On January 1st, 2011, my family and I started off the year by flying to Tasmania to visit some relatives and explore a state none of us had been to before. We actually caught the first flight of the year for that plane company, so there were free calendars in the backs of all the seats! We then stayed with our relatives in Nietta, which is a small village south-west of Devonport. While we were there, we spent most of our time exploring the local area. Tasmania is a beautiful state; the forests and rivers are amazing and such a large portion of the state still hasn’t been built up yet. If you’re the sort of person that likes to getaway from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and enjoy a bit of peace and quiet, you wouldn’t run out of places to go in Tasmania! There’s some fascinating wildlife, too, as you can see in the photos with this post. If you’re interested in seeing some Tasmanian Devils, we went to Wings Wildlife Park and that was great for seeing native animals in a safe environment.
Highlight: Preston Falls was beautiful so that would be my recommendation for anyone planning to travel to Tasmania!
No trip to Queensland is complete without a visit to the water parks!
Because every city needs a beach in the CBD!
Brisbane is a wonderful city ❤
Boats!
A friendly neighborhood Kookaburra
Ibis ❤
Jessica Watson’s boat, Ella’s Pink Lady
Brisbane CBD
A Buddhist temple we found in the middle of the city
Brisbane as seen from the summit of Mt Coot-tha
The further back I go for these Flashback Fridays, the worse my memory gets! That’s partly why I started this blog in the first place, to keep a record of where I go so I can look back later for a trip down memory lane. I’m just grateful for photos! This trip to Brisbane took place in July, 2011. We were supposed to catch a plane there with Tiger Airways, but on the day we were supposed to fly, we were told that Tiger Airways had cancelled all their flights until further notice! We ended up driving to Brisbane instead and, to be honest, I prefer road trips to plane flights anyway. It’s nice to make the journey part of the holiday, too.
Brisbane is a lovely city and it’s great for hippy and bohemian culture! The locals are very laid back and friendly, too, so the whole pace of the city is slightly slower and more relaxed. That’s one of the reasons why I loved it there ❤
Some highlights of the trip include the Buddhist temple we found, as well as a statue of Confucius, the view from the summit of Mt Coot-tha, the Botanical Gardens, the man-made beach in the middle of the CBD and, of course, Wet ‘n’ Wild! The Gold Coast is famous for its water parks, as well as its beaches, so if you want the ideal summer getaway, Brisbane and the Gold Coast are perfect for you ❤
Hello fellow wanderers! Today is Friday which means it’s time for another blast from the past. In January 2012, my family and I went on a road trip up to Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). Canberra is the capital city of Australia, and ended up in its own state due to a dispute between Victoria and New South Wales; both wanted to be the capital! This rivalry has lasted through the decades and you’ll still find that both cities compete with each other. Canberra is located halfway between the two cities, as this was the compromise they agreed on. It’s a fairly small city, and most of it is dedicated to the Parliament House and other governmental organisations. I was warned before going that there might not be much to do there, but I was pleasantly surprised! I actually really enjoyed the trip and we found plenty to do; we even had to drop a couple of things off the list because we ran out of time. Canberra is great if you’re interested in politics, and it’s also a great place to learn about Australia and its history.
On the way, we passed a couple of famous, Australian landmarks (both of which I’ve written detailed posts about on Tumblr; click on the names to be directed to said posts). One was the Dog on the Tucker Box, which is a memorial for the pioneers of the area that has sparked many a song and tale.
I love Australian landmarks ❤A pub based on one from a comic strip
The other landmark we spotted along the way was the Ettamogah Pub, which is a pub designed to look like the Ettamogah Pub from a comic strip back in the 20th century.
The biggest highlight of Canberra itself would be the Parliament House, as it was highly informative and interesting. Definitely a good stop if you want to know more about the Australian political system.
Where the Politicians live (well, work)
Although Parliament was the highlight, we also saw some other interesting things, including Questacon, the National Museum, National Art Gallery and Australian War Memorial. Questacon was great fun, and would be perfect for families with kids as it had a lot of activities and interactive exhibits. The National Museum was fascinating, so I’d recommend it for any history buffs travelling in the area. We managed to see the Renaissance exhibition while it was at the National Art Gallery, which was amazing! My Mum was particularly excited to see Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting.
The Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial was a beautiful building and I was particularly moved by the wall of poppies (pictured right), which was basically a wall of names of those who served in the armed forces that had space for people to put poppies next to the names to show respect.
