Bali!

Many of my Aussie friends have often commented on how lucky I am to live in England, so close to all the countries in Europe. This isn’t something I truly appreciated when I was younger, however that changed as I fell in love with travelling and visited more and more countries by flying less than 2 or 3 hours. In Australia, it isn’t quite that easy to pop to another country for a weekend break, travelling from the east coast to the west takes around 5 hours alone. However, there is one place most Aussies seem to visit at least once.. Bali in Indonesia! It takes less than 4 hours to fly there from Perth and is like a different world. As I was visiting a friend in Perth, I decided I might as well experience the place they call paradise.
We decided to spend 3 nights in the more rural Ubud and 3 in busy Seminyak. Unfortunately, the 3 peaceful days in Ubud were spoilt a little when I wasn’t feeling well, but I pulled myself together as much as I could to explore the quaint little town. We were staying in a lovely little guesthouse, with a perfect pool, set back from the street to maintain the peaceful ambience. The pool came in very handy one evening when I just wasn’t feeling up to heading out, so we took a swim, ordered pizza and sat chatting under the stars. We were staying next to the famous Sacred Monkey Forest and I was expecting a repeat of the evil monkey attack in Diani, but thankfully, they were well behaved and only really interesting in coconuts and cleaning each other. As much as I hated to admit it, a few of them were very cute and I find it so interesting how similar monkeys can be to humans.
Bali is known for its relaxing vibe, helped along greatly by the fact that 1 hour traditional Balinese massages cost around £5! The quality of the treatments can vary a lot and you have to check out reviews before you go and hope for a good therapist, but they’re definitely value for money. I certainly made the most of the week and had the following treatments, with mixed results; 2 facials, 2 full body massages, a manicure, a pedicure, a foot massage, a body scrub and a hair creambath (conditioner treatment for hair and head massage). Sounds a lot, but my friend Caitlin had even more!
We took a drive from Ubud one day to explore the local area, the temples have so many different meanings and statues and are very impressive. The rice paddies are also quite a sight, they are huge and very photogenic, lush green colours, often set against the bright blue sky. We also visited a coffee plantation, where they produce the coffee manually, collecting the beans, cooking them over an open fire, shelling them, crushing them and then sifting the coffee before it is ready to use. The smell was amazing and we were given 11 types if coffee and tea to taste for free. The staff at the plantation were very welcoming and the lady showing us around was quite funny. When we decided to try the Luwak coffee, which is a specific bean that has been eaten by a Luwak (a mongoose/cat-like animal), excreted, cleaned and peeled to go through the process, she proclaimed “you have cappuccino, we have cat-poo-cino” Brilliant!
After 3 days, we headed across the island to Seminyak, only a short drive away, as Bali is only small, but quite different. Seminyak is more touristy than Ubud, with many visitors there to make the most of the cheap shops, spas, bars and restaurants. Shopping is ridiculously cheap, with trousers costing less than £4 a pair, shorts under £2 and watches and sunglasses around the same price. It’s hard to walk pass bargains like that, especially when the shop owners are desperately trying to get you to “look at this dress, it is just for you!” After a while though, it can get tiring hearing the same lines over again. However, just as I was wearing out, after a few rude pushy shopkeepers, we wandered into a little shop and met two very funny locals who made us laugh with their outrageous opening offers for a pair of trousers that even they didn’t believe in.
After relaxing by the pool in the mornings, we explored in the afternoons, and took another trip to see some of the bigger temples, such as Ulun Danu Bratan (which means Bratan temple on the lake) and Tanah Lot, which is known for its beautiful silhouettes at sunset. The Bratan lake is high up in the mountains and the air up there was very refreshing after a few days of stuffy heat, being up in the clouds did put us in prime position for the sudden downpour that occurred, slightly drenching us, but it was nice to not be drenched in sweat for a change!
A few days in Bali has been a perfect relaxing break, chatting and laughing with my friend and some of the friendly funny locals..not quite paradise, but pretty close.

yes, you can eat at that restaurant, the food is kind of ok for foreigners

Sydney!

After a few very busy, lovely days at home, catching up with my family and friends, I was back on the road (or in the air, to be accurate) heading to Australia for the first time. I was not looking forward to the flight, from leaving the house to arrival in Sydney, my journey was an estimated 36 hours! Thankfully, there were no delays and the entertainment, food and staff on Quantas were very good, so I didn’t feel terrible when we flew over the Sydney Opera House and the famous Harbour Bridge..both a little smaller than I was expecting.

The main reason I wanted to make the trip to Sydney to catch up with some old friends and I have had so many laughs with them, we’ve spent many hours chilling by the water with delicious meals and several glasses/bottles of wine and taking long walks along the shoreline, talking and laughing the whole time. Isn’t it great when you see someone you haven’t seen for a long time and it’s like you were never apart?

