I remember when I first landed in Melbourne and was shocked by the amount of people and the heat. Turns out it was an abnormally hot day. But still, I encountered people and heat in varying degrees (no pun) on my journey down under.
The cities were big and spread out and had distinct subsections of culture.
I learned what it was like to live either barefoot or in thongs (flip flops). I learned the capital wasn’t Sydney. I learned that there were many breathtaking sunrises and sunsets to be seen.
Initially, I had concerns about all of the dangerous wildlife. Thankfully, I was never stung, bitten or clawed by any of those animals. I never even saw a snake in the wild. Did I? I don’t think so. I did see a few spiders and jellyfish, but nothing that threatened immediate harm.
At first, I had a hard time finding my rhythm. It’s difficult to pinpoint why. It’s not like I had to make a major adjustment or anything. Regardless, I don’t think I really settled in until I was almost a month into my time in Australia. That’s when I understood what was on offer. Traveling up the east coast was mainly about enjoying the beaches and water.
Indian Head Views
I was adopted into a large friend group of ex-pats in Sydney. They were welcoming and generous and gave me a sense of community. It was a kind of security blanket to fall back on if I ever needed it.
Speaking of people, my two marquee experiences were on tour groups. Actually, the main difference between having an awesome time in Australia vs. New Zealand came down to people. In NZ, I had plenty of fun just walking in nature. In Oz, fast friendships made the biggest impact. An interpersonal connection can easily add more value to an adventure. Since I consider myself a low-key extrovert, bonding with a few different groups of people really elevated whatever I was doing. I was fortunate enough to enjoy this on a few occasions.
There will always be something drawing me back to Australia. Part of it will be to visit the central and western areas of the country. The other part…I’m not exactly sure. To sky dive? Maybe. Either that, the crystal blue water or the gorgeous women.
It’s certainly not Vegemite.
“Awe, yeah?” “Yeah, right.”
By the Numbers
Days in Australia: 56 Days at Workaways: 16 Nights in Hostels: 31 Multi-day Tours: 2 Hours in Transit (Bus or Train): ~60 AUD Spent: ~$4,342.18 USD Spent: ~$3,192.78 (Avg conversion rate of roughly 1.36)
For those interested in visiting one day, here’s a list of where I went and how I ranked stuff: (click the top left button of the map to expand the list view)
Favorite Places: 1. Fraser Island 2. Melbourne 3. Whitsundays 4. Byron Bay 5. Brisbane
I mean a night bus. But that’s what I was thinking it would be. A 14 hour trip up to Airlie Beach on a budget coach.
It actually wasn’t all that bad. Bus travel here, even with a no-frills company, is still 10 times better than in the US. Apart from two girls yucking it up the entire time, I got a surprising amount of shut eye. It wasn’t a recuperative night’s sleep by any means, but it was enough to get me through the day.
I arrived at 9:30am and went straight to the hostel to set down my luggage. I had the day to kill before embarking on my sailing trip the next afternoon.
During a bit of exploring, I got the impression that Airlie Beach was a place where there was a lot of money. It was small and tourist-centric, but everything was nice. There were fancy marinas and houses with views. I guess it makes sense considering the Whitsundays has one of the most popular beaches in the world.
In the morning when I was packing up my stuff, I found out that a dorm-mate was on the same boat as me. Janina was a 19yo German girl with an accent that leaned more UK/Aussie. She’s the kind of person that becomes fast friends with everyone because she’s comfortable carrying the conversation about whatever topic. She had plenty of crazy stories about her experience traveling Australia. Her family also runs a brewery in Southern Germany, so I need to remember that.
When it came time, we walked to the marina together and met the rest of the tour group. Our ship, the Mandrake, held 14 passengers, plus the skipper, a deck hand and a volunteer. What’s funny is of the 14 tour takers, 11 of them were German. There were separate groups of 5 guys, 3 girls, 2 girls and then Janina.
That was a big difference from the Fraser Island experience, which had more solo travelers on it. It meant that the groups kept to themselves a lot more so there wasn’t as much socializing amongst everyone.
After boarding, we got our bunk assignments and dropped our belongings. As we were leaving the harbor, we gathered above deck to get our safety briefing from deckhand Michael, who was our chef, doctor, janitor and source of information for the trip.
Airlie Beach looked pristine from the water as it was slowly disappearing behind us. Once we got far enough out, the sails went up and we were legit sailing.
Mandrake was built in the 80s I think, and it was a cruiser at that time. Its sister ship actually won the America’s Cup back then at some point and I think that was the first time a non-US vessel took home the top prize.
Overall, it was a pretty low key first day. We sailed to a spot called the Hook Island Pass and moored there for the night. We watched the sunset and ate a pretty tasty dinner.
We had a few beers as it got dark and chatted with the skipper.
