12.26.10

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! But first lets talk about the last few weeks…

I have said it a million times and I will say it once more… we have learned SO much through our adventures! Some things we learn through experience, like touring Bali and learning about their faith. Others, we learn through mistakes, like paying for a hotel room before checking it for bed bugs. In this case, John and I have learned to NEVER make assumptions. Don’t count your chickens before they have hatched, right? Foolishly, we assumed that finding a job in Melbourne would be just as easy as it was in Port Douglas. In fact, the jobs are plentiful but we seemed to neglect a few small details. A: It’s the holidays, so every business has made sure they were fully staffed back in November. B: We live in a small town called Epping that is a 1hour commute by train to the city. C: All the jobs are in the city.
Granted, we have gotten lots of calls about jobs, but they all say that they aren’t hiring until after the New Year. No good. My first job trial was on Lygon Street at a small Italian café as a waitress.. We have been there a few times with the Devlin’s, and the street is known for its plethora of authentic Italian cuisine. Now the jobs out here do these things called ‘trials’. Basically, you go in and work for 2 hours or so to make sure that you really do know what you’re doing. The part that sucks is that you have to buy whatever dress they require, work for free, and hope that you get a call within the next few days saying you’re hired. What a draining process! Well, John and I headed out, all mapped out and prepared to conquer the public transport system. Turns out, the website that gave us directions, sent us the wrong way. I was 45 minutes late. No good. Plus, I would have to walk 15-20 minutes by myself, to and from the outskirts of downtown Melbourne at night when I got out of work at 11 or 12. Once John saw what my lonely walk would be like, he pretty much called it off right then and there. Needless to say, it didn’t work out.
Lucky for me, Justine’s friend had mentioned to her that the bar she worked at was hiring. I sent her my resume, and the next day got a call from the manager, Micah. He put me on the schedule for the next four days, right there on the phone. Looks promising! The best part is that it’s Melbourne’s chicest, hottest club called Trak, and I would be bartending. (After working at Zinc, waitressing was the last thing I wanted to do.) I was actually very excited about it. This kind of bartending was right up my alley, and truly is something I enjoy doing. The club itself is right off Chapel Street which is like the 5th Avenue of Melbourne. It’s known for its highly fashionably, and slightly expensive stores and caters to the well-off shoppers. It’s also in the heart of Toorak which is the most expensive, yuppidy city of Melbourne. Anyone with money lives in Toorak, and Len had told us that the smallest townhouses/apartments start at 3 million dollars or something crazy. I was looking forward to the tips!
The next day, we both meet up on Chapel Street with Lisa. We walked around a bit and grabbed some lunch before trying to locate my work. At 6pm, the club was holding a free RSA class (Responsible Service of Alcohol. It’s a license that everyone has to get when working in an establishment with alcohol. John and I both have ours from Queensland, but you need a different one for each state. Luckily, we were able to spare the 140 dollars and do it for free). When I walked in, I asked the manager if they needed bar backs, and when they gave me the nod of approval, John came walking in, ready to work as well. We were both so excited that we were employed.
The next day, we actually worked. Before hand, I had a meeting with a photographer who met me right at the corner of Chapel St and Toorak Rd. It was literally just a block away from the club. We left the Devlin’s house at 2:30 and arrived just in time for John to make it into work at 5pm (I didn’t start till 7). Little did we know that it would take us over 2 hours to get there. Work itself was great. I loved the club, the energy, the music, and even managed to get some tips . We got out at 3:30am and were prepared and ready to catch the night rider bus. We already knew that the trains stop running at 1:30, but Justine had told us about a bus that runs every 30 minutes and stops at all the train stations. John had jumped online before we left for work to verify the info and to map out our route. We thought everything was peachy, until we realized that the night rider stop was a fair walk up the road. Reluctantly, we paid the 6 dollars to catch a taxi. Again though, there was no sign of a night rider bus. Luckily, a seafood shop was open (open late for the holidays), so I stopped inside to ask. Three guys had no idea that a night rider bus even existed and the forth guy said that it was supposed to run down this road, but he hasn’t seen it ever. The bus never did come. Not the most reliable form of transportation. All we could do then was wait the hour forty till the trains started running again. It was miserable. We were exhausted, John’s poor feet were blistered, we were absolutely freezing, and we both reeked of stinky bar. We got out of work at 3:30am and didn’t get home till 7am. That was our last shift. We slept the next day till 3pm.
