After I left Bryon Bay in New South Wales, I headed further north into Queensland. I ended up spending only 2 weeks in Queensland, but I really did enjoy my time!

Gold Coast

I started my trip in Queensland in Surfers Paradise in Gold Coast. This was an interesting stop, especially coming from Byron Bay which I absolutely loved. I honestly thought I would enjoy it just as much here – but I actually didn’t.

Gold Coast is a pretty location, but it really has a lot more suburbia vibes to it – especially where I was staying. Oddly enough, Surfers Paradise also draws in a lot more of the younger partier crowds. The beach there was pretty, but I didn’t get the same sense of peace as I did in Byron Bay. I think it’s because they were doing some construction along with the layout being more city. I’m not sure.

I ended up spending quite a few days working at the library there. It was really nice to get back into the library for an extended amount of time. In an effort to not spend all of my time in the library – I actually walked there every day. It was great to get out and most of the days were really nice weather so I enjoyed the hour walk. It gave me a chance to explore a bit, but avoid the crowds and busyness of the beach area before I sat down for a couple hours to get some work done.

Honestly, when I first got there the weather was pretty eh with lots of rain, and I almost turned around to Byron Bay, it had rained in Byron Bay too, but it didn’t impact my mood as much.

Brisbane

The thing that stopped me from heading back to Byron Bay and into Brisbane, was actually hearing back from a friend! She and her family live in Brisbane and I hadn’t seen them since Semester at Sea back in 2020. When I got to Australia I had sent her a message, but she only saw it while I was in Gold Coast. It was perfect timing honestly. I extended my stay a little bit in Gold Coast and then went to stay with them for a couple of nights. They run an airbnb on the ground floor of their house and it was available so they put me up in it while I was there.

It was great to see them and catch up. We had dinner most of the nights together and then during the day we would do our own things. I walked around the area, and did take a day trip further into the city at one point. I made my way to a sporting goods store too – I’m switching up my bag soon hopefully (just have to time it right for selling my current one), but I wanted to check out the bag I want to get first to make sure it works. Once I get the new bag, I’ll probably do a post about why I’m switching.

I also got a new stamp added to my tattoo leg! The artist, Sarah, did an amazing job. One of the things I wanted to make sure to do for tattoo was to give the artists a lot of leeway to put their own spins on things. I didn’t want it to all look like it came from one person, especially since I plan to get the stamps in the countries they represent. So it was great that Sarah thought ‘outside the box’ quite literally and popped a surfboard outside of the frame of the stamp.

Sunshine Coast

I ended my time in Queensland with just 2 nights, 1 full day in Sunshine Coast and honestly I wish I had spent more time in Sunshine Coast and less in Gold Coast. The vibe was much more my preference and it is less city scape in a suburb setting like Gold Coast is.

I really only had one day there, and had some housekeeping things to take care of like laundry, but I still made a point to get out and spent the gorgeous day wandering the beach, eating looking out over the ocean, and soaking up some sun before heading back to the hostel to take care of the things I needed to before I left for New Zealand.

When I come back, this is definitely the part that I will explore more of.

Onto New Zealand

For now – I’m off to New Zealand for the next couple of months. New Zealand does require you book your departure ticket before you arrive, so I do already know how long I’ll be there if I don’t change it up, but I’m excited for this next chapter. New Zealand is supposed to be gorgeous and have a lot of nature related activities to do. It’ll be good I think before I start to head back to Europe to meet up with friends.