From the North to Down Under – A Solo Travel Journey
If you follow me on Instagram (@birdidraws) you would’ve noticed that I took a 3-week holiday to Australia. Some friends thought I was gone for so long that I actually moved there 😅. Well, after visiting the country and seeing just a tiny bit of its glorious beauty, I’m safely saying yes, I would move there in a heartbeat!
Wait, why Australia?
Aside from having a few friends residing there, I’ve had Australia on my bucket list for ages. I definitely have a beachy soul at heart - I’m all for the feels that warm weather brings, along with the soothing Pacific Ocean waves and overall appreciation for a work-life balance. Australia has all of that, and more. I planned my trip so I would be travelling during their mid-summer (mid-January until mid-February) so it definitely brought the heat and humidity! Planning this trip took about 4-5 months after talking to a few friends about the idea, mostly because of my work and ensuring I wasn’t rushing to meet deadlines. I’m definitely a Type A - I like knowing where I’m going, finding the best excursions and accommodation, etc. 😅
soooo… tell me About The Places you saw!
I booked my trip with the fewest layovers (highly recommend - thank yourself later for this) and flew through LA to Sydney. Shoutout to Virgin Airlines because for my first long-haul flight ever (yes, I haven’t even visited India lol), I felt so at ease and amped for the trip! I pretty much did an east coast tour – I landed in Sydney and spent about 5 days there, flew over to Melbourne for 3 days, then jetted off to Cairns, Byron Bay and the Gold Coast for 6 days collectively. I capped off my trip in Sydney for another 5 days since I have friends living there and wanted to spend time with them 😊. If you’re considering the trip, and I highly recommend you add it to your list, here are some places I visited along with links to my recommended experiences!
Palm Beach, Sydney
Sydney: Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair for a lovely view of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, Royal Botanic Gardens, the Bondi-to-Coogee coastal walk (you’ll pass through the infamous Bondi beach, along with Tamarama and Bronte), Manly, Taronga Zoo, Darling Harbour and its many attractions, Sydney Observatory, Hyde Park, The Grounds of Alexandria, Palm Beach, Manly
For my artsy friends: Museum of Contemporary Art and Art Gallery NSW are must-sees
Highly rate this Airbnb in Woolloomooloo - I truly felt like I was at home!
Melbourne: Hosier Lane, National Gallery of Victoria (easily my favourite gallery thus far), St. Kilda, the Great Ocean Road to see the 12 Apostles and more, the Queen Victoria Summer Market
I booked my Great Ocean Road experience with Pete from Airbnb and really enjoyed it! He was super charismatic, knowledgeable and genuinely an amazing tour guide, and coincidentally my trip had four other girls from Toronto as well. Check out his experiences on Airbnb – he also has other Melbourne experiences as well, like wine tastings, surf lessons, etc.
Melbourne easily reminded me of Toronto except with much nicer weather! So many good restaurants, things to do, and cafes to explore. You can definitely spend more than 3 days here!
Cairns: the Great Barrier Reef! I’m sure there’s more to do there, but I mainly wanted to see this. It was a very vacation-town and natural vibe, and you can easily meet many new people and fellow backpackers here! From Cairns, you can plan mini trips out to the Whitsundays and Hamilton Island, and explore more inland to visit the Daintree Rainforests.
I booked my reef tour with Seastar - a great choice if you want a smaller class experience, with more time in the water. I’m not a very good swimmer and I was able to snorkel in the ocean with no problem, since the guides were amazingly helpful and encouraging! We explored Michaelmas Cay and Hastings Reef. They also educated us on reef reforestation and how the corals aren’t actually dying, but obviously we should do our part to minimize our ecological footprint. Little things add up!
Byron Bay: oh how I love this town and their hipster, bohemian vibes. Hit up Byron to see the most picturesque beaches, great surf and quaint town of shops and cafes. They’re known for their healthy food culture so it’s a dream for vegans and vegetarians! Make time to see Wategos Beach, have brunch at Folk and Bayleaf, dinner at The Treehouse and shop around town.
Gold Coast: also known as the Vegas of Australia – a great city for partying and enjoying the beach with groups of friends. It was raining heavily while I stayed there so I mostly shopped at Pacific Fair Mall which was the prettiest mall with daybeds, fountains and outdoor sections of shops.
Thoughts around solo travelling
This was my first time going mostly solo for a trip - but in all honesty, it was the most liberating experience I’ve ever had. I was able to curate three entire weeks to things I enjoyed doing, without feeling like I was taking up someone else’s time for their activities. I’m also mostly introverted so I thoroughly enjoy spending time on my own - I journaled, sketched, explored cities by walking around (just as I do in Toronto) and spent time with new friends. Australians truly understand the balance between work and life, and that’s something I will always take with me. I also found them to be really friendly, especially when they asked about my plans while travelling - they’d even suggest places to visit! Nothing beats a local’s advice. 👏🏼 You’ll instantly bond with fellow backpackers in hostels, as mostly everyone is solo-travelling which is something I loved about Byron Bay. As a Canadian too, you’ll hear lots of people tell you how they want to visit to simply see snow! It made me realize that Australia is like Canada, but with much warmer weather 🌞
Byron Bay
questions from iNstagram
I asked my community on Instagram to submit any questions they had for me about my trip, so here are some answers!
What are the best sightseeing spots / find the best views? Honestly, every ocean-residing city is gorgeous in Australia which happens to be all of its main cities 😅. I'm sure you can Google some more places, but here are a few to get you started:
Sydney: For ocean views and nature vantage points, head to Palm Beach, Bondi-to-Coogee coastal walk, and the Blue Mountains. For the skyline, check out Taronga Zoo, Mrs. Macquarie’s chair, Opera Bar, the Sydney Tower Eye and Darling Harbour.
Melbourne: the Yarra river, the Great Ocean Road
Gold Coast: Skypoint Observation Deck, Surfer’s Paradise
Byron Bay: Wategos and Belongil beach, Cape Byron Lighthouse
Did you go to any cute stationery shops? I didn’t actually! But I’m sure if you googled them, they would appear. I went to this one cute bead shop in Byron Bay and bought so many shells and beads to make my own jewellery hehe.
Was this your first solo trip? How did you make the decision to just do it despite fear/doubt? Yes, this was my first solo trip! I knew I always wanted to visit Australia but it’s tough to ask someone to come with you, especially with it costing more than your average vacation. So, I saved up, researched and received recommendations from friends who already did the trip. I also have a few friends there, so I felt I never was truly alone! You can always text/call and feel like you’re connected with whomever ☺️. The other factor was that Australia is a relatively safe country so as long as you’re smart about it, you’ll be a-okay. Despite the really intense bushfire season this past summer, the main cities remained unaffected and at most they experienced smokey skies. It was perfectly fine when I went there, and by early February they received some much needed rainfall which helped to extinguish some of the bushfires!
Tell me about the beaches! Oh, there are literally thousands, take your pick! I went to Manly, Bondi, Tamarama, Belongil, Surfer’s Paradise and Palm Beach.
I’m so thankful for having experienced this kind of trip, and I remember things I learned from it daily. It changed my perspective on how to view day-to-day life, especially keeping a work-life balance, and to really enjoy simple pleasures. Australia is a country that is home to some pretty extreme things to human nature, yet everyone is so chill and easy-going. Just goes to show that it’s a perspective on life :)
If you got to this point in my blogpost, congrats! Lol I hope I’ve inspired you to visit this beaut country and maybe you’ll see me there soon, again 🤗
