After a month in Cairns it was time to move on. I wasn't sure what was the best option to do it. The only thing I knew was the East coast is more touristy than the West coast therefore more expensive.
I though doing an all-inclusive tour was a good option to discover what it's like to travel with an agency and to save money on attractions.
After this trip, I realized that sometimes it could be worth loosing some freedom to do things you'll never do otherwise. I cannot say I regretted my choice even though i won't travel anymore with a tour agency.
The way this organization works is quite clever. Your AUD $ 3000/ people have only two purposes:
Financing gas for the minibus for 40 days
The use of professional photography and filming of the various activities you will partake in
In exchange:
you must do a 2min testimonial in your mother tongue to promote each activity you do for free.
You get incredible accommodation for free
The only thing I didn't know was the free activities were just an approach, nothing adventurous which I found boring. Also the free adventures depend of the weather. To live something more adventurous (bungee jumping, scuba diving, skydiving, mountain biking, 4WD on Frazer Island) you need to pay an extra. I guess it's still cheaper as a group instead of alone.
THIS is a super rare and deadly bird you have little chance to spot in the tropical forest of Northeastern Australia: A Cassowary
Daniel, one of member of our Grasshopper crew, became my best friend during this trip. Funny and outgoing, I also learned from him one of the most famous chilean meal:
a Saltado de Chancho!
I'll always remember my 24th birthday. My important birthday as my friend Kaleigh says because I turned 24 on the 24th of October 2013. My travel mates offered me my first scuba diving experience on the Great Barrier Reef, had a great day on the Falla boat, a great party with nice people at the Woolshed in Cairns and got my first kiss from the girl I was in love at this time! One of the best memory in my whole life!
The Whitsundays are composed of 74 islands considered to the purest beaches on Earth. Whitehaven beach is the finest and purest among them with a silica concentration of 98%.
The Hubble space Telescope is made from the Whitehaven sand.
After the Whitsunday islands, activities were super chilled. We decided to put some fun into it to make it more challenging!
Magnetic Island's wildlife includes Australia's largest wild koala colony. The 2019 bushfires across Australia killed half a billion animals amongst them, without talking about plants. It's the biggest wildlife tragedy in Australia, especially because Australia owns mostly endemic species (87% of Australia’s 316 terrestrial mammal species are endemic) because of it's geographical isolation.
One of the most famous Australian surf beaches: Byron Bay!
I didn't catch amazing waves though...mostly foam! :D
I only spent two days in Sydney (if I remember well... I'm not sure). After sharing this adventure with people from Chile, Germany, Greece, England, Australia, Belgium and France I decided it was time for a wilder adventure in the Blue Mountains, taking a step forward in the unknown using Couchsurfing for the first time. I let you discover this new adventure following the previous links.