Honolulu

After flying out of Brisbane at 7pm on November 25th, I arrived in Honolulu at 7am on November 25th! It was a pretty weird experience to live the same day twice! My layover in Honolulu was originally supposed to be 6 hours, but I wanted to take advantage of being in Hawaii (my first time there), so I decided to make it into a 24 hour layover! Despite being by myself, it was a really fun day, and it was nice to ease into being back in America by still getting to adventure, and enjoy some warmth despite the fact that it was now late fall rather than the spring that I had been used to. It was definitely really strange hearing so many American accents around me, and it was also hard for me to get used to walking on the right side of the sidewalk again. But I did really enjoy the cheap American prices! The fact that one of the most touristy places in America had much cheaper prices than New Zealand or Australia really says something about the prices there...

The first thing I did was hike up to Diamond Head, a short but steep walk up that ended with some gorgeous panoramic views of the beach, city, and surrounding mountains.

Honolulu and Waikiki Beach from the lookout point.

Next, I went to a cafe and got this guava-stuffed french toast with coconut and strawberry syrup! Even from the short time I was in Hawaii, I could tell that they are super big on different fruit flavors there.

Walking around town and along the beach.

After stopping for a pretzel and smoothie (SO nice to get a giant smoothie for under $5, since in New Zealand all the smoothies are relatively small and always $6-7), I wandered into a random hotel and found that they had a really nice infinity pool overlooking the ocean, so I dipped my feet in and watched the sun set (also cool to be able to finally watch the sun set over the ocean again, since in Australia and most of the time in New Zealand I was never on the west coast to be able to do this)

Walking along the beach after the sunset back towards my hostel.

While walking back, I happened upon this fun and informative hula performance!

Early the next morning, I made my way back to the Honolulu airport and flew to the Kahului airport in Maui, where I made my connection to finally return to California.

Brisbane

The third and final stop of our Australia trip was in Brisbane, located on the central east coast of the country, in the southeast corner of the state Queensland. Brisbane was one of the cutest and cleanest cities I've been in before. It was big enough to have a bunch of stuff to do, but not a giant city full of traffic and tourists like Sydney or pretty much any city in America. It's also home to the famous Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, which is home to about 200 koalas, a huge pasture of kangaroos, and many other animals. Anyone who knows me well could probably guess that going there was one of my favorite parts of the trip since I get really excited about pretty much every animal. All in all, Brisbane was a really fun and relaxing place to end the trip!

Brisbane!

Brisbane is split by a river. This is taken from South Bank, a cool public park type area with gardens, swimming, bars, cafes, and other fun stuff.

Walking around South Bank.

There's also a cool swimming lagoon. It was so fun to see all the Australian families enjoying the start of their summer after being surrounded by mostly tourists in Sydney and Cairns. 

Another shot of the Brisbane letters and the city behind it.

Walking across the river back to our hostel.

If any of you have eaten with me before, you'll know that I eat literally twice as slow as most people. Well, I'd like to introduce Robin, who eats twice as slow as me - pictures of our plates to prove it.

One of the 200 very lazy koalas living at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.

Lil tasmanian devil is all tuckered out.

A bunch of kangaroos, featuring the kangaroo in the center who has more muscular arms than me. 

Feeding time! They had such cute, tiny mouths.

Selfie with my new pal.

Kookaburra!

A white dingo. So funny how much it looks like a normal dog!

The Brisbane skyline at night, as seen from the terrace patio of our hostel.

Before my evening flight out of Australia, we went up to Mount Coot-tha, the highest peak in Brisbane with panoramic views of the city and river. A fun way to spend my last day in Australia :')

Cairns

After Sydney, which is in the southeast corner of Australia, we flew up to the tropical northeast corner of the country to Cairns. Despite the fact that our flight got in around 11pm, it was still in the 80's, and extremely humid. It was definitely a huge change from the New Zealand climate, and even from that of Sydney. It was kinda cool being in a more tropical and wild area (our shuttle driver told us that there were crocodiles in a creek next to the airport) and get a feel of the true Aussie experience. The second day in Cairns was the day of our trip out to the Great Barrier Reef - the biggest and most expensive activity of the Australia trip, but well worth the money because it was a day I'll never forget!

Our first day in Cairns, we headed a bit north of town to Palm Cove to hang out at the beach.

We're not in New Zealand anymore...

Don't let the clouds deceive you into thinking that the temperature was anywhere below the upper 80's in Cairns, which is actually only about 1000 miles from the equator - a big difference from New Zealand, which is the third closest country to Antarctica. 

We became regulars at this froyo store that was next door to our hostel.

On our second day, we had our big trip out to the Great Barrier Reef! 

The biggest fish I saw. It was probably at least two feet long!

Our first experience scuba diving! It was a bit scary at first because you have to breathe very slowly and equalize the pressure in your ears about every meter you swim down, but I'd like to try it again for sure.

After our scuba dive, we had the rest of the day to snorkel around the reef.

Obligatory snorkeling selfie!

On our third day in Cairns, we took a trip out of town again to one of the many rainforest areas nearby.

The town we were in had many local vendors. This tasty treat is blended strawberries, coconut, mango, and pineapple.

Not sure how or why the branch looks like this, but it's a natural formation!

I laughed way too hard at this bench set up with a view of the rubbish bin.

Looking out at the rainforest.

The view from the road back to Cairns.

Watching the sun rise from the Cairns airport as we waited for our 6am flight to Brisbane.

Sydney

After finishing my last final on November 14th and having to move out of my flat on November 15th, we said goodbye to Wellington, the city we called home for the past four months, to leave for Australia very early on November 16th. The first stop was Sydney. While the hot, Australian climate and busy, touristy vibe of the big city was a huge change from what we were used to in New Zealand, Sydney was definitely fun and exciting, and I hope to go back one day because there was definitely a lot of stuff that we didn't have time to do! While in Sydney we also took day trips to the nearby beach town Bondi, and national park Blue Mountains, both of which were highlights of the Australia trip for me.

Wellington waking up as we headed to the airport at 4am.

After landing in Sydney, we strolled along the harbour and through the botanical gardens towards the Sydney Opera House, which can be seen in the distance in the center of the photo.

The famous Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge.

I was surprised to find that up close, the peaks of the Opera House are actually several separate buildings. 

On our second day, we took a short trip outside of the city to Bondi Beach. Unfortunately I didn't get to swim in this awesome pool, which was at exactly sea level so that waves would come over the sides and allow sea water into the pool. 

A panorama of the pool and Bondi Beach.

Enjoying the beach day with a new book from a cute book store we went to on our way to Bondi.

Some shots of the cute beach town as the sun began to set.

The next day, we took the train to Blue Mountains, a national park outside of Sydney.

The Three Sisters, one of the famous rock formations in the national park.

Standing behind the Three Sisters, looking out over them.

The Three Sisters from a distance.

After a beautiful hike along the cliffs and through some forest, we got to this waterfall and hopped over the barriers to get up close and personal.

One of the many steep staircases we had to walk down and back up on our way to and from the waterfall.

On our fourth and final day in Sydney, we met up with some friends from our UCEAP program and explored the city a bit more.

A very unusual but fun modern art museum in The Rocks, an adorable cultural/historical area of Sydney.

A last look at the Opera House before packing up and heading to the airport.