Hello my lovely readers, I am beyond excited to share our dream honeymoon to Australia with y’all, but before we get started I just wanted to share all of my thoughts & prayers with the amazing people & incredible animals living in Australia at this time. When Jordan and I arrived in Sydney, part of the city was already deemed to be in a state of emergency which frightened us both, but we were luckily far enough away from the bushfires to have it effect us. We definitely saw smoke, but we also saw so much beauty, uniqueness, and most importantly the kindness of the people that live there. I ask that anyone who reads this post please pray for this wonderful country.

Now grab your coffee, tea, or wine (😉) and get to reading. 🖤 The day after our wedding, Jordan and I were able to sit back and relax at our hotel that was situated right by the Bush Intercontinental Airport. We slept in, enjoyed brunch, and went on our way to the airport that afternoon. Once we arrived we were on a hunt to find our favorite place at the airport, Cadillac Bar, which happened to be on the complete opposite side of where our gate for take off was, but we had plenty of time before boarding, so we each enjoyed some margaritas while watching the planes arrive & take off out the windows. We upgraded our seats to what they call a “skycouch” for our 15 hour flight from Houston, TX to Auckland, NZ. Our row of 3 seats turned into a couch and we were able to get cozy and watch movies together/lay down and snuggle the whole flight. The 15 hour flight surprisingly wasn’t awful, but I would highly recommend booking your long flights in the evening so you can try to sleep most of the time & also get yourself the most comfortable seats you possibly can.

The views from our plane windows were gorgeous. We were even able to see the night skies from Antarctica for part of our journey and it was a breathtaking sight to see. It was 9am on November 19th when we finally arrived at the Sydney International Airport, so we knew that we had to stay awake and explore as long as we possibly could to try to not let the jet lag get to us. We stopped by our hotel to get cleaned up a bit in their lobby bathrooms since our room wouldn’t be ready until later that day and then made our way to Downtown Sydney! Our first goal was to figure out where to eat and we knocked it out of the park by finding an awesome burger place that had a great view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

I ordered a Wagyu burger (which is beef from a grass-fed Japanese cow) with melted cheese, onions, pickles, and their “pink sauce (which is actually thousand island dressing). Jordan ordered an amazing looking bacon cheeseburger that also came with “pink sauce.” After filling our bellies with those delicious burgers we walked about a trillion miles around Downtown Sydney doing all of the touristy types of things. We explored the local shops (hence why Jordan looks like Crocodile Dundee), enjoyed the Christmas decor at The Rocks, saw up close how massive the Sydney Harbor Bridge was, walked around the outside & some of the inside of the Sydney Opera House, and explored the beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens. It was a very exciting & exhausting first day! We were very excited to finally have our room ready so we could get cleaned up and relax before dinner. The hotel surprised us with a sweet card & a very good bottle of champagne. We found this cute, little area that was filled with a few different restaurants, a grocery store, and a wine & spirits store nearby the hotel. We chose an Italian restaurant called La Bufala and decided to split calamari & a bottle of wine for dinner. We weren’t very hungry since we had such a big lunch, but we definitely were having fun drinking that wine together and exploring the local grocery store with our fake Australian accents after dinner. I’m sure all of the locals thought we were crazy, but we didn’t care. 😉 The next morning, I couldn’t sleep past 5:30am (didn’t quite beat the jet lag after all), so I headed out to get Jordan and I some yummy breakfast from a cute, little Belgian Chocolate Cafe called, Oliver Brown. I ordered a cookies & creme crêpe and a Belgian chocolate waffle for us to split, brought Jordan an iced Belgian white chocolate mocha, and also made us some mimosas with the lovely champagne that was gifted to us to enjoy on the balcony. A little bit later, we made our way back to the airport to head to Hamilton Island!! When we landed on the island we were instantly blown away by the natural beauty and could not wait to explore. We hurried to get checked into our room at the Reef View hotel, which was the tallest hotel on the island. We were surprised yet again with not only champagne, but we were also upgraded to a 2-story suite on the very top floor which had two balconies with the most beautiful view of the sea & some somewhat friendly visitors. After spending just about an hour on the island, we could see ourselves living there and started coming up with plans on how we could make it happen lol. We spent the afternoon quickly exploring the island’s wildlife exhibit before it closed & relaxed at the beach before getting cleaned up for our dinner reservations. The highlight of the wildlife exhibit had to be getting aquatinted with Big Mac, their massive crocodile. It was also so peaceful sitting back and listening to the ocean waves & soaking up the last bit of sunshine at the beach that evening. We had dinner reservations at the hotel restaurant called, The Pool Terrace. We started off with their Oyster trio special for an appetizer & some fruity cocktails! Jordan had a strawberry daiquiri and I had a piña colada. For the entree’s, I enjoyed a filet of swordfish with lemon butter, a side of fries, and aioli. Jordan enjoyed lamb riblets & 3-cheese mac n cheese. We enjoyed breakfast & coffee with a sea view the next morning. The breakfast is served buffet style at the resort, so we each got a montage of random things. I mostly stuck with eggs, wheat toast, and cappuccinos. 😋 After breakfast, we headed straight to the beach. We spent the first half of our day in the water! We went snorkeling at Catseye Beach where we saw some squid, an eel, tons of pretty fish, and stingrays. We also relaxed & enjoyed some yummy cocktails at the pool bar. My favorite drink was the Malibu Mai Tai & Jordan’s was the Mango No. 5! We went back to the wildlife exhibit to explore some more. We got to see some more koalas, kangaroos, and even a parrot that would say “hello” back to us! We decided to rent a buggy for the rest of the day to explore the island & our first stop was at the Marina Tavern for some grub. We shared an appetizer platter that had buffalo & bbq wings, fried calamari, onion rings, and cheese fries. #nutritious Next, we headed up to the very top of the island. There was a bar up there called “One Tree Hill” that had a beautiful view of the sea & a magnificent spot to watch the sunset. When you’re up there you truly feel like you’re on top of the world. The next morning, we grabbed some breakfast & waited at the Marina for our boat to take us to the Great Barrier Reef. I made a beautifully colored friend during our wait. Once the Seaflight arrived, we hopped on board! It took a couple of hours for us to get to the Great Barrier & the sea views were absolutely breathtaking, but I unfortunately felt very sea sick most of the time. We arrived at the reef & it was time for lunch! We devoured a montage of yummy pastas, salad, and bread. It felt good to get some carbs in my stomach after not feeling so great on the trip there. We got suited up & ready to go! Snorkeling the reef was such a unique & exhilarating experience. We were both a little disappointed in the lack of color that the reef held due to people touching & killing the sea life (also had high expectations due to “Finding Nemo”), but it was still one of the most incredible experiences I’ve had being able to swim in the open ocean hand in hand with my husband & being able to see so many beautiful fish. 🐠 It was also a bit terrifying swimming in the open ocean wondering if a Great White would come and snatch us at any second. 🦈

