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Easter Break

Easter Break: 

For Spring break (Easter break, since it is fall here right now), I took a trip down the Eastern coast of Australia. I visited Cairns, Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, and Sydney. It was amazing! I only spent a few days in each of these places, but they were all super beautiful and warm. 

In Cairns, I took a scenic flight over the Great Barrier Reef in a small plane; it was beautiful! The next day I went scuba diving and snorkeling. It was so neat to be able to see the giant coral formations that had formed, and I saw so many different animals too. There were several fish, stingrays, a turtle, huge clams, sea cucumbers, and I even saw a reef shark! 

The Great Barrier Reef view from the scenic flight over the reef. Blue sky above and green ocean with coral formations.
Great Barrier Reef
A (small) reef shark seen swimming under our group when we were snorkeling.
Reef Shark
A giant clam seen when scuba diving (at least a couple of feet wide and sitting wide open)
Giant Clam

Most of the Brisbane trip was spent exploring the city since I had already been there once before. I did go on a tour of a koala sanctuary, though! They had so many koalas everywhere, and it was adorable to see them moving around (and mostly sleeping)! Also, Brisbane has lots of little lizards everywhere. They’re very cute, though, and they move so fast! 

A koala sitting on the ground in the sanctuary.
Koala
A large lizard seen in the sanctuary.
Lizard

The Sunshine Coast was also super sunny and beautiful with really nice beaches. The tide was out when I went, so most of the time was spent exploring lots of tide pools. But swimming in the ocean also felt nice! It was certainly a popular tourist destination. 

A sea slug in the tide pools of the Sunshine Coast.
Sea Slug!
A view of the Sunshine Coast beach - dark blue sky above blue ocean with waves crashing on rocks with some greenery.
Sunshine Coast

Finally, Sydney was amazing! I loved being able to see the opera house! It was so cool to actually be able to see it in person and walk around it!  I went to another koala sanctuary here and saw some other fascinating animals.  I learned what an echidna is. They’re adorable too!  Next was Bondi Beach, with an outdoor pool right by the ocean. It was amazing to swim there! (Definitely cold and salty though). 

Sydney Opera House from across the Harbour.
Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opear House reflecting in the water at night from on the Harbour bridge.

Sleepy koala in its tree.
Sleepy Koala
Echidna seen in the koala sanctuary (a bit like a hedgehog).
Echidna!
View of the Bondi Beach pool next to the ocean.  The waves were crashing on the rocks.
Bondi Beach

This was definitely a nice break from school work, and it was absolutely amazing to see so many different animals and places that Australia has to offer!

– Caley



Weekend Trip to Brisbane

Caley Haydu
Spring 2024
Australia

April 08, 2024

Weekend Trip to Brisbane: 

About a week ago, I decided to take a weekend trip to Brisbane, Australia. I left Saturday around 5:30 pm and arrived in Brisbane around 6:40 pm (I thought it would be a very short flight but it turns out there was a time change). Not a very long flight regardless, only about 2 hours!

They even gave you a warm snack and chocolate for your refreshment which was fantastic! The airports in Australia were also super easy to navigate. They felt a lot simpler than the SeaTac or PDX airports. Lots of people just had their boarding pass on their phones and you were able to just walk in the door straight up to security. There was no line on the way to Brisbane, which was awesome! It only took about a minute to send my stuff through and get checked. A lot less stressful than home and they even let you keep water in your water bottle! 

AIRPLANE snacks were a warm cupcake, cocoa and bottle of water.

Airplane snacks

I took an uber to the hotel room I was staying at, which was only about a 10-minute drive. I asked one of the airport workers the best way to get to the hotel, and after they looked at the public transport routes they suggested an Uber (it was going to be over an hour and a half by public transport). Airport staff members are so nice here! It’s awesome! A much friendlier experience than some I have had back home. I spent Saturday evening finishing up some homework so I could explore on Sunday! 

Sunday morning I enjoyed some complimentary breakfast and then headed out to the city. It was about a 30-minute ride by bus, so not too bad. I did end up learning though that in Brisbane you have to hail the bus drivers to get them to stop; in Melbourne, they just stop if they see you. That was different and I was glad I found out before I ended up missing a bus!

Since I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do, I just set off exploring. There was one bakery (Brooki Bakery) that I was planning to go to, so that was my first stop. I bought a nutella cupcake and a chocolate fudge brownie (both of which were quite delicious). I then headed down to a river walk along the Brisbane River. It was super cool because the city is built all the way up to the edge of the river and it reminded me of Seattle back home! 

A nutella cupcake drizzed with chocolate.The desserts I got

 

A botanic garden with green trees and a white goose. A small lizard on top of dry branches.

The animals in the gardens

Eventually I made my way to the Brisbane botanic gardens. They were super cool! (I think I liked them a bit more than the Melbourne gardens actually). There were so many cool plants and animals. I saw some new types of birds and even some really big lizards! It definitely seems very tropical in Brisbane. Back in Melbourne there are some green areas but the majority seem to be shades of brown.

The gardens here even have “fairy trees” (trees with fairy lights on them) that light up when it gets dark.  I’m returning to Brisbane for a few days during the Easter break, so hopefully I can check them out! After walking around the gardens, I ended up going to a 7-11 closer to where I was staying to get some dinner and snacks. They’ve have some good options here! Then I enjoyed my night watching a movie before heading back to Melbourne in the morning!

– Caley