A quick trip under / Travel | The girl with the auburn hair

Here is your guide to the cities of the east coast of Australia, including my itinerary, accommodation, tips, and tricks.

Last May, I travelled city-hopping around the east coast of Australia. Within that, I spent a week in Sydney, another week in Brisbane, and two weeks outside Cairns. This could help you understand why so many Brits move to Australia and how Australians call us the prisons of the motherland.

Sydney

my itinerary

day 1

Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, which looks over the Harbour and Opera House, would recommend visiting the cafe for the view. My friend and I bought the kids a portion of pasta, which was lovely, too.
Get a cocktail at the Sydney Opera House bar. You can sit outside or inside, but you get one of the best views in the city from famous landmark
That was all we did on the first day due to jet lag and not wanting to push my limit.

Day 2

We completed the classic backpack experience, attempting the Bondi to ecology walk, but we stopped halfway as it was late and we had evening plans. It was a bucket list moment to tick off being to Bondi, and when they say the walk is beautiful, it is. I took one of the top 5 photos I have ever taken.
We walked to Bronte Beach, which was quieter, and had some photo-ops photoshoot moments to send photos back home to my mum.

day 3

We took the ferry over to Manly after a slow start; we explored the beach, which had loads of seagulls on the boat trip minus the motion sickness. It was beautiful. You see the opera house and harbour bridge disappear in the distance and get an image of both together.
In the evening, we had our only night out. My friend snuck a box of wine into the hostel as it wasn’t allowed.
We went to a club, which was great, though I would say that some girls were not the nicest. I, of course, had to culturalism and be Australian with a baby Guinness. ( which I also did in Oslo, Norway.)
Be prepared for expensive drinks, which is why I recommend drinking beforehand, but there is a high level of tax on alcohol in Australia, so maybe buy a bottle of something duty-free.
Also, Australia always gets a bonus point, although speedy food is highly taxed; at least you can get hashbrowns all day long for a pick-me-up.
Also, if Australians say the Cadburys in Australia are unique, they are not; unlike in the UK, they use Tasmanian milk. Some aspects of the chocolate have different qualities; therefore, it does not taste great and is odd. I am not a fan.
day 4
The day after, I went on a date with a guy from the night before. You do not need to do that. I always recommend staying with the people you went with and enjoying yourself
The next day after a night out, no matter what time you get back is a write-off, but I was not wasting my time, so I went on a date. As a bonus, I got free food, which was worth it.
My friend and I snuggled in bed to watch the King's coronation and giggled about British culture.

Day 5

We walked into Central through the parks, where we saw buskers.
I went to Zara and saw a jumper I had bought in the UK in December of the year before, which made me giggly.
We went shopping when I bought a ring, and we loved an Australian brand clothing shop called Glue.
We saw the town hall and went to Mecca and Australian Sephora.
In the evening, we went down to the Circular Quays, went to the opera house bar, and walked across the bridge looking onto the bridge. The Opera house got significantly rained on, but I got the picture. On the way home, I nearly got hit by a bike.

Day 6

Last night, we went to the largest bookstore in Sydney.

Our friend in our room was great at finding places to eat, so we had great food and very Instagram-like places.
That evening, we flew to Brisbane.

accommodation

We stayed in Wolloomooloo, outside the city, but we learned it was within walking distance. The place was called Pacific House.
We made amazing friends in our room, and we then explored the city together with
The thing about our hostel is that they had a complimentary breakfast of cereal and toast, but there was a cafe/restaurant attached, and we got a discount at the palace, which is why it became the place to go.

tips and tricks

if you
maximise your time. The zoo in Sydney is not the best, and I would rather go to the Australian zoo during your trip.
For example, you can go to Blue Mountain or Byron Bay, a bit up the coast. You're taking the ferry to Manly Island; I recommend having some sickness tablets before, as I got it wrong. As it's a smaller boat than a ferry, so you feel the movement more, and the water can be choppy.

