My trip ended in Sydney, where it began.

With only a few days of travel to go, we took a flight back from Cairns to Sydney. Flights are definitely the best way to get around as they are 1) reasonably priced for Australia and 2) are much much more effecient for getting around — remember Australia is HUGE and many cities that seem like they may be close together are really 15+ hours apart.

Sydney was quite cool and overcast when I left (almost 2 weeks before), but things changed quickly. Temperatures reached the mid 80’s on Thursday, and reached 92 on Friday (my last full day). Spring.

I stayed in QT Bondi, a hotel in Bondi Beach, again on Chase Sapphire points. That card saved me ~$1000 on this trip. Great hotel, great location.

There were two main activities I did on the return to Sydney. First, I took a surfing lesson at the famous Bondi Beach. The breaks were pretty good for beginners (and further out there were a lot of good surfers). I got two hours on the board and managed to get up and go in a straight line a few times before toppling over at the end. While I knew exactly what to do to get up, I kept making up my own approach at the last minute and it took a while to break those bad habits and settle in. I think I’ll do better next time.

While the weather was warm, the water was very cold. Wetsuits were a must and it was still brisk to say the least.

On a warm day, the beach got packed. 

We also got a swim in at the Bondi Icebreakers club. That water was cold too, but it felt great to swim and get some exercise. Its a 100 meter pool so it didn’t take a ton of laps to be content.

I grabbed an afternoon burger with Chinedu from Marcelleria on the main road. Solid burger. I became a big fan of burgers with 1) 1-2 patties 2) fried egg 3) beets and 4) avacado.

And sadly, that about wraps the trip. Like I said before, I think 2 weeks is WAY too short for Australia. One could easily enjoy Bondi beach for several days, visit more restaurants in Sydney, and spend way more time in Cairns, Port Douglas, the Daintree, and the Atherton Tablelands. And that doesn’t even begin to cover the places I didn’t get to visit like gold/sunshine coasts, Melbourne, Tasmania, Adelide (you can cage dive with great whites there), the many wine regions, the entire outback, or any of the west coast. So, a return trip will be a must.

As we arrived back in the good ole USA, I was greeted with a wonderful sunrise. Pictures do no justice beyond giving a sense of magnitude.

Thanks for reading, mate.