Luckily, John got a call about an interview at some café that was only a few minutes away from Epping. The next day, Len took him to the interview, and fortunately, John starts his new job on Tuesday! He will be waiting, but he is really good at interacting with people.
As for I, I have an interview at a gym this Wednesday. They need me for receptionist work and want me to run 6 or 8 aerobic classes during the week. The best part is that it’s even closer than John’s job, which means I can safely get to work without John. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
The weekend before Christmas, Justine took us to her friend, Sabrina’s, 21st birthday party. Out here, the legal drinking age is 18, but I guess they don’t make a big deal out of it. For whatever reason, 21 is the big birthday to celebrate. They party like it’s a graduation. They go all out with catering, decorations, dressing up, renting out halls, buying birthday gifts, etc etc. John and I don’t get it, but we went along anyways and enjoyed the food!
As for Christmas Eve, Justine and Jen took us to their friend’s house that is just a short walk away from their house. Eva, and her two daughters, Jess and Tanya were just delightful. John and I had spent most of the day sleeping since we were both trying to recover from our long night of working the night before. But, come evening time, we were both excited to spend it with some friends and family, just like we would at home. They immediately served us several rounds of Blind Russians, and then topped our glasses off with Moscato after. We teamed up and played cranium until 1am. We laughed and drank and played the game until we were too tired to even walk. What a wonderful way of celebrating Christmas Eve.
When we got home, Len was still up, talking on the phone with Uncle G, back home. He passed the phone to each of us so we could say hello, and then all went to bed.
Christmas day was beautiful. It wasn’t hot outside, but it wasn’t freezing and raining either. Jen has made us two dinners really. The first part of dinner was all seafood. GIANT king prawns (shrimp), easily the size of my hand, lobster, muscles and an array of dipping sauces. Being a seaside city, seafood is a big thing here during the holidays. The second part of dinner was veggies, potatoes and squash, turkey, ham and a massive salad. We each had some wine, and ate till we burst. I can honestly say that I am still full! We sat around the dinner table and talked for quite a while after dinner. Jen was slightly tipsy and was making us all laugh so hard!
That night John and I both rang up our moms to say Merry Christmas, who were just then waking up to their Christmas morning. All in all it was a beautiful day.
Now, here in Australia, they don’t have a Black Friday. In comparison, their biggest shopping day of the year is the day after Christmas and is known as Boxing Day. Justine and I got up early to go shopping with the gift cards we got for x-mas. John passed so he could stay home and sleep.
Unfortunately, I had a bad fit of headaches again today. Not sure if it was caused by the wine I had two nights before, or if I was starting to get sick, but when I got home, I got back in bed for a few more hours. We all just kicked back today and relaxed. John was able to skype back home with his mom and April. Mary loved being able to see Justine and Jen and Jen thought it was pretty cool as well. Everyone is getting so excited about his sisters coming into town in only a few days.
I can’t believe how fast time has gone…and I know when his sisters are here, things will only go by faster.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

12.14.10

So it’s been a week and a half that we have been back in Melbourne. The Devlin’s have been so kind and generous to John and I, letting us stay with them and all. We’ve done nothing but apply for jobs since we got back. During the day we go and hand out our resumes, and at night we sit on the computer applying for jobs. We’ve gotten a few calls, but mostly from agencies that are just trying to get us to come in and add us to their database. I have a lot of modeling that I am eager to start, but am going to take the next month off to relax and recoup after the intense few weeks I had been working in Bali. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that we get jobs soon. Need to stay busy and productive!
One of the most depressing things about Melbourne is the lack of Christmas spirit! I thought it would be like it is back in the states, but forget about it! The first day of summer was December 1st, so really all you see is stuff about summer and school holidays! There is maybe 1 in 3000 houses that have any sort of decoration up outside. That’s not a dramatic estimate either, there are NO decorations! You don’t see Christmas trees in people’s windows, and there is no Christmas music to be found. Not in the stores, not on the radio. Even the stores are poorly decorated. The few that are, look pretty dismal. You don’t see signs for Christmas sales and the malls don’t have Santa Clause! There are no TV specials with Christmas shows or Christmas movies, and even the churches don’t seem to be making any effort to be festive. No signs, nothing about choirs or services… nothing. Bali was more decorated then they are here, and at least in Bali people say Merry Christmas. Here they just want it to be over. It’s so sad! So of course, I have been doing my best to keep myself spirited. Listening to Christmas music as we speak!
