mrs.smith: Holiday in Australia

Let me just start out and say that Australia is one of the most amazing, beautiful places in the world! I've never been to a more extraordinary place before.

About a year my great friend Maggie called and said she was going to Australia for a bit. Well, I couldn't let her wander the country alone so I booked my ticket and headed "down under"! We were really lucky because my cousin Kim actually lives right by Sydney, Australia so we planned to stay with her for a few days and save some cash!

The flight is 14 hours from San Fran to Sydney...We left on Thursday night and got to Syndey Saturday morning at 6:30...Yeah, we lost a Friday! Anyways, when we landed it took us over an hour to get through customs. So you know how in America we have big German Shepards that sniff out drugs?? Well, in Australia they have these little beagles that sniff out fruit!! They're Fruit Beagles!! Apparently one of them liked the scent of Krispy Kreme donuts and sniffed me out, so I had to have EVERYTHING searched to make sure I didn't smuggle in an apple!

My cousin Kim and her little boy Quinn were at the airport to pick us up! We got to her house in Manly and relaxed for a bit. Kim refused to let us sleep because she said it would help with the jet lag. To wake us up she took us to a Koala Park! IT WAS SO FUN!! You could feed and play with kangaroos and then they brought out a koala that you could pet...Maggie was basically the kangaroo whisperer because they would always stand up on their back legs and eat the food...I tried that, but then I ended up getting bit! haha Later that night we went to a beach party that the club my cousin belonged to was hosting. We were so tired and it was only 9pm! We felt like old ladies! Anyways when we got back and got ready for bed I heard my cousin yelling to come see what was in Stewart's room ((her older son))...Seriously, I've never seen a bigger spider in my life! IT WAS HUGE!! Her husband John tried to suck it up with a vacumm, but the damn thing escaped! Eventually he got it and we could all sleep soundly...

The next morning Maggie & I got up at 5:30am to go to a local pub and watch the Rugby World Cup. It's amazing how many people were there and drunk already! I don't even remember who won, but it was great! We walked down the beach around 7:30am and went back to sleep! That day we just hung out at the beach and played in the nice, warm water! Later that night Stewart wanted to take us somewhere special so we had some Indian food! Some food was great! The rest not so much!

Anyways, the next 2 days we were going to explore Sydney. The downfall was I woke up feeling soooo sick! Kim drove us all around and even showed up where Nicole Kidman&Keith Urban live in Sydney. We stopped at the spot where you can see the Sydney Harbour Bridge and The Opera House...Well I got out of the car and made it a whole 5 minutes before I had to run over to the bushes and throw up! It was so gross! I never throw up, so it was just my luck the ONE time I'm in Australia I'm sick!! I was pissed...We went to a couple more spots, but I couldn't handle it anymore so when it was time to go pick up Stewart we left Maggie in Sydney and I went home with Kim...Now, if ANYONE knows Maggie knows that she's the most adventurous person out there, so she was totally fine being left in the city by herself. On our way home, I had to throw up AGAIN, except we were about to drive across a bridge so I had to lean out the car, throw up on the side of the street, and then run into a parking lot...So not fun!!

I spent the next two days laying at Kim's house wishing that someone would kill me. I hated being sick! I missed so many fun things too! We had bought tickets for the Opera House so my cousin's husband ended up meeting Maggie and coming back with her. We kept teasing them about their "first date"!! haha

The next day we flew up North to Airlie Beach, where we would go sailing on The Great Barrier Reef...I was still feeling sickly, but this was something I was NOT going to miss! The first day on the boat was amazing! We met so many people and went snorkeling like 3 times! Oh, did I mention that it was also my 21st Birthday!! I got a piece of cake and everyone sang to me...It was so funny when they were singing because they got to "Happy Birthday Dear..." and everyone stopped because they didn't know my name!

We were on the boat for two days and I was so sad to leave. The water was so amazing and we went to honestly the most beautiful beach in the world! Every time we got out of the water we had food and coffee waiting for us, and it was just so incredibly relaxing.

The last leg of our journey was to the beautiful Byron Bay! It was a little hippy town that was so chill and relaxed! We stayed there for 3 days and it was the best part of the trip! The first day it rained so we stayed in all day and watched episodes of Grey's Anatomy ((you know me, I can't go anywhere without it!)) The next day we went and explored...oh and I got another tattoo!! The whole time we stayed in this cool little hostel & met some great people!! I was scared to stay in a hostel because I thought it would be all trashy, but were booked our trip through a travel agency so they found us some nice ones!

So then our trip came to a close and we headed back to Sydney. Kim let us stay with her one more night before we had to fly home. Maggie's flight left a few hours before mine since she was flying to New Zealand, so she took a cab to the airport and I stayed and hung out with Kim. Kim dropped me off and then I flew home. I left Sydney at 3:30pm Thursday and got back to Salt Lake at 4:45pm on the same Thursday! Honestly, the LONGEST day of my life! It was a 43 hour day...Gotta love those time zone changes...

That was probably the best trip I've ever been on! I couldn't think of a better person to travel with other than Maggie! She was so fun and so great to go explore with! We would have been screwed without my cousin, Kim. She was amazing! THANKS KIM!!

Me&Maggie at the Salt Lake Airport before our flight!