Melbourne

My final stop in Australia! During my travels I met so many people who had already been and had a list as low no as my arm of places to visit (mainly brunch/dessert restaurants) as well as a handful of places I'd seen on Instagram. Melbourne really is the brunch capital of the world!

I spent my first day with a visit to the state library which had an impressive dome and a couple of interesting exhibitions about Melbourne's history. As I left the museum there was a free walking tour going on so I joined the tour for about an hour as the guide led us around the city, eventually peeling myself off to meet Jack, Theo and Astrid for souvenir shopping at Queen Victoria Market followed by Nutella-filled doughnuts at Doughnut Time, which seemed to be the busiest/most popular place in Melbourne! Afterwards we went around the film museum and had fun with the interactive exhibits, filming ourselves in bullet time predicting we were in The Matrix. Later we ticked off another place on my list, the Ponyfish Island Bar, a really cute bar on the river where we properly experienced Australian winter with mulled wine and outdoor heaters. Harry, another Exeter friend studying at Deaken this year, came in to meet me and we all went for dinner together in Chinatown. That evening I went to see what Melbourne's nightlife had to offer and a group of us went to the famous Revolver (or "Revs") on Chapel Street for a rather edgy night out. 

The next morning I met up with Harry again who gave me a personal city tour - it always helps knowing some locals! We explored the street art in Hosier Lane, visited the National Gallery of Victoria then went over to Fitzroy in the afternoon where we browsed the adorable Rose Street Market and had ice cream at Messina (another one crossed off the list)! That evening my friend Meijke who I'd met on Fraser Island hosted a drinks party at her house to celebrate her birthday. It was fun to catch up with her and meet some more Aussie (and Dutch) locals!

On my last full day I managed to tick off the one place I'd been desperate to go to before I'd even got to Australia. I saw an Instagram from The Naughty Boy Café before I flew out and knew I needed to visit when I got to Melbourne. Turned out it was just round the corner from Meijke's house and she also raved about it so it was a no-brainer. Breakfast that morning was an 'instashake' - brownie, Nutella and freeze-dried fruit - that was so impressive the man sitting opposite me insisted he took a photo. Probably just fast-tracked myself to type 2 diabetes and was in a sugar coma for the rest of the day but it was totally worth it!

Harry had tickets to watch an Aussie Rules match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground that afternoon so we went along with a group of his uni friends to watch Collingwood get thrashed by Port Adelaide and tried to grasp a concept of the rules. Afterwards we explored the shops for some final souvenirs and said our goodbyes and I packed my bags, ready to leave for Hong Kong.

The Grampians and Great Ocean Road

Becca far too generously came with me to the pick up point for my Groovy Grape tour from Adelaide to Melbourne which left at 6:45am - I've clearly got very nice friends! Our tour leader, Sid, stopped by every hostel in Adelaide picking people up then we headed for the Grampians. Sid had an impressive music collection on his 128gb iPod and had put together a playlist of entirely Melbourne talent that had us all singing along and shazaming throughout the journey. There was a complete mix of people on the trip - everyone from gap yah travellers to a 60 year old and her 14 year old niece (who had somehow made it on to an over-18 only tour).

After a little drive, we stopped off at Josephine Falls where we walked down to a waterfall before hiking back up. Sid also took us down some hidden tracks that even locals didn't know about where we discovered incredible views and not another tourist in sight. We finished the day at Halls Cap Oval where there were wild kangaroos everywhere, then finished off in a tucked away cabin for the night where we played board games by the fire. The freezing weather was definitely a shock to the system after travelling up the East Coast!

The next day we made it on to the Great Ocean Road, stopping off at more secret lookouts and beaches as well as visiting the famous ones - The Bay of Islands, Port Cambell and sunset at The Twelve Apostles.

Another night's stay in another pretty much private hostel then we were up again at dawn for a short hike to Beauchamp Falls Conservation Reserve. Towards the end of the Great Ocean Road we stopped for lunch at Kennett River where there were wild koalas sleeping in the trees and we had a chance to feed the exotic birds!

Finally Sid dropped us off at our respective hostels in Melbourne. I was staying at Nomads along with Jack and Theo from my tour and the boys signed us up for a trivia quiz the hostel was running that evening. Fia and their friend James joined our team and we went on to win a decent $50 bar tab!

Adelaide

Although the flight down from Cairns was only a couple of hours, it passed really slowly as I was impatiently waiting to be reunited with my Exeter besties I hadn't seen for almost a year. Becca was waiting for me at the airport and we had a very over-excited reunion as we both tried to catch each other up with everything that had happened in our lives over the past year. After dropping off our bags we headed straight into town for linner (if brunch is a thing why not have a meal inbetween lunch and dinner?) at Sit Lo, which we took away to eat down by the Oval riverbank where we watched the sunset.

Later we met up with Beth and their group of friends to do The Escape Hunt, an escape the room experience where you and your team are locked into a room for 60 minutes and have to crack the clues to escape. The ten of us split into two teams of 5 and were put into rooms next door to each other so we could hear through the walls how well the others were getting on. Our team whizzed on ahead until we were stumped by a blurry projector screen to help us configure the final clue. After 20 minutes playing around with a magnify glass and pondering every last letter/number/symbol we could see, we heard the other team escape and our time ran out. A woman came in to release us and show us how to crack the code, only to look at the projector and say "oh, well that's never happened before". Turned out we had a faulty projector and we could have cracked the final code in minutes! We called it a draw.

Afterwards everyone headed to their favourite student hangout, The Austral, for celebratory drinks - after all, everyone was a winner. The girls were pretty tired although classic Becca still had endless realms of energy for a night out. We went to meet up with her Aussie mates at The Cumby where we had a great night out with some real Adelaide locals.

