#ozadventure

[dorohoffmann]

Cheer up ❤️ slow down ❤️chill out ❤️. Oh, yes, Byron Bay, we happily oblige 😁! #ozadventure #oceanmagic #180forward (at Most Easterly Point of Mainland Australia)

[wereofftoseethewonderfuloz]

Day 7 - two become three

As per usual we got up at six. This time it wasn’t for a tour or a flight but for yoga. This is held in the mornings by the lagoon and it was a great way to start the day. After yoga I went for a run and then met Kate for coffee. We felt very accomplished and had a lovely morning and headed back to the hostel for breakfast. After breakfast and a small break we headed back to the lagoon for a swim (Kate gets all the awards for getting in the water about 10000 times faster than me). When it started to rain we decided to call it a day and headed back home again. That's when alice arrived, she regaled us with tales of her last night out in Melbourne with her friends and we got dominos pizza which we all desperately needed. Later in the evening we went back to the lagoon for another swim, this time in the dark. We had the pool to ourselves and it was lots of fun. We had some more frozen yoghurt afterwards and headed home for bed time and brisbane planning.

[wereofftoseethewonderfuloz]

Day six in Cairns - Daintree Rainforest adventure

Maybe I'll stop commenting on our early starts at some point.. But not today! We got up early again and were picked up by super friendly aussie travis, who said 'g'day' and 'alrighty' more times than i blinked on the whole trip. Our first stop was port douglas wildlife park. It is divided into different sections and we saw koalas, birds and even went to feed the kangaroos and wallabies. It’s like feeding goats at home. We had breakfast there and had a nice chat with some of the old ladies that were on the tour too. After this our tour took us further into the forest as we took the cable ferry across the river. Our next stop was jungle surfing! We got suited and booted and off we went to our first platform. The first part involved a human hamster wheel that we had to use to get our team up to the first platform. From there we were expertly guided to zip line from tree to tree across the jungle. It was an amazing feeling and an even more amazing view to zoom through the trees. The guides were lovely and chatted to us and on the last 'surf’ they encouraged us to go upside down 'because its good for your circulation' ;). This was terrifying but also great and when we reached the end of the line with a jolting stop we were very sad that it was already over. We were taken back to a pick up point and travis picked us up to go to an ice cream parlour (it's owned by a little old lady who makes 26 different flavours everyday all by herself! She does really random ones too, like sweetpotato and cinnamon or something) and view point that offered more jurassic park feelings. Then we went back to the river where we went on a crocodile spotting tour. The weather wasn't exactly cooperative but we still managed to spot a huge wild crocodile called scarface, which made the boat ride worth it. Sadly that was also the end of our tour so we conked out on the bus as we were driven back to our hostel. Couldn't really get up to much more than chinese takeaway which we took down to the lagoon to not look as pathetic :P

[wereofftoseethewonderfuloz]

A day in the jungle…

[wereofftoseethewonderfuloz]

Our first day in Cairns!

[wereofftoseethewonderfuloz]

Day four in Melbourne - let's go to the beach

Yaayyy us! We managed to get up early - kind of ... Well we count 8:30am as early. Anyways, walked down to the Queen Victoria Market to check out all the local goods. In the food court, we found this cool smoothie place where we each got a Clark Kent smoothie - with the first sip we already felt like supergirl. With all that new energy we made our way through the souvenirs section of the market and did a bit of shopping :) As if we hadn't spent enough money already, we found a Cotton On in Melbourne Central and went carazay in the sale section. However, then it was time to do some more touristy exploring, so we took the tram down to the Shrine of remembrance. The whole basement of the shrine is a one big kind of museum on all the wars Australia was/is involved in, but really beautifully set up. The history nerd in me had a mini field trip as we explored the exhibition. After all this indoor activity, we rook a stroll through the Botanic Gardens. We expected it to be like this mini park thing, kinda boring really, but it's a massive beautiful garden with huge trees, pretty flowers and a lake you can go punting on. Of course, the tree hugger was on the loose again. There was a sign telling us to 'please walk on the grass and smell the flowers' which was just mind-boggling. We even found a mini rainforest we strolled through - it felt really surreal and not like we were in a big city anymore. When we finally made it to the lake, we were kinda cold so we decided to treat ourselves to cream tea :) the scones were seriously so yummy! Walked to the next tram station and went all the way to St Kilda beach. Although it was windy and cold, the sun was out and the view over the city skyline so beautiful. We just strolled along the beach and enjoyed our time. We kinda walked in the wrong direction though, so we had to turn around and had to walk all the way back and to the pier. Took a mini late lunch break at a cafe to fuel up and warm up before braving the cold winds and walking down the pier to look for penguins (yes, real penguins!). Apparently they come out of the water as soon as the sun goes down, so we still had a bit of time to kill, trying not to freeze to death. Fortunately, two penguins showed themselves in between the rocks way before the sun set, so we watched them clean themselves and guard their eggs. In order not to become one with the pier, we quickly made our way back in the tram after that and made our way back home. Begrudgingly, we packed out bags, really not keen on leaving at all. At around 9pm we walked over to Ali's to stop her from going crazy over her essays. Because it was our last night in Melbourne, we tried to find some bars and make the most of the night.

