O'Boyled Books: Australian Honeymoon Recap

For those that have been wondering where I went and why I have not posted since Christmas, well I went on my honeymoon. We went on an adventure across the world to Australia where we spent time in Sydney, Port Douglas area, then Palm Cove/Cairns area. For those that do not have going to Australia on your bucket list, please go do it now because this post will not even begin to describe how much I loved Australia.

We started the trip in Sydney. After a long plan trip we arrive at our hotel, InterContinental, we of course dropped our bags and immediately started our exploration of the Harbour district. I have to say that walking towards the Opera House and then watching it come into view was a magical moment. My parents always wanted to go to Australia so I grew up hearing about how amazing it would be to go and it did not disappoint.

We celebrated New Year's Eve right on the water to the left of the Opera House at Eastbank restaurant. I will never see fireworks that amazing ever again. They were going off from so many points it was hard to watch them all and there was a nine o'clock show for the families followed by a boat parade followed by fireworks at Midnight. Needless to say it was quite spectacular, so I decided to find a video of them from an aerial point of view. You can watch them too, but be warned it is a full 12 minute show.

After New Year's we did all the tourist things in the matter of three days - Sydney Eye Tower, Aquarium, Wildlife Center, Maritime Museum, Shopping, Toured the Opera House, road a ferry, walked across the bridge, saw the library, parliament house, the old prison, and probably a few more things I am forgetting.

One of my favorite memories though was one night we went to dinner at the place called The Winery in the suburb of Surry Hills. The only reason I had to go to this place is because I heard about this amazing brownie that had "faery floss" on it. It was well worth making a trip out there for the brownie alone, but the restaurant reminds you of walking into a secret garden.

We left Sydney and headed to Mossman, which is just North of Port Douglas where we stayed at Silky Oaks Lodge. This is the part of the trip that I would probably change because they are located directly in the Daintree Rainforest where is was the rainy season. So what made it so awful? Bugs, BUgs, and more BUGS!! They were outside, inside, landing on everything and never would relent. Found out that mosquitos are called Mozzies (new favorite word). I was even attacked by a leech, which my husband does not believe to be a big deal but it was. There was only one restaurant with the same five options every night. This was my least favorite part of the trip, but the one highlight was that I got a lot of reading done. I was very happy when headed to Palm Cove - aka Australian paradise.

Most of our time was spent by the pool and the ocean. We did leave paradise to go to the Cairns Night Zoo where we got to hold a koala and I even touched a snake (that is a complete forced smile), then we fed kangaroos and pelicans by hand. It was so cool being that close to all the animals.

The other big excursion we went on was to the Great Barrier Reef. We road a sailboat out to Michaelmas Bay, which is a bird sanctuary, to go to our first stop on the snorkeling adventure. We saw lots of jellies and even a sting ray while on this stop. The second stop was another 45 minutes out, called Paradise Reef, and the colors of the coral and fish were amazing. We saw Nemo, Squid, and lots of Trigger fish. I would make the Great Barrier Reef a must do when you visit Australia.

We had a blast! If you couldn't tell and coming back home was harder than we thought it would be. Definitely going to make another trip out there soon and see Melbourne and Brisbane next time. I would like to thank all the Australians and other travelers that we met along the way for helping to make our honeymoon incredibly special. We now know what it is to have Aussie pride.