The following morning, the girls and I headed for Sunday brunch at The Marketshed, an amazing little place tucked away and full of organic brunch superfood stalls on a Sunday morning. Becca and I then spent the afternoon in Hahndorf, a cute local German-influenced town a short bus ride from the city centre. Our hangovers had begun to kick in by the afternoon but we soon perked up after some strawberry milkshakes in the sunshine and a walk around town. I popped out for a drink with another friend from uni in the evening to give the girls a chance to get some work done in time for their deadlines the next day. Afterwards I finally got to try kangaroo, as we tucked in to homemade burgers for dins.

Monday was a chance to spend some time with Beth and we got up bright and early to take the train to Hallett Cove for a coastal walk with Sophie and India, two other Exeter students out here for the year (bleeding green everywhere). Beth and I then went for a wander around the centre of Adelaide and had haloumi and chickpea burgers in the central market. In case you hadn't realised, Adelaide has a pretty strong brunch game. Later, Beth showed me round the uni and I explored the shops while she got some work done - it's the end of term so deadlines were looming. Becca came and found me after work and we hung out for the afternoon until dinner time when we met up with some friends of my Grannie who very sweetly took us out to an amazing Asian restaurant, Ky Chow. We headed back for early birthday cake to celebrate Beth's 21st in a few days time then I packed up for my tour along the Great Ocean Road early the next morning.

Thanks for a great few days girls!

Cairns

I arrived in Cairns, my final stop along the East Coast, bright and early at 5:30am on Wednesday morning on my final Greyhound bus of the trip. Although it was a bit of an early start it was worth taking an overnight bus to give myself more time in the day to explore and save myself a night's accommodation. In Cairns I stayed at Gilligan's hostel which had been recommended to me by loads of people and turned out to be in a fantastic location whereas the others seemed to be a little walk away - no fun when you're carrying a heavy backpack.

I made the most of my early start by having a quick Skype call home - something that's usually a little tricky to orchestrate out here thanks to lack of wifi and a 9 hour time difference. Later Emer, a girl I'd met on the Clipper and was also on the 5am bus, and I met up for breakie at a place called Re:hab, another brunch place I'd spotted on Buzzfeed which was just what we needed. Coffee is amazing out here and was definitely necessary that early in the morning!

Anyone travelling up the East Coast will finish in Cairns, meaning you're pretty much guaranteed to run into other backpackers you've met along the way so I was never without friends. The first day was a very chilled one, swimming at the Esplanade and catching up with friends.

Next it was time for a trip to the Great Barrier Reef and I'd booked a cruise with Ocean Free, a really friendly company who really looked after us - lots of good food, fish feeding (including Barry the barracuda who followed the boat everywhere), riding their glass bottom boat around the reef and snorkelling. Two minutes after we got into the water on girl looked down and saw a huge reef shark. Most people thought she was joking until she showed us the GoPro footage! The highlight was definitely swimming with turtles, just like Finding Nemo!

My final day was a Waterfall Wanderers tour into the rainforest. While the tour is usually full with 28 people, there were only 6 of us girls and our guide Mikey so we ended up having a really intimate tour as a small group. We visited all the famous spots including Josephine Falls where there is a natural rock slide and Millaa Millaa, known for the Herbal Essences advert and Peter Andre's mysterious girl video. We also had a chance to spot some wildlife, including a wild tree kangaroo which looks more cuddly than a koala.

Made it back for a $4 (about £2) hostel dinner and a night out at the Gilligan's bar. At the airport now, having packed up my summer clothes and suncream in preparation for real Australian winter down in Adelaide.

Whitsundays

After Fraser, I was off on another overnight bus to Airlie Beach for my tour of the Whitsundays!

I arrived the day before my tour so had plenty of time to chill at the lagoon with some friends from Fraser Island and catch up on some sleep in the sunshine. I'd booked to go on a tour with True Blue Sailing on the infamous Atlantic Clipper - speak to anyone about the clipper and they'll respond with "whoa, party boat" or "sausage fest". I was starting to worry what Charlie had booked for me! Fortunately, I ran into the group of Scottish girls I'd been surfing with in Byron who were also on the same boat and the ratio was pretty even with some really sweet boys on board (although we found out on the tour after there was a full boat with only 12 girls and 40 boys)!

Before we headed off a group of us went for a champagne breakfast at Fusion Café, starting as we meant to go on. Armed with goon, towels and sun cream, we headed to the clipper where we set sail through the islands and stopped off to jump off the boat and ride down the slide. Later we hit the goon until the earlier hours of the morning - perhaps not the best idea in reflection after the 6:30am wake up call on a very rocky boat. Needless to say, seasickness and a hangover are not the best combination. 

However, the hangovers were soon forgotten once we were dropped off on steady land at the stunning Whitehaven beach which is made up of the purest sand in the world - 98% silica. Even though the weather was unfortunately a little overcast, we were still able to appreciate the stunning beach, which is the 4th best beach in the world according to Tripadvisor! We then spent the afternoon snorkelling and sliding down the giant inflatable slide.

That evening the crew organised a 'Clipper Show' full of crazy challenges and fancy dress followed by another boat party for those of us who could stomach more goon. Had another snorkel the next morning before we made our way back to shore. It's sad to say taking my beautifully clean laundry out the tumble dryer was one of the highlights of the day. Finally there was an after party back on land with the crew and our clipper family. We were so lucky to have such a fantastic group of people and was pretty emotional saying up goodbyes the following day as everyone went their separate ways. Most people were up to Magnetic Island next but due to time constraints I took my final greyhound bus straight up to Cairns for my final stop on the East Coast.