Hello!
Firstly, I apologise for the ridiculously belated nature of this post! I meant to update my blog before my family arrived, but alas! I forgot, and as such am about a month behind!
From where I left off last time, I had a fairly uneventful few weeks of uni, interspersed with evenings at work and the odd beach day. Borrrrring. But..!
On the 31st of March, I headed down to Sydney to meet my parents and little sister, fresh off their planes from Perth and the UK, respectively. We did the typical tourist thing in Sydney - seeing the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, breakfast by Circular Quay and dinner by Darling Harbour.
 |
| <3 |
We headed to Bondi to bake on the beach, walk to Clovelly, watch the surfers at Tamarama and the swimmers at the Icebergs club on Bondi.
 |
| The family at Bondi |
 |
| The iconic Bondi Icebergs pool |
On the third day, we headed to Manly aboard the famous ferry. The views along the way were gorgeous, as was Manly itself. It's a much nicer, more chilled out town than Bondi. The beach is still beautiful - and rather exciting, as it played host to my first ever shark experience! A large shark was spotted 600m up the beach and the water was evacuated - but sure enough, the surfers were back amongst the waves within the hour! We also spotted a small juvenile shark in a bay further along the coast! In the evening, we had dinner on a balcony overlooking the beach, followed by free Ben and Jerry's courtesy of the scoopshop next door!
 |
| Views from the ferry |
 |
| YESSSS |
 |
| Manly Beach |
From Sydney, we headed up to Newcastle for a couple of days. I showed my family around my adopted hometown, took them to my favourite eateries and, of course, the beach! We also drove up to Shoal Bay and Zenith Beach for the day.
Our next stop was Brisbane. We spent a lovely few days with family up in Queensland, before briefly nipping back to New South Wales for a few nights in Byron Bay. I absolutely love Byron - it's so chilled out, and the people are so friendly. Everywhere you look, there are surfers, hippies, musicians, poets, travellers... It's such a melting-pot of people and cultures. We walked up to Cape Byron, explored the shops, ate lots of gelato, went surfing, and had a night out with some of the Novocastrians, who had road tripped there for the week.
 |
| Beautiful Byron |
 |
| :) |
 |
| Little sister the surfer girl! |
 |
| Watching a pod of dolphins from the beach |
We ventured back to Brisbane for a few days, in which we explored the city and went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary - my third visit in 7 months! It's always fun though, and was lovely cuddling the koalas and roos again.
 |
| Evie's new friend |
Our next stop on the family tour took us over 'the Ditch' to New Zealand. We flew into Auckland, and spent a day exploring the city, the art gallery and the shops. I even bought jeans!!! (For those of you who know me, you'll know how big a deal this is. I cannot find jeans long enough for me, ever ever ever. This is only my second pair of jeans, the other pair I have owned for six years...)
 |
| Auckland Art Gallery |
From Auckland, we drove down to Waitomo, to go Black Water Rafting in the Waitomo Caves. We were kitted out in thick wetsuits and helmets, then launched through the caves on tyre inner tubes, jumping off waterfalls, gazing at glow worms, and freezing our arses off in the process! It was so fun though, and the sight of hundreds of thousands of glow worms above me as I floated along the underground river in pitch darkness was incredible.
Our next stop was Lake Taupo. I didn't make it to Taupo when I visited NZ with the girls, so I was really happy to get there with my family It was absolutely beautiful! We visited Huka Falls and went on a cruise up the river. We also walked around the lake and explored the town. The weather was perfect: chilly, but so, so clear and sunny, and the lake was like glass. Watching the sun set over the lake was beautiful.
 |
| LOOK! JEANS! |
 |
| Huka Falls |
 |
| Lake Taupo at dusk |
Next up on the journey was Rotorua, but on the way we visited the Orakei Korako geothermal park. It was a beautiful setting - accessed via a short boat ride over the lake - and made for a lovely walk. The geology of the area was amazing. We stopped for lunch by the lake, which was beautiful.
 |
| Orakei Korako - the Hidden Valley |
In Rotorua, we familiarised ourselves with the ever-present and lingering odour of sulphur, and set out exploring the town. There was more to it than I realised whilst exploring it back in January with the girls. We wandered along the lake shore, explored a Maori settlement, and - yes - went to Pak'n'save. It had to be done. The IKEA warehouse of kiwi supermarkets is a bizarre experience.
 |
| Beautiful Lake Rotorua |
We also drove to the Skyline Gondola, for a trip up the mountain. At the top, Evie and I dragged our parents down the Luge, with Dad speeding along at approximately 1.1mph. Once Mum and Captain Slow headed off for a walk, Eves and I took on the advanced track, causing Evie to make an accidental off-road detour!
 |
| Helmet losers |
Back at lake-level, we visited the Polynesian Spa, which was beautiful. Soaking in the 40-degree waters at the lake edge - complete with panoramic views - was amazing.
 |
| Perfect. |
All too soon, it was time to head back to Auckland, and begin the journey home. We had a birthday dinner for Evie, who had the misfortune of spending her 17th birthday flying back home. On the upside, the time difference extended her birthday to an impressive 36 hours!
At Sydney airport, I bid farewell to my family for my last 8 weeks in Australia. It's so strange to think that I'll be back home so soon! Eight weeks is nothing! I am excited to go home and see everyone, but I am so dreading leaving my life here! I have had the most amazing year, and it has gone by far, far too fast. All good things must come to an end, but I know for sure that I will be back. After a year like this, nothing could keep me away.
 |
| A beautiful Taupo sunset. |
No comments:
Post a Comment