Today, I'm breaking hiatus and featuring my first trip to Tasmania, which was back in May earlier this year. It was near the end of Autumn so the weather was chilly and the skies were gloomy.

Tasmania is one of the 6 states of Australia and is an isolated island off the coast of Australia. While it may look small on the map, Tasmania is actually more than 68 times the size of Singapore, with a population of only approximately 500,000.

There are no direct flights from Singapore to Tasmania but the best bet is to fly to Melbourne and catch a slightly more than an hour flight over to Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. My flight was in the night so I touched down at 9pm, hailed a cab over to the airbnb.

Byron Bay holds a really precious place in my heart. Located south of Gold Coast, it's only an hour drive away. On the first look, you might feel that there's nothing really special about this place and it's just another beach town. However, the place grows on you and all of a sudden, you can't help but feel at peace and in love with the place. The next thing you know, you're already planning your next visit back even before leaving.

Yes, that's exactly how I felt when I set foot in Byron Bay. It was August and whenever I show my itinerary to my fellow friends, they would comment on how crazy I was to go out to the sea to surf and dive in winter. I was insistent (and maybe stubborn) and was sure the ocean was warmer than the land in winter (you know, how water is a poor conductor of heat and loses heat less easily than land etc etc..).
The weather was being really nice to us and it never once rained in the entire road trip. In fact, the temperature was so good in the day that it even went up to 28°C. But most of the time, it was hovering around 22°C - 25°C, which wasn't that bad. It gets really chilly at night so that's when the outer layers come in play. The landmark in Byron Bay is the Cape Byron Lighthouse. Cape Byron is situated at the most eastern point of Australia, you get an unobstructed view of the majestic Pacific Ocean. The Byron Bay Lighthouse walk leads you straight to the lighthouse and the view is magnificent. Keep an eye out for humpback whales along the way as they can be sighted during migration period. The traffic in Byron Bay can get congested so it's actually faster to cycle around. It can get really hard to find parking lots during peak time too. I drove around though! There's a Woolworths in Byron Bay so that's my pastime when nightfall. I booked a sea kayak expedition with Go Sea Kayak. They picked me up from my accommodation and everything was settled really quickly. As I mentioned earlier, it's winter so it can get really chilly. Fret not, everyone was equipped with a wet suit and helmet. I felt that I was in good hands and never felt unsafe.

The moment we head out into the water, we spotted dolphins. What better way to see these creatures! I'm a huge lover of sea creatures so I'm a huge fan of being able to get out into the sea in a way where it does not hurt the ocean and the sea creatures. Sea turtles were spotted too! Adorable creatures. If you're looking for an adventure, go with Go Sea Kayak! :) Great time with them! And if kayaking wasn't enough to tire me out, I booked a surfing lesson in the afternoon after the morning sea kayak. Lets Go Surfing Byron Bay is the one to go. They're a little hard to locate because they're behind a building but I learnt a lot from the lesson. They have great instructors and I had a wonderful time with them!

Surfing was exhausting. Sure, it's really nice to be swept away by the waves but I didn't enjoy the part where I had to drag my surfboard back into the ocean, against the waves. But I'm proud to say that I managed to stand a couple of times! :) If I stayed longer, I would have booked more classes with them. And the highlight of my Byron Bay trip, actually it's the highlight of my entire Australia road trip, is with Sundive Byron Bay. Do I have a diving certificate? No. But after flying 3,800 miles to Australia, I thought I just had to get down into the ocean. Moreover, Julian Rocks was a beautiful place to dive and I didn't want to miss out a chance to do so. Plus, it was the season of the grey nurse shark so I really wanted to dive with the sharks. Thus, I got the PADI Discover with Sundive and it was almost a full day activity.

In the morning, we were given a crash course on diving and had a go in the pool. After the lesson, we had a break before we drove out into the sea for our real dive. My friend and I were attached to a master diver during the entire dive.

Unfortunately, my friend got sea sick even before the dive and he refused to go down into the water (partly because of a phobia of great white too). He wanted to sit on the boat and forgo the dive but the instructors were encouraging him to go for it as he'll only get worse on the stationary boat. Plus, it'll be a waste of his money if he sat out. So in the end, he went down and he never regretted.

As we are newbies, we only hung around the nursery area but WOW. There were A LOT of fishes, all kinds. I even had a connection with one of the fishes as we had eye contact for almost 5 seconds. You'll be surprised but you can actually tell if the fishes were looking at you or just swimming past without caring.

We spotted wobbegong sharks and turtles! I just had to talk about the turtles because they were just simply too adorable! They were trying to hide into a rock when they saw us, but.. a rock? And as mentioned, I wanted to dive because I wanted to see a grey nurse shark. They're normally deeper in but during the last few minutes of our dive, a HUGE shadow suddenly appeared in front of me. It took me a few moments before I realised it was a grey nurse shark. And gosh, it looked ferocious. It's the typical scary shark kind of look, with the mouth open. Even though it's really scary looking, it's actually safe to dive with them.

