Three weeks have gone by since I flew home to cold wintery Boston. Coming off a month of Australian summer, it was a shock to my system. Between the temperature difference, the post travel blues, and recovering from foot surgery, I am just now taking some time to process the experience.
I went into the trip with no expectations, and did very minimal research. Essentially I had my girlfriend Maren play tour guide for me in her home country. She didn’t disappoint—I was blown away by the big and the small, cities and rainforests, nature, and even the public transportation. I was all in the second the customs officer said G’day mate.
In the four weeks I was there I experienced more than I can fit into this post, although I only barely scratched the surface of Australia. These photos will have to give you a little taste of the amazing beauty and diversity you can find. All shot on my Pentax K1000, mostly with Ektar100.
After a few days in Brisbane, and poking around the rainforest at Lamington National Park, we headed up to Maren’s childhood home in Bundaberg. Besides being 20 minutes from my favorite beach of the entire trip, this wrap around veranda one of the highlights. It was perfect for meals, and enjoying the golden hour light.
Next up was 4x4ing in a Landcruiser through jungle tracks and sandy beaches out on Fraser Island. As the mandatory government video says, “When driving in sand, whatever you do, don’t stop.”
The SS Maheno has been slowly rotting away here since 1935 when it washed up during a cyclone. I asked Maren’s father why no one swims on this beautiful beach. Ron says it’s full of sharks. Cool, cool cool cool cool.
Pier in Hervey Bay. Coincidentally I heard on the radio about shark sightings here too.
Spent the weekend in a Queenslander house on this property. It also took me the whole weekend to figure out that the Hinterland was referring to the region, not a specific place. Sometime’s I just go with the flow, and figure the details will work themselves out one way or another.
While camping out I usually just accepted that I had jumped into a Dr. Seuss book. The landscapes and plants were so unlike anything I had seen before.
Melbourne was probably one of the highlights of the trip for me. I could see myself living here easily. Just gimme one of these shacks on Brighton Beach, I’ll make it work!
Logged about 20 miles along the coast this day. Couldn’t get enough of Melbourne, and the sun couldn’t get enough of my New England skin. I sported the tourist burnt nose for the rest of the trip.
Some more insanely colorful waters from the Bondi to Coogi walk in Sydney. We tend to book last minute, and there were no reasonable Airbnbs available. Stayed in a tent out on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbor. It turned out to be epic, and everyday we got to see the city by boat as we took the ferry to Circular Quay. A side note, Australians are just genuinely friendly. Running late as usual we just missed a ferry to shore, and the captain threw it in reverse, scooped us at the dock. Thanks Cap!
For some reason I was going through a Wes Anderson phase on the trip. This sampling doesn’t come close to doing the experience I had in Australia justice, but hopefully it piqued your interest a bit.