Later that evening we had dinner at the Marina. We tried out a place called, Manta Ray, and it did not disappoint. I ordered myself another Wagyu burger with fries & aioli sauce, Jordan ordered a delicious steak with mac n cheese, and we also split a Cabernet/Merlot mix. The next morning, we waited at the Marina again for our next boat ride. We had a morning planned to explore the most beautiful beach on the Whitsunday’s Coast, Whitehaven Beach. When we first arrived at the beach, we were just blown away by the beauty of the crystal clear waters and feeling our bare feet in the soft white sands. The sand felt like you were walking in baby powder. It was insanely soft. We did some exploring in & out of the water, chased around some massive sting rays (thinking they were sharks the whole time 🦈), and relaxed by the water/soaked up the sunshine together. Whitehaven Beach is the 2nd most beautiful beach in the world, but it was the prettiest beach either of us had seen in person, so it was truly an unforgettable experience. We shared a delicious BBQ Chicken Pizza & some drinks once we got back to the Marina at Hamilton Island. I tried out Pimm’s for the first time and actually enjoyed it. It had a very different taste and no one could explain to me exactly what Pimm’s was, but it was good!

We spent the rest of the day snorkeling & hanging out at Catseye Beach before making our way to One Tree Hill to watch the sunset. We had the most romantic time sharing wine, cheese, and experiencing a gorgeous sunset together. A bunch of people would gather at the top of the hill each day to enjoy the same exact thing with their families and friends. It was magical. We also has some visitors wanting to steal our food!! Those cockatoos were wild! placeholder://Once the sun fully set, we made our way to the very top of the hill. As Jordan and I sat there admiring the beauty of the island & sharing our favorites moments so far, Jordan asked me if I’d like to dance. We danced to “Little Bitty Dreams” by Will Hoge and it was probably the most special & romantic moment of my life. After enjoying the sunset together, we got cleaned up and walked to our very nice dinner reservation at Mariners. We enjoyed a nice Pinot noir, an amazing scallop appetizer, and a delectable filet entree that came with 3 different types of seasoned cabbage. We also had a nice chocolate dessert, but devoured that before pictures. 

On our way back to the resort we had quite the hike & tons of fun after many glasses of wine. My heels were completely falling apart while we had a difficult downhill trek back, but we also shared some very enjoyable conversations, had fun picking on each other, and also tried to make friend’s with the wild wallaby’s.

