Trip to Land of Kangaroos

(Brisbane Airport)

Being Adherent to a family of Excursionist, our bags were packed once again with our mind and soul beaming towards a new adventure altogether to the Land of Kangaroos and amidst the Pacific Ocean, the beautiful country of Australia. With our excitement at peak, seldom did we realise that the picture of Australia would be far far contrasting than what we created in our minds. Not holding my horses, i will straight away unveil our journey and take those back to a sweet memory lane ensuring that readers and vividly live on the journey with us.

Brisbane:-
                 Our first destination was Brisbane as per the itenary and we were all set from Delhi Airport with our Singapore Airlines Flight to Brisbane. With a hault in Singapore for few hours, we had landed at Brisbane Airport commencing our mental journey to move out and live our dreams! After the immigration procedure and collection of Baggage, we moved out to convulse our journey. We boarded the cab that was already pre-booked and directed towards the Hotel. We reached our hotel in the evening and was accompanied by drizzles in Brisbane. The drizzle seemed to glaze up the city view more with bewitching architecture on all sides! Even surreal, when we reached the Gold Coast Beach near to which our Hotel was located, the rain gathered higher momentum welcoming us with a thrilling view across. When we reached the hotel, the rain had stopped and we checked in to our rooms. To our Surprise, all rooms had beach view from the Balcony that made our stay at Hotels quite pleasant along with charming rooms and facilities in the hotel. The same evening we strolled across the beach and an open market, treated ourselves with Mc Donalds, came back to hotel and dozed off.

(Warner Bros Theme Park)

The next day after some workout and jogging across the Gold Coast Beach early morning, we had our itenary for Warner Bros Theme Park. On reaching the park, we never thought that it would fascinate us nothing less than Disney Land. With some horrific roller coaster rides and bizarre car stunts, we were mesmerized by the animated shows and delicious food too. The implausible moments spent there got even Patriotic when we saw the Indian National Flag hoisted up and high with flags of 7 other countries.  With a matter of pride and some mind boggling experience there and enough to spend the whole day, we remitted back to our Hotel, freshened up and with the memories of the entire day spent so cordially, we treated ourselves with some delicious Sushi and Lobster at a restaurant. With our Taste buds partying hard, we returned back to our hotel and had a good sleep.

Commencing the 3rd day at Brisbane, we had our trip to the Sea World. Similar to the last day, we had to wake up early in the morning and after breakfast we had left for the Sea World. Sea world had another pool of thrilling experiences for us where we got to visit a range of Sea and Wildlife which Australia had in store along with a electrifying Helicopter ride which gave us an aerial view of entire Gold Coast and Brisbane. With more time spent with Dolphins, Penguins, Kangaroos and Sharks, we moved out to enjoy a motor boat ride on Pacific Ocean. Relishing a drive on boat embarking a speed of 150 km/hr on water, we had all we required to smile for the entire day and get back to our Hotel. Again after a delicious dinner and stroll across the beach, we came back to our Hotel and slept well to depart next day to Cairns.

(Aerial View of Brisbane from Chopper)

(Playing with Koalas in Kuranda Rain Forest)

Cairns:-
            After a beautiful Tour to Brisbane, we were all set to head for our next destination which was Cairns. So we boarded a local low cost airline from Brisbane and landed at Cairns Airport. Whenever anyone asks me the best place in Australia, i always mention Cairns as i am more into scenic beauty and adventures!! Another reason to like it the most is the Great Barrier Reef which is a pack of beauty altogether. The moment we landed at Cairns, we did not check in to the Hotel but we had our Itenary for Kuranda Rain forest Experience. On heading there and witnessing the Beauty of the Rain forest, it was a mere long walk across the forest in different zones. All the zones had to be traveled in Cable Cars as all zones were at higher elevations.

