After I graduated, I packed up my college life, shoved it in storage, and embarked on a 23 day trip along the east coast of Australia with one of my best friends, Cristina. Two C/Kristina's traveling together, both from Los Angeles, lead to some very standard responses upon introduction:
"There's TWO of you?!"
"Wait, Kris..Cris..HAHA! YOU HAVE THE SAME NAMES!"
Yes, thank you.
Moving along -- the trip was a mix of a planned tour through Contiki Holidays; the backpacking/hosteling experience; and a more personalized experience when we stayed with a friend. I enjoyed every single moment and know that this trip will forever rank as one of my tops. So many laughs and memories made with friends from all around the world. Australia has a smiling spirit to it that tints all the memories with a dash more of sunshine.
Here's the long and short of my itinerary:
I) CONTIKI
It begins...
5/29/09 - departed LAX for Australia. 22 hours later, we land in Cairns, ready to head off on our 10 day Contiki tour. We had a had to take multiple flights and endure a layover, so needless to say, we were pooped by the time we arrived (late, might I add) at our hotel. We thought we would just skip the first day of our tour, but no, we just hopped right onto the coach, where we met our tour
manager, John, driver, Youngy, and um, around 43 strangers from around the world. Talk about first impressions: we were exhausted, we were hot, we were sweaty, we were LATE, we looked positively horrid, and we were in deep need of a long shower and a cat nap. But what did we do? We went straight to an Aboriginal camp where we threw spears (left, btw I was having major coordination issues), boomerangs, got pulled to dance on stage (just our luck), and got to know three Singapore boys on our Contiki trip very well.After that, I went on a skyrail trip above the Cairns rainforest, which was stunning, got to know more of my Contiki friends, and then danced the night away at the infamous Woolshed bar. Phew. Day one of our Contiki pretty much encompassed the Contiki leg of my trip en masse: whirlwind-like, lots of dancing, meeting new people, anticipation, trying new things, and continually asking yourself, "am I seriously here?!". Definitely hit the ground sprinting.
Cavorting around Cairns (left 6/1/09)
Cairns is pretty sweet. We spent 2 days there, went on lots of adventures and met loads of cool travelers, including an Australian rugby team. On Day Two, we snorkeled the Grea
t Barrier Reef. The boat ride there was pretty hellish, but the company that led the tour really amazed me at how kind, helpful, and responsible they were in tending to our needs (read: seasickness).What can I say about the reef itself? Well, the water was warm; the coral was...not that colorful (murky; I forgot the scientific name for this phenomenon though); the fish weren't nearly as vivid as those in "Finding Nemo"; I did see a reef shark; I did take a picture with a huge fish named Wall-E (left, and yes, he's real and not as big as he seems); I could not scuba because I couldn't equalize my ears; and I found out that wet suits are incredibly frustrating to wear. AND I found out that motion sickness pills do NOT always work...(ewww).
Day Three of our trip afforded me the opportunity to go white water rafting down the Tully River. This will mark as one of the best days in my life, hands down. I know it seems like an exaggeration to say this, but I fell asleep thinking to myself, "If I died today, I would die happy!" Life needs to be filled with more of these moments.
Cristina and I got to raft with an awesome guide from
New Zealand, and our fellow rafters were none other than our favorite Singapore boys and our friend from Canada (who happens to be in the army. Yeah, talk about an intense crew right here, left). The rain was pouring and pelting in our faces as we battled our way down Class 3 and sometimes 4 - oh yes, 4 - rapids. We flipped over once (actually, our guide flipped us, but still it was frightening because it was so unexpected! Plus, we were by a ton of rocks), literally held onto each other as we backflipped off a waterfall, had water fights with the other rafts, and basically had the adventure of a lifetime. I loved it. I loved, loved, loved it. I went to bed that night exhausted, but feeling the happiest I think I've ever felt - or at least the happiest I've felt in a long time.
My fave picture because you can tell how loudly I'm screaming. Haha.
What else did I do in Cairns? Other than dance my nights away with travelers from all over the world (i.e. UK, Scotland, Canada, France) at Woolshed to the techno/house music that DEFINITELY came to grow on me, I also ate kangaroo, emu, and croc. Delicious!
It was a Daydream (Island)
(left Daydream Island 6/5/09)
Next big stop was Daydream Island, which is part of the Whitsundays. The resort we stayed at was the only prop
erty on the island itself, so you can only imagine how secluded and unreal it was. They definitely named the resort/island right because the whole time I was there I felt like I was well, dreaming. We went sailing around the Whitsundays (left, yes, very glam bam) on one of the days, which also topped my most favorite Aussie moments, because the service on the catamaran was impeccable; the food was delicious; the VIEWS -- ohh, the views! They were spectacular; and we got to spend a good few hours at Whitehavens beach, where the sand is so fine and white that it's illegal to transport it away from the island.
What else did I do in Cairns? Other than dance my nights away with travelers from all over the world (i.e. UK, Scotland, Canada, France) at Woolshed to the techno/house music that DEFINITELY came to grow on me, I also ate kangaroo, emu, and croc. Delicious!
It was a Daydream (Island)
(left Daydream Island 6/5/09)
Next big stop was Daydream Island, which is part of the Whitsundays. The resort we stayed at was the only prop
erty on the island itself, so you can only imagine how secluded and unreal it was. They definitely named the resort/island right because the whole time I was there I felt like I was well, dreaming. We went sailing around the Whitsundays (left, yes, very glam bam) on one of the days, which also topped my most favorite Aussie moments, because the service on the catamaran was impeccable; the food was delicious; the VIEWS -- ohh, the views! They were spectacular; and we got to spend a good few hours at Whitehavens beach, where the sand is so fine and white that it's illegal to transport it away from the island.