We were very sad to leave Hamilton Island the next morning. It was time to make our way back to Sydney for a couple more days. We enjoyed some more beautiful views during our plane ride. We had quite the adventure trying to find our Airbnb once we arrived back in Sydney. We decided to get in a bit of rest before doing anything that day after enduring tons & tons more walking. Once we were rested, we decided to explore the nearby areas and found a place off of Darling Harbour for dinner called, HBK. We enjoyed some cocktails & food before meeting my cousin (who lives in Sydney) for some more cocktails! We started off with some smoked garlic ciabatta then Jordan ordered a nice steak with mashed red potatoes & sweet potatoes fries for his entree and I ordered another waygu burger with melted Brie cheese, bacon, and a side of fries & aioli for mine. We met my cousin and her boyfriend at this cute outdoor bar off of the Harbour. We all split a pitcher of this delicious, blue cocktail and had great conversations. My cousin and her boyfriend are both currently going to Medical School in Sydney, so it was really cool being able to hear about the things they’re learning, how they like the country, and what they’re next steps are in becoming doctors/what fields they’re going into.

After parting ways with my cousin at the train station, Jordan and I ended up getting very lost trying to get back to our Airbnb with dead phones. Luckily after about 45 minutes of walking all over downtown Sydney, we happened upon a digital map that allowed us to search the location of our Airbnb and we were able to each memorize the roads we had to take to get back. It was an exhausting adventure, but we did learn where a lot of different things were located throughout the city lol. The next morning we got up and walked to The Local Mbassy for some scrumptious Brekky! I had found this place on a travel blog before we went to Oz and was super excited to try it out.

We each ordered cold coffees. Jordan enjoyed an iced white chocolate mocha & I ordered their mint chocolate frappe. For Brekky, Jordan ordered the crab eggs Benedict & I ordered a full English breakfast. It was all magnificent. For our last full day in Sydney we wanted to explore as much of the city as we could, so we walked all over starting with Darling Harbour.We made our way to Darling Harbour first to check out the Australian National Maritime Museum. It was neat to see some of their naval ships and beautiful sculptures. On our way to the museum we also passed by some more fun Christmas decor & a unique sculpture that represented “love.” Our next stop was at the Sydney Aquarium, which was AWESOME! We had tons of fun admiring all different types of sharks, Manta Rays, tons of different fish, getting to touch Star Fish, & spending tons of time watching the penguins. The penguins were certainly our favorite part of the entire aquarium. The King Penguin tried to intimidate Jordan the entire time we sat there watching & it was absolutely hilarious. Next, we made our way to the Tower Eye, which is the tallest building in Sydney and has a 360 degree viewing deck of the entire city. It was really cool being able to see the city from that view. On our way to find some dinner, we happened upon this place called the Queen Victoria Building. This building had beautiful architecture & decorations. It was filled with several high end shops, boutiques, and even Santa was there! Jordan and I thoroughly enjoyed walking around the building and Jordan had a blast re-enacting a scene from “Elf” as we passed by Santa. After even more walking & exploring, we ended up at the exact same restaurant that we had eaten at the night before and it was even more delicious the second time! We started off with an appetizer of fried squid with aioli sauce. Jordan ordered a seafood pastaand I ordered an entree called the “lamb hook,” which was lamb, peppers, onions, and corn served on a metal hook. I also ordered a side of fries & and garlic butter to dip the lamb in. It was one of the most delicious meals I had during the entire trip. Jordan even loved it too! We also split a delicious bottle of Zepplin Shiraz as we enjoyed our view of the Harbour and reflected on what an incredible time we had during our entire honeymoon. We made our way back to the Local Mbassy the next morning for breakfast before we had to make our way to the airport for our flights back to Houston…

We started with some more yummy coffees. I ordered a hazelnut cappuccino & Jordan ordered a Red Velvet Frappe. To eat, I ordered some scrambled eggs & sourdough toast. Jordan ordered some incredible looking red velvet pancakes served with mascarpone & a white chocolate sauce to drizzle on top. We boarded our first of 3 flights and got ready to go for our 27 hours of travel ahead. We decided to try our best to cope with this miserably long journey home with a bunch of wine & some GoT!

After 7 incredible days spent in Sydney & on Hamilton Island, we were truly sad to leave, but we also felt very blessed and happy to have been able to enjoy this adventure together. We saw so much natural beauty, learned tons about another country/the Aussie’s way of life, and learned how to travel on foreign lands together. Jordan and I had dreamed of visiting Australia together since we started dating, so being able to go there for our honeymoon was truly a dream come true.

I hope you all have enjoyed this post & that one day you too will be able to visit this extraordinary country if you haven’t already. Thanks for reading!

Questions for you:

1. Have you ever been to Australia?

2. Where did you enjoy your honeymoon?

3. What has been your favorite travel destination so far and why?

XOXO, Paige.