Day 6 – Wednesday, January 3rd
- Breakfast: banana bread
- Lunch: noodles, chips, and some chocolate
- Dinner: Buckley’s and got calamari and a garden salad with gelato for dessert
I woke up around 8:30 to get an early start to my day. At the hostel, I got a general idea of which stops to take on the trains to get to where I wanted to see and then left for my one day in Sydney (looking back I regret not spending more time here – but I did fit in everything I wanted to see minus the beaches). Went to Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, Wild Life Sydney Zoo and Madame Tussaud’s Sydney (all part of my Merlin pass).
After those, back to hostel to get other camera an recharge phone, did laundry, went back out around 4pm to go up in the Sydney Tower Eye.
I took the train over across the bridge and then got out and walked the Sydney Harbor bridge.
Once I was done with that, I took the tran to the Circular Quay stop to find the Sydney Opera house, got photos of the harbor, and grabbed dinner at Buckley’s where I got calamari and a garden salad. For dessert, I got strawberry gelato for dessert, while I watched the sunset in the harbor.
Next I headed back to hostel for the night and went to bed early since roommates were sleeping so 9:30pm so I just packed my bag all up for tomorrow and then turned the lights off.
Day 7 – Thursday, January 4th
- Breakfast: toast at the hostel and Krispy Kreme glazed donut at the airport
- Lunch: American Dogz with Lucy in one of the malls
- Dinner: mixture of fries and chocolate drizzles Belgium waffle
Today, I woke up around 8am to get all my bags ready to check out, ate some free breakfast at the hostel then walked to the train station around 8:30am. I grabbed a train to the domestic terminal of the airport, checked in with Jetstar and went through security. Once through, I got some Krispy Kreme donuts, headed to my gate and waited to board. I then tried to board the wrong flight since I wasn’t paying attention to which flight that gate was boarding at that time. I waited until my actual flight was boarding and had about a two hour flight to Townsville Airport where Lucy was waiting at the gate for me.
We waited for my bag at the airport then headed to Lucy’s car. We drove to one of Townsville’s malls and got hot dogs at American Dogz.
Afterwards, we went grocery shopping then headed back to Lucy’s house to drop off my things. Once there, we got her dog (Bella) and headed to Pallarena and the Strand.
On the way back to her house, Lucy had me try a Gaytime ice cream bar and it was really good! We showered and got ready to go out to meet some of Lucy’s friends at the Riverview tavern. Lucy and I went there before her friends got there. We got some cider, played keno, then got an apple Jim Bean and lemonade. I then met friend Chloe and Amanda. After we left the Riverview tavern, Chloe, Lucy and I went into town to see what the night scene looked like. No one was out so instead we went to the Max Brenner chocolate bar to get Belgium waffles covered in chocolate drizzle. We then headed back to Lucy’s and watched some Netflix before bed.
Day 8 – Friday, January 5th
- Breakfast: toast with jam and vegemite
- Lunch: chicken nuggets at Billabong Sanctuary and fries (also tried mango for the first time)
- Dinner: sausages with vegetable
This morning, Lucy and I got up around 9am, had some toast for breakfast and then headed to Billabong Sanctuary. It was only about a 20-minute drive from Lucy’s house. At Billabong Sanctuary, we got to see crocodiles, different kinds of birds, wallaby’s, koalas, and wombats. We bought a bag of feed to be able to feed some of the ducks and the wallaby’s and were told to look out for the black and white birds because they tend to try to get the food. While walking through to find the wallabies to feed them, I got attacked by one of the large black and white birds. It flew towards me, landed on my head, and was flapping its wings to try and get the food from me. I did not give in because I wanted to feed the wallaby’s so badly, but it was very funny. Once that happened, Lucy and I found the wallaby’s and got to feed them straight out of our hands and pet them.
After this, we listened to a show about Wallabies and got to go up and pet the one they had brought out. Lucy and I decided we wanted a photo with the wallaby, so we got one and then headed to the Koala presentation. Once we learned about the koalas, they had a photo opportunity where you could hold them so #46: Hold a Koala was crossed off my bucket list.
The koala was very soft and cute, but they are very aggressive. The one that was doing the photos with the guests clawed the woman in line in front of Lucy and me. Once we were done holding the animals, Lucy and I got lunch at the sanctuary and then watched the crocodile get fed which was an interesting experience to say the least.
It had been raining most of the time we were there so after the crocodile feeding we decided to call it a day there and headed back to Lucy’s house. The two of us relaxed for a bit and watched some Netflix to unwind. Lucy made some sausages and vegetables for dinner and then once we were done eating we got ready to go out onto town. We first went to Avenue Tavern to get a few drinks before going into the town. Once in town, we went to the Mad Cow Tavern which is the place to go in Townsville. It was all cow themed and even had a claw machine with stuffed animal cows in them to win, which Lucy helped me win on the 2nd attempt. We enjoyed some more drinks and danced until around 1am when we took an Uber back to Lucy’s house
Day 9 – Saturday, January 6th
- Breakfast: toast with jam
- Lunch: PB & J (Lucy’s first one)
- Dinner: scrambled eggs, bacon and toast
This morning, Lucy and I got up around 9:30am and wanted to go to the grocery store. We got ready to go and then realized Lucy’s car was still in town, so she had a friend drive us to her car to run some errands. On the way to the car, Lucy’s friend said I had to try Bunning’s snag that was sold outside their hardware shops. We each got one, mine with no onions and just mustard but they were delicious. Once we got Lucy’s car back we headed to the grocery store to get some fruits, meat and snacks. Once back at the house, we had lunch and then got ready to head to Alligator Creek.
We got our swim suits on and drove about a half an hour to get there. It was a spectacular sight and it was nice to see some of the areas that locals like to go to instead of being in a big city. We tanned, swam and climbed further up the rocks to see more of the views. Once we were exhausted from the sun, we headed back to her house and then just hung out the rest of the night, had dinner and then watched Netflix until we went to bed.
Day 10 – Sunday, January 7th
- Breakfast: toast with jam
- Lunch: PB & J, crackers with cream cheese and cheesecake
- Dinner: McDonalds on the road (tried dragon fruit for the first time)
Today, Lucy had to work during the day, so we had breakfast together and then she headed off to work. I went back to bed for a bit and worked on some blogging. Then I took Bella out for about an hour walk along the riverside near Lucy’s house.
Once we got back, I was very sweaty, so I showered then went back out to walk to the grocery store to pick up some more groceries since her and I had eaten them, and it was the least I could do for her letting me stay at her house. I took an Uber back because it was terribly hot out that day. Once back at the house I had a very late lunch around 3pm, did some laundry and then packed up my stuff to be ready for when Lucy came home from work at 5:30pm. Once she was home, we loaded up her car and headed out for the 2.5 hour drive up to Tully where her mother’s house is. We stopped and got some dinner on the road at McDonalds and got to the house around 8:30pm. We got settled and then I tried dragon fruit for the first time. We watched TV until I fell asleep, so I headed to bed relatively early.
The Fernweh Life 