Looking Back On Bali: Volcanic Lunch Dates & Sea Turtles

Our trip to Bali wouldn't have been complete without a visit to Kintamani for lunch on the side of the cliff overlooking the Batur Lake and it's ginormous active volcano. The view was quite breathtaking and it took me a little while to actually realize that holy moley this is a volcano guys!!!

After lunch we set off on a very bumpy car ride through hills and hills of volcanic rocks and arrived at the natural hot springs for a bit of relaxation time. I must admit I was a little disheartened when I saw that the hot springs were not so "natural" after all. To me they just looked like a fancy outdoor spa. But once I got in and felt the warmth I let go of all that negativity and just sat in awe of the fact that the water around us was being naturally heated to 48 degrees!!! 

Another fantastic part of our Bali adventures was our trip to Turtle Island in Nusa Dua. We took a glass bottom boat to get there, but funnily enough I was gazing at the sights above the water. Once we got to the Island we we're greeted by a very funny Balinese man who told me that I better be dating the same Joel next time I come to Bali (I agree!). He showed us around and talked about the different types of turtles, as well as their ages. The big one is Julia Gillard and she was 75 years old! I guess they just make up the name depending upon what nationality the visitor is, because the real Julia isn't even that old. Again, being super obsessed with animals, Joel and I loved every minute of it.

Writing these holiday posts has made me quite sad that I've been home almost a week now. Ahhhh reality, how I loathe the.

Looking Back On Bali: Monkeys and Temples

It's no secret that Joel and I are completely obsessed with animals. We each adore our own pets at home and talk to them as if they are human... So naturally part of our Bali adventure had to involve getting up close and personal with some of the locals. The fury locals! Our first stop on our touristy day was to the Monkey Forrest in Ubud. We were a little scared as we were reading the sign... "do not touch monkey"... "if monkey attacks you, drop bananas" and so on, but we bought them some treats regardless of this and set off on the windy trail through the forrest. Some of these little guys liked to keep to themselves... but others were super brave and climbed all over Joel for the bananas under his arm! 

Our driver & tour guide Pork Chop!

Look at the little one!!! So precious!

Visiting the temple's were another great highlight of the trip! I loved learning about the different religions and their ceremonies. We didn't even visit the most popular of temple's but the ones we did were so beautiful.

Washing our hands and face said to bring us luck... which we later used when we miraculously found our way after getting lost on our scooter in huge amounts of Bali traffic!

Check back tomorrow for the last parts of our Bali adventure! 

Looking Back On Bali

*Image Heavy - But it's definitely worth the look!*

Wow! What a week I've had... It always seems to be the case that whenever I go away on a holiday (however brief) I come home and absolutely everything has changed! I must admit it took me a few days to settle back down and get into the swing of things. I finally had some spare time last night to upload all the wonderful photos I took. There were over 550 in just a week so that's definitely some sort of a record for me. After some careful sifting, I ended up with a handful of really great images and a hell of a lot of post-holiday blues. I won't write about the entire trip in one post (I'll be here all night) but I'll break it up and share some of the exciting things we got up to over the next week. So here goes Part I...

We arrived in Denpasar, Bali at 9pm Friday night and made it through customs fairly easily. However, no one had warned us about the posters... and so when I arrived at the baggage collection point and saw a bunch of men in uniform crowding around our luggage I started to panic. And despite knowing that there was no way I had any drugs on me... all I could think was "that's it I'm going to prison". As we were walking I soon realised that these guys were merely carrying our bags for us, and naturally this is going to mean we should tip them. I had no problem with that... the problem I had was that neither of us had any Indonesian money yet, nor did we know the conversion rate! So as a result of our naivety, the men who walked up approximately ten meters ended up with $60 Australian dollars. I don't even make that much in tips from one customer during my busiest night at the bar! Bali Dudes - 1, Sucker Tourists - 0.

Next came the challenge of getting from the airport to our hotel. Without knowing how far away it was, or even in which direction we found ourselves becoming super frustrated again. Luckily enough we found a nice man to take us there for a reasonable price. It was about 10pm  by the time we had checked into our hotel and settled into our rooms... Our aspirations of going out exploring as soon as we arrived were set aside by our complete mental exhaustion and we called it a night. We thought it best to get a decent sleep and wake up fresh in the morning. 

We spent our first day in Bali riding around on our scooter to various bars & cafes to make a couple of  dinner reservations. After all the errands were done, we headed to Body Works for a full body massage. And seriously guys, it was just that. Back and front. All over my body. I was a little bit hesitant to enjoy it at first, but after a few minutes I just let the beautiful music and aromas take over and fell into complete relaxation. I don't think our massages could have been timed any more perfect... It set the pace for the next fews days to come. 

The following days in Bali are almost a blur to me now... Three consecutive days of swimming, sun-baking and drinking fantastic tasting cocktails by the pool. I've never really got into that whole resort type lifestyle whilst on holidays (I'm usually the sight-seeing touristy type) but my gosh, looking back I am so glad I did it. The days seemed to last forever and I was completely at ease. Oh what I would give to be back there right now... 

Here are some photos from those first few days... 

Possibly one of my favorite days was spent at a beach club called Potato Head... This place was amazing! The entire outside of the building was made from old window shutters, and inside they had the most adorable miss-matched vintage pieces. The day beds were super comfortable and the cocktails were fantastic!

Sunset dinners were another personal highlight. Living on the East Coast of Australia means that I have never been able to watch the sun set over the water... So Joel and I made sure we got to see most of them here! 

I walked around with my camera by my side most days because there was always something wonderful to capture! Here are some Bali sights... 

Joel and I ended up doing a little bit of the touristy stuff... check back for my next posts featuring some little fury friends, exotic coffee's, sea turtles and a volcanic lunch date. (I promise to make them less image heavy).