On Sunday, John, Len and I, went out to the country to cut down a tree! I haven’t had a live tree since my dad lived in Parma. I am pretty sure that dates back to 2004 or something. We stopped at a bakery and had a meat pie, and then cheerfully cut down a Christmas tree in the perfectly warm weather. I indulged on the free cheese and wine tasting and John proudly carried the tree to Len’s car. Just yesterday we finished decorating it, which was so nice. We listened to Charlie Brown’s Christmas CD, and no body complained! The living room smells of pine and I love how the lights glow at night!
On other notes, we have just been spending a lot of time with Justine. We watched the entire series of Harry Potter over the past week, and went out to Crown Casino on Friday to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Shallows part 1. It was really good! I am anxious to see the second and final rendition to the series. We plan to watch a couple other series while we are at it… Narnia, Twilight, Star Wars, Rocky!
The one night we also went into town to meet up with Andy and Scott and Lisa and Kane. John and I had spent a day walking up and down Chapel Street to put our resumes into places, and as we passed a café, I saw Andy waiting tables! We stopped in to surprise him and he invited us over the next time to catch up. Not sure if you remember, but I worked with Andy at Zinc. He and his boyfriend broke up, and it was so emotionally taxing on Andy that he ended up quitting Zinc and skipping town before anyone could say goodbye. Needless to say, we were so excited to see him and Lisa again! Andy and Scott live in a super tiny, but awful convenient studio that is smack dab downtown, literally, right across the street from Flinders station. We all chatted for some time. Talking about what we have all been up to since leaving Port Douglas, and figuring out everyone’s plans for the upcoming year. It was such a joy to see our friends again!
We are just trying to enjoy our spare time. Before you know it, we will be busy with work and modeling again, and time will fly by so fast, we won’t know what hit us! Until then…

12.5.10

Our last day in Bali was Friday the 3rd. Our plane didn’t leave until late at night, so we spent the day walking around, and even went over to the beach to watch the sunset. The few days in Bali we just relaxed and tried to soak up all the last bits of it that we could. The one day we met up with our friend Cass, whom we met in Port Douglas. We helped her find a place, and had dinner with her the one night to tell her of all the things she should and shouldn’t do while in Bali. It was short but sweet, and of course, it is always nice to meet up with friends!
Our flight took us to Darwin at 3am where we had a 4 hour layover. We attempted to sleep but we weren’t that successful. We began check-in when we noticed someone who looked really familiar! He was Asian, and I kept thinking he may have been a photographer. He recognized us too, because he asked us…”don’t you recognize me!” Come to find out, it was the dishwasher from Zinc! John and noticed him from just hanging out the Zinc staff. He and his girlfriend had spent 2 weeks in Bali, so we chatted for a bit, took some pictures and said goodbye. How random and odd is that?
Our flight from Darwin to Melbourne was long. About as long as it would take to get from the very tip of Vermont to the very bottom of California, maybe even longer. We eventually landed in Melbourne around noon on Saturday. Len was there to pick us up, and we were so excited to see him again. When we got back to his home, we gave Jen and Justine a long, tight hug and began sharing all our travel stories. We also eagerly gave them the souvenirs we had bought them in Bali and started to unpack all our clothes.
Bali just flew by. I can’t believe that we got to see and do so many things. I am so happy that modeling was so productive and plentiful, and feel so blessed by the people we met along the way.
Bali has been the one place I have wanted to visit since I was a little girl. It has been a big dream of mine, and I feel so proud that I have accomplished it. We were smart to spend 2 months there, and I am so glad that we ignored all the people who told us we were stupid for going.
I didn’t feel sad when I left though, because deep down inside, I know I will be back again. We love you Bali <3

11.30.10

After Sonja and Marco left, we did nothing but relax and try to catch up on some work. We ended up finishing our Christmas shopping and just enjoyed the sweet AC of our villa for the few days we had left in Bali.
