Tag: australia

Posted in Australian Adventures

Impressions of Aussies

Posted on by Irina Ilieva

I have to admit I have rarely been in a country where people are so genuinely nice.

The few Canadians I have met make me think the experience in Canada would be similar, but so far Australia definitely leads my chart.

Although we virtually slept at a different place everyday, somehow we managed to get so many random small talks about things ranging from where we are from to Game of Thrones and Teenage t-shirt preferences.

Here is a short story from the last days of our trip in Western Australia, which illustrates our feeling of Australian hospitality.

We were somewhere on the road from Kalbarri to Monkey Mia. It was a scorching hot day, about 42 degrees outside and we still had a long way ahead of us.

We were discussing our next stop, because I had managed yet again to forget the name I wanted to put in our offline map itinenrary, when we saw some young people who had stopped their car on the side of the road.

One of them was jumping and waving at us, so we immediately decided they had some car issue. We stopped to see whether we could help and he came to us chuckling with laughter.

We asked if they needed any assistance. “Oh I was just trying to be friendly.”- he said

Seriously, aussie mates, ignorant as many of you are about European geography, you are my favorite.

Posted in Australian Adventures

Bushfire, fireworks and other Sydney impressions

Posted on by Irina Ilieva

We landed in Sydney 3 days prior to NYE and a month after the bushfire season had started. Just our luck the fires around were still manageable. However, you couldn’t really see the sky in Sydney and it felt kind of stifling already. The week before had seen one of the highest temperature records in this part of Australia, so we were prepared for scorching heat. Well, all the news covarage in Europe was not that right after all, cause we spent 3 quite chilly days in town. On the 30th we strolled around Circular Quay and saw some of the projections and fireworks tests for the NYE celebrations.

View this post on Instagram

Waiting for tonight #sydney #nye #newyearseve #waitingforthenewyear

A post shared by Irina (@neverhaveiever.irina) on

We had decided though that paying an expensive package for a drink with a view, or otherwise competing with 1.4 mln tourists for a good spot are things we could spare despite the experience. We also had initially planned longer time around Sydney to explore the Blue Mountains and some of the Coastline nearby, but due to the bushfires it was getting increasingly smoky and dangerous.
So we opted in for a flight to Melbourne where we decided to welcome 2020
instead.
Anyway, in the short time we spent there, we did manage to see and experience some cool things. Check them out in my next post – – > 3 days in Sydney in non-beach weather.

Posted in Australian Adventures

The Journey Begins

Posted on by Irina Ilieva

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. — Chinese Proverb

For years I have been intending to start a travel blog. I always found excuses not to: too little time, too much work/studies/too much effort, workpublicity limitations, etc…

So why do it now? 2019 was a remarkable year and ended in an even more remarkable way fulfilling my childhood dream to travel to Australia.

I also breached my personal travel record within a year, caught up with awesome people I had lost touch with, met some new inspiringly successful, bald and charmingly nutty ones, visited and experienced places that made me think twice about what is important in life, burned out at least once, while getting too much into my work and personal projects, made new starts, also put a few long-delayed ends…and all this in the year I turned 30.

And I guess the travel blog made it to my New Years Resolution for 2020, which I should probably write down so I keep it at least this year 🙂

Hope you will enjoy some of the info, tips and travel stories of a moderate traveller mixing in urban, cultural, wildlife, nature hikes and scenic spots explorations.

Thanks for joining me!