Everybody turned in because it was an early wake up call the next morning. Myself, Janina and the 2 German girls, Lisa and Tessa, decided to sleep on deck under the stars. I had to find a spot to put my bed sheet and pillow case. It’s not like there were a lot of cushioned spots available, so it didn’t really matter.
It was a relatively solid night in the ocean air. I was woken up by a few chilly winds and a quick sprinkle, but all in all it was nice.
Greg, the skipper, came above deck at a little after 5am to get the motor running and we were on our way shortly thereafter.
We pulled into Tongue Bay by 7am I want to say. We were shuttled over to Whitsundays Island in two dingy trips and from there went up to Hill Inlet lookout. It was high tide, so we had the chance to see the before/after of the swirling sands a few hours later as the water went out. Quite a beautiful site.
Swirling Sands Pano
We found out that Whitehaven Beach is the most Instagram’d beach in the world. Insane. It’s silica sand is super white and fine. Some of the girls actually did a mini exfoliating session and refreshed some of their jewelry with it.
Since we were there so early, Janina and I were the first ones to set foot on the sand. We got an exclusive exploration session, had a photoshoot at a beached tree and a swim in a lagoon before another group showed up. Later when we left there were around 200 people filing in.
Back on the boat, we ate lunch and made our way to the next location. Turtle Bay was the spot where we were doing our first snorkel.
It took a minute to acclimate to solely mouth breathing, but after that it was pretty sick. Michael threw some food in the water from the dingy as the group was basically surrounded by all kinds of fish. There were a few big and gnarly looking ones that gave me a brief freak out but it was quite exhilarating in the end. There wasn’t much of a reef, but the fish activity made up for it. I could’ve floated there all day watching everything move around me.
At some point we had to re-board the ship and head on. Most of the group were already out of their stinger suits and snacking when Janina and I climbed the ladder. We kept ours half on since the next stop was another snorkel anyway. This was a clutch decision because as we were about to leave, two turtles showed up.
We jumped back in and got to witness them share a jellyfish for lunch. It was a pretty surreal experience. I was almost too mesmerized to mind the little particles that were starting to surface and could still sting. Luckily, I avoided them all.
The next spot wasn’t as good for the swimmy creatures, but there was a much more vibrant reef system that we got to check out. In some spots it was just a foot or two underneath us too, so that was a unique site to see. Again, I had to be dragged out of the water so Michael could get dinner started.
We set up for the night in Sunset Bay, which is a good spot for whale watching.
Sunset in Sunset Bay
Kidding. It was a good spot to catch an unobstructed sunset. We also got to see a mass exodus of bats fly overhead. If you’re wondering, there is a word for a grouping of bats similar to a murder of crows. It’s colony or cloud. I Google’d.
In any case, we ate some beef stew and cheesy mashed potatoes and then fell back into the beers and chatting routine.
There were only 3 people that elected to sleep on deck that night, so I got a yoga mat to put beneath me. I’m not sure it made much of a difference but it was a decent night. Still had a few cold winds, a bright moon and then a more substantial shower that forced me inside for the last 30 minutes of sleep.
We had breakfast and an uneventful morning snorkel before we were headed back to harbor.
The sails were up but there wasn’t much help from the wind. The cool thing was that Greg got out his fishing rod and dropped a line behind us as we cruised. Maybe 30 minutes later there was a fish on. He was thinking it was a mackerel but it ended up being a weird tuna which he said wasn’t very good for eating. He still landed it so we could check it out and then tossed it back. It was fun to watch. Fishing used to be a huge hobby for me in my younger days, so it kind of reignited that desire a bit. I’m going to look for a charter when I get up to Cairns and try to reel some in.
That was the last big thing that happened before we were docked back in Airlie. As we were pulling in, I wondered if it was too late for me to become a deckhand. It was a small and super chill group. Sailing, snorkeling, sunsets. I really like being on the water. Something to think about.
Anyway. the experience wasn’t over yet because there was an afterparty that evening at a bar where we got a few discounted items.
I repacked my bags and took a much needed shower before it was time to reconvene with the group.
The 5 German dudes had apparently been at the place since the early afternoon, Lisa and Tessa were an impressive bottomless pit for food and alcohol based on how fit they were, and Janina was going hard with a skydiving trip lined up for 4:30am. This is when I realized, if not for the first time then once more, that I’m an old traveler. At least for the way I’m traveling — hostel life, tour groups, buses, whatever is cheapest. I had 10 years on the majority of the group. Maybe everyone.
It probably wasn’t all that evident until the next morning. I had to get up and check out early to catch my next bus and I think I was still drunk. It was definitely a cloudy situation. I remember being at the second bar and standing in a group yelling over the music to talk to someone. Then the next minute searching the bar without finding anyone. These two instances could’ve been 2 minutes or 2 hours apart. Regardless, I know that’s when I left. Thankfully I made it back to the right place and heard my alarm.
I was sweating buckets by the time I got to the bus station and really hoping the AC worked on that piece because otherwise it was going to be a touch and go ride.
