I have just arrived back in Sydney after my two week trip down the east coast of Australia, and so I thought it was finally time for my very first entry!
I know some of you have been waiting with anticipation so I’ll start, and I’ll try not to spare any details!
First of all, Australia is beautiful! The people are friendly, the animals are amazing, and the geography is spectacular. It really is the land down under.
As soon as I arrived in Sydney (after a 22 hour flight), I was tired, but ready to start a great adventure with two great friends Krysten and Andrea.
Once we got off the plane, it must have been 1000 degrees out! The humidity was overwhelming, so we decided to immediately cool down and head to Bondi Beach – one of Sydney’s most popular beaches. I must say, it’s quite beautiful – very busy – but compared to the snow we were just in, it was out of this world!
Once our 2 days were up in Sydney, we headed to the airport to catch a flight to our first stop on our tour – Cairns.
Cairns was definitely one of my favourite places we visited, along with a couple other stops that I’ll mention later on. We stayed at a place called the Collonial Club Resort, which was really nice and met up with our group, Contiki, to start a 2 week tour down the east coast. The tour consisted of about 30 young adults between the ages of 18-25. Now it must be said that Contiki enjoys quite a rowdy reputation… So let it be said that “bottle shops” and several pub crawls were visited along the way as well!
Come Valentine’s Day, the girls and I took a day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. It is by far, one of the most magnificent places in the world! It was exactly like the photos, and more. The coral consisted of blue, purple, peach, and pink colours integrated within it. We saw fish and sea life we’ve never seen in our lives. I saw 3 sharks and even had the chance to play with jelly fish, which I was told were friendly and not poisonous! We wore protector suits called “stinger suits” (I eventually started calling them “swinger suits”) which enabled us to touch the jelly fish and swim around them, without getting stung. They surrounded you on every angle. I was “queen of the jellies”!!
After a couple pub crawls and beautiful sight seeing, we packed up and headed onwards to our next stop – the Whitsunday Islands.
As we arrived into Airlie Beach (this is where the movie Fool’s Gold was filmed – we even saw the yacht they used to film it!) a sailing boat called the “Condor” was waiting for us. This is the boat that took us sailing around the Whitsundays for 3 days in what I like to call F5 storms – also known as the rain/hurricane season! What an experience, let me tell you! Maya Bourgon is now a sailor and a Canadian survivor of some of the most intense and heavy rain falls the Whitsundays have experienced in over 35 years. Great!
We were on a boat with at least 20 other people in a very small accommodation. It was raining as we were getting on the boat, so everything got wet. Once it was wet, it stayed wet, it got smelly, humid and there was no wind to sail!! All and all, it was quite the experience. As my mother once told me, “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger!”. Well let’s just say that I looked a little like the Hulk once I stepped off of that boat!
Once our 3 day sailing trip from hell, I mean our wonderful sailing experience was over, we arrived at Daydream Island. Let me tell you, it was like a dream! Once I stepped off the fish smelling, hot, humid boat and onto Daydream Island land, I was home! We stayed in beautiful accommodation (I think it was a 4 or 5 star resort?)… Anyways, I learned quite a bit about myself, and I now know that Maya Bourgon loves 5 star resorts, and would do fine without the hurricane bound sailing ships! Haha.. No, no. I don’t mean to sound like a “priss”! The sailing was definitely an experience of a lifetime, we just unfortunately got stuck in rain season, and I think that definitely affected our ideals about sailing.
Onwards and upwards, we headed down to our next stop – Fraser Island. On our drive down, we stopped in Mackay (they are responsible for producing 95% of Australia’s sugar!) as well as Rockhampton. In Rockhampton, we visited a family owned crocodile farm called “Koorana”. There was a 3 course meal (including crocodile on the menu, which I ate!) followed by an evening walk around the farm, visiting some of the largest crocs in Australia. This farm had over 3000 crocodiles! Let’s just say we all stayed very close and made no sudden movements. However, a 5 year old girl named Scarlett assured me that I would be fine and then continued to show me the crocodile named after her, her brother, her cousin, so on and so forth! We even had the chance to see the birth of a baby croc! What an experience. Another amazing day!