I write my mom pretty normally and she had informed me that I was lucky to have not been around for Thanksgiving because everyone got really sick. Apparently, everyone was throwing up with the stomach flu that was quickly passed between one another on Thanksgiving. My poor younger sister, Amber, is 8 months pregnant, and I had read a post on facebook about how she was contracting because of the vomiting. That and the dehydration was making her very uncomfortable and experience early labor signs. It wasn’t long before my mom let me know that her water had broke and that she would be going to the hospital!! I was bouncing of the walls I was so excited! What a surprise! I hung next to the computer like a leach, waiting for new emails and texts to come in from whomever! We all had our fingers crossed and were praying for her pretty hard. She would be delivering 5 weeks early, but the baby was at a stage that he would be healthy enough to breathe on his own if she did deliver. I stayed up all through the night waiting to hear more info. The doctors decided to do a c-section because the baby was breach. Her fiancé, Adam, was out of town for work, but luckily they were able to plan the delivery in advance so that he could make it to the hospital in time ! (Which he did)
She ended up delivering a healthy baby boy named Elliot Christian on November 30th 2010! He was 4 lbs 6 oz, and was doing great. He was on oxygen at first, but they were able to eventually take him off. Amber will have to stay for three nights, but the baby has to stay for a week. Let us all keep him in our prayers!
Congratulations Amber and Adam!

11.27.10

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! What a great day it has been as well! The first thing we decided to do was go do some more Christmas shopping. Up to this point we had decided what we wanted to get everyone, but had only bought a few things. We took Sonja and Marco back to Kuta and we all enjoyed the day shopping. Sonja and Marco went their own way and we decided that we would meet up at 1:30. I had a model fitting at 2:00 which wasn’t far from where we were.
Mid-shopping, it started to storm pretty badly. The thunder and lightening were right above us. Each lightening bolt light up the gray sky like a camera flash in your eye, and the thunder was so loud that it rattled your insides. John and I quickly headed back to the motorbike, but we got stuck in the pouring rain. All of a sudden, a lightening bolt came down and crashed into the building next to us. It was so incredibly loud, I don’t know how to explain it. I imagine that when God created the earth, it was about that loud! It scared the heavens out of me. I did this jump-hop-run into the closest building which was a silver store. My heart was beating inside my eyeballs and my adrenaline was at max-capacity. I felt really dizzy and thought I might pass out. I think I lost a significant amount of blood to my brain the moment the adrenaline took its place. The nice ladies offered me some water and seat and John was laughing hysterically. I was in shock, lol, and couldn’t believe what we had just witnessed. We hung around for a bit, hoping the rain would let up, but it didn’t. Still shaking, we ran to a restaurant that was right by our motorbikes. I got some nibbles and just tried to shake our nerves before it was time to meet Sonja and Marco.
We headed back to our bike, and noticed that our helmets, which were attached to the bike upside down, became a small pond with all the rain water they had collected. Just my luck…a wet helmet just before my model fitting. The last thing I wanted was to look like a dead rat, so I just hung onto the helmet. We made our way to Sanur, which is not as touristy as the other parts of Denpasar. Just so happened, that at one intersection, John and I were at the very front, with Marco and Sonja just behind us. The cop noticed I didn’t have a helmet on and yelled at me to do so. Hoping to take greater advantage of us, he asked us to make a right turn and pull over. He wanted to card us, and pocket our money. John acted stupid though and just kept going forward. Sonja and Marco followed. We thought we got away, but a few minutes later, a cop was at our side, telling us to pull over, so we did. Marco and Sonja just kept on going, so the cop told us to ‘wait here’ while he went and got the others (are you kidding me!?). The road was one way, so there was no way we could keep driving without him seeing us. It just so happened that where we had pulled over, there was a tiny path that went through some rice terraces and behind some Bali home and onto a tiny side street. We noticed cars driving by, so we quickly drove away. We were so nervous and so full of adrenaline at the same time. When they pull you over and extort you, they tell you all kinds of things that are really scary, and being in a third world country, who knows if they will throw you in jail for something that mediocre or not! We pulled over so that I could get in the front. We figured that if we did get pulled over again, we could just pretend that I was driving the entire time, and not have to pay them anything. (For those that may not know, the police here interrogate white people (Buleh) and pull you over for whatever reason so that they can pocket your money. They show you some book that says what will happen to you if they give you a ticket, and blah blah. They try to scare you, and they do all of this illegally, hoping that you will offer them cash to handle the problem now, instead of dealing with the big guns at court/jail. Again, this is totally illegal! It’s still quite frightening, especially if you didn’t have any warning of this before hand. It’s extortion, plain and simple. John and I have already gotten pulled over 2 other times, and were fed up with it at this point.)
