Australia, you have my heart.

I have been back from Australia for a while now, but, what a journey it was. I had the most amazing time ever and it has filled me with so much sorrow to leave the beautiful country and the amazing people I met along the way.
I think the one thing I was worried about before I left was that I was going to be lonely, and spend all my days and nights by myself and not enjoying the city with fellow travellers. Within the first time stepping foot in the hostel you meet your roomies, although you may have different plans, if you get along you will spend most evenings with them! I went out for dinner, walks and nights out with my room mates. The joy was that you went and did your own thing during the day and then you would talk about your day in evening over food or a drink. Don't be shy to ask the people your sharing a room with if they are free in the time your in the hostel; as they may have a free day and you can do something together.  I stayed in 4 hostels across my travels and one week with my Family in Adelaide. I would highly recommend the chain called YHA, as I found they were in the best locations and very high standards of hygiene. I mention in my previous post which ones I stay in, I wish I had stayed in YHA more!
I have already discussed my first week in Sydney and now it was onto Adelaide. The plane journey from Sydney Domestic to Adelaide was around 1 and 20 minutes, so nothing compared to the 26hr fight a week prior! In Adelaide I was staying with family, which whom I haven't seen in 4 years. They were waiting at my gate, crying and taking picture as we had and emotional reunion. I had always told them I was going to come see them over here and there new house! I couldn't believe it was happening. My family were so sweet and I had a lovely wing of the house with a lovely modern bedroom and bathroom. They were so accommodating to me and they basically ate Vegan for a week;  I cooked dinner a couple of times to show them what my staple dishes were, and they loved them!
I adventured into their neighbourhood and found a bakery selling some vegan cakes and took some back to the house for tea. They have a lovely location, one evening we took the 5 minute walk to the beach, and went kangaroo spotting. My godparents took me around the city of Adelaide which is in SA, the city is calm but beautiful. It has a lot of history, most of all it had a Chinese food market which was vegan! I couldn't believe it, stuck in-between a chicken restaurant and a buffet. A diamond in the rough! This was in the Central Market, which didn't look that great from the outside and had some what the Aussies would say 'ferrels' in it. The food was really good though and definitely a good find. We also went to some good animal parks, where they are all rescues. Compared to Featherdale in Sydney, the animals have a lot more room to roam and there must be a couple hundred of acres on the side of Mount Lofty. I was really surprised by the weather in Adelaide, and really glad I packed my coat! The weather was a chilling 7 degrees Celsius most days! Seeing my family again was so refreshing, as in 4 years a lot can change and I have grown up a lot since then! It also turns that they are coming to the UK next year for my Fathers wedding which they thought they wouldn't be able to make. After spending another couple of days catching up and wondering around the gorgeous east coast of Adelaide it was time for me to move on up to Carins.
I had booked my Adelaide trip before deciding to go to Carins, as I was quickly running out of money. But, I thought I can't come all this way and not see the Great Barrier Reef. Cairns is a very small place, it has a shopping mall and a few restaurants, however, I think most people come to see the ocean. I stayed in Gilligan Backpacker hotel, and I have to say, this was my least favourite. First of all, they messed up my booking, and the hostel wasn't very clean and had a smell of vodka and vomit. The room was mediocre, there was a balcony which was pleasant and the beds were decent. However, there was no separate light per bed, nor a plug socket by the beds. Meaning, when people come in at 5am after a big night out , they turn on the big lights and wake everyone up. Also, the plug situation is awful, you cant set an alarm because the plug isn't by your bed nor can you be on your electronics while in bed. The hygiene here was also not good, the kitchens were so disgusting and no-one cleaned up after themselves. This is a backpacker nightclub hostel, but it was rather gross. I was only in Cairns for a couple of days so I wasn't such a big deal and I was only there to see the Reef. I booked my excursion with SeaStar, which offered the best day out, as they made two stops. One to Michaelmas Cay and the other to a more deeper reef in the middle of the ocean. Michaelmas Cay is a small island and there are normally reef sharks and turtles to be seen around here. I have never seen water so blue and clear in my life, it was incredible the water was around 23 degrees with is like having a bath. This trip lasted around 7hrs. This was a real highlight of my trip as I am conscious of man's destruction of the planet, and the reefs being bleached by the sun. I saw first hand some bleached reefs and its awful to think something once of beautiful has been drained of all colour.  Cairns is a beautiful place and I wish I had more time there. Now it was down to my last leg of the tour, back to Sydney to see the Northside and surrounding areas. 
The difference in climate compared to Adelaide is immense! I went from 7 degrees to 27, although it is an uncomfortable heat at it is very humid.
I had around 5 days left in Australia and I was sort of ready to leave but also I wanted to stay forever. While back in Sydney, I met a French girl who had just arrived, and the hostel (YHA, again) was holding a pub crawl so we got to meet lots of others and we all went together. The following day I went on a whale watching cruise, which was just incredible. Humpbacks migrate to the north to mate,   so this was prime time to see them. These mammals are just incredible and can grow up to 60 ft long! There was a couple of juvenile young males playing and interacting with the boat for about an hour; and were about 5 metres away.

This was really incredible to see such intelligent beings being free and in the wild. In the evenings in Sydney a good place to go is the Opera Bar which is under the opera house and I believe has the best view in Sydney. I went here nearly every  night to to soak in the beautiful city. I couldn't believe I was at my last destination already, the time had flown by. So with a final cocktail, I said goodbye to one of the most wonderful, vibrant and stunning places on this planet.       Australia is full of such amazing and diverse history. Its a places where pictures don't do it justice. 
I had the time of my life and I cant wait to go back and see more.