Survival of a naive travel nurse.

Road tripping and family time

I've been back in Sydney for a few weeks now and am feeling the need to get out again. I am ready for another trip, but I'm missing family and need some time with my favorite shopping buddy.
My cousin Aaron is one of my best friends and also happens to be an incredible shopping partner. Also, he has been telling me how much he'd love to come to see me. I think it's high time I call him and tell him to get over here so we can have some fun.
Well, I'm in luck. Not only is Aaron, his partner, and a friend of theirs planning on coming to visit, Claire is also getting bored with Sydney and is telling me she needs a little road trip.
No problem, I should be able to fit in a little road trip with Claire and be back in time to meet Aaron and Kody at the airport. After all, when I came through customs it took hours to get through so should be easy getting back on time right?
Claire and I have planned our route for the road trip. We're going from Sydney to Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road. There are so many beautiful stops along the way. Australia truly is one of the most beautiful places I've been to.
I am also still loving my new found caffeine source and am excited to stop at every little cafe to try the coffee selections.
One thing on this road trip I found to be a little funny but also a little worrisome was a sign I saw that read "Drive on the left in Australia."
Do people forget what side they should be driving on? Lucky for me, Claire is doing the driving for us. She's originally from England where they also drive on the left, so we should be fine.
Ok, so we've been on the great ocean road for a while now and I have to say, the most magnificent thing I've seen is the 12 apostles. They are breathtaking and even though I'm usually not easily impressed and have a hard time admitting when something takes my breath away, I can admit that these are simply majestic.
Overall it has been a great drive and I'm glad we were able to take the time for this journey.
We drove to Bells Beach which was kind of a cool attraction if you're a fan of Keanu Reaves and the movie point Break, but I think the coolest part of the trip for me was going to where they based the movie "The Man from Snowy River." That was such an iconic movie when I was growing up, so it was just kind of cool for me to see where they hold "The Man from Snowy River festival" every year.
We ended up in Adelaide on time and now it's time for Claire and me to part ways. She's going to Perth next while I head back to Sydney to meet up with Aaron. My plane should get in a few hours after they arrive, but again shouldn't be a problem since they'll likely be stuck in customs for a while. My flight back to Sydney landed without delay and now it's time to make my way from the domestic terminal over to the international terminal to wait for Aaron and Kody to get through customs.
As I walk up to the outside of international, I hear my name. I'm wondering who could be calling me? Turns out they breezed through customs and have been waiting a few hours for me. Aaron is saying something about me double booking him and what the heck man.
I'm just excited to see them so I apologize for making them wait, but who knew they'd get done so fast? He's not mad at me, but he reminds me that we only have just over a week to pack in as much fun as we can so we need to get moving. I agree, and we have a very lofty goal of going to the blue mountains, touring Sydney, and going to the barrier reef all in a short period.
Not only are we on a short timeline, but
Aaron and I are both what some might call "cheapskates ." We both like to pinch pennies if possible so we are renting a car to go to the blue mountains so we can get there easily and without added expenses. We are also planning on staying at a reasonably priced hotel.
Every once in awhile our penny pinching ends up backfiring. I would say our trip to the blue mountains was one of those times. Kody likes to remind me by saying "it's because of you two cheapskates that we ended up in a scary pub in the blue mountains."
He has a point about it being scary. This pace was crazy, the rooms looked like they hadn't been updated in years and the building was old and rundown. If I would have been alone, there would be no way I'd stay, but since we're all together we decided to suck it up and stay at the weird little pub. A large amount of alcohol also helped us with our decision to stay. I swear, in the middle of the night I thought we were in serious trouble. It sounded like someone was trying to break into our room. Luckily, it turned out to be just some drunk tourists looking for their room. Aside from our interesting accommodations, the blue mountains did not disappoint. We found some cool waterfalls and saw The three sisters rock formations. We were all so impressed with those that no one, not even me complained about all the hiking that was involved.
Now that we survived the blue mountains, we headed back to Sydney to hang out a bit before moving onto the barrier reef. Our timeline didn't allow for driving so we booked a flight to Cairns. Of course, Aaron and I were in charge of booking everything so we got the cheapest flight leaving way early, and ended up in yet another cheap hotel.
I'm beginning to think that most of the places in Australia designed for young travelers are about the same. Simple furnishings and terrible mattresses, but cheap and affordable.
Oh well, saving money on flights and hotels allowed us to book a sailboat to take us out to an island for a day trip. We were able to do tandem scuba diving where an instructor holds your hand the whole time. It was amazing, we saw colorful fish, huge shells and of course the reef itself. We weren't allowed to drink alcohol before diving, which was probably a good idea. Once we were done diving though, all bets were off and we got a little crazy with the drinks.
It is true that if you are not Australian the drinks can get the best of you fast. That is what I heard every day when I was living in Australia and I thought it was just a myth, but I am beginning to think they were right. I don't remember the boat ride back from the island, but if the pictures are any clue, I'd say I drank way too much.
Luckily, I know everyone else drank as much as I did, so we're all in the same boat when it comes to embarrassing pictures.
Man what a great vacation it was so much fun having Aaron and Kody come visit me no matter where we are we always have a blast together. I love those guys.