Still having no idea of where Sonja and Marco were, we proceeded to follow this road to wherever it went, hoping not to run into any more cops. It eventually led us back to the main road, and the cops were everywhere! Did I mention that this was the first time I have ever driven a motorbike? John was holding the handle bars and still driving, I just pretended to be doing something since I was in the front. We did eventually make it to our destination, and we both were so full of adrenaline… we couldn’t believe we had just ran away from Bali cops, on Thanksgiving Day nonetheless! Two hours passed and still nothing from Sonja and Marco. We were thinking the worse! Did the cops take them and tell them they weren’t going to let them go until they called us? Did they try to run away from them and get in more trouble? Did the cops take all their money? Oh, we were so worried! We felt exceptionally guilty that we had run away and left them, but at that point, it was each man for himself!
After my fitting, I got back on the front of the motorbike, and we took the LONG route back to Seminyak, hoping to avoid the cops. In fact, we drove straight through the center of Denpasar, full of cops and all, but if they didn’t recognize my blazing red helmet and pale white skin than we were ok. We got back to the villa and luckily, found a note from Sonja saying that they were fine and were waiting for us at Scoobies hotdog stand near Bingtang market. It was such a relief to see them! We shared with them our story and they told us theirs. When they got pulled over, they only spoke German, and pretended to not be able to understand! They also told the cops they wanted their names because they wanted to go to their government, that they knew what they were doing was illegal. The cops got all scared and gave them back their papers and told them to leave. HAHA, we trained them good!
We were all starving, so we got all dressed up for dinner (while listening to Christmas music) and then headed over to Bali Deli, where I had noticed they had set up a Christmas tree, and had read that they normally have traditional meals. Unfortunately, they did not have turkey, but pork and mashed potatoes instead. We each enjoyed a three course meal, and the boys even managed to score Sonja and I a free glass of sparkling fruit wine. There was some party going on and they had a band there. The lady singing had an incredible voice and was singing classic songs from frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe. It made for a wonderful ambiance. We taught Sonja and Marco all about our Thanksgiving traditions, and even went around the table and told each other all the things we were grateful for. We laughed over the days events, and just enjoyed the evening. I ordered lemon meringue pie for desert, which is a pie my mom makes every year for the holidays! Just as the night started to die down, the lady started to sing “At Last” by Etta James. A song that my grandpa loved and I couldn’t help but get all teary-eyed at his memory. John noticed, and gave a slight squeeze, which quickly had my smiling again. It was a crazy eventful day, but had ended in the most beautiful way. We both are so incredibly grateful that we were able to share this special holiday with Sonja and Marco! (We are also very grateful that the AC is fixed as well!)
The night wasn’t over though. John and I both had scheduled plans with our families back home to skype. I got up around 3am and started skyping my mom. She has dinner for the family every year, and she had set up the laptop in the living room so I could feel like I was apart of the festivities. Everyone came to the computer to say hi, (including my cousin Amanda, who told us the wonderful news that she and her husband are expecting their first baby!) and to ask us all sorts of questions about Bali and Australia. The little kids were so intrigued and were talking over one another to tell me about their exciting day! It was wonderful to finally be able to talk to my oldest sister, who is normally too busy with her kids to get online. My grandma was also tickled pink by this technology, and was really happy to talk to John and me.
Immediately after, John had skyped his mom and sisters. His mom, of course, was elated to see her son. His sisters have booked their tickets to Australia, so they talked about coming to Melbourne and John let them know we wouldn’t be going to Christmas Island. They too, talked of all sorts of things until the sun was starting to come up and the birds were singing. When we finally let them go, it was already early morning before we finally went to bed.
Sonja and Marco were leaving late night the next day. We did some more shopping before helping them pack up their stuff and get ready to go. It was a bittersweet good, but we were all so happy to have been able to spend such a wonderful time together!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

11.24.10

What an incredible few days! So many stories, I don’t even know where to start! The first day they were here, I had a photo shoot, and Sonja was excited to be able to tag along. After words, we let them walk around and discover the busy ally ways of Kuta and the beach. That Monday, we decided we would head out for a two or three day adventure up North.
