Australia, The Real “American Dream”

 

I’ve been to Australia twice in my life, both for a sufficient amount of time. Out of the 56 countries I have been to, I have to say it’s my favorite place in the world (with a very small lead over Brazil). The only bad thing I can tell you about this country is how fucking far away it is from the western world. Not matter how you go, it will take you almost an entire 24 hours to arrive on that beautiful planet. But once you get there, that’s it, you feel as if you have been put in the spaceship and arrived with the hand-picked best-looking and coolest people from around the world. Everything is beautiful. Everything. The feeling of being very far away is real. It’s like I said, another planet.

Facts about Australia 

•Australia is approximately the size of the USA

•90 percent of the people in Australia live on the coast. The middle is basically a desert.

•Australia has over 60 different wine regions. (I always want a beer when I’m there but the wine is actually a wise choice)

•Almost all the animals living in Australia can kill you. Snakes, birds and spiders just to name a few.

•The coffee in Australia is amazing and they can make it in ways Starbucks wish they could.

•Surfing is life in Australia. On any given day by the beach you will hear people discussing the waves, weather and surf report as well as carrying a surf board down the street.

•The food is amazing. It’s so fresh since everything is grown in Australia and not imported. You have a cultural mix of Asian, Italians, and other Europeans using their native recipes, cooking with organic Australian produce therefore resulting in delicious cuisine. (Not to mention that Aussies have traveled so much, so that dude who ended up surfing in Mexico for a year, came back and opened the most legit taco and margarita shop on the left side of Los Angeles.)

•The Barefoot Movement is a real thing. In Bondi Beach beach, people walk around barefoot in the street. I actually saw barefoot children coming home from school on a daily basis.

Top places to go in Australia

Sydney 

This is the mecca of cool. It’s what you wish California was, or maybe was back in the 60s with some modern touches. There are over 100 beaches around this city alone. (Fact: there are reportedly 10,685 beaches around the country of Australia).

The public transportation is a fucking $4 beautiful boat ride that passes the Sydney Opera house everyday. (beats the NYC subway system just a bit, no?).

(Almost) Everyone is beautiful. Really, you can blame it on the healthy lifestyle of running, walking, yoga, swimming and surfing. Or the quinoa, poke bowl, triple antioxidant smoothie, and a salad for lunch, kind of daily meal, but they are all good-looking. And they walk around the beach nearly naked. To go to lunch in a bikini top, cutoffs, and barefoot is as normal as a NY’er walking down the street on his iPhone.

Melbourne

Melbourne is the evidence that the Europeans discovered Australia. There is a structure of casual business in a clean beautifully built city as well as the laid back coffee culture that every euro has inside them. They have a beach  that is super hip and cute but after traveling to Sydney, you realize that you don’t visit Melbourne to go to the beach. The Aussies compare Melbourne and Sydney to New York and LA. East vs. West. Both cool, just totally different.

They have awesome night markets with live music and a good hip cocktail scene. Rooftop bars are the thing to do in the city and even a good hangout option in the afternoon. The best thing to do is go day drinking at one of the awesome bars  in the river.

Great Ocean Road

This is a must if you make it to Melbourne. It’s a stunning  4 1/2 hour coastal drive along the Great Ocean Road to the famous 12 Apostles which are huge limestone stacks that protrude out of the sea. (there are only 8 left as of now) Natures beauty at its finest. It’s a breathtaking magical site that’s definitely not to be missed.  It’s also fun to stop in the random, small surf towns and have a snack (or a beer) along the way.

Byron Bay

Ahhhhhhh, Byron. I don’t even know what to write except that this is the best place on Earth. Granted, I am bias because Byron is exactly who and what I personally aspire to be in life… A Rich Hippie.  At one time it used to be a super chill, laid back surf town. Once a bunch of hip Australians surfers caught wind of it, they crashed in and totally took over. As you may know, in the gypset guide to life, the surfers always start the party. Where the surfers go, the beautiful girls go.  The artists and writers flow in right along side of them, and sooner than later you have a community of the coolest people who everyone wants to hang out with. This quickly turns into wealthy bohemian types buying surf houses and making organic farms with their investment banking profits they made in Singapore. And alas, Byron Bay is now incredibly expensive, but still and always will be, cool AF. (kind of like what happened to Montauk 10 years ago but way more built up).

If you can take the time to get to Australia, do it, and stay a while. It’s a long journey and a huge country with so much to discover. Hopefully I will see you there.

xo, Lyla

 

Australian Cassowary bird