Hi again from Abby and Jill!
It has been a couple weeks since our last update and we have a lot to cover. So far we have been on two trips within Australia, our first being to Sydney where we stayed at Bondi Beach, and our second being a trip north to Cairns to see the Great Barrier Reef! It has been truly amazing to get to experience other parts of Australia and get so lucky with such nice weather during our travels.
Sydney being our first trip was quick and busy, we were only there for 3 days so we felt a little bit rushed to make sure we could fit in everything we wanted to do. We went to the Opera House, which was amazing, but we spent most of our time exploring Bondi Beach! Since we were staying in a hostel right on the beach it was easy for us to meet new people and get recommendations of where to go and what to do. The highlight of the trip would have to be surfing! At our hostel, they offered free surfboard rentals which we only took advantage of on our last day. I wish we spent more time surfing but it was so fun to try! With no prior lessons or experience, it went better than we would’ve expected. Transit in Sydney was definitely not as cheap as in Brisbane, but we found that taking the train/busses still worked out to be cheaper than Uber.
Then we came back to Brisbane for about a week and a half where we participated in some classes at QUT and went on a really cool art gallery tour. Brisbane (aka Brissy), is starting to feel more and more like home every day. We continue to get more and more comfortable and confident in our surroundings!
And finally, we just got home from a 5-day trip to Cairns! This trip was a little bit longer so we had more time to relax and enjoy the weather. It was 30 degrees every day of the trip which was amazing compared to the low 20s we’ve been getting in Brisbane the past little while. We did two excursions while being in Cainrs, we did a waterfall/swimming tour called Uncle Brian’s, and of course a Great Barrier Reef Snorkelling tour. Both of these tours exceeded our expectations, and although they were a little pricey, it was 100% worth it. We got to see so many amazing things, waterfalls, natural rock slides, mountains and so many cool animals. I could probably make a whole post about the Barrier Reef, it really was as incredible as people say it is. If you are in Brisbane I would highly recommend you find your way up to Cairns to see the reef, as would do it over again if I could.
This post is getting a bit long so I am going to stop myself but overall, things have been amazing and we can’t wait to start teaching in a couple days. We will continue to explore Brisbane and make the most of the rest of our time here!
Cheers!
