Australia Archives • The Bliss Movement

Your Quick Guide to Traveling Australia’s East Coast

The East Coast of Australia is filled with picture perfect images that entice people from all over the world to come and visit this big, beautiful country. With everything to offer from city life and sea-side villages to mountain ranges and wild rain forests, the east coast has become the most popular backpacker route within Australia. Along the way you will meet people from all walks of life, all nationalities, all ages and all abilities ticking off this bucket-list trip and they are all doing it differently. Because there are so many ways of exper[...]

Australia, Travel

Crystal Cascades and Fairy Falls, Cairns

After a fantastic day waterfall hopping through the popular waterfall circuit in the Atherton Tablelands we decided to spend our Saturday looking for more. Crystal Cascades is an extremely popular waterfall near Cairns that is visited daily by people of all ages. A long steady river with various pools to jump into, boulders to climb on, mini waterfalls and the larger waterfall at the highest point of Crystal Cascades, this waterfall makes for a great day in the sun. From the parking lot you can walk along the paved footpath for 2km one direction to the top of th[...]

Australia, Travel

Chasing 3 of the Best Waterfalls Around Cairns

Northern Queensland is known for it's diverse tropical landscape - from the largest coral reef to the oldest rain forest in the world, this part of Australia is filled with natural beauty that you could spend weeks exploring. When you're here, one of the greatest ways to explore nature is to go in search of some of the best waterfalls around Cairns.Yesterday, two friends and I hopped in the car and took ourselves on a day trip to tour some of the most popular waterfalls around Cairns: Millaa Millaa, Zillie, and Ellinjaa. Our drive took us from the no[...]

Australia, Travel

A Day Trip To The Daintree Rainforest

Crocodiles are a normal part of life up here in Northern Queensland and the rivers through the Daintree Rainforest. Fishermen see them off their boats as they cruise down the river, beaches have signs of varying levels of crocodile danger and stories get passed around of people who have been taken by them. My paranoia of sharks in other parts of Australia have been replaced with images of crocodiles as soon as I step foot in the water.While I'd rather not see one on a stroll along the shoreline I was eager to see some in their natural habitat - from[...]

Australia, Travel

6 Things To Do In Mission Beach, Australia

I have been searching for a place that connects with my soul recently.I've felt the need for some sort of retreat, a deeper connection with something or somewhere, and when I stumbled upon a little place along the tropical coast of Queensland called Mission Beach, I knew that I had found it.Mission Beach is an often overlooked bit of the typical traveler route up the east coast of Australia but it has snuck up and nestled in tightly to a little piece of my heart. I have been here only five days and most of the people that have been passing through st[...]

Australia, Travel

Sailing the Whitsundays: A 2-Day Tour

A boat trip around the Whitsunday Islands of Australia's east coast is almost a right of passage for travelers. It's probably one of the top three "must do" activities along the coast and you have your choice of a one day, two day and one night, or three day and two night tour of the Whitsundays.I opted for two days and one night and my expectations were high. It had been a while since something really blew me away. A lot of rain during the majority of my travels up Australia's east coast has put a bit of a damper on things, including excursions that[...]

Australia, Travel

Exploring the Hippie Town of Byron Bay, Australia

A beach town with a chilled out, hippie vibe right next to the sea seemed like a good place for the first stop in my trip up Australia's east coast. Deemed everything from a gypsy's paradise to a town of lost souls, Byron Bay is one of those places where you plan to stay for a couple of days and find yourself still there weeks later.With only five days to experience the town, I booked my stay as close to the beach as I could possibly get - a hostel called Backpackers Inn on the Beach - which was just a two minute stroll down a sandy trail to the beac[...]

Australia, Travel

A Beach Day in Sydney: Watson’s Bay and Queen’s Beach

Located on the northern tip of Sydney's Eastern suburbs sits Watson's Bay, a suburb nestled in a harbour that looks out to the skyline of Sydney's CBD in the distance. Considered one of the best spots in Sydney to catch a glowing sunset, it is well worth an afternoon of your time. I had plans to visit as many beaches in Sydney as I could - just as I had in Perth. But this didn't really end up happening. Having a car to use in Perth made it a lot faster to venture to all of the beaches along the sunset coast. Unfortunately in Sydney I didn't have that luxury and[...]

Australia, Guides + Itineraries, Travel

How To Spend a Week in Sydney

As Australia's most populated city, Sydney is also one of it's most iconic. Locals are passionately proud of what Sydney has to offer and people from all over the world come here to tick it off their list or fall in love with the city so much that they move here permanently - eager for the trademark, laid-back Aussie lifestyle. But Sydney is more than just the hustle and bustle of the squishy city life. It has the cruisey vibes of the beach suburbs to the wild nature of the Blue Mountains, fancy cocktail bars to trendy hole-in-the-wall spots.Of all t[...]

Australia, Travel

A Day Trip to The Blue Mountains

If you think that most of my time in Australia is spent scouting out the best beaches and warm weather, you're right. But good ol' Sydney has a little bit of everything for everyone - including the mountains. Two and a half hours away from central Sydney and you can find yourself in the Blue Mountains, a region entirely different from the city life and the beachy suburbs.The Blue Mountains are a vast landscape filled with waterfalls, cliffs, gorgeous views and eucalyptus forests. You can spend your day swimming in pools beneath the falls, going on be[...]

Australia, Budget Travel, Travel

Sydney: Coogee Women’s Baths and the Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk

It's been three months since I stepped off the train in Sydney, greeted by a friend I had met in Ecuador last year who was kind enough to take me in and show me around her hometown for my first weekend in the city. Since then, I've eased into a normal kind of life again and haven't really felt very inspired to write. But, with only eight days before I toss my bags on a bus and begin my journey up the east coast of Australia, I think it is finally time to update you all with what life has been like for the first few months of this year!After an amazin[...]

Australia, Guides + Itineraries, Travel

The Quick Guide to Australia’s Great Ocean Road

Recently, a friend and I embarked on a month long roadtrip that took us from Western Australia through to South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. While it was an epic adventure on its own, one of the highlights of the trip was driving down one of Australia's most iconic coastal routes: The Great Ocean Road. 243 kilometers of some of the most beautiful views I'd ever seen - winding roads that took us through farmland, along the sea side and into the rainforest.You could easily take your time doing the great ocean road - we had met some people w[...]