I have to start by saying that we did not do Australia correctly.  We left our guidebook back home, and we didn’t do a lot of research before we got there.  We went back and forth about whether or not to rent a camper van, take busses, drive ourselves in a car, or fly. We thought we would figure it out as we went.  It was a strategy that worked for us in Central America (Although the guidebook certainly helped there!). Australia busted our budget and looking back, we wish we would have just flown into Sydney and stayed for a week and then left for Indonesia.  We enjoyed our time here, expensive as it was though.

We fell in love with Sydney, and spent a week there exploring, eating the (surprisingly good) Asian food.  We visited the Zoo, the infamous Opera house, and a holocaust museum.  We enjoyed the nightlife that was within walking distance from our hostel.  I also got to check off a bucket list item by seeing Bondi beach.  Sydney was one of those cities that you’ve seen on TV and the movies a zillion times, but is special when you actually see it with your own eyes.

We flew to Melbourne and ended up staying for two weeks there.  We first stopped in St. Kilda, a small town just outside the city limits and stayed for a few days.

We visited the famous Queen Victoria market a few times, which was the first place we’d been that we saw on Anthony Bourdain’s show.

The Art, Film, Television, and video games museum was a cool find for the nerds in us. There were a lot of interactive displays here and we ended up spending a few hours roaming around and the best part is that it was free.

Mandy also celebrated her birthday while in Melbourne.  I’m sworn to secrecy about her age (25).  Melbourne has a tram that is free when you’re within a few blocks of the downtown area and we used that to our advantage.   We made our way to a shopping center with a cinema at the top and saw The Nice Guys with Russell Crow and that other ugly guy, Ryan Goose Egg.  Great movie by the way, if you haven’t seen it.  And then I took her out for her favorite dessert, cheesecake.

Then we flew to Brisbane and had a week there before flying to Indonesia.  We saw our very first Rugby game at a stadium right down the street from our hostel. This was apparently a “minor league” game, so the stadium wasn’t packed, but it was still interesting and the greatest part of the game (besides the cheap beer) was that the colors of the two teams’ jerseys were straight out of Harry Potter.  We were basically watching a Quidditch match, but with less flying around on brooms and more hitting the snot out of each other.

We visited a Koala bear sanctuary, where we got to get up close with the little guys and saw newborn Koalas!

Spot the baby!

We took a public bus to get there and the bus driver let us ride there for free since we didn’t have exact change.  I tried to pay him again once we got there and he told me not to worry about it.  They’re pretty laid back here.

So that was about it for our trip to Oz.  You may be wondering why we didn’t see the great barrier reef, sail the Whitsundays, or go see Ayer’s rock.  And our answer is that Australia is really, really, expensive.  Without a doubt the most expensive country we’ve visited and staying there for a month took a toll on our savings.  Just to give you an example…in Brisbane, we were staying in a four bedroom dorm room and for the same price in Indonesia and Thailand, we get our own private room with AC and a TV.  Basically, a modern hotel room by our standards.  We spent the same amount of money in a month here that we spent in three months in Central America.

We knew that Southeast Asia was just a stones throw away and that prices would be cheaper and our dollar would go a lot farther.  We were anxious to get back on the road and Indonesia welcomed us with open arms.