Unlike most people I know, I havn't "discovered" the world further than New Zealand and the Pacific Islands,
however I have spent much more time discovering this country we live in (Australia). So let's take a trip around the world (as discovered by me)!
(I have also never taken a plane internationally, only ever boats :))
The place where I was born, grew up and have spent the most amount of time by far.
Being a western sydney'er, I used to go into Sydney about once a year, and saw it from the lens of a tourist up until I was a teenager, and still sometimes think back to that when I make the treck back to the far western towns I used to live in.
As a child, my grandparents used to live up in Mount Tamborine, and we would spend a day driving up there to see them.
Up until last year, I had never been to Brisbane city, having always stayed in the gold coast or travelled further north via cruise to Cairns and Arlie Beach. To keep the tradition, I decided to take my first Greyhound bus from Sydney to Brisbane to see how it was and experience something new. A direct result of that and some mess caused by my hotel, I actually managed to fall asleep and sleep through the entire concert I was in Brisbane for.
In my most humble opinion, the best city in Australia (even though I have lived in Sydney all my life).
Last year, I think I did about 4 trips to this city, and enjoyed them all greatly. The weather, while being more gloomy, is better than the 40C western sydney weather anytime, and their tram and long distance train network means I can get around the state as good as Sydney, but without a car.
Tasmainia was my most recent journey, and involved looking through their parliament house (we were the only ones that were in the tour) and walking up their main street, which was about as big as Katoomba is in the Blue Mountains.
I had a couple of ports of call on this island, however only remember a few key bits from the journey. We went to a kiwi farm which we had to walk over some "anti bacterial" mat so we wouldn't destory the thing the country was most known for.
Auckland was just like every city ever (of the 3-4 cities i had ever been to) and we didn't spend that much time wandering around. I got a drink from the local Burger King, just to say that I have been to one (Hungry Jack's doesnt count).
You know those ad's that show people waking up in some serene location and try to play it off as the best moment you will ever have. I never really believed that would be possible until I went through here. Waking up to some of the coldest weather I had ever experienced and sailing through the Milford Sound was definitely an eye opener.
I was very young when I went here, though remember feeling the 40C weather and just feeling like I was back home in Western Sydney. We also went to a village and took part in a ceremony to welcome us, however I was too young to dirnk and didnt get to experience the best parts of it.
All I remember from this expereince was knowing that the country was technically France, and pretending I was there, however the buildings didn't look like the French I had known from TV and movies. I also went to a Mcdonalds here and kept the reciept showing our order in French.
I don't remember much of the time I spent here, except for Mystery Island, the smallest and most touristy island known to man
