Honeymoon: Australia!
It's here! It's finally here!
After over a year of planning, Matt and I are one day away from our Honeymoon trip to Australia!
I'll be honest, I've been more than a little obsessed with this trip and have interrogated every element of our itinerary to the point that I'm pretty sure all of my coworkers could recite it from memory... I just can't help it! I've wanted to visit Australia for over twenty years and the fact that we get to spend so much time exploring on this trip is something I'm really happy about.
I'm slightly less excited about the prospect of our 17 hour direct flight to Perth though. On paper, it seemed like our best option since we'll depart London at noon on Friday and arrive in Melbourne (after an hour and a half layover in Perth) at around 8pm on Saturday. This means we can check in to our hotel and go straight to sleep... which will hopefully let us get a jump on the jet lag. The other options all had us arriving in the ridiculously early hours of Sunday morning, which just seemed like a recipe for jet lagged zombies.
We'll definitely have a post with our verdict on the flight and what we found useful in terms of planning for it.
For three weeks, we'll be checking out as much of this wonderful place as we can. We tried to mix up the itinerary to allow for some city explorations while also leaving us lots of time to relax and get a real feel for the different locations.
October 19th - 22nd: Melbourne
Accommodation: Jazz Corner Hotel
Excited about: The food scene, Botanical Gardens, and Queen Victoria Market.
We're starting our Australian adventure in Melbourne. We only have two full days here so we're going to try and pack in as much as possible! Luckily, none of the places we'll be visiting required advance booking (like the Queen Victoria Market) so it will be a pretty relaxed start to the trip. We're really excited to check out the food scene - we've got our eyes on pizza in Brunswick and then a tasty Greek dinner on our final night.
October 22nd - 23rd: Great Ocean Road
Accommodation: Best Western Great Ocean Road
Excited about: The scenic drive and Twelve Apostles.
Next up we're picking up the rental car and heading down the Great Ocean Road. The scenery and views are meant to be incredible and fortunately, the weather looks somewhat decent too. If it doesn't rain, I'll be happy since I don't fancy winding around cliffs in a downpour! We'll be staying in the little town of Port Campbell for one night and then heading back through the Otway National Forest to Melbourne Airport where we'll stay the night before our early morning flight.
October 24th - 26th: Uluru
Accommodation: Outback Pioneer Hotel
Excited about: Sunrise Hike and Sounds of Silence Dinner.
Our third stop on this trip is in a place that I'm so, so excited to visit: Uluru. We're only there for two nights so we've packed in a lot of activity with a sunrise hike through Kata Tjuta National Park after watching the sunrise over Uluru. We'll be spending my birthday dinner dining under the stars with the Sounds of Silence dinner. And then, its off to Sydney!
October 26th - November 3rd: Sydney
Accommodation: Arts Hotel
Excited about: Blue Mountains, Coogee to Bondi hike, and whale watching.
Sydney is our longest visit on this trip with eight nights. We wanted to stay long enough to get a real feel for the city while also allowing plenty of time for day trips to places like the Blue Mountains. We've already booked a morning of whale watching and are really hoping we'll see some! We're also hoping to have an evening at the Sydney Observatory and some nice relaxing days at Manly and Bondi.
Nov 3rd - 7th: Hamilton Island
Accommodation: Palm Bungalows
Excited about: The Great Barrier Reef, Whitehaven Beach, and relaxation.
Our fifth location is the gorgeous Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays. I've wanted to visit the Whitsundays ever since I first heard about them almost ten years ago... it just looks unreal with the water color and easy access to the Great Barrier Reef. This will be the proper relaxation element of our trip: just sun, sand and tropical vibes. Perfection!
Nov 8th - 9th: Sydney
Accommodation: ParkRoyal Hotel
Excited about: Darling Harbor and a final night in the city.
Finally, our trip comes to an end back in Sydney where we'll be spending one final night before flying back to London the next afternoon. I'm sure we'll be pretty sad to be leaving but it will be nice to have a chance for a final night out and then a morning of enjoying Aussie coffee one last time... I'm sure we'll also be ready to be back in our own flat too!
We really can't wait to start this amazing trip and we're hoping to find some tasty restaurants and great activities to blog about once we're home!
Australia, here we come!
