My family, and Andrew (who might as well be family now,
considering we broke him in pretty well), spent seven days driving up the east
coast of Australia from Sydney to Brisbane. And ok, lemme tell you, a week in
Australia flies by when you’re constantly on the go. We did a lot, but at the
same time it felt like we hardly did anything, and then all of a sudden it was
time to go to New Zealand!
But anyways, here’s a short little rundown of each of our
days in Australia –
Day 1: Lindsay
and Andrew’s plane landed in Sydney at 8:40am. I woke up about 5:30am, got
ready, double checked my bags, then headed to the Maitland train station to
catch a 6:30am train to Paddington where our AirBnB loft was for the night. I
arrived in Paddington just before 11am, had no clue where our house was
exactly, but Lindsay had mentioned a coffee shop nearby that I could go to if I
beat them there, so I stopped in and ordered myself a coffee and just waited,
hoping I would spot them at some point since they didn’t have a phone I could
call. Sure enough, about two minutes later I see two people with luggage
walking up to a house right across the street trying to get into a locked gate.
It was them! I grabbed my coffee, walked over, gave them both a big hug and
then watched as Andrew struggled to open the gate. He finally got it open, and
they had two dogs, which we weren’t to let out. We got in the gate and it
turned out Andrew had left the keys in the door, locking us in. Next thing I
know he’s climbing up the fence and hanging over trying to reach…it was going
to be a good two weeks!
After we
settled in we decided to take a stroll to the nearby suburbs. First stop, a
bite to eat! We found a coffee shop/pub on the corner of a busy intersection;
prime real estate for Aussie people watching J
We ordered hamburgers and sangria, enjoyed our meal, then explored the rest of
the nearby suburbs, seeing everything from the Botanical Gardens, to Hyde Park, to St. Mary's Cathedral, to the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. We ended up at the Glenmore Hotel for a rooftop terrace view of the Opera House and a few drinks, and there we met the McArthur brothers…three brothers from Canada, who bought us our drinks the rest of the night (from about 5-11pm…we weren’t complaining). 
Day 2: Mom, Dad,
and Caitlin’s flight arrived in Sydney at 6:30am. They had told us it would be
about 8/8:30am when they would pick us up in the rental van so we could get on
our way to Smiths Lake. Well, around 11am we see them FINALLY drive by the
place we were staying…apparently it was a nightmare driving with my dad in the
car (being on the opposite side of the road and all). I think they said they almost
had two wrecks? All I know is, my dad was stressed out from the driving, and my
mom and sister were scared to death. So we opted for me to drive the rest of
the trip…seeing as I’m an expert now J
The only downside was having my dad as a “backseat (passenger side) driver” the whole time! We had a GPS, which, you know, is generally for whoever is driving to look at, but my dad seemed to think he needed to have it faced towards him. And then, when he got hold of a map he seemed to think he knew better than the GPS so we were all sorts of lost…all the time.
Our first stop was Maitland. I wanted my family to meet Mitch and Snoop, and see where I have been living the past six months. We chatted for a bit, gave Snoop plenty of kisses and belly rubs, then headed downtown for a quick lunch at The Belmore; it was their first experience having a chicken schnitzel. 
After lunch we hit the road, 3ish hours later we made it to our AirBnB place in Smiths Lake. We met our hosts Rob and Marzena, unpacked our things, took a tour around the property and down to the water, then went on a hike. After our hike we drove down to Hamilton’s Oyster House for dinner, which was surprisingly average at best.
Day 3: Well,
everyone else was still on American time so they were all waking up anywhere
between 4am and 6am. With all that shuffling and moving around going on I
couldn’t sleep in (which was fine, I didn’t mind). There were kayaks for hire
at the place we were staying, so we decided to kayak “around the bend” to the
Frothy Coffee Café. Around the bend was more like around three different bends;
by the time we were halfway I thought my arms were going to fall off…Caitlin
and I fortunately found our rhythm on the return and kicked everyone’s tail
back to the house.
After our
morning caffeine fix, we headed to the beach. There were plenty to choose from,
but we settled on Boomerang Beach mostly because we missed the turn off to
Bluey’s Beach. We were told this would be one of the calmer beaches, but man,
it was windy and the waves were big! We still had plenty of fun, there was body
surfing, lots of frisbee, and plenty of sun…too much sun for the five coming
from winter wonderlands…they were all lobster red the next day! 
Dinner was
at a place called Huey’s at Bluey’s. It was a pizza parlor; with some of the
best pizza I’ve had while living in Australia (but still not as good at 575* in
Amarillo). After dinner we went to find the Green Cathedral. Lemme tell ya, this place was pretty cool! It was basically an outdoor church...absolutely beautiful!
Day 4: We woke
up, packed our things out of our AirBnB place, and drove to our next
destination, Bellingen. When we got there we stopped for lunch at a little café
called 5 Church Street (delicious, by the way). We had plans to go bushwalking
in Dorrigo National Rainforest, and as we were leaving, an old couple from
California (originally New Zealand and England) stopped us to give us direction
to the site. The old man also told us to “be sure and stop in the old funky
junk store on the way, where [his] his ex-wife could probably be found, too.”
