Guest Post: Kristen from See You In a Porridge!

Well guys, as you read this I am probably en route from Boston/LA to Aussie-land! I have another bloggy friend taking my place for the day. I happened upon Kristen’s blog shortly after I started my own blog and she had me hook, line and sinker since then! She is one of my absolute faves and a genuine sweetheart. I mean that. Anyway who better to take over my blog on the day I head to Oz than Kristen … she herself hails from the land down under! Take it away Kris!

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Hi everyone! First I want to thank the lovely, gorgeous and generous Kay for having me at her place today, I’m Kristen and I blog about a whole lot of nothing over at See You In A Porridge. I am so jealous of Kay’s awesome vacay, especially because one of the places she is going just happens to be the country I am from. So I thought I would share some ‘must do’s and do not’s when going to Oz’.

1. Do the touristy stuff.

Heck, you’re a tourist – do it! It’s half the fun. I don’t recommend climbing the harbour bridge because holy expensive and what do you really see from up there that you can’t see from the ground? Plus you can take your cliche photos for free and they are just as fun. If you really want to do something, you can walk across the bridge for free (mind the traffic) or do the pylon lookout for $13.  The Bridge Climb is $150-$350.

2. See the cute animals.

You can’t hold a Koala in NSW but you can in other states, but honestly, you don’t want to. Why would you want to hold a wild animal? Just feed the joeys a leaf or two and have a photo with the koala who is happier on his little tree.

2 places I recommend are Featherdale Wildlife park, which is cheaper and more ‘aussie’ focused. The other is Taronga Zoo, and it’s more expensive, it’s in the city, there are tons of different animals and a wonderful view of the city. You really can’t go wrong with either, though I do prefer Featherdale.

3. Ride a ferry.

You can catch a ferry from the city to Taronga, or to Manly, a fabulous beachy suburb. The views are great, it’s kind of expensive, but you get such amazing views and you see a part of Australia you might not see otherwise.

4. Go to a beach!

Oh we have a bazillion beaches. Yes, a bazillion. Did you know if you went to a new beach every day it would take you 27 years to see them all? That’s a beachy country right there. I mean, who doesn’t love the beach? Well, Kay is from her own beachy country, true, but you can’t go to Oz without going to a beach (not Bondi). Just watch out for blue bottles, seaweed and box jellyfish. Jk, jk.

5. Have a coffee.

I don’t drink coffee, but I do know the coffee is better there. We have more cafes and less starbucks. My husband was blown away by how strong and delicious the coffee was, he was a little sad to go back to his Folgers.

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6. Have a milkshake.

They bring all the boys to all the yards. Our milkshakes are different than yours, and they are amazing, in my opinion. They are more liquidy and Kay, please have one – for me. Just get it anywhere but McDonalds, their milkshakes are more like your milkshakes, what we call thickshakes. Try any doughnut place, like Krispy Kremes or Wendys.

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7. Have some pavlova.

No words needed.

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8. Don’t be worried about the dangerous wildlife.

Unless you are going serious outback or spending all of your time in the ocean, you’ll be fine. There are things that can kill you all over the world, but for some reason people fixate on the Australian stuff. I have never seen half the stuff people are so scared of, and it’s really a bit ridiculous… but we are kind of proud of it.

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9. Eat a meat pie and watch a game of footy.

and the game is purely for the men in short shorts.

10. Do embrace the differences

Yes, things are expensive. Yes, we drive on the other side of the road. No, your waiter will not hover over your table and yes you’ll be charged for each soda, no free refills. Yes, the culture is different and we use words you don’t understand. But we really are a friendly lot, and we love foreigners, for the most part, and if you just be yourself and super friendly, you’ll have a splendid time. I am actually positive that Kay will love Australia, because she has family there and our countries have tons of similarities because we both dig the Queen. I’m sure she’ll come back and school me on some things that I know nothing about – Australia is a big, fabulous, amazing country with so much to do, you really can’t go wrong with any time spent there.

Go say hi to Kris at See You in a Porridge. You won’t regret it!