera House, and I discovered that the roof of the building is made of small square and triangular tiles. The squares are white and the trinagles are slightly gold colored, giving the building a beautiful sheen in the sunlight.

Sydney Opera House

We then took the ferry to Watsons Bay and rode the bus to Bondi Beach, before returning back to the city. The day before we left, we took the train to Macquarie University and explored the campus. Throughout our time in Sydney, we were consistenly impressed with how clean the city was, as well as the convenience and efficiency of the public transportation system. Everything from the train to the bus to the ferry uses the same Opal card, and we never waited more than a couple minutes for our transportation to arrive.

Our next stop on the trip was Melbourne, and we took a 12-hour train ride to get there. We got lattes from the famous Pellegrini's Espresso Bar and visited the Indigeneous Galleries at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia. We then walked around Queen Victoria Market, which had vendors that sold everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to clothing and jewelry to souvenirs. The next day, we explored the main National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) building, which featured a wide variety of paintings, sculptures, and artifacts from various regions and time periods. The sheer size of the gallery and the number of pieces on display was nothing short of amazing. Later that day, I took a trip to the Melbourne Zoo and saw kangaroos, dingoes, and wombats for the first time in real life. The weather in Melbourne was quite a bit colder and windier compared to Sydney, but thankfully we did not get any rain during our stay. We found the tram to be a pretty convenient form of transportation, and we mostly stuck to the center of the city where the tram is free for all travelers within a predefined boundary.

Melbourne skyline

My first time ever trying Vegemite was at breakfast in our Melbourne hotel. I'll admit that, at the time, I had hoped it would be my last time ever eating it too. However, over the course of our trip it grew on me and I eventually bought a jar to take back home.

We then embarked on the next leg of our journey, flying from Melbourne to Cairns on Virgin Australia. As soon as we stepped out of the airplane, we noticed the climate was very different than anything we had experienced on our trip thusfar. The air was warm and humid, feeling quite tropical. A friend picked us up from the airport and drove us about an hour north along the coast to her home in Port Douglas. One of the first places we visited was the Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary, home to a variety of native species, including parrots, cassowaries, koalas, emus, crocodiles, snakes, and kangaroos. Many of the animals roam freely in the sanctuary (except for the crocodiles, thankfully), allowing visitors to get up close and personal with the animals. I even got to pet and feed a couple kangaroos! Later that day, we hiked around Mossman Gorge, a beautiful and lush rainforst just north of Port Douglas. We walked around The Australian Chocolate Farm and tried a few different types of chocolate. We often took walks down Four Mile Beach, which is a long, continuous stretch of beach along the Port Douglas coastline.

Mossman Gorge

My favorite outing of the entire vacation was our snorkeling trip to the Low Isles. The Low Isles are made up of Low Island, a coral cay that is home to a lighthouse and and a few researchers, and Woody Island, an uninhabited island covered in mangrove trees. We spent the day at the Low Isles with Sailaway Port Douglas, a company that operates fully electric sailing catamarans. We got to spend a couple hours snorkeling around the reef surrounding Low Island. I saw a lot of diverse underwater life while exploring the reef, including coral, fish, turtles, giant clams, and boring clams.

Coral

Like the name suggests, boring clams embed themselves in large masses of corals. These animals caught my eye because of their vibrant colors, which are only visible when their mantles are extended.

Boring clam

Sea turtle

When it was finally time to leave Port Douglas, which quickly became our favorite part of the vacation, we flew back to Sydney with a quick layover in Brisbane. Instead of staying in downtown Sydney again, upon recommendation from an Australian friend, we decided to change our plans and get a hotel outside the city. We stayed two nights in the Blue Mountains area of New South Wales, which is about a two hours northwest of Sydney's Central station by train. The weather in Katoomba was quite cold and windy, much harsher than what we had grown accustomed to in Port Douglas. We took the bus to a lookout called Echo Point, which looks out onto Jamison Valley and the surrounding Blue Mountains. One of the most famous points of interest in the area is the Three Sisters rock formation. Formed by volcano eruptions millions of years ago, these three rocks have a particular importance to local Aboriginal tribes.

Three Sisters

My Dad and I had an amazing trip traveling around the country. We were impressed by both the modern and vibrant cities, as well as the amazing wildlife, biodiversity, and rich cultural history that Australia has to offer. I'm looking forward to my next trip Down Under.