Extremely jet-lagged I remember waking up in the early hours of the morning and walking to the beach. Still pitch black but already warm, I waited for the sun to rise. In the twilight I remember watching the wallabies grazing on the grass by the sand. It was at this moment that I decided I wanted to travel the globe and capture on film the beautiful things I saw.
My journey through Australia started in Darwin and after a month ended in Sydney. I started in Darwin, which I can honestly say is one of my favourite places in the entire world. I loved the remoteness, friendliness and laid back vibe. The highlight of Darwin for me was the sunset at the Mindil Beach Market. I've never seen the sky look as huge and colourful.
From there we travelled through Kakadu, Litchfield and gunlom Falls to see the billabongs and swim in the pools under the many waterfalls.
The Northern Territory is also great for viewing the Milky Way. At King's Canyon by Ayer's Rock or Uluru we all slept in swags with the starry sky as our ceiling. It's such an amazing experience to see shooting stars and satellites so clearly you feel you can reach out and grab them. I was a bit concerned about snakes sneaking into my swag though.
Along the banks of the Katherine River I went wondering into the bush by myself to get some shots of the river when I heard a rustling in the dry leaves by my feet. I noticed I was standing over a long black snake.
Scared to move I kept still and got out my camera and camcorder. I got great shots and footage of this snake slithering away. Upon showing the footage and pictures to people later it turned out to be a rare Inland Taipan, the most poisonous land animal in the world. I felt lucky at first until I thought about it, it's actually a great example of how an animal is very unlikely to attack unless provoked.
Before long I was white water rafting in Cairns and swimming on the Great Barrier Reef. The reef was truly stunning, especially seeing the humpback whales jumping at the side of the boat. You always hear about the size of whales but when you see one jump clear of the water right next to you it becomes a bit more apparent.
While travelling down the coast we stopped at the Whitsunday Islands and Whitehaven Beach, went surfing at Surfers Paradise, saw Byron Bay and Brisbane before crossing Sydney Harbour Bridge into Sydney.
Sydney is the most amazing city I've ever seen, I never wanted to leave and still dream of living there some day. I did all the tourist things people do in Sydney like Bondi Beach and the aquarium but my favourite moments of being in Sydney were just people watching in Darling Harbour and in the park next to the Opera House. Its so easy to spend an entire afternoon doing nothing and not getting bored.
A truly magical place that I feel sums up Australia as a whole, very friendly, clean and a wonderful place to be.
I will never forget that time I spent down under or the friends I made along the way.
I flew out of Sydney back to the UK but returned to Australia a couple of years later to see Western Australia. It has a different feel to the rest of Australia. I stayed in the hills outside of Perth in a place called Kalamunda before heading down the coast to Fremantle and Mandurah.
Fremantle is the main port to Western Australia and the place to catch the ferry to Rottnest Island. This island is a paradise. The water is turquoise, the sand is white and the wildlife is adorable. Unique to Rottnest Island, the quokka is a miniature wallaby that had a part in the naming of the island when it was discovered.
I remember heading back to the ferry at the end of my day on Rottnest when I saw a small group of quokkas. I stopped to have a look when they all hopped over. I never imagined them to be tame but they were like pets looking for a fuss and some treats. The temptation to bring them home...
But again before long it was time to return to England and leave Australia behind. I was sad to leave again but I still have my travel photography to look at to remind me of what a wonderful place it was and what a great adventure I had.