One to Remember.

You can't fly halfway across the world, all the way to Sydney, and not visit what are quite possibly the most touristy destinations in the world: the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I wouldn't say they were my favourite places that we visited while in Sydney, but I do think that they are worth the visit, even if it's just to say you've done it. We opted not to do the bridge climb and chose instead to walk around the botanic gardens, mainly so that we could sit in Mrs Macquerie's chair (which is bloody hard to find and even now I'm certain we didn't actually find it, we were just sat on a random rock), from where we got a great view of the bridge and Opera House together. As it was Winter in Australia, the day started off pretty cold and damp, but the clouds soon burnt out and we were left in short-sleeved t-shirts, so decided to head to the Chinese Garden of Friendship. After all, Meg and I have been best friends for seventeen years, so I'd say we're qualified to go there... While we, like most, did admire the architecture and beauty of the gardens, we did also spend an hour pretending to be Mulan. Good old Disney... 

Exploring Sydney & Meeting Ryan Gosling.

I could have included the Royal family, Rebel Wilson, Brad Pitt, Harold from Neighbours and many other celebrities in the title of this post, but the babe that is Ryan Gosling just holds a special place in my heart, and me including his name definitely wasn't clickbait... Taking a photo with a waxwork figure of someone at Madame Tussauds still counts as meeting them, right?? As well as visiting Madame Tussauds, we also visited other tourist attractions such as two different aquariums (which I liked), the zoo (which I hated and was awful) and, my personal favourite, the Sky Tower, where we were treated to a 4D cinema experience before visiting the tower itself, with 360º views of the city. We also visited Hyde Park (I swear everywhere in Australia is just named after places in England. #ORIGINALITY), the ANZAC Museum, which was incredibly moving, St Mary's cathedral, where we got to witness the joy and randomness that is Christmas in July, Cadmans Cottage (the oldest building in Sydney), and quite a few museums, my favourite thing to do when visiting a new place. My favourite was the Powerhouse museum, mainly because I'm a geek who loves anything and everything to do with Science. Who else would take a photo with a giant periodic table just because she knows it off by heart (I'm still proud of that)? They also had a fashion exhibition on at the time, meaning they were combining my two favourite things: fashion and science. It was so fascinating to find out all about Isabella Blow's work and the years she spent mentoring Alexander McQueen, even if it did come to a tragic end. 

I Got (Another) Tattoo & The Highest Cablecar in the World...

Hugging kangaroos and koalas, taking the scenic Karanda railway up through the mountains to see the whole of Cairns and the amazing waterfall up in the mountains and then the highest cable car in the world over Cairns rainforest... I couldn't think of a better way to spend my penultimate day in Cairns. Actually, I can, and Meg and I definitely topped it. As well as doing all of that, we piled on the make-up to hide our hideous sunburn and decided it was time for a night out, especially as it was the 4th of July (because, you know, Australia definitely celebrate that). Now I'm known for being quite spontaneous, but even I didn't expect to stop off and get a tattoo on my way to the bar. I didn't even know what I wanted until I was sat in the chair, and that's when I realised that I wanted something to commemorate my travels, so I got a plane on my wrist. This is my second tattoo and, just like with the first, my family didn't speak to me for about a week. Who wants to tell them that I have two more booked in for September? At the bar, we were treated to goldfish racing (Nemo won), wet t-shirt competitions, a group of Japenese people that wouldn't leave us alone (story time: I was in the middle of making out with someone and he kept tapping me on the shoulder), plenty of fit Australians and half price vodkas; eight vodkas for $32, plus drinks bought by other people and a few shots, yet I still wondered why I had a sore head the next day. Good times. 

Finding Nemo & Dory at The Great Barrier Reef!

I've definitely ticked off a fair few things off my bucket list this year, including visting the Great Barrier Reef. After years of watching David Attenborough documentaries (don't tell me you've never done the same), I was determined to see it for myself. We booked ourselves onto a day trip to Green Island and it was on the journey there that we both discovered that we don't get seasick, unlike half the population of Asia, who also seemed to be on the boat, who spent the hour long trip throwing up over the side of the boat and sucking on ice. Nice. We were booked to go far out into the reef to go scuba-diving and snorkelling, but a storm unfortunately put an end to that, so we had to stay a little bit more inland. Because we stayed reasonably close to shore, where everyone is allowed to swim and explore, we really noticed just how much had changed. It wasn't the vibrant and colourful place it once was, but brown and, well, a bit dead... Don't get me wrong, it was still an amazing experience, I just wish we could have gone further out! There was still plenty of sealife to see though, and we even managed to see Nemo and Dory. It started off as a pretty cloudy day, and Meg and I made the rookie error of not wearing sunblock. Massive mistake. We both fell asleep and woke up to full sun. We have never been so sunburnt in our entire lives. I actually wanted to cry. The fit lifeguard made everything a little better though...

Surrounded by Wild Dolphins...

My last day in Perth was definitely one to remember, mainly because I was joined by my best friend, who had flown all the way from the UK to join me for the final two weeks of my adventure. I had been in Western Australia for six months and even I hadn't seen anything, so my Aunt and I hatched a plan to show Meg the best of what Perth, where I was based, had to offer. We drove quite far up the coast, stopping off at various beaches (the beaches in Perth are some of the best I've ever seen), stopped off for some lunch with a view, went into the city, watched Perth's famous orange sunsets and spent the final few hours before our flight to Cairns kayaking. One of the main things I'd wanted to do in Perth was see wild dolphins. I'd seen them briefly, but not as close as I'd have liked. Clearly Meg is my lucky charm as, whilst kayaking, a whole pod of dolphins surrounded us and started jumping in and out of the water! Both of us were so mesmerised and shocked that we didn't even reach for our phones or cameras, we just lived in the moment... Definitely an amazing way to end a great trip!