It's a real pity our sports camera broke down a day before the dive because the view was simply mind-blowing. So it was a packed itinerary in Byron Bay. And I had lots of fun in the ocean. And if you're looking for food recommendation, I have it! Beloporto was recommended by a friend and we went there after our dive. Their takeaway burgers were tasty and cheap. Food in Byron Bay can get a little expensive but the burgers there were value for money so it's highly recommended! And another recommendation is the Pat Morton Lookout. Approximately 30 minutes drive south of Byron Bay, it's this beautiful lookout point where you can just sit and enjoy the view. I sat there and watched the surfers in the ocean. And I had a shock when I saw something jumping out of the ocean. Turns out that the dolphins were playing in the ocean with the surfers. Yeah, I counted, there were more than 4 dolphins spotted. Plus, I saw humpback whales in the far distance too. I believe you can feel the love I have for Byron Bay just from reading this post. I truly love this place and if you were to ask me to list my favourite travel destinations, Byron Bay would definitely be in the list. And I'll end off this post with some of the snapchat videos I took when I was there! Follow me on Snapchat @michellegosh :)

I love road trips. The planning is tedious but I love being able to plan my own travel route, visit only places I am interested in.

Booked a flight to Sydney and back from Gold Coast and the road trip began. This post will be a rough outline and itinerary of the road trip. I will go further into the details of each location in the other posts!


You can watch the entire trip in this video. A pretty amateur video. Both our action camera and DSLR died halfway through the trip (we suspected it was because of a short circuit in both the cameras when we were charging them).

Day 1 & 2 - Sydney

We spent two days in Sydney. I'm not exactly the city traveler so two days was enough to explore the major attractions. We stayed in a really affordable airbnb accomodation which was near Bondi Junction. The host was extremely nice and even offered me some vitamin when I was feeling under the sun from the cold.

Day 3 - Blue Mountains

We rented a car and drove up to Blue Mountains. I definitely recommend staying a night here as it was one of the most memorable nights I ever had. The milky way was visible with our naked eyes and it was beautiful beyond words. It was definitely a lot more beautiful when you can see it.

Day 4 - Hunter Valley

Hunter Valley is the place for wine and good food. It's where we had the best meal in Australia, and tasted some of the best wines. My favourite wine tasting place was Scarborough Wine Co. Definitely one of the best.

Day 5 - Nelson Bay, Port Macquarie

Nelson Bay is the place to go if you want to whale watch. We got on a 3hour cruise and unfortunately, luck was not with us. We were near a whale but she was sleeping under the surface so there wasn't any show for us to see. We did see some seals though! And we had a free cruise again because even though we did see the whale blowing water, we didn't actually get to see much of it.

Day 6 - Port Macquarie, Coffs Habour

We did not make it to Port Macquarie before sunset so we missed that stop. A pity though as I was looking forward to it. Coffs Habour is the right in the middle of Sydney and Gold Coast, which made a perfect stop for the night. The weather was getting warmer for us by then so it was perfect to drop by the beach. I love my airbnb accommodation here so I'm highly recommending it! It was lovely and much better than the pictures have portrayed.

Day 7, 8, 9 - Byron Bay

One of the locals I met there said he moved to Byron Bay after a short vacation there made him fall in love with the place. Byron Bay definitely has its charm. This was the place where I first learnt to surf and the first time I dived (and was within 3m away from a grey nurse shark!) Diving was definitely a highlight and was incredibly glad to be able to see the endangered grey nurse shark just when we were about to end the dive.

Day 10 - Brisbane

This photo was taken on the road to Brisbane. I highly recommend going to the Mount Coot-tha Lookout to have a view of the Brisbane city night skyline. If the weather is good, you may even get to see Gold Coast.

Day 11 & 12 - Gold Coast

We ended at Gold Coast because we were flying off from here. We covered both Dreamworld and Whitewater (despite it being winter). It was close to 28 degree Celsius at noon time so it was a nice weather to play at the water theme park (also, there was no crowd because it was winter). We even made a day trip to Springbrook National Park and stayed to admire the glow worms under the natural bridge.

Perth has her Swan Valley and Sydney has her Hunter Valley. Hunter Valley is Australia's oldest wine region and is home to lots of good wine and good food. It's a three hours drive from Sydney and there's a straight highway that leads you there. I visited Pokolbin, a quaint little town in Hunter Valley. Unfortunately, I did not manage to get an accommodation there as I booked my holiday only a month before. Also, as I visited Hunter Valley in Winter, most of the vineyards were barren and I was definitely missing out on the hot air balloons - a common sight in Hunter Valley. I made a booking a day in advance over at Cafe Enzo for lunch after reading the rave reviews on TripAdvisior. Cafe Enzo was also situated right next to the wine cellars I wanted to visit. We were a little late on our schedule because we were stuck in a slow traffic while bypassing another town in Hunter Valley. I phoned in to make changes to my reservation and the staff was courteous. I'm a budget traveler but I could not miss out on tasting some of the best foods in Hunter Valley. Cafe Enzo is set in a Tuscan inspired village, picturesque from every angle. It overlooks a vine yard and a pond. Even though it was winter, the weather was a perfect 25 degree Celsius, which made it perfect for al fresco dining. I had the linguine with tiger prawns while my partner had the smoked lamb with mushroom risotto. Both were truly amazing and the ingredients used were really fresh. We both agreed that we would definitely return to Cafe Enzo the next time we visit Australia.