[wereofftoseethewonderfuloz]

Day three in Melbourne - cultural imersion

Today we managed to get up earlier than yesterday, but not less reluctant to get up. The thought of the amazing smashed avocado breakfast made us leave the flat and put a new spring in our step. After breakfast, we strolled back to Carlton Gardens and went in the Melbourne Museum (thanks to student ID cards, for free). We briefly went through the dinosaurs and insects exhibit and then explored the indoor rainforest :) It looked super cool! Next was the exhibition on Aboriginal culture which was immensely interesting. They had videos of interviews with members of aboriginal clans, explanations of their believes, boomerangs, toys and cloaks made out of possum skins. Lastly, we explored the mind part of the body and mind exhibition. Jenny provided me with extra information on the experiments and tests, which are really fascinating. After the museum we took the city circle tram which goes around the city.. In a circle. We got off at the harbor for a little bit and then got back on until we reached federation square and, more importantly, brunetti's. We bought cheesecake and a chocolate shortbread something italian sounding and headed towards the river. Bumped into a massive horde of people on federation square and at first we thought we had gotten right into a political rally. Later it turned out that it was just a pre-game warm up for the fans. (Rookie mistake) Took our italian goodies to the southbank and had our picnic on a hill with a view of the skyline and enjoyed the sun for a bit. At around three we headed off to the mcg, the Melbourne cricket ground, for an AFL game. This is Australia's very own version of rugby/football/american football. The stadium is huge and there were 66000 people there to watch the Melbourne demons play against the Collingwood magpies. We sat quite far up but there were still more than enough people yelling BALL REF NO YES AHHHHHHHHH. The game is split into four quarters and in the middle break the kids got to show off their skills on the pitch. After an intense match the magpies beat the demons with 85:110 - quite embarrassing for Melbourne if you ask me :). We all headed out of the stadium and we joined the flood of people heading (in a surprisingly calm and orderly fashion) towards the CBD. We took the tram to Fitzroy, where we went to a bar called 'naked for satan' which serves $1 tapas. After dinner we walked home, stopping for ice cream on the way. We spent the rest of the evening just chilling and doing some washing.

[wereofftoseethewonderfuloz]

Day two in Melbourne - this city, so pretty...

We had a lie in!! It was amazing. After we had finally gotten up we set off to our new fave breakfast place where we had - wait for it - smashed avocado and feta on toast. Its definitely worth going back to have more. Then we went for a nice post breakfast walk through the park, which was incredibly autumnal and thus quite confusing seeing as it is becoming summer at home. At 2.30 we arrived at Melbourne's library for a walking tour of the city. Our guide, Alex, told us about the library and we continued to the old jail where Alex told us about ned kelly (nearly ned stark), who seems to be the Australian robin hood. Then we heard about the history of the Australian gold rush as we walked back through the park. It's amazing how young the place is despite the amount of buildings it has. We continued walking and reached the parliament and the cathedral. Melbourne has the oldest china town in the world, which is where we had a short lunch break. Afterwards we were led through the alleys that exhibit Melbourne's famous street art. The graffiti is impressive and ever present. The alleys and lanes are also home to little coffee shops and restaurants and we followed them until we reached federation square. This is the biggest public space in the city that merges modern architecture and older buildings such as flinders street station. We continued a cross the bridge as the sun set. You could see the baby eiffel tower that crowns Melbourne's arts centre and also the Melbourne cricket stadium in the distance. We had a great view of the city skyline as the sun set and that is also where our tour ended. Headed to china town for dinner where I got to show off my newly acquired Chinese food knowledge :) Jenny mastered the use of chopsticks with ease even with tricky dumplings. In search for a nice and cozy bar we made our way back to the flat, but we were unsuccessful. So instead we just chilled there for a while until Ali finally took a break from her essay writing. Lost track of time chatting and planning our two (-sob-) remaining days in Melbourne.