After years on my bucket list, I finally made it out to Australia!! For this trip we stayed in Brisbane and then went out to the Gold Coast for a few nights. It was such an amazing experience and I hope to go back in the future. It’s hard to explain if you haven’t lived in a foreign country but just being able to go grocery shopping, read menus, eat food I like and read signs while I was driving was so refreshing. Plus we had beautiful weather most of the time so I got to be outside and walk a ton. Here’s a few things we did while we were there:
1. SOUTH BRISBANE
I stayed in South Brisbane and I can’t recommend this area enough. I picked the Ivy Eve Apartments and it was perfect because they are apartment style hotels so they include a kitchen. I could also walk to a lot of places including the Ferris Wheel, Streets Beach (man made beach by the river), museums, the ferry and restaurants. We were also across the street from a grocery store and next door to a cafe.
2. FARMERS MARKETS
Farmers Markets may not be as exciting for some people but this was one of my favorite parts of Brisbane. Japan produce is very seasonal and local which I love but I miss being able to eat berries year round, and I hadn’t had a raspberry since we moved out here! They also had tons of fresh breads, local honey, and prepared foods. There is a Wednesday Market on Queen Street that opens at 7am and goes all day and then there is a Saturday market in the West End. I went to both and they were fantastic.
3. HOLD A KOALA
Getting to hold a koala bear was honestly one of the best moments of my life. I was so excited the whole time we waited in line and thought I was going to cry because they are so cute. We went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuarybecause it was close to us but there are a handful of places you can do this at including Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary (near Gold Coast) and Paradise Country Farm. Definitely something you need to do in Brisbane. They also had a ton of other cute animals.
4. VEGAN FOOD
Our favorite places we went were Greenhouse Canteen (opens at 5pm and was walking distance from our hotel) and Flora by Greenhouse (breakfast/lunch place that closes at 2pm). Here’s a few more we found – Grassfed, Wilde Kitchen (not fully vegan but has a vegan and paleo menu), Kiss the Berry (açaí bowls which weren’t the best ever but pretty good).
5. MT. COOT-THA
The Mt. Coot-Tha lookout point is so cool and it’s really easy to get to – you just drive to the top. There is also a restaurant at the top so you can go for breakfast and enjoy the view. Even on a cloudy day it was absolutely beautiful. Here’s a great article with a few more things you can do up here
6. KANGAROO POINT CLIFFS
Kangaroo Point Cliffs has an amazing path that runs along the river and also has a lookout point of the city skyline. Definitely worth a walk or at least to go and take some pictures at sunset.
7. GOLD COAST
Josh had to work one day on the Gold Coast so we spent the night and it was one of my favorite parts of our trip. Unfortunately it rained the full day that we were there so we couldn’t do all the things we planned but we found a cute airbnb right by Mermaid Beach and walked down there. It was such a gorgeous beach! It’s a little ways down from the downtown area so it was super clean and quiet. We ate at Maria Anita’s which was fantastic. It’s organic and gluten free with lots of vegan options. And we also found a great grocery store called Flannery’s. Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is here as well as Coombabah Lakeland Tracks (which we weren’t able to go but heard about from a friend). Burleigh Heads and Snapper Rocks were on our list too but unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate for us. I would definitely stay on the Gold Coast again for at least 2-3 nights if we came back.