We began our wine tasting tour after the sumptuous lunch. I handpicked wine cellars from reviews across the Internet and narrowed it down to three, Tyrell's Wine, Scarborough Wine Co, and McGuigan Wines.
My favourite was Scarborough Wine Co. The service was excellent and I had a really fun time tasting the wine and the staff was knowledgeable and approachable. We ended up spending most of our travel baggage wine limit from there. Do note that there is a wine limit that you can bring back to Singapore. Out of all three wine cellars, only Tyrell sold travel bags for the wine. Here I'm tasting a Shiraz from Tyrell. However, Hunter Valley is well-known for her Semillon. Semillon is a dry and sweet white wine made of golden skinned grapes. We ended up opening a bottle during one of our dinners at Byron Bay and it was so good. Scarborough Wine Co has the perfect backdrop for photo taking. It would have been much better if it wasn't winter, but I'm not complaining because the weather on that day was perfect. I never had to put on my jacket throughout the entire day. Some of the wine cellars do charge for wine tasting. I do know that Tyrell and McGuigan don't but I can't be sure for Scarbourough because we ended up buying lots of wine from them. Also, Hunter Valley is home to chocolate and cheese tasting. We did not make it in time for the chocolate but the cheese tasting do charge. Next stop: Byron Bay!

Took a road trip in Australia in August and my first stop was Sydney. This is part one of the Australia Road Trip series which will be updated regularly on this site.

My flight landed around noon so after settling down in our airbnb, we took a bus over to Bondi Beach. Transportation within Sydney tend to be expensive but our car rental doesn't start till the next day so we decided to use the public transport on the first day. Bondi Beach is probably one of the more popular beach spots in Sydney. There'll be plenty more other beach spots being featured in the Australia Road Trip series. One of the must try in Bondi Beach is the Hurricane Grill. They started out in Bondi Beach and became famous for their other branch in Gold Coast. There's a whole stretch of graffiti walls along the beach which made it an ideal place for some photos. At that point of time, Bondi Beach was preparing for the City2Surf run so part of the beach was covered. It's perfect to take a stroll along the coast as the sun sets, before heading for dinner.

The next morning, we left for the Sydney Fish Market. We hopped on a bus to the city before making our way around by foot. Sydney Fish Market has a wide selection of seafood and it's a feast for both the eyes and the tummies. It can be a little on the pricey side as it tends to lean towards the tourist attraction. Syndey Darling Harbour is yet another attraction to visit in Sydney. There are plenty of shops and restaurants here, and within walking distance from the Fish Market. And of course, the iconic Sydney Opera House. The best view to capture both the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge would be Mrs Macquarie's Chair. If you want to splurge a little, you can always head to Sydney's 360 Bar and Dining. The bar is on the top level of the building which rotates 360 degrees. Imagine drinking while overlooking the Sydney Opera House. Pretty impressive sight.

The next morning, we took our rental car and drove off to Blue Mountains. Blue Mountains is well-known for its scenery. It is accessible by public transport though their bus timings can be a little staggered which means long waiting times for the buses. Our first stop was at Glenbrook, Eureka Campgrounds. I wanted to see some wild kangaroos so badly that we took a detour and drove down to the campgrounds to spot some of these cuties. This mother kangaroo even had a baby in her pouch. We began our drive around Blue Mountains after searching for the kangaroos. Our first stop was Wentworth Falls lookout. We tried having a mini picnic there, only to be ambushed by birds. I have a huge phobia of birds after living in Europe for a period of time. The birds here in Australia are pretty huge too. The next lookout was at Blackheath, the Govetts Leap lookout. And then the Evans lookout where we took a 3 hour walk around the canyon. The Grand Canyon Walk was recommended to be a medium difficulty level hike but I would say it's pretty tedious for someone who does not hike. After awhile, the scenery becomes repetitive. The good thing about the walk was how quiet and at peace it was. There was hardly anyone doing the hike and we only crossed paths with three other couples. Our last and final stop for the night was the famous Three Sisters at Echo Point lookout. By nightfall, it was cold and freezing. If you fancy a unique meal in Australia, give the Kangaroo meat a go. I didn't particularly like it because it was too tough but I would say, give it a try. And if you have time to spare, spend the night in Blue Mountains. It's beautiful when the night falls, especially when the milky way was visible with our naked eyes. We spent the night admiring the milky way and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. If you have more time in Sydney, drop by Hunter Valley for some wine tasting and good food.