#madeittoaussie

[thetikitouringlife]

My final destination was to be Cairns in the tropical North Queensland. Tropical it definitely was with several random down pours of rain in the few days I was there that never lasted for long but would have you soaked to the bone if you got caught out! The main thing I was looking forward to was my snorkelling trip to the Great Barrier Reef and after an hour or so fast speed transfer out to the reef on our boat we were good to go. Upon diving into the water I was greeted by an underwater wonderland, it was like I had submerged into a tropical fish tank, just amazing. We snorkelled at three different sites during the day and I saw so much amazing sea life. A reef shark, massive clams and sea cucumbers on the sea bed, clown fish, parrot fish, all different type of coral and so much more. I think it is safe to say that I have another big tick on my bucket list.

[thetikitouringlife]

Airlie Beach is the gateway to the Whitsunday islands where I took a 2 day boat trip on a trimaran to explore the islands. The experience turned out to be one of the highlights of my trip and the 24 other people on the boat were a great fun international group. The water was as flat as a pancake which made for a lot of chilled out cruising around to various snorkelling spots which held a huge variety of fish of all sizes shapes and colours! We also visited the famous idillic white silica sand shores of Whitehaven beach where the sand is so fine you can use it to buff your skin and even clean your teeth! The 3 man crew of the by were fab and really knew their stuff about the areas ecosystem. One evening when we're heading into a bay to anchor up for the night we were even treated to a visit from a sea eagle who was more than happy to spend some time circling the boat whilst the crew threw steak into the sky for it to catch clean out of the air as it swooped past.

[thetikitouringlife]

10 mins up the road from Buderim I stopped for a flying visit for 24 hours to see my friend from the winter, Amy. We started the day with some SUP surfing, great fun but harder than it looks! This was followed by heading inland to a creek for some swimming, it was bloody freezing but there were some fun rope swings so we braved the cold. We finished off the day back on the sea front toasting marshmallows for yet another sunset. A glorious day with a glorious friend who I will hopefully see again sooner rather than later somewhere around the world!

[thetikitouringlife]

My friends Helen and Ade moved 'down under' three years ago and it had actually been a total of seven years since we'd last met up, they now live in a town called Buderim located on the Sunshine Coast and these guys were a must do on my trip over to Aussie. With them now being a family with four kids my visit was always going to be non stop action. Throw a 7th birthday celebration into the mix and I think it is fair to say I had a great time, albeit a slightly exhausting one! It was great to see them, they certainly looked after me and I think it shows the test of good friendship that despite not having seen them for many years it seemed like only last week since we had last met.

[thetikitouringlife]

My next brief stop was the city of Brisbane. Upon arrival it struck me as very similar to London in that there is a meandering river which slices through the middle of the city. As a city it has all of the usual art galleries and museums, however on the banks of the river it also has the unique feature of a the city centre south bank area complete with man made beach, lagoon and lifeguard!

[thetikitouringlife]

Keen to get on with my journey after a day or two in Sydney I started my bus journey with a 12 hour overnight bus to Byron Bay. A notorious surfing hot spot and all round 'must do' location Byron Bay has plenty to see and an easy 45 minute wander from town along the beach and up through the bush takes you to Cape Byron Lighthouse. Perched on the cliffs and built in 1901 Cape Byron Lighthouse also marks the most easterly point of land in the whole of Australia. Another thing that Byron Bay does well is sunset on the beach, it always attracts a crowd and never disappoints to put on a magical show of colour.

[thetikitouringlife]

Sydney - My agenda basically consisted of generally mooching around the opera house, harbour and botanical gardens areas chilling out whilst listening to the buskers and enjoying the good vibes of the city. I also got the ferry over to Manley to catch up with my Morzine buddy Kellie, it is always good to see a familiar face when on your travels and we had a great evening hanging out over a few sunset drinks.