Total road trip hours 1 way:19 hours

I am guessing you are here because you, like me, are curious about Australia. Australia….the one place I had wanted to go since I was a little girl. Unfortunately, I am a huge arachnophobic so the night before going to Australia I remember having a vivid dream of being eaten alive by spiders. Thankfully, I am still alive to tell my story! At the time of my Australian trip, I was living in New Zealand and I didn’t have a lot to spend on travel outside but I decided that I would not let this opportunity pass me by and booked my ticket. To this day I do not regret one bit the money I spent making this dream a reality. Lasting memories through made with experience and I needed this one. I did not want to undertake this adventure alone however so I called up my fiance’ and we arranged to meet in Brisbane. And just like that, we were off on our first over-seas adventure.

After a lovely 3.5 hour flight from Auckland, NZ, I arrived. There are moments in your life when you are so happy that you cry and this certainly made me shed a tear or two.

I found Eric waiting for me from his very long trip from Detroit (21 hours to be exact) and just like that, we were off on our Aussie adventure. Our first order of business, pick out our car. We were both a bit anxious (him more than I) to drive a car on the opposite side of the road. This may seem like something so small to some but it was a big adjustment for me. Big shout out to Apex Australia for hooking us up with such a great car. The best advice I can give anyone who is thinking of going to Australia is to get an updated GPS. The fact is that Australia is ever growing and changing and an outdated map can get you lost very quickly. Trust me, the last thing you want to do is get lost in a sugar cane field at night…in the fog…with no light anywhere. Or so I hear.

So we had our car and our destination and all we had to do was make that very first left turn on the “wrong” side of the road in midday traffic. Easy! It was a bit nerve racking at first but after the first 30 minutes, we got used to it. Exhausted though we were, we wasted no time heading to see one of my new favorite places in the world. I was super excited to see koalas and kangaroos, so we found the world’s largest sanctuary for both. The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary was built in 1972 and is run by wonderful and caring staff. The cost of admission was $32 AU, but so worth it. We fell in love with all the beautiful animals. They were all super healthy and seemed very happy. I honestly didn’t want to leave!

I mean who can say bye to this face!

After an extremely long and exhausting first day, we finally made it to our room at Kookaburra Travel Lodge. They had great accommodations at a pretty decent price which for travels on a budget makes a world of difference. It was clean and quiet and after a long day of travel, exactly what we needed. I would absolutely recommend this location to anyone looking for a low-budget place to catch some Zs. Our first day in Australia was filled with cute animals, new experiences and loads of coffee. Luckily, our journey was only just beginning.