Sights and Activities
Below are the places we saw and activities completed while visiting Australia:
Sydney
Sydney Opera House: viewed while walking in the Sydney Harbor
Harbor Bridge: viewed while walking in the Sydney Harbor during the day and had great views at night
Botanical Gardens: walked through the gardens with great views of the harbor
Sydney Tower: enjoyed a great Australian dinner on the rotating tower
Bondi Beach: walked through the streets in the evening
Blue Mountains National Park: enjoyed great views from a lookout of the steep vertical mountains and the Three Sisters. Hiked to view the Three Sisters up close and to view the Katoomba Cascades.
- Darling Harbor: viewed all the different type of restaurants and stores
Chinese Garden: beautiful typical garden with various rock formations, statues, and water features
Chinatown: small street with typical large gate entrance that consisted of restaurants and stores
Sydney Fish Market: enjoyed a small sample of oysters, salmon sushi, and seaweed salad in the second largest fish market in the world
Manly Beach: took a ferry across the Sydney Harbor to enjoy a few sun rays
Museum of Contemporary Art: was in the middle of changing exhibitions and unfortunately only viewed a few pieces
El Barrio: went clubbing until five in the morning to the beats of latin music
Aqua Golf: a golf range where we hit balls into a lake
Train Travel
We spent 153 hours traveling by train across the south, east coast, outback, and north center of Australia! This included seven overnight trips and many different varying landscapes and ecosystems. Although the trains are not the latest state of the art, most of the journeys were relaxing and enjoyable.
Brisbane
Victoria Bridge: walked over the bridge to enter South Bank (the southern part of the city)
- Gallery of Modern Art: unfortunately they were getting ready for their next exhibition and therefore there was limited access, but we viewed great short films and some Aboriginal art
- Streets Beach: great man made beaches alongside of the river that crosses the city
- Goodwill Bridge: pedestrian bridge
- Botanic Gardens: nicely situated beside the river with boardwalks that pass through mangroves
- QUT Art Museum: small, but had interesting contemporary art
- New Farm Park: took a river ferry to the park to view typical Australian families on picnics and barbecues
Cairns
- Lagoon: man made beach built near the beach to be able enjoy year round without any concerns of jelly fish
- Great Barrier Reef: Went scuba diving!! Be sure to visit our article
Airlie Beach
Spent a few hours at this backpackers party paradise
Whitsunday Islands National Park
Camped for two nights in the South Molle Island, be sure to read our article
Gold Coast
Spent a few hours in the city of Surfer’s Paradise that is popular with tourists and, for a small town, is home to many high rise buildings
Byron Bay
Belongil, Main, and Clarke’s Beach: these beaches comprise Byron Bay. We swam in these beaches and enjoyed the waves.
Cape Byron: enjoyed a nice hike to the Byron Lighthouse and to Australia’s mainland most easterly point. Great views of the beaches, including the long stretch of Tallow Beach where we viewed dolphins from a distance.
Byron Bay Brewery: sampled all six of their beers.
Melbourne
- Queen Victoria Market: large outdoor market selling everything from meats, produce, and clothes
- QV Center: a large multi-story mall
- Melbourne Central: another large multi-story mall and home of the Shot Tower
- Coop’s Shot Tower: is a 50 meter (164 feet) high brick tower that was used to make bullets. It was the tallest Melbourne building in 1889. The glass cone that now encompasses it was constructed in 1991, which is one of the tallest glass structures in the world.
Federation Square: an area for gathering and relaxing that houses some museums
Graffiti Art: Melbourne is popular for their street art and contains many small streets full of graffiti art
Parliament House
Chinatown: a single street that spans several blocks with restaurants and stores
- Bourke Street Mall: an outdoor mall
- Alleys with restaurants and cafes: typical of what is seen in Europe, Melbourne contains many streets with open air cafes and restaurants
- South Bank: home of many bars and high rise buildings
- Grampians National Park: viewed the mountains of the national park from afar at the Aratat Lookout. Walked amongst Eastern Gray kangaroos and emus in the town of Halls Gap located inside the park. Learned about Aboriginal culture in the Brambuk Cultural Center. Had great views of the rocky mountainous terrain of the park from Reids Lookout, The Balconies, and Boroka Lookout. Hiked down over 200 steps to view MacKenzie Falls and eventually climbed back up.
- Queen Victoria Night Market: enjoyed live music and cuisine from around the world
- Preston Market: one of many Australia’s open air markets
- National Gallery of Victoria: art from the perspective of Australia from the first European settlers and modern Australian art. Featured famous paintings from John Brack.
- Australian Center for Contemporary Art: many film exhibitions
- Melbourne Library
- Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens: gardens surrounding a World Heritage Building
- St. Kilda: went out to view the sunset and see penguins come onto the rocky shore
Adelaide
Henley Beach: went for a swim and had a fabulous encounter with a dolphin
Central Market: indoor farmer’s market selling various produce, cheeses, meats, and much more
Rundle Street Mall: outdoor mall
- The Art Gallery of South Australia: art of Australian landscape and some modern art
- South Australian Museum: great section of Aboriginal artifacts and of Australian wildlife
- Jam Factory: beautiful furniture and tableware made of glass, ceramics, and wood
- Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute: viewed Aboriginal art and an interesting cultural presentation of the Aboriginal instrument, the didgeridoo
- Botanic Gardens
- The National Wine Center of South Australia: learned about the wine making process and, of course, tasted some wine
- Glenelg Beach: spent Christmas day swimming and laying out on the beach
- Morialta Conservation Park: hiked the Three Falls Grand Loop with great views of Adelaide and its surroundings
- McLaren Vale Wineries: d’Arenberg Winery, Wirra Wirra Winery, and Kangarilla Road Winery
- Adelaide Hills: took a walk in the beautiful rolling hills full of wildlife and saw koalas and kangaroos
Alice Springs
- Olive Pink Botanic Garden: hiked up to Myers Hill for a view of Alice Springs, the Todd River (a dry river), and the MacDonell Ranges. Viewed a Hill kangaroo hopping around.
Darwin
Darwin Waterfront: had a walk around the recently renovated waterfront with tall modern structures, a lagoon, a wave pool, and wharf. Had dinner at the Stokes Hill Wharf and went for a swim in the Waterfront Lagoon.
Bicentennial Park: beautiful views of the port and sunsets
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory: good Aboriginal exhibition on rock art and great exhibition on Cyclone Tracy that devastated Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974.
Jumping Crocodile Cruise: exciting cruise on the Adelaide River viewing saltwater crocodiles in their natural habitat and seeing them jumping for food
Litchfield National Park: had lunch at the Creek Picnic Area. Took a short hike with great views of the double water falls of Florence Falls and then went for a swim in them. Also went for a swim in the cascading waters of Buley Rockhole.
- World War II Oil Tunnels: learned about the Japanese attack on Darwin a couple of months after the Pearl Harbor attack.
