Places to see!
During our stay in Ballina over Christmas, we drove an hour south to the picturesque town of Yamba, another delightful seaside town in northern New South Wales. Set right at the mouth of the Clarence River, Yamba is a little gem that is well worth visiting. Like Ballina and Byron Bay, Yamba is known for its beautiful beaches and great surf, as well as for the...
The coastal town of Ballina is a short 30-minute drive from the famous Byron Bay. While the hipster town of Byron Bay attracts hordes of backpackers and tourists every year, Ballina is the perfect, quieter alternative. We don’t like crowds, traffic or sharing a beach with thousands of others, so Ballina was perfect for us. Basing ourselves there to explore this...
Updated September 2026 A 90-minute flight from Manila, Bohol is one of the Philippines’ most fascinating islands. It has a little bit of everything: the famous Chocolate Hills, tiny tarsiers, spectacular waterfalls, coral reefs, beautiful beaches and plenty of opportunities to get away from the crowds. Bohol has become a popular tourist destination, and it’s easy to...
Updated September 2026 With its towering limestone cliffs, turquoise lagoons, hidden beaches and spectacular islands, Coron is one of the most beautiful places we’ve visited in the Philippines. It’s the kind of destination that looks almost unreal in photographs and somehow is even better when you’re actually there. But there is a catch: Coron can get very busy. The...
Last updated: September 2026 On our recent trip to the Philippines, we had a short stopover in Manila after exploring Coron and Bohol. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure about the capital. I’d heard Manila was mostly about shopping and traffic, and as someone who prefers exploring over retail therapy, I almost skipped it. But then I read about Intramuros, the historic...
On our recent trip to Cairns, we decided it was time to finally pay a visit to Fitzroy Island, one of the islands close to the city. Fitzroy Island is one of the best things to do while visiting Cairns but somehow, even after a couple of trips up north, we still hadn’t visited it! Our state is so big, it’s hard to fit everything in! This beautiful tropical island is...
With its squeaky-clean, white sandy beaches and its sparkling-blue water, Great Keppel Island is a paradise on earth. Only a 30-minute ferry ride from the coastal town of Yeppoon, it is one of the easiest Great Barrier Reef islands to get to. It’s also one of the most affordable. Being so close to the mainland, it is the perfect island for day trips, which are easily...
The small rural town of Monto is not on everyone’s radar and being a two-and-a-half-hour drive inland from Bundaberg, it’s not an easy place to visit for most people either. However, it has become more popular in the recent years due to its Silo Art Trail. When I saw a picture of the Three Moon Silo in a local tourist guide, I knew we had to head to Monto one day...
The relaxed and low-key coastal town of Yeppoon is a 40-minute drive from Rockhampton, the beef capital of Australia. It’s the place to go for outdoor enthusiasts searching for a quiet, less touristy place to visit. With stunning scenery, plenty of beaches and nearby islands to escape to, it’s worth spending a few days to take it all in. We visited during the peak of...
The small town of Etretat in the French region of Normandy, is one of the jewels of the region. Impressionist artists such as Gustave Courbet and Claude Monet were fascinated by Etretat’s natural beauty and it’s not hard to see why. With its incredibly tall, white chalk cliffs and arches, Etretat is one of the most visited places in Normandy. If you are looking for...