As I am counting down the weeks until I am back in The Land Down Under (and yes I must confess that I secretly love that song!) I thought I would offer up a #ThrowbackThursday post or two about my visit there before. It’s no secret that I love Australia, so I thought I would start with a brief round-up of my top Australia highlights from my previous visit…
1. Photographing Sydney Opera House at sunrise and sunset
It wasn’t easy tearing myself out of bed at 5am for but I am so glad I did. Our hotel was just a short walk from Circular Quay so we headed down there at dawn and photographed the iconic Opera House against the backdrop of burning orange fading out into a vibrant blue.
Photographing that famous silhouette at sunset was a much easier feat and I just love how photogenic this landmark is! Every angle offers something different. My favourite thing about this photo is the way I caught the sun glare through the shapes of the building.
2. Cuddling a koala
This was on my Australia bucket list and was something I got the chance to do in Queensland. The little guy was called Cobber (how very Australian!) and he smelt like eucalyptus, probably because that’s pretty much all koalas eat. This was a great day at a wildlife habitat in Port Douglas where I also got to hand feed birds, wallabies and kangaroos!
3. Snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef
If you’re in Queensland then this is a must-do – one of the planet’s greatest natural wonders and the largest reef in the world, the Great Barrier Reef features on many a bucket list. Not gonna lie, being in the middle of that big vast ocean did panic me at first but as soon as you dip your face into the water for the first time, your anxieties drift away and you are mesmerised at the magic below.
4. Seeing the Penguin Parade on Phillip Island
Every night at dusk, after a day’s fishing, the Little Penguins come ashore to their burrows on Summerland Beach. This is one of the very few places in the world where you can see the Little Penguins in their natural habitat. Visitors are sat on viewing platforms and photography is prohibited, to allow for minimal disruption to the penguins activities. Another highlight of my day on Phillip Island was seeing my Australian family who took us there for the day.
5. Spotting a cassowary in the wild
When we were in Queensland we took a trip into the Daintree Rainforest. We weren’t going solely to spot a cassowary but seeing one was the icing on the cake. In all honesty, I didn’t quite realise how lucky we were until our guide got really excited about seeing one. Apparently they are quite rare and an endangered species so we were incredibly fortunate to spot one of these brilliant birds!
So there you have my top five recommendations from my first visit to Oz, if you would like to keep up with more of my Down Under adventures, then you can follow me on Bloglovin and Twitter