Though it was tough to say goodbye to Sydney, we needed to get on to our next destination. We started our 9-hour road trip to Brisbane. Our first stop was Port Macquarie. It was a nice beach town and on the way, we stopped in New Castle where we did the Anzac Memorial Walk. We made our way to our hotel and the next day we did stand-up paddleboarding. It was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done because the winds were so strong.
I ended up getting sunburned because I was out on the water 45 min longer than expected trying to paddle back to where we started:(. We packed up and drove off to our next stop: Byron Bay.
We had lunch in coffs harbour which had a nice walking path. We then took the best stop to see some wild Kangaroos they were so so cute. It was called Look at Me Now at Emeralds beach. Then we went to our fantastic Air B and B called Pieces of Byron and went out on the town. It had a great social scene. Our Air B and B had a great book that showed some of the highlights of Byron.
The next day we woke up and packed up the Air B and B and went to go shopping. I came up empty-handed, unfortunately:( We then had a wonderful experience at the Crystal Castle. It sounds a little woo woo but we had a great time immersing ourselves in the Hindu atmosphere and we had a fantastic meditation experience where we listened to singing bowls. Some highlights were taking pictures with the wonderful crystals and walking through the bamboo walkway. I even took my shoes off to walk around the rose quartz on the reflexology path, which is said to reduce stress and induce deep relaxation while balancing the body’s systems. –Like I said very woo woo but a fantastic stop worth driving out to. It also wasn’t all that crowded so I could get those really great shots.
We then continued our journey to Brisbane along the Gold Coast where we stopped at a place called Broadbeach to have lunch. We then finally made it to our hotel in Brisbane. It was a beautiful Westin.
The next day we went to the Australia Zoo and bought some encounters. We started off meeting DJ the rhino, but one thing I would absolutely watch out for is people who tell you they need to take your picture first and you can take them afterward. They don’t let you take them afterward so you end up buying their pictures. I knew this rule but my husband is too polite for his own good.
We then explored some animals of the zoo. Our favorite part was the Kangaroo Heaven area. You can buy “roo food” for $3 and hand-feed the kangaroos. We then went to our next encounter which was a Koala one. We both held a very cute very sleepy-looking Koala. In this one, they actually gave us time to take our own pictures. One tip I have is to wear a t-shirt or a thick shirt. These Koalas have CLAWS and they felt awful. I also suggest wearing a t-shirt because they don’t smell great and you’ll end up smelling like koala for the rest of your day. It was nauseating for me, so I took hand sanitizer and pretty much rubbed it over my upper body.
We then went to the Crocoseum to watch a show. There was a bird show and they also did some crocodile stunts. As we rounded out our zoo experience it started to rain so we raced through the Africa and Asia sections to get to the car. One tip: if you are expecting to see the Irwins at the zoo they are plastered on posters everywhere, but will likely not be walking around the zoo. After the zoo we had a quiet night in the hotel.
The next day we planned on riding bikes, but as soon as we got outside it started raining. We had a very chill day at our nice hotel instead. At this point, we were one week into our honeymoon and in need of a rest anyway.
After some quiet days in Brisbane, we were off to our next destination: Hamilton Island to see the Great Barrier Reef. As a side note if I were to do this trip again I would have flown from Sydney to Brisbane and stayed in Byron for an extra night.