When I’ve not been catching up, I’ve been wandering and exploring.. I’ve been to the famous surfer’s paradise of Bondi Beach and the much prettier Palm Beach (where Home and Away is filmed), I took a climb up the headland to the lighthouse there for gorgeous views, very much recommended (and the climb really gets your heart racing); I’ve walked along many of Sydney’s beautiful beaches (Coogee, Watson’s Bay, Manly, Bronte, etc) dipping my toes in the sea and catching a few rays; I’ve taken a few scenic ferry rides and I visited art galleries and museums and even made a visit to the zoo. Taronga Zoo is a not-for-profit organisation, which aims to help animals, not just show them off, and I really wanted to see some of the Aussie animals I’ve heard about for many years.. Koalas, kangaroos, echidna, platypus, wombat, etc. they were all there. Koalas are hilarious, they’re clearly just stoned from the eucalyptus leaves they eat all day and pretty much just sit staring or sleeping. A bonus for the day was seeing the chimpanzees, especially the new addition to the zoo..a five day old baby! One of the girls, Kuma, had just given birth and decided to show off her little one, very protectively. I was so impressed with the chimps, they are so intelligent – one of the males wants to be Alpha male and he needs to get the females on side if its going to happen, so he made a big show of giving a coconut to one of the little ones in front of its mother..Smart!

I also attended an APAF charity event, called Exposing Hunger. The event was to showcase a new documentary showing the impact of poverty in Africa and the work APAF is doing to reduce this. The film was shown in a contemporary cinema, where the seating is made up of mattresses and beanbags, very cool, and then we had a Q&A session, which was very insightful. It seems even when I’m on holiday I still feel the need to get involved in charity events.

Lovely introduction to Australia and now I’m off to the next stop, Western Australia, to catch up with another friend and see some of the beautiful sights she always photographs and makes me jealous of.

Ah, I’ve missed that laugh!

Time off, back to the south coast

I had a week off from work and volunteering this week, so I decided to head back to the south coast following a safari weekend. I wanted to go back for a few reasons, of course, to see the stars again, but also because I’ve found I’m so relaxed there and needed some peace and quiet, which I knew I would get there. I planned to chill out, see the projects my organisation has down there, including marine, construction and teaching, and see how they differ from mine, as well as get some ideas to bring up to my project..yes I’m aware that makes it a working holiday, but that’s just who I am!

Going on the marine project was both exciting and a little unwanted..while I loved the idea of seeing the whales, dolphins, turtles and fish around the south coast, I was also not looking forward to getting seasick. Unfortunately, I picked a pretty bad day to head out as it was quite rocky and within minutes I was starting to wish I hadn’t stepped onto the boat, about an hour later, I was definitely wishing I hadn’t, especially as we hadn’t seen any animals. However, I got the opportunity to snorkel off a nearby island, which only appears during low tide. I had never been snorkelling before, so decided to give it a go and after feeling a little unsteady at first, breathing too fast and almost hyperventilating, I got used to the feeling and started paying attention to my surroundings..it was then that I was finally glad I had joined the marine trip that day! The coral and fish I saw were like nothing I had seen before, no trip to the aquarium had prepared me for the feeling of being able to only hear my own breathing, whilst stunning fish swam through my fingers, the colours of the different fish were just beautiful. The good feelings were topped off when we swam onto the island and sat on the softest white sand beach for a little rest in the sun.

I also had the chance to see the construction work going on at Mkwiro, which was very interesting, as we don’t do any of that up here in Mombasa. The team there are refurbishing old school libraries and dispensaries, so that they are fit for purpose, and they have also built and installed huge water tanks, to catch the rain water through the rainy season, meaning the communities will have access to clean water to use for cooking with, cleaning and washing. This is making a big difference to the people of Mkwiro, who do not have access to running water and have to pay high amounts to get it from the mainland.

Prior to leaving, I took a jewellery workshop with a local man, Mohammad, who makes jeweller to sell, made from coconut shells and flip flops he finds discarded on the beach. I made my own bracelet from a coconut shell, from cleaning the shell of all the hair, to getting all the coconut out and filing it down to an appropriate size. Mohammad stepped in for engraving the shell, as it is done using a knife that has been heated on a fire, over and over..a bit too dangerous for us amateurs, especially with my shaky hands! Once engraved, I varnished the bracelet, and hung it to dry whilst Mohammad’s talented wife served us dinner – a delicious meal of fried fish in coconut sauce, chapattis and coconut cake, all washed down with a couple of mugs of the gorgeous ginger tea I’ve raved about before!