Once we arrived in Hervey Bay, we took a ferry across to Fraser Island. This is one of the most incredible islands and wonders of the world. It is made up entirely of sand, yet there are several rain forests located on it, along with a fresh water lake in the middle called “Lake Mackenzie”. Now this was one of my favourite places! We stayed in “eco lodges” which were beautiful and had a pajama party at the “Dingo bar” at night! Apparently Dingoes are everywhere around the island, however I never got the chance to see one.
As we continued down the coast, we stopped in places like Noosa (a very wealthy and beautiful hot spot of Australia) and Brisbane (a beautiful modern and “funky” city! – I would have loved to have spent more time there) before reaching one of our last destinations – Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. We definitely hit the jackpot, because Surfers Paradise was waiting for us, with the sun shinning and we were ready to soak it all up! On the Gold Coast, it is a beautiful spot, again really modern, beautiful shops, a beautiful long beach covered in white, hot sand.
Apparently Surfers is the “Miami” of Australia. Unfortunately, the first night we were there, I got food poisoning! I ate fish and chips at a restaurant called “Clock Hotel” and apparently I got a bad batch! No kidding. But everything was okay because I was in Surfers Paradise – literally! In the evenings we went to a club called “Sin city”, where it was “ladies night”. This meant that there were young men dressed up in Australian flags, wandering the club, taking pictures with and handing out free drinks to anyone who could get through to them, struggling past the Berlin wall of girls harassing these poor guys! Andrea and I retired early and crashed, getting ready for our last long trek down to Coff’s Harbour.
Before leaving the Gold Coast, we visited the Wildlife Currumbin Sanctuary, where we had the chance to hold and take pictures with Koalas. As you may or may not know, both my great grandmother and grandmother had their pictures taken with Koalas, and so, it has always been one of my dreams and one of the number one things on my list to do! After having held one, I can say that they are absolutely beautiful, very soft, and extremely gentle. My little guy was so nervous that he pooped as I was letting him go!
Once I had my moment (more like second) of fame and a “near pooping experience”, we went to visit the Kangaroos, the wallabies and several other animals located in the “sanctuary”. I had the chance to feed the “roos” and pet them. What a great day!
On our way down to Coff’s harbour, we stopped at a little hippy town called Byron Bay. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time, and therefore basically walked around the town, looked in a couple of shops before we had to get back on the bus to make it to Mojo’s surf camp.
Byron Bay is another place I would have liked to have spent more time in. Several famous celebrities such as Nicole Kidman, Kate Blanchet and Olivia Newton John have houses in this area, because it is a very private location, where most businesses are owned locally. Apparently they didn’t even want a McDonald’s in the town, because they were afraid of the image and the Americanization that came with it. It was very interesting to learn about.
Our second last stop, Mojo’s Surf Camp (a renowned surf camp) was quite interesting! We stayed in little tin cabins for the night and then we were off to Shoal’s Bay!
Shoal’s Bay was really beautiful. We spent our last night under the stars – that is in our very comfortable 4 ½ star resort “under the stars”, saying our goodbyes to some really nice people and watching some Olympics, thinking of home and missing it quite a bit! It’s funny; I can’t say I’ve been homesick, however, I find that at night, when you’re tired, it can really hit you!
After a morning swim with the dolphins (they came right up close to shore to say good morning while I had my feet in the water!), we headed back down to Sydney – our home away from home for the next 3 and a half months.
We said goodbye to our Contiki group and headed back to Andrea’s apartment. Our next night was filled with lots of gay and lesbian excitement as they took over the streets of Sydney in one of Sydney’s most famous events – Mardi Gras! Let’s just say that after an hour and a half of the parade – once Krysten’s small town Edmundston body came out of shock – we headed back to Andrea’s for a good sleep!
The next day Krysten and I got up and going and moved into our new home/residence at the University of Sydney Australia!
I must say, it’s quite beautiful, lots of room (“more room for activities”! – Step Brothers) and a lot of international students! Our meals are included – which is great, because the price of food in Australia is quite a bit more expensive than Canada, and plus just the feeling of not having to worry about our next meal or if we have the money for our next meal is priceless!!
Well folks, that is all for now. What a first entry eh?!
Hope you enjoyed my stories of travel.
It has been an incredible experience so far, and it’s only been 3 weeks!
Heaps of love from “down under”
- Maya xo
MAYAALLLL!
Your blog is fantastic lady! I can’t wait to hear more!!
Miss you,
xoxo