Reflections: Down Under

I recently came back from the most amazing trip to Australia. I was there for 10 days with my mate Shaye, and we explored three different parts of the country. We went to Hamilton Island, a resort island out by the Great Barrier Reef first. Then we spent a few days in Melbourne, and finally we ended up in Sydney.


Over the next few days, I'm going to share my reflections and stories (and photos of course!) from my trip. I have a bit of that Type A personality in me, so would like to go in chronological order of our trip, but sadly, I'm still waiting for some of our photos from our first stop! SO. Rather than keep all of you waiting, I'm going to start with Melbourne, the move to Sydney, and finally end with a recap of our time on Hamilton Island (probably the most beautiful photos are from this leg of the trip!)

All in all, Australia is a country filled with amazing sights and kind people. Every where we went, people asked us where we were heading and what we were going to do and see. And every person we talked to, was eager to offer up their suggestions of things to do, sights to see and restaurants to eat at. We collected a number of small pieces of paper with notes jotted down eagerly.

And speaking of the people, boy can they drink! No matter what time of day, or where we were, I felt like we say people drinking. Beer. Wine. Cocktails. All of it. Pubs were open all day long (and all night long), and you could almost always guarantee that there'd be at least a few people sitting there drinking. (Our lists of recommended 'must see places' included a healthy number of bars and pubs!)

While Australia was never super high on my list of places to visit, I have to say, I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong! It's a unique place (that has qualities similar to the U.S., and yet, reminds you that you are a world away.) Everyone reading needs to make a trip to Australia at least once in their life. It really is a unique place that we should all be so lucky to see.

To me, Australia will always be a country filled with beautiful places, lots of great experiences, and memories of all of the people we met along the way. Enjoy!