My favourite places in Australia

Hi guys 🙂

In case you haven’t heard: I’ve spent half a year in Australia and as I can’t stop talking about this beautiful country here’s another blogpost yeeeyy. If you are planning to visit Australia (and you should,no excuses !!) here are the places I would definitely recommend visiting. I feel like I should say that I only travelled the east coast, so there won’t be any places of West Australia and Central Australia as I will only talk abot places I’ve seen myself. That doen’t mean that they’re not worth the visit as I heard from my friends that they’re absolutely amazing. Buuut let’s get started!

1. Sydney

Probably the place my heart hangs on the most as I actuylly lived there for the most time. I love everything about Sydney from the lively inner city with lots of places to go shopping, to all the beautiful beaches you can hang out at on sunny days and the botanical garden with all the exotic plants and the wonderful view on the opera house. Not to metntion the landmarks, the harbour bridge and opera house which are completely stunning. I was blown away every time I saw them and took  a ridiculous amount of pictures (which look all the same to be honest).One of my favourite places is darling harbour with my favourite clubs and restaurants. Sydney has like lots of Australian cities a great surf culture,so you can see surf competitions at the beaches and everyone is very laid-back and friendly. A big part is also all the cultures, that come together in Sydney, you can get food from all different countries and if you’re looking to make friends from all different nations, Sydney is the place for you. I love all the different quarters of Sydney, when you drive from the centre to the suburbs you get the feeling you’re driving through a lot of different towns as each one has their own atmosphere. I think if I had to choose where in Australia to live it would be Sydney !

2. Noosa Heads

Noosa itself is only a tiny town but the National park is absolutely unique. You can choose between different walks threw the park, that lead you threw the rainforest or along the coast. The coastal walk I did is one of the most popular walks in the country and I can totally see why. You have amazing views on the see and the beaches and it looks like tropical paradise with the green plants, the turquoise see and the yellow beaches. You walk up a hill from where you can spot whales and dolfins if it’s the right season and see lovely bays. Noosa is also a good place for surfing and stand up paddling.

3. Great barrier reef

You can go scuba diving/snorkeling at different places of the great barrier reef and they are all different. The marine landscape is just incredible, you can see colourful plants and beautiful fish. If  you’re lucky you will even see sharks and turtles. I was absolutely speechless by the beauty and the atmosphere under water! I really hope the endangered reef can be saved with the new funds the government gave to research, as huge parts of it are already dead and won’t be there for the next generations to see.

4. Magnetic Island

Magnetic island is known for it’s wildlife. You can spot wild koalas on the fort walk, that leads you up the hills to the old WW2 (or was it WW1?) forts. There will be arrows on the floor of people who’ve spotted the koalas and if you’re lucky and keep your eyes in the trees you will see the little grey furballs yourself. From the forts you have an amazing view over the island. There are woods everywhere you can see and beautiful bays. The nature and wildlife is truly incredible. At sunset you can feed rock wallabies at the arcadia, which are like cute little kangaroos and will eat out your hand. Also coolest hostel with the best view I’ve ever been to. If you’re planning to go definitely stay at Base!

5. Whitsunday Island/ Whitehaven beach

THIS PLACE IS LITERALLY PARADISE YOU HAVE TO GO ! Okay trying to calm down but it was in all honesty one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. You get there by ship (there are 1 day to 4 day trips and you can either go by sailing boat or speed boat)  and when you drive around the cornerof the island you see the most beautiful beach with the whitest sand. And it’s not only me saying this it actually was voted the worlds most beautiful beach before and even some pirates of the carribean scenes where shot there. You should go there in the afternoon and walk up the hill so you have the perfect view over the whole beach  and the white sand lines in the crystal clear sea. The white sand is also good for your skin and hair so definitely worth a scrub. You can also find the most fotographed tree in the world on the beach. It fell over during a cyclone and as it looks super aesthetic it turned into the most fotographed tree over night. Check out the pictures and tell me this is not paradise ! (There’s also a very instagramable swing 😉 )

 

6. Great Ocean Road

Finally something on the southern side of the continent ! The great ocean road gives you everything there is beautiful nature, the stunning see, incredible wildlife (for example koalas, parrots, etc.) and the surf culture. You’re driving next to the sea on one side and interesting plants on the other side. On the hill there are amazing houses you will definitely want but never be able to afford. You will also come through lovely, small towns along the coast, which all have there own charm. There’s also a rainforest walk, where you can see the most interesting plants and trees. Aaaaaand of course the highlights: The 12 apostels and lochards gorge. They are both incredibly beautiful and have a powerful atmosphere in every weather and definitely worth visiting. (Also I stole my friend’s picture cause he had better weather hahah)

7. Fraser Island

The worlds biggest sand island ! You can drive along the coast for hours, it’s just one endless beach (which is basically the dream for me). We even saw some dolphins in the water ! You have to drive in 4 wheel drives and it still can be hard to drive and really bumpy,it’s definitely a cool and unique driving experience. There are little towns and lots of little roads leading through the rainforest. You can also do rainforest walks along beautiful little creeks. It’s a really cool island and as I heard really cool to stay overnight and camp. Just lock your food away and beware of the dingos! My personal favourite was Lake Mackenzie a sweetwater lake and the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen. Apparently the water is healing and the sand is the same pure sand as in Whitehaven beach, so it’s good for your skin as well. I just felt a calm and relaxing atmosphere there which I’ve never experienced anywhere before!

