Saturday 30 June 2012

Surfers Paradise

We visited Surfers Paradise along the Gold Coast for a few days after Magnetic Island. We were lucky with the weather so able to spend some time soaking up the sun on the beach, which is fortunate as there isn't much else to do there except party. Regardless, it was a lovely few days and very relaxing. 

Brisbane

Brisbane was another pretty cool city, although the weather wasn't great so that was a bit of a downer, especially because Brisbane has the best lagoon I've ever seen. Seriously so cool! Whilst in Brisbane we visited a tonne of art galleries as well as Australia Zoo (the zoo where Steve Irwin worked). Australia zoo was cool and we saw another load of kangaroos and koalas, but in comparison to other zoos I've visited, it didn't really offer anything new. One part i didn't really like was how much they played on Irwin's death for money off visitors. The zoo shops were full of books, magazines, toys of Bindi, Irwin's daughter- there was even a workout DVD of hers- seriously, any need?! It was a fun day out though, but $75 or whatever the admission cost was a bit steep for my liking. 

 

Magnetic Island

This is where the real Oz fun began...

Magnetic Island is about a 20 minute boat ride from Townsville just south of Cairns. I'd never actually heard of Magnetic Island before I arrived in Australia, and neither have any of my friends and family. However, we were recommended the island by a few different travellers we met whilst in Cairns. The island is very small and you get the sense that the people living on it have somehow never left Magnetic Island. That said, it kind of had an eerie, abandoned town kind-of vibe about it. That makes it sound awful which it truly is not, in fact it was by far one of my favourite places in Oz. We stayed in Bungalow Bay - a YHA hostel, which automatically gave it a lot higher standards than our previous hostel. The dorms were in little huts within Koala Village and were very modern and clean. The hostel's site was home to a number of native Australian animals, which meant each morning we would be eating breakfast with wild kangaroos and joeys. This was just incredible. During our stay on the island we went on walks through the forest and also fed wild wallabies. One morning we went on the animal tour/talk held in Bungalow Bay, where we held a baby crocodile, lizards, turtles, and even a koala! This was so so cool. Really, anyone visiting Australia anywhere near Townsville should not hesitate to hop on a boat across to Magnetic Island because it is WONDERFUL. 

 

Cairns

Okay so this is my first post about Australia. This one is gonna be pretty short as I wasn't too keen on Cairns. Well it's not that I didn't like it, it just wasn't what I'd expected and after visiting everywhere else along the East Coast, I realised I wasn't really bothered about Cairns either way. That said it's the quickest place to go from to get to the Great Barrier Reef, so that has to make it a little great right? Anyway just a few photos from Cairns town and the esplanade, which I have to admit had a lovely lagoon. 


Singapore

Ah I had so much fun in Singapore! This was our next place after KL, and after a pretty crazy bus ride (we got left at the Kuala Lumpur/Singapore border, not even kidding), we arrived in our lovely hostel Mona Gallery Hostel. Everyone kept telling us how organised and efficient Singapore is, and although my first impression was that, 'no, getting left at the border is not organised or efficient' the rest of my time in the city was fabulous! Singapore is a lot more expensive than another other place we visited in Asia, so not great for backpackers on a budget, but my best friend and her boyfriend happened to be passing through on their way back from a holiday in Oz when I was there! So this of course, made it one of my favourite places in my trip! I spent both days at their 5-star hotel, using the pool and raiding their mini bar. On my last day in Singapore Phoebe and I explored the shopping down Orchard Road and wandered about the infamous Raffles Hotel. 


KL

This post shows a few shots from Kuala Lumpur- the next stop on our trip. So by this point Phoebe had joined me again for our remaining 8 weeks. I really loved KL, was a cool city with loads of malls full of designer shops, but was still pretty easy to find a cheap hostel and street food. We spent our time doing the usual touristy things including the Menara Tower, Chinatown, art galleries and sunbathing in a huge park which also had a deer park and orchid garden. Was a pretty fun four days. 


Monday 25 June 2012

Emerald Cave

On our last day in Koh Lanta Josh and I went on a four-island boat trip, where we snorkelled in the clearest waters and had a delicious buffet lunch on a paradise beach. We had a few of the most beautiful photos of us taken on this beach (well I think so anyway, see what you think...). We did the coolest part of the trip at the end when we visited Emerald Cave. If I'm honest I was pretty scared the whole time, but was still loving it- an adrenaline kind of feeling I suppose. We swam through the pitch black cave listening to the waves crash against the rocks. We had to go through in a long line each holding on to the person in front. Josh was in front of me so I got to wrap my arms and legs around him and him take me through (don't worry, we were both wearing life jackets). To leave the cave we had to wait for a wave to pass so the sea level was lower, and quickly swam underneath the rocks. What we were faced with the other side was incredible. A secluded tiny beach with white sands and clear waters, surrounded by other caves.