My favourite places on Australia´s East Coast

One of Australia´s main attractions is this natural beauty: the Great Barrier Reef. It´s a paradise for divers and snorkelers. From Airlie Beach you´ve got various options to get there depending on how you wanna explore the reef. So you can either take a scenic flight above the reef, Whiteheaven Beach and the Whitsunday Islands, or choose one of the different boat trips that gonna give you a chance to snorkel, dive, swim, or just hang out at Whiteheaven Beach - Australia´s most famous beach and one of the whitest beaches you´ll ever see. It´s located at "Whitsunday Island", the biggest island of the "Whitsundays" where you can also do a little walk to reach an amazing view point where you´ve got a great view on Whiteheaven Beach! Definitely worth going there if you´d love to check out one of the most amazing places mother nature has ever created!

One of the spots along Australia´s east coast that are actually underrated is Brisbane. It´s not right at the coast and therefore has not got those nice beaches many Australian towns got to offer. So that´s why many backpackers tend to just kinda skip this city when travelling the East Coast. But actually Brisbane has got a lot to offer. There is even a free "Beach" called fake beach located at the river, where i loved to spend sunny hours. Beside this, Brisbane has got some amazing bridges - some of them are also lighted at night, and some gorgeous view points. From the mountains near Brisbane (like Mt. Coot-tha) you got a chance to see the city from above. You can either take a bus up there or just simply walk, but bring enough water, it can be really hot in Brisbane!

If you kinda feel your inner hippie, or just want to spend a good time with young and happy people around you, Byron Bay gonna give you the good vibes! It´s a small city with gorgeous beaches, a beautiful lighthouse, iconic vw-bullies and totally relaxed people. Besides that it´s also the most easterly point of the Australian mainland. You can do a lighthouse walk from Byron Bay´s city center up to the lighthouse which is in a pretty scenic place. Doing the lighthouse walk, you got a pretty good chance to see turtles, dolphins or even wales swimming in the crystal clear water. Definitely something you should not miss! Tip: Bring something to eat/drink with you and have a nice picnic with a great view near the lighthouse!

The Blue Mountains are located not far from Sydney and are famous for their gorgous view. There is a opal card sunday travel cap where you can travel all day on Sundays on metro, train, bus, ferry and light rail services and pay no more than $ 2,70 (at least it was like that when I was in Australia). One of my backpacker friends told me that this offer also counts for going to the Blue Mountains, so that´s why we decided to spend my last sunday (before going back to Austria) at this area. Unfortunately it was pretty foggy that day so we could hardly see anything, but hey, it was still worth those $ 2,70 I´d say, especially when you compare it to like $ 80 that you usually need to pay when taking a tourist bus from Sydney to the Blue Mountains. There are different hiking trails - we took the one leading us to a waterfall (but there was not too much water in summer). Still a great day, and a really beautiful place - at least what we were able to see :)

When travelling Australia, many people start by checking out Sydney - and so did I. I really liked the city and still think it should be on everybodys bucket list when it comes to Australia, but don´t just stay in Sydney, you´d miss the true Aussie feeling. Anyway Sydney is really beautiful and you definitely gotta see the famous opera house and the harbour bridge. There are even ferries departing just some meters from the opera house, so when you take a ferry (also $ 2,70 on sundays), you kinda cirquit the opera house, which gives you an amazing view. The ferry gonna take you to Manly Beach for exsample which is (besides Bondi Beach) Sydneys most famous beach. There are also some other great view places where you can look at the opera house like Macquarie´s Chair or Blues Point. Besides that, Sydney also got some nice parks, like the Botanical Garden, or some beautiful costal walks! Sydney is without a doubt a must when coming to Australia!