So I know these are probably basic but they’re basic for a reason, because everyone has to see them as they’re amazing. I’d love if you shared your favourite places with me on our twitter @castaway_minds or our instagram @castawayminds

Have a wonderful rest of the week !

Love,

Alli xx

Favourites: February ’18

Hi guys it’s been a while but I thought I’d share some of my current favourites that get me through the cold and snowy winter here in Germany.

Food:

I’ve been living with a Mexican guy for half a year. He is a great cook and always prepared the most delicious meals, which got me obsessed with mexican food so I decided to try and prepare salsa and guacamole myself (with his recipe). The last few days I really have been craving nachos with salsa, guacamole, sour cream and cheese and I hope I get around to prepare it today. It’s not an actual Mexican dish, but it’s easy and has the components I learned to love so much, so the perfect dish to warm yourself up with some spicy cheesy goodness.

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Another dish I really enjoy at the moment is a german pastry called “Krapfen ” or “Berliner”. They’re comparable to jam filled donuts and it’s typical to have it in Germany during carnival season in February. It’s a ball of dough with jam (or in variations with vanilla cream or chocolate) in the middle powdered with icing sugar. It’s kind of hard to eat without getting jam or icing sugar all over you, but totally worth the mess.

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Books:

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I have to admit I haven’t read a lot recently, but the one book I read luckily is totally worth recommending. It’s called “A quiet kind of thunder” and is written by the praised “Beautiful broken things” author Sara Barnard. The book tells the story of Steffi, who is a selective mute, which means she is technically able to talk, but can’t get the words out when anxious or uncomfortable. She meets the new guy at her school Rhys who is deaf. As she is able to use BSL (british sign language) they can communicate easily and soon fall in love. It’s a beautiful story about a first love under special circumstances, but with the normal first love problems and you can’t help but absolutely love the interesting characters. Really a read to warm your heart in cold february.

 

Series:

The whole country is watching topmodel and then there’s me overexcitedly watching Ru Paul’s Drag race. Season 7, 8 and 9 are on german Netflix now and I couldn’t be happier. Drag race is a casting show for drag queens where they have to do certain challenges and then there’s a runway challenge which they need to create costumes according to the weeks theme for. It’s just so bright, crazy and colourful and glamourous with the perfect amount of drama . Also you get to know the coming out and background stories of the contestants which can be really emotional. I love it and it brightens up every dark winter day.

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An other series I’m totally digging is british series “The end of the fucking world” which is also on Netflix. It’s about self diagnosed psychopath James and rebellious teenage girl Alyssa who run away together. James is quiet and awkward and his plan is actually to kill Alyssa who is the typical troubled teenager who provokes whoever she meets and does what she wants. On their road trip to Alyssa’s absent father they get involved in a lot of trouble and even a crime. I’m absolutely crazy about this series because it has this strange dark british humour and these totally over the top characters. Despite their weird quirks and their mostly wrong and immature behaviour you have to love James and Alyssa and their totally fucked up relationship. And if my opinion isn’t enough, it also scored 100% on rotten tomatoes. Literally the only bad thing I can find about the series: It only has 8 episodes !

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Beauty:

I’m really not good at talking about beauty products, but here’s a few of my current favourites:

Mascara: I really like Yves Rocher (yes, partly because they gave me a customers card) because they make their cosmetics from plants and don’t test on animals (as they say, no guarantee on that) and I found my favourite mascara there. I had a hard time with finding the right mascara beforebut their Vertige volume in black is just perfect for my lashes and makes them really long and voluminous. A good thing also is that it stays on really long without giving you these black like crums under your eyes. I’m really, really happy with it. I use the black one but it also comes in brown and blue.

Powder: I use the body shop all in one powder and foundation which I’m really happy with as it stays on for a long time and really covers your skin but without being really heavy and like a mask. As you can see I really can’t talk about make up I sound like an advertisment 😉 Anyway I also like that they don’t test on animals.

Lotion: As my skin and lips always get super dry in winter I use a lot of lotion and the one I like best (and basically use for everything) is nivea soft. It’s really light and moisturizes your skin without being to fat. Also really nice smell. I just really like it because it feels good on my skin.

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Music:

I gotta admit I’m not really up to date as I’m with anything in the music world, because I’ve been listening to the same 12 songs for 2 years, but an album I recently discovered is Halsey’s new album “hopeless fountain kingdom”. I just really like her style and she has some great duets for example with Lauren Jauregui “strangers” which happens to be my favourite song on the album apart from “bad at love” and “him&I”. I love how deep her lyrics are and the melancholical tone of the songs. Also I admire her as a person because she’s a strong badass, a role model for women and an absolut icon for me.

 

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I hope that gave you some inspiration to help with the winter blues and if you have some more recommendations you think I might like hit me up on our twitter @castway_minds

or on instagram under @castawayminds

Have a great rest of february!

Love, Alli xx