Daydream Island was the first place I saw wild wallabies and cockatoos, by the way. They roamed around everywhere.
Ugh. Did I mention that I tried Vegemite for the first time here? Observe my disgust below. Never again.
Roughin' it - Rockhampton & Fraser Island (left Fraser 6/7/09)
I call this segment of the trip "roughin' it" because in Rockhampton, we went to a rodeo. How much more rough-n-tough and dusty can one get? Then on Fraser Island we took a 4WD tour around the island. The 4WD was very. necessary. The rainforest was EVERYWHERE, so therefore, trees and branches and ROOTS, ROOTS, ROOTS were everywhere. It was bumpy, to say the least. But after the forest cleared, we got to drive on the beach (1)! Cool sites, such as the Mahoni shipwreck (2), Eli Creek,
& Lake Mackenzie (3).
Other things to note: Cristina got a leech stuck on her foot during our 4WD tour, and later that night, we made t-shirts for a dancing party, which was full of screamin' rock classics (cheers to Bon Jovi, and hello, Kings of Leon) and dancin' the night away. Viva la vida.
I call this segment of the trip "roughin' it" because in Rockhampton, we went to a rodeo. How much more rough-n-tough and dusty can one get? Then on Fraser Island we took a 4WD tour around the island. The 4WD was very. necessary. The rainforest was EVERYWHERE, so therefore, trees and branches and ROOTS, ROOTS, ROOTS were everywhere. It was bumpy, to say the least. But after the forest cleared, we got to drive on the beach (1)! Cool sites, such as the Mahoni shipwreck (2), Eli Creek,
& Lake Mackenzie (3).Other things to note: Cristina got a leech stuck on her foot during our 4WD tour, and later that night, we made t-shirts for a dancing party, which was full of screamin' rock classics (cheers to Bon Jovi, and hello, Kings of Leon) and dancin' the night away. Viva la vida.
Sweet Goodbyes in Surfer's Paradise (departed 6/9/09)
More adventures in Surfer's Paradise, the final city of Cristina and my Contiki trip. Here, we took surfing les
sons (noble attempt on my behalf, but to no avail; Cristina, on the other hand, was a natural, as was Tim from Singapore). I rode on the back of a Harley Davidson with an Aussie dude named Bob -- whom I thought was "Boar" because I couldn't understand his bloody accent the first few times around, haha. Um, I pretty much convinced myself on that 30-minute ride that the feeling of awesomeness that I obtained from riding on that Harley completely overrode any sense of annoyance I had ever felt towards Harleys for the obnoxiously loud noises they emit, and therefore, I concluded that one day I would/will buy a Harley. Or a bike of some sort. The experience was THAT cool.
We then went to a Dracula show -- very risque, very pg13 -- as a group for our last night out. I fell asleep, they gave me free coffee (woop woop!). We then went dancing, woke up the next day, and went to the Currumbin sanctuary where alas, we got to see, hold, get pictures with/pooped on/
scratched by the beloved Aussie koala (Seriously, that thing is heavy and smells. And its claws are razor sharp. Don't be duped by how cute it is!) & other animals that happen to be Aussie cuisine, such as the kangaroo and emu that Cristina and I had just devoured merely days prior (Strange, if you ask me. As Americans we don't keep pigs or cows in our zoos...).
More adventures in Surfer's Paradise, the final city of Cristina and my Contiki trip. Here, we took surfing les
sons (noble attempt on my behalf, but to no avail; Cristina, on the other hand, was a natural, as was Tim from Singapore). I rode on the back of a Harley Davidson with an Aussie dude named Bob -- whom I thought was "Boar" because I couldn't understand his bloody accent the first few times around, haha. Um, I pretty much convinced myself on that 30-minute ride that the feeling of awesomeness that I obtained from riding on that Harley completely overrode any sense of annoyance I had ever felt towards Harleys for the obnoxiously loud noises they emit, and therefore, I concluded that one day I would/will buy a Harley. Or a bike of some sort. The experience was THAT cool.
We then went to a Dracula show -- very risque, very pg13 -- as a group for our last night out. I fell asleep, they gave me free coffee (woop woop!). We then went dancing, woke up the next day, and went to the Currumbin sanctuary where alas, we got to see, hold, get pictures with/pooped on/
scratched by the beloved Aussie koala (Seriously, that thing is heavy and smells. And its claws are razor sharp. Don't be duped by how cute it is!) & other animals that happen to be Aussie cuisine, such as the kangaroo and emu that Cristina and I had just devoured merely days prior (Strange, if you ask me. As Americans we don't keep pigs or cows in our zoos...). The parting was sad because we had made such good friends with the people on the trip. My posts really did not do justice to the emotional connections we had made during our Contiki; really, we made some wonderful friends who will be our pals for life. And they're from all around the world! But in a nutshell, let's just say that Cristina, albeit the fact that she can be a basket case over any emotional situation, 
cried her eyes out when we had to leave the group. We got THAT close. Shouts to my Contiki peeps!
This isn't the whole group whatsover, but to give you an idea, the nationalities of the people from from left to right are Canadian, Singaporian, German, American, Canadian, Singaporian, American. There were people from the UK, Scotland, and France on the trip, too! Contiki, you rock my socks. Had a blast.
And then we went to Sydney...
cried her eyes out when we had to leave the group. We got THAT close. Shouts to my Contiki peeps!
This isn't the whole group whatsover, but to give you an idea, the nationalities of the people from from left to right are Canadian, Singaporian, German, American, Canadian, Singaporian, American. There were people from the UK, Scotland, and France on the trip, too! Contiki, you rock my socks. Had a blast.
And then we went to Sydney...
