Sydney

Our first impression of Australia was formed in Sydney, its most popular city, and for good reason. The first day we arrived, we set out to see the Sydney Opera House, and along the way, we were in awe of how beautiful and clean the city streets were. It felt like the epitome of a perfect place. We walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens, where we witnessed an incredible display of the most magnificent plants and flowers. There were people everywhere enjoying the perfect afternoon weather with one of the most remarkable landmarks right beside them. This is when we knew we would definitely be visiting again in the future.

We arrived in Sydney on my 22nd birthday, so of course, we had to celebrate. We went to this beautiful dinner right by the Opera House (let’s not mention that there just happened to be a cruise ship in that night blocking our view of it). The dinner was so lovely; we sat outside and ordered a super fancy steak that was incredibly delicious. They even cut it in front of us, which was super cool. Definitely a birthday that I will never forget!

We found a zoo in Sydney where we could feed kangaroos, but what we didn’t realize is that kangaroos in Australia are like deer in the U.S. They are just everywhere! When we got the food and headed to the kangaroo pen, we were surprised that there was no one working or watching us. We just walked in and fed the cutest baby kangaroos ever!

Cairns

Home to the infamous Great Barrier Reef, Cairns was a beauty in disguise. We took a gondola over the national rainforest, which happens to be older than the Amazon rainforest, and it was astonishingly vast. We could see so many different plants, trees, and eventually, Barron Falls, which is probably the prettiest waterfall I have ever witnessed! (Check out the photos)

The Great Barrier Reef is everything they say it is. We decided to do a snorkeling trip out to it and got to hit some good spots where there was the prettiest coral and fish you could imagine. The water was freezing, but that definitely didn’t stop us from seeing this world wonder with our own eyes.

The last thing we did in Cairns was (of course) hold a koala. It’s the only city in Australia that lets you hold them yourself because koalas are very emotional, so they are specially taken care of. They are also so much cuter in person; I wanted to take one home so badly. The koala we got to hold’s name was actually Kiki, so I thought it was a sign.

Melbourne

Though Melbourne was much smaller than the other cities we had visited in Australia, it had so much to see. Our favorite part of these trips is getting to see the natural beauty these places have to offer, and Melbourne did just that with the Great Ocean Road. We rented a car here and did a small road trip down the coast, which had some of the weirdest natural rock formations, like the 12 Apostles (except there are not 12 anymore), but beautiful nonetheless!

We stayed in the countryside on a hill that overlooked the ocean, but that wasn’t the best part… we had alpacas in our front yard! It was just the cherry on top for Australia.