The banner photo for my blog was actually taken in Canberra! We went to the Telstra Tower just before sunset to take some photos of Canberra during the day, sunset and night.
On the way back from Canberra, we stopped over in the Snowy Mountains, NSW. As we were visiting during summer, they weren’t very snowy! However, we still saw some beautiful scenery driving around the mountainous roads and the caves were nice and cool compared to the heat above ground.
We had a pretty view from the mountain roadsMountains are so beautiful ❤
All in all it was an educational trip that I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s nice to know the country you live in, and I certainly learned a lot ❤
This may look familiar if you’ve seen the banner above my blog!
To celebrate Christmas I have made an extra festive post this week! My Mum and I went to a few houses in Mornington to see the Christmas lights, so I made a small gallery of photos to show some of my favourites. The lights at 19 Waltham Drive, Mornington were easily the best; they had put on a whole show, with a donations box for charity. There was a projector playing Christmas-themed music videos – including clips from Frozen ❤ – and the lights flashed and changed colours to fit the video (for instance, they went all blue and white for ‘Let It Go’). The other two houses shown in the gallery were on Barkly Street and the Nepean Highway. Other than the missing ‘e’, the house on Barkly Street was quite pretty, and the house on the highway was quite subtle – hence the lack of pictures of it; they didn’t come out well in the photos. We used a list posted to the Fernwood Mornington facebook page, if you want to check out some lights yourself (note: most displays start at around 9pm, so that’s the best time to go have a look!).
Just one example of some of the interesting flora that can be found here
They’re so pretty ❤
Garden path next to the Homestead
My emu buddy!
I saw about 20 of these butterflies!
I still can’t believe I saw an emu!
Vineyard ❤
Some trees along the Woodland Walk
I had some more photos of The Briars that I thought I’d share with you guys, especially the emu ones! It really is a picturesque area, and there’s so much interesting wildlife ❤
There are lots of places for picnics at Arthurs Seat
The road towards Seawinds Gardens
I love this sign ❤
The trail through the gardens
There are many steps to climb, but the views are worth it!
The pond in the middle of the gardens is home to many ducks that I saw wandering around
A plaque dedicated to the Aboriginal people of the area
One of the carvings done by William Rickett
The gardens are very peaceful; a great place to stop and think 🙂
All the trees are labelled so it’s a good place to learn your tree species!
I couldn’t take a photo that quite captured how amazing the view was from this part of the walk, it’s something you have to see to believe!
Captain Flinders is mentioned over almost all of the peninsula, including Arthurs Seat!
Another monument to Captain Flinders!
The path goes through some striking scenery
Clouds as the sun began to set
The view is stunning as it is, but with the sun setting it looked just that little bit more wonderful
Sunsets are so peaceful ❤
Some bugs flying above the grass
The end of another day…
This is what it looked like after the sun had sunk below the clouds
Some bugs flying in the air
Silhouettes ❤
It was windy…
The darkest one I took before night had completely fallen
The sky was purple and orange ❤
This is my favourite photo that I took that night ❤
I’ve been to Arthurs Seat several times now, as it’s somewhere my family like to take visiting relatives from overseas. It has gorgeous views, peaceful parks and plenty of barbecues and picnic tables, so it’s a bit difficult not to love Arthurs Seat. Even the drive on the way up is fun, as it’s wonderfully windy and provides lookouts more scenic than the summit itself (the sunset photos in this gallery are actually taken from Chapmans’ Point – the last lookout before the summit).
Once you reach the summit, there are a few walking tracks to choose from, but none are too arduous. If you’re just interested in a casual stroll, I’d recommend the Seawinds Gardens, as there are benches dotted around for when you need a break or you just want to sit down and admire your surroundings. My favourite spot was the bench right next to the pond, as you could sit and watch the ducks bobbing in the water.
If you’re up for a bit more of a walk, the track leading to the Stone Cairn had the most beautiful views from what I saw in my visit. I walked through trees for a while and then suddenly it opened up and what I saw was just stunning. I could see the peninsula all the way down to Point Nepean!
Highlight: The Stone Cairn trail was beautiful, so if you only do one thing at Arthurs Seat, that would be my recommendation. ❤
PS. If you’re interested in the Arthurs Hotel Restaurant, click here to go to their website 🙂
Wanderlust 