MY FAVOURITE TRAVEL MOMENTS OF 2015

2015 has been a great year full of memories I’ll treasure for the rest of my life. There’s nothing I enjoy more than flicking through old photos and remembering exactly how I felt at that very moment. The moment might have been and gone, but the memory will always be there to make you smile. Making memories that you can cherish forever is what life’s all about.

With that being said, here are my best travel moments of 2015 :)

1. PARTYING IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

2015 got off to a bang when I flew to Sydney on New Year's Day for a Contiki tour along the East Coast of Australia. We were staying in a hotel in Kings Cross so headed out to a local bar where things got crazy pretty quickly. Lets just say it involved a lot of alcohol, pole dancing and making lots of new friends! I can remember thinking 'oh my frigging god I'm partying in a bar in Sydney 9000 miles from home' and I literally felt like I was living my dream.

2. STROLLING THROUGH THE OLD MARKET SQUARE AS THE SUN SETS
IN LEUVEN, BELGIUM

This photo doesn't really do the moment justice, but you can get a feel of how beautiful the Old Market Square in Leuven is in my vlog here (skip to 8:30) The sun was setting, it was lovely and warm and the streets were filled with people eating, drinking and enjoying themselves. It was such a lovely atmosphere - a combination of the buzz of a city with the architecture and beauty of a small Belgian town.

3. BATHING IN THE BLUE LAGOON IN GRINDAVIK, ICELAND

An obvious choice! What's not to like about chilling in 38 degree water sipping rosé whilst the sun sets behind you?

4. DRINKING GOON ON THE BEACH AT SURF CAMP IN COFFS HARBOUR, AUSTRALIA

You've probably seen this photo 100 times before but it's honestly one of my favourite photos ever! It sums up exactly how perfect that evening was... sat on the beach with new friends, watching the sun set, drinking goon and just feeling completely content. We then got extremely drunk whilst playing drinking games and spent the night partying on the beach. Absolute heaven!

5. TOASTING MARSHMALLOWS & DRINKING WINE IN OUR DRESSING GOWNS

IN CHESHIRE, UK

As much as I love going abroad, I've had some equally amazing moments throughout 2015 at home in the UK! Me and my uni gals try and meet up as often as we can, so in the summer we all went to Emily's house for a BBQ and spent the evening sat around her outdoor fireplace (which is the most amazing thing I've ever seen!) toasting marshmallows and drinking wine. It was honestly one of the loveliest evenings I've ever had!

6. HAVING A BBQ AFTER SWIMMING IN LAKE MCKENZIE ON

FRASER ISLAND, AUSTRALIA

After a relaxing afternoon swimming in Lake McKenzie on the stunning Fraser Island, my Contiki tour group were led to a private area for a BBQ lunch. For some reason, I always remember this moment as being an absolutely perfect way to end a very special day. I love crystal clear water, I love 30 degree weather and I love BBQ's, so I was completely in my element!

7. WHITE WATER RAFTING DOWN THE TULLY RIVER IN CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA

I think this photo pretty much sums up why white water rafting down the Tully River in Cairns is one of my favourite travel moments of 2015! I loved the adrenaline of feeling like you were going to fall out of the dingy on the grade 4 rapids, but equally loved floating around in the tranquil water surrounded by some of the most stunning scenery I've ever seen in my life.

8. RIDING AROUND LANGMORN STATION ON A TRAILER
IN QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

I'm sure you're beginning to notice that the majority of my favourite travel moments of 2015 are from my trip to Australia! I was there for 2 weeks and, as it was a holiday of a lifetime, I did pretty much every activity there was to do! So it's not surprising that I made a lot of amazing travel memories :) One of my favourites is riding on the back of a tractor around Langmorn Station wearing cowboy hats and drinking vodka in true outback Aussie style!

9. CLIMBING THE SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE

Please excuse my Rudolf nose... the sun did not like my pale English skin haha! Climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge was the one thing I always wanted to do, so I was a bit lost for words when it actually happened! I'm so glad we ended up doing a night climb as we got to see the sun set over Sydney half way up the bridge and the Sydney Opera House all lit up against the black sky at the top of the bridge - the best of both worlds!

10. SKYDIVING IN SURFERS PARADISE, AUSTRALIA

You might think that jumping out of a plane at 12,000ft having only had 3 hours sleep (oh and did I forget to mention I was still drunk as it was my birthday the night before?) sounds like hell, but trust me... DO IT.

What are your favourite travel moments of 2015?
xxx

CONTIKI BEACHES & REEFS / AUSTRALIA DAY 9

Two 4x4's were waiting for us outside the resort this morning to take us to our next stop, Fraser Island! Fraser Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the largest sand island in the world. There are no roads, so you can only get there by driving on the sand in a 4x4 and boarding a ferry each time to cross water. We drove along Rainbow beach (above in photos 1 and 2) which was absolutely beautiful and as the name suggests, very colourful! When we got out to explore, the whole beach was deserted so it was really tranquil and the scenery was absolutely stunning! I wish the panoramic I took showed up better on my blog as it really does not do it justice! It was absolutely boiling too - the more we travelled North, the hotter it got as we were getting closer and closer to the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn!

The journey along the beach took a good few hours but I really enjoyed it! It was SO bumpy so we were flying all over the place like a roller coaster - which kept waking the sleepers up every time we went over a bump! We had a few hot chocolate breaks on the way and just sat and chilled on the sand completely surrounded by, well, miles and miles of sand! The place is literally like heaven on earth!

We ended up at a rainforest so we had a guided walk through the bush - pretty much the standard thing to do when in Oz! I'm not a big fan of wildlife so I almost died when I had to walk past a snake (I'm absolutely petrified of them!) After the rainforest, we were taken to what I can only describe as paradise - Lake McKenzie!

I didn't really look at the itinerary for Fraser Island so I had no idea we were going there until we walked down this little path. When we got to the end of the path, photo 3 was my view! We spent the afternoon playing water wrestling on each other's shoulders, relaxing in the freshwater lake and sunbathing on the pure white silica sand (a sand so fine it's a natural exfoliant!) 

We walked back up the path later that afternoon and there was a huge BBQ lunch waiting for us! It's the little details like that that really made me love Contiki! After lunch we got back on the coach and drove to our resort for the night. We stayed in these beautiful picturesque wooden lodges but boy were they hot!!! We all went down to the beach and watched the sunset and well - I think the pictures speak for themselves!

It was such bad timing because I felt SO ill that night so I ended up going to bed at like 8pm whilst everyone else was at a toga party. I can remember feeling like death so yet again I just had to sleep it off. I felt like such a killjoy those couple of days in Noosa and Fraser Island but I'm not one of those people who can power through if I feel awful! 

Next stop, Langmorn farm!