The night before we left, we had found a tiny orange kitten near our villa. I had noticed it laying down when we went to go get dinner, and it was in the same exact spot upon our return home. I had John stop so I could pick it up and local nearby had told me to take it home…so I did. He was dubbed the name ‘Baby’, because that was precisely what he was. In fact, such a small baby, that I had feared he was starving from being away from his nursing mother. He was nothing but skin and bones, and instead of being strong and mighty, he was very weak and limp when I held him. I knew in my heart there was little that we could do besides make him comfortable. I had hoped that we had gotten to him in time and could possibly get this guy strong enough to go back in the wild, but deep down, I knew he was in pretty bad shape. I gave him a quick bath which he seemed to enjoy. Flea ridden, we made him a bed outside with a towel and left him lots of food and water. At first, he was thrilled, and practically drowned himself in the water. He curled up in his towel and was all stretched out and comfy. In the morning though, he didn’t look very good. We were leaving for our adventures with Sonja and Marco, so we just made sure we left him lots of food and water and prayed for the best.
We were on the road by 8am. There is the Berut Belong tree, where the road literally drives through the trunk of this massive tree. It was in the direction of where we were headed, but not really on the way. We took a wrong turn and started to head up into the mountains. Again, it is very cold and chilly up there! We noticed some nasty clouds so we stopped at a nice little restaurant for lunch before heading back out. The problem was that it started to pour! Unfortunately, John and I only have two ponchos. We debated after some time of the best way for us to keep ourselves and our things dry, but the boys were gentleman and let the ladies were the ponchos. We had all crossed our fingers that the rain would stop once we turned around and headed out of the mountains, but we had no such luck! The rain was freezing, even when we were out of the mountains, and I could barely keep my eyes open with how hard it was coming down, and I had sunglasses on. (John and I had developed a really good driving system…he drives and I direct. I have a great sense of a direction and am really good at mentally visualizing a map on the road. Doesn’t make sense does it? John pays attention to the road; I pay attention to road signs and road markers that help me figure out where we are and how to get back. When I can’t see anything, we might as well be driving around in circles because John has not a clue. Besides, it would be way too hard to drive around all the crazy traffic and figure out where we are going at the same time. Not to mention that the road signs in Bali are often covered by trees, and are so tiny that you need a microscope to see it!) We stopped and asked for directions several times, but when you are this far out of a touristy area, you can forget anyone being able to speak English. We were lost for a good 20 minutes…freezing cold, still in the pouring rain, ready to give up, when we FINALLY found the road. Pour John and Marco were soaking wet and wrinkly from being in the rain. Especially Marco! His hands looked like they belonged to an 80 year old man! The rain started to let up as we got closer to the tree, and we were all so relieved when we finally found it! The tree is considered to be a sacred place because of all the lives that were lost when they made the road through it. To be honest, it wasn’t as massive as I had thought it to be, but it was still really neat to see. We took lots of pictures, rested our very sore butts, and drove through it towards our next destination.
We had driven up North through the beautiful rice fields. It is later in the season, so the rice is growing tall and bushy. When it is at this length, it’s hard to see the rice terraces clearly. It ends up looking like a busy hill instead, but we stopped for some pictures. We finally got to Lovina just as it got dark. Lovina is at the Northern coast, fairly close to Singaraja (the old capitol). It is famous for the dolphins that occupy its warm oceans, which is its drive force for tourism. We had found a cute sea-side homestay and then got dinner. We booked our dolphin sight-seeing tour for early the next morning, so we all headed to bed quite early.
The next morning we had to meet our boat guide at 6am. It was miserable, but the dolphins were worth it. He took all 4 of us on a quaint banana boat made of bamboo and slowly tugged us out to sea. Before you knew it, we were surrounded by hundreds of dolphins, swimming around in their pods, jumping and playing together! It was an awesome thing to see. We didn’t get to touch them, or swim with them, but I feel that this sight-seeing tour is a much more eco-friendly way of positively supporting the dolphin trade. We went up and down cashing the dolphins around, but eventually we were surrounded by more boats then we were dolphins so we decided to head back. Our only regret was that we wish we would have gotten up earlier to have beaten the other boats.
We didn’t hesitate to get back on our motorbikes and back on the road. We headed into Singaraja when all of a sudden John noticed that Sonja and Marco were no longer behind us. We pulled over to wait for them, but they weren’t coming. As I was taking my phone out of my purse, Sonja had called… they got a flat tire! I knew it was bound to happen, but I didn’t think it would happen to them! We turned around, and spotted them at a tire shop. Luckily, we weren’t in the middle of nowhere when it happened. They were able to turn into a mechanic shop only a few feet from where the tire had gone flat. Plus, it was much cheaper. I can’t imagine hassling with some guy who knows you are stranded and has a tire tube. I think they spent 4 bucks on it, but I can promise if it happened in the country, it would have been more like 15. It was maybe a 20 minute detour, and back on the road we went!
