So, my study abroad journey was cut short due to the global pandemic of COVID-19. I had some travel plans that I obviously didn’t get to fulfill, but I wanted to share in case someone who wants to travel while they’re in Australia can have some ideas of things they may want to do. Becca and I were going to take a quick 4-day trip in between class time to go to Cairns which is in the north part of Queensland. Cairns is one of the places you can take a boat out for the day to visit the Great Barrier Reef. There are many travel websites that offer an excursion where they take you to see a few different parts of the reef. You can snorkel or you can scuba dive for an additional charge. Another reason for our trip was to visit a koala sanctuary. There is one located in Port Douglas which is an hour drive north of Cairns. We were planning on renting a car to get to it which was going to be my first time driving in Australia on the left side of the road. We wanted to go to a koala sanctuary here because in Queensland they allow you to hold koalas and get pictures with them opposed to New South Wales where it is illegal. While in Cairns, we were going to stay at this hostel called Gilligan’s. There are a lot of great reviews about this place and looked like it would be a cool experience and fun place to stay.
The second place I planned to travel to but didn’t get the chance to was to Byron Bay. Out of the places we asked locals about, this was the top mentioned place in Australia to travel to by a landslide. Becca’s aunt has a beach house there and we were going to stay there for a few days.
Another place I planned a trip to was to Bali, Indonesia. My best friend Hailey from back home was going to fly out to Sydney for a week and then together we were going to go to Bali for another week. I was excited for this trip because I would get to experience an amazing trip with one of my closest friends. In Sydney, I was going to have her meet my study abroad friends and take her to my favorite spots. In Bali, we wanted to do a sunrise hike, visit the temples, and go to the Monkey Forest.
I hope one day I can return to Australia and go on one of these amazing trips.