(Sky Rail at Kuranda)

With also attaining the knowledge of Kuranda Rain Forest being the only source of Water for Australia in 15th and 16th Century, the beauty of the Rain Forest Quadrupled itself. After the excavation of the forest, we had spend some extravagant time with Koalas and also had a quality time with the Wildlife there. After the Kuranda tour, we got back to our Hotel in Cairns and spent the evening strolling across the street near to our Hotel, With some amazing Indian cuisine there, we restored our way back to sleep.

(Scuba Diving at Great Barrier Reef)

The next day is what i can call my personal favorite day in Australia and i am always filled with excitement whenever i mention the day's experience. This was the mighty day to visit the Great Barrier Reef and go on a cruise. To make the day more adventurous, Cairns has been witnessing rain for continuously 48 hours and even on the day of Cruise. Those rain made the sea go wild and the Cruise ride to one port of Great Barrier Reef was a complete adventure all together. With many people getting the Sea sickness including my Mother and brother, we somehow managed to sway with the wilderness of the sea and reached the port. On reaching there, we decided for Scuba Diving as that was a dream wish list for me and my brother. Wherein the Tourist guide and the Scuba guide was all ok, others were really petrified over the wild ocean. All were commanding enough to not let us go but we were stubborn with our dreams too as that would be a lifetime experience and one of our dreams come true. After many arguments upsetting people, we got into our diving costumes. Then after a short briefing by our Scuba guide, Benny, we were all set to board a small boat that would take us to the Diving point.

On reaching there, we had held our bravery and dived 10 feet into the ocean and spent half an hour with the marine life with an experience that still lustres my eye balls making it unbelievable. Post that we had spent some time at a beach and also had a submarine ride with sea creatures, specially the glossy sea turtles. Wherein i feared that i would be eaten by sharks in the scuba diving, it happened the other way round when we returned back to our hotel :p We had some toothsome sea food and called it a day.

(Shark Meat in Cairns)

Melbourne:-
                    After the snorkeling experience at Cairns, we headed our journey to Melbourne in a local low cost airline again. Melbourne happens to be an industrialized area with all corporate offices and IT parks. Being a corporate employee myself, that was not as gleeful to me as Brisbane and Cairns were. Yet taking stroll across the streets and gazing the succulent architecture all over, it was a treat to the senses altogether. But on the second day we were again welcomed with some scenic beauty, which was the Great Ocean Road. Few Kilometres away from Melbourne, in Victoria, we had the Great Ocean Road which is a drive of 90 mins along a stretch of 240 km.

(Great Ocean Road)

That was another enraptured experience all together where we had halts at different spots with their own relishing specialty. After enjoying that drive and going to beaches and zoo feeding the Kangaroos, we were back to our Hotel by evening. Again a beautiful stroll on the streets of Melbourne and good Sushi and sea food, we had ended our day. The Next day was a city tour to some Churches, political buildings and the famous MCG Cricket ground, we had departed for Sydney.

(Streets in Sydney)

Sydney:-
              After our trip to Melbourne we had departed for Sydney in a low cost Australian Airline. Similar to Melbourne, Sydney is also an Industrialized area where we did not have a lot of places to explore and Experience. It was just a day tour where we visited some famous Hotels and Casinos in Sydney and ending our trip with visit to SCG Cricket ground and living with the cricket life and records created by Legends on the ground, we had a cruise trip with a ride of 2 hours with dinner and drinks served and live music in the evening. Then we made our way back to Sydney Airport where we caved our way back to India.

(Cruise evening in Sydney)

Hence ending our Trip to Australia with ravishing experiences and moments, we were back to our normal lives where daily work, worries, success and failure take its due course. The entire experience is well captured in camera as well as memories, we still miss those days where we were all into congenial explorations and excursion. As all travel diaries create a story line, Australia is always one of the best stories our life has to reveal and we cant ever express the lovable and adventurous trip but just wait for another story to be created, told and lived!! :)

(For travel Vlogs, do email me at dasshivarjun.iipm@gmail.com)