Hualien, just 2.5 hours train ride from Taipei, gives you a great look at the natural beauty of Taiwan. It was a week long trip to Taiwan where I squeezed in 2 nights to travel and explore Hualien.

The most popular transportation from Taipei to Hualien would be by train, which only takes 2.5 hours. TRA releases their tickets online for reservation 14 days prior to the date of travel. We've been advised by our airbnb host to login early to purchase the tickets to ensure we get the good tickets and good timings. It's highly recommended to book your tickets in advance. Even for us, we did not manage to get our ideal tickets despite logging on early.

Upon arrival, we went to get our rented car. We've decided to do road trip for Hualien, exploring the scenic areas, taking on the drive by ourselves. We dropped by the information center to get some ideas on where to visit too since we did not fully finalise our itinerary.

We ended up with this plan for the 2.5 days we had in Hualien.

Day 1:
Taroko Gorge National Park

Day 2:
East Rift Valley National Scenic Area
East Coast National Scenic Area

Day 3:
Qixingtan Beach
Qingshui Cliff Scenic Area

The German Alpenstrasse, also known as the German Alpine Road, is a series of roads winding through the Bavarian Alps. It features breathtaking sceneries, weaving through Bavarian towns and castles.

While researching for my Germany road trip last winter, I ended with two roads, the Romantic Road and the German Alpine Road. Unlike the Romantic Road, there were limited articles on the German Alpine Road, but the few articles promised spectacular sceneries.

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 :)

One of the most life changing trip I've embarked on was visiting Ireland. It was the first time I went on a road trip and I can't stress how much I enjoy going on road trips.

Singapore has a population density of 8,000 people/km square whereas Ireland's population density is at 73 people/km square. Even though both countries have similar population size, there is so much more space and land in Ireland.

Transportation around Ireland is not frequent and the preferred mode of transport is to rent a car and explore Ireland in it.
I touched down at Shannon Airport and got our Thrifty Ford Focus. Upon arrival, we drove our way up to the Cliffs of Moher. Did you know that one of the scenes in Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince was filmed here?

As we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher slightly before sunset, we were welcomed with this view of the cliffs. It was so surreal and blew our minds. We spent our first night at Doolin Cottage B&B which was a lovely cottage along the Wild Atlantic Way road. The host was lovely and the breakfast was delicious. After recharging for the night, we drove along the Wild Atlantic Way towards Galway. It was really therapeutic to drive along the Wild Atlantic Way, having the ocean breeze against our faces. We even made a couple of pit stops along the way because the view was simply too stunning.
We had to cross over a field where a couple of cows were grazing. Imagine all the cow dung we had to carefully avoid while heading to this place. It looked really dangerous at where the waves were hitting because they were really strong so we did not dare to go to close to the ocean. And this taken at the blackhead, which was part of the Burren National Park. Driving along all the black rocks was really amazing. The rocks were smooth and looked as if they eroded gracefully. We went over to the edge of the cliff which was really terrifying. There wasn't a single soul around so if my partner was to push me down the cliff into the ocean, nobody would have known and my body will probably never be found. This signifies the importance of getting a travel buddy whom you have absolute trust in. Also, take note of your travelling time because as you can see, there are no street lights! It'll be extremely dark and hard to navigate when the sun sets. Plus, some of the roads can get really scary because they are only one lane with cars from both directions.

We were travelling in one of the shortcuts and it was two-direction road with only one single lane! The roads were hilly and surrounded with tall grasses so when we were ascending, we had to be really careful because we could not see the car in front of us. There are plenty of tiny villages and towns along the way which made it easy to stopover for meals. One of my recommendations is Bofey Quinns Bar & Restaraunt. It is along the way to the Burren National Park. Try their traditional Irish stew, definitely the best Irish stew I had while in Ireland! The buildings in Western Ireland are really pleasing to the eyes and I love driving through these towns. Their vibrant colours stand out from the natural environment along the Wild Atlantic Way. It'll be really nice to retire and move to Western Ireland and live in one of these houses. The drive from Galway to Dublin took three hours and it was easy to navigate as it was a straight expressway across Ireland. I didn't really like Dublin as much as I love the Western Ireland and Wild Atlantic Way.

Ireland is definitely deeply missed and if I have the opportunity again, I would love to do another road trip in Ireland.

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.