We checked in to the YHA hostel
after lunch, then headed out to find the Dorrigo National Rainforest. We went
on a 6.6km/2.5hour hike through the rainforest, seeing lots of waterfalls, and
even baby bats! Maf, the guy working at the front desk of the YHA, had told us
we HAD TO SEE the “big fig tree” and another “majestic” area in Bellingen, so
we went on a little scavenger hunt…I was expecting a much bigger “big
fig tree.” It was big, just wasn’t what I had pictured in my mind; there was a
waterhole there too though, with a rope swing, which Lindsay, Caitlin, and
Lindsay all enjoyed swinging from while it was raining. The “majestic” place
that we finally found wasn’t so majestic to any of us, so that kinda became the
running joke/word of the trip.
It was a rainy night, so we stayed
up late talking on the covered patio of the YHA. My dad likes to blast the
air-conditioned, which hostels generally don’t have, so he thought it would be
a good idea to sleep with the double doors open. Mmmm, no! When I got out of
the shower and headed out to the patio, there was already a big green tree frog
inside the room! Not even ten minutes later we saw a opossum (which we thought
was the hostel’s cat) jump up on one of the patio tables. We decided to close
the doors…haha. As we were sitting in a corner table the opossum jumped up onto
the rafters across the room, and eventually made his way closer and closer to
us until he was right above us! It was pretty entertaining to watch, but we all
ran as soon as he got above us.
Day 5: Our next
destination was Main Arm. First we made a breakfast/coffee stop at The Galley
in Coff’s Harbour. We walked around the bay then hopped back in the car and
drove to Byron Bay, which was also on the way.
Once we got
to Byron Bay we changed into our swimsuits in the car, Andrew decided to go to
the side of someone’s house across the street and got caught by the owner who
said, “I hope you weren’t taking a pee in my backyard!” After we changed out of our clothes, the kids
headed down to the beach while my parents made a quick trip to get ice for the
cooler and a couple of snacks. More frisbee was played, and Caitlin and Andrew
became experts at body boarding (watching my dad must’ve helped…he’s
surprisingly good). We were at the beach swimming in the water for around two
hours before we were told by a surfer to get out of the water because a shark
was nearby. A SHARK, PEOPLE!!! And the guy said it was “only six feet long.”
Only!? Holy moly, you don’t have to tell me twice.
We walked
up to the Cape Byron Lighthouse after the shark warning, spent about an hour ‘n
a half there taking in the scenery and even stood on the Eastern Most Point in
Australia. From there we drove to meet our AirBnB host and check out our next
place. It was waaayyyy out in the boonies, but it was a neat little country
home. Only two baby huntsman spiders were there to greet us…
Day 6: Our final
destination was Brisbane. We were supposed to be returning the car that
afternoon, and we had finally made it to Avis then realized we forgot to fill
up the car with gas. Who knew a petrol station would be so hard to find!? It
took us about forty-five minutes to find a shell station, by this point we all
needed a beer. So after we dropped the car off, this time with a full tank of
gas, we walked over to a nearby pub. It just so happen to be the weekend of St.
Patrick’s Day celebrations, so we chose Gilhooley’s Irish Pub, complete with
bag pipes, cloggers, and lots of green!
After
leaving there we checked into the Brisbane YHA hostel, then started walking to
find somewhere to eat. We were in the mood for margaritas, so we stopped at a
Mexican food place (but not the one with the handsome waiter standing at the
door to greet people, who literally made Lindsay walk in slow motion). We
ordered nachos as an appetizer, and let’s just say it wasn’t what we were
expecting…nothing like the nachos you’d get in Texas! The margarita was good
though J
After dinner it was time to bar hop, first to Brisbane Brewing Company which
was a pretty hip spot with a nice vibe. When my parents decided to turn in, we
headed to the next place called Lock and Loaded. This place had live music and
lots of hippies with dreadlocks; it was rockin’ and it was fun. We closed that
bar down then asked the bartender if there was anywhere that had karaoke. He
gave us directions to Casablanca, which just so happen to be right down the
street from our hostel. When we arrived there, the bouncer let Andrew and
Caitlin right in, but stopped Lindsay and I for ID. Lindsay asked why we needed
to show ID but Caitlin and Andrew didn’t, and he said “when people look too young
we have to check their IDs.” So I start pulling mine out and go to show him,
but the bouncer says, “No, I don’t need
to see yours, only hers.” That made Lindsay’s night. I on the other hand, was a
little offended…I’m nine years younger than my sister! Hahaha.
Day 7: We woke up
(too early I might add), checked out of the hostel, and walked to the ferry for
our trip to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. It was about an hour’s ride to the
sanctuary and we were a tad bit too late for all of us to get a good seat
outside the boat…so Caitlin, Andrew, and I sat inside and played cards – a made
up way of “War,” Jacks and Fives, and Speed – while Mom, Dad, and Lindsay
squeezed in outside to look at the waterfront views.
We got to the koala sanctuary around
11:30am. We got to see ALL the typical Australian animals: kangaroos, koalas,
emus, dingos, wombats, flying foxes, tasmanian devils, snakes, lizards, and all
the different birds (and a bunch of other things I can’t remember the proper
name of). From there we took a taxi to the airport for our 5:30pm flight to
Christchurch, NZ. We got there wayyy early, like three hours, because the guy
at the YHA front desk had us nervous about not allowing enough time since it
was an international flight. So we sat down, had a nice lunch, then boarded our
three hour flight to New Zealand. Since there was a three hour time change, we
arrived in Christchurch at 11:45pm. We got a taxi and went straight to the
motel and then to bed.
**For a more complete and hilarious
recount of all the events which happened in Australia, try and convince Andrew
Arnold to email me his day-by-day notes!
XO - Cristin
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