Brisbane

my itinerary

Day 1-

due to the poor acclamation, our start in Brisbane did not go as planned, and there were some tense moments and calls back to home

Day 2

We started the day with brunch. We do a lot of walking around, so be prepared for it. I have comfortable shoes that have been broken into, and this started better. We took a walk over to the riverside
We then went to the Brisbane Botanical Garden and explored the area on electric scooters. However, my friend terrified me as I kept going fast and close.

Day 4-

We took the train down to the surfer's paradise, which we were told was the place to go, but it was not that busy. The sun was. Blasted on our faces when sunbathing, but there are hateful restaurants and arcades in the area to explore.

Day 5-

You are all waiting for the trip to the Australia Zoo.
They have their station and minibus that comes every time the train does to bring people to the Zoo. We tried the last journey, and they counted wrongly but still took us back.
To do this, go to the Crocodile Show.
There are other shoes, but the zoo is so immersive, and you do not feel like you're in a zoo
go to the Kangaroo area where you walk around and troke plus feed them.
There are also opportunities to pat the koalas. Unfortunately, you cannot hold them.

day 6

We went to South Brisbane to explore the area, which is a rather trendy and vibrant area
. We went to the Eye, which is in South Brisbane next to the river, and you can see the skyline.
We then popped into the Indooroopilly shopping centre when the weather was not great.

accommodation

We stayed in a hostel, but I would not recommend it. I got excited by the pool and didn't focus on the rooms. This was City Backpackers HQ; some hostels are hit or miss.
On the first night, it was late when we got there, and there were hard insects and not very clean backpacks. We were moved to another room, but it still wasn't great. The blankets they gave us to sleep with had cigarette holes, and that's all they gave us. Our previous hostel had life-weight duvets that felt cleaner and safer, and you had more privacy with a curtain.
After two nights, we moved to an apartment cheaper than the hostel. We had a city view, a pool and a sauna, which, of course, we had to check out; we also found a contact lens on the wall.
We had separate rooms for the only time on the trip, which was nice.
We saved money as we had a private kitchen we felt comfortable cooking in, so we saved some money on that.

tips and tricks

Check the reviews and images on the accommodation and look at the bathrooms. These were the types where you felt like they weren't cleaned much and that you would wake up with spiders everywhere. Do not be enticed by the pool and bar. The pool is probably filthy, and the bar was probably costly.

Cairns

With Cairns, there was no day-by-day itinerary. It was more relaxing by the pool or going for a beach walk, for example, so I will list what I did instead

my itinerary

-palm cove beach, which was voted the most beautiful beach in the world

- we went to Port Douglas for the carnival flag event, which was like a fair with family and friends, and explored the place.

On the way back, we stopped off at Wangetti, a famous place with stones on top of each other. This was a perfect photo opportunity. We also went at sunset.

- we went into Cairns and went to the night markets for gifts; however, I would not suggest getting there late in the evening due to security risks later in the night

- We went to Hartley's Crocodile Adventures, where I paid to hold a koala, a bucket list tick moment. This was around £30 for the image.

- We went to Skyark and did a 50-metre bungee jump, in which I made them play Bad Blood by Taylor Swift. They jumped off the platform and got dipped in the water. This was in Smithfield, and there's an accessible bus from Cairns.

We went on a silver reef cruise to Fitzroy Island, where you can also visit the Great Barrier Reef area. The experience is the same. I would like to see if there are any package deals if you are staying in a hostel or hotel. They might have an experienced person with connections to get deals with to get the most out of your money.

Accommodation- we stayed at my friend's grandmother's house, which was lovely. But there is one hostel to go to in Cairns, and Mondays are their big night out

tips and tricks

If you get motion sickness, get tablets. This counts for the whole trip but is crucial when on the Great Barrier Reef.
Do not cut yourself on the Great Barrier Reef. I mean, that sounds self-explanatory; however, there's a high risk of injection. Of course, I did this and thankfully made the boat company aware, and they disinfected and put a plaster on it. But it was much more than other types of scrapes, and being on my knee, it was hard to walk, which wasn't fun on the 24-hour journey back home.

Places we went too