We decided not to stop to see the GitGit waterfall. We have seen enough of those in Australia. Once we were out of Singaraja we stopped at a warung for lunch and petrol. So far, my dining experiences have been very pleasant, even at the tiny warungs. However, that all ended here. We all ordered Nasi Goreng, and they were all brought out in wooden, basket-like bowls with a paper lining. The lady had set down a dish for everyone, and I noticed as she went to grab my dish, a cock-roach climbed from under the rice and onto her hand. She just flicked it off like it was no biggie and told us to enjoy. I wasn’t going to complain and insult her, so I took a big gulp and tried to prepare myself. As I picked up my fork, another cock-roach appeared, crawling all over my plate and onto the table. Another one had appeared near Sonja’s dish, and even though we clicked them onto the ground, they just kept coming back! I was really reluctant at this point, but everyone was munching away and I wasn’t going to be the brat who didn’t eat her food. We were in Bali after all… so I went for it, slowly, one bite at a time. Marco picked up his paper lining and took a quick look inside the bowl. He didn’t show much emotion, but he quietly told us there were 4 or 5 cock-roaches chilling in his bowl. At that point I handed my plate to John, who eagerly ate the rest. We paid the bill and politely said thank you.
Just across the street was a waterfall, so since we were so close, we decided to go see it. The road went up to the top of the hill that led us to a bunch of Balinese who wanted 2 dollars per person to see the waterfall! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, we just turned around and said ‘no thank you’. I know that isn’t a lot, but in Bali, it was. 2 dollars got you a meal for 2 with drinks!
It took us only another 10 minutes to reach Tulamben where we wanted to stop to go snorkel the WWII Ship Liberty which had sunken just off the beaches shore. We had no idea were to swim or how far to go out, so we just stuck our faces in the water and followed the other people. There were some fish, but the water was dark and creepy. I just kept on kicking until I saw what looking like the Titanic. The feeling that came over me was so chilling and scary. I just wanted to swim back to shore, but I just clasped onto John and started to explore. Sonja felt the same way. I guess it just feels like a ghost or some un-earthly creature will just rise from this dark eerie object and take you down to its lair! Eventually, I was comfy and swam all around it admiring the gorgeous and REALLY large fish. At one point, a massive school of tune came around. They swim in a circle and John and I swam right in the middle of it! These tuna had to be 2 feet long, and being in the center of their silvery whirlpool was totally awesome. It was like a scene from little mermaid, when they are singing and jumping around! It was just unreal!
After about an hour we got back on the road and went to Amed. John and I had already snorkeled here once, but wanted to show Sonja and Marco how incredible the coral was. We played in the water there for another hour or so, and then made our way towards Candidasa. We stopped along the way to show them the monkeys, but for some reason there were only 4 or 5. Maybe it was late, and they head for the woods during the evening, I don’t know, but it was a bummer that there weren’t more of them like usual.
When we got to Candidasa we spent 30 minutes shopping for the most affordable homestay. We ended up choosing the first place to stop at. We rested and took showers and then went for cocktails at Toke for happy hour. Right after we went to Legong to get dinner and watch the dancers. Unfortunately, there was a ceremony that day so the dancers weren’t around. Sonja and Marco were so over stimulated though that they were happy enough to go straight to bed anyways.
That was the end of our 2 day adventure. The next day we got straight on the rode. Just as we left the city, I reminded John to keep his eyes open for cops, and to run through them if we did spot them. Cops normally are not a problem until you get to the bigger cities like Denpasar, but for some reason, just as I had warned him, there was a block in the road of cops, and no way around it. Now I have my international driver’s license, and John doesn’t, but of course I am not driving in this crazy country! Sonja was driving at the time, but she didn’t have her international license… only Marco did! We didn’t even think to warn them of the cops, so poor Sonja ended up paying them $25 bucks. John got away with $10, though we were equally mad at that. We had all agreed to just drive past them next time, no matter what!
We did eventually make it back to Seminyak. Sonja and Marco played around and did their own thing, and we all were eager to rest our very sore tailbones. Riding that long on a motorbike certainly takes it toll!
Unfortunately, Baby, our sweet orange kitten had passed away the day after we left. The maid had found him so they took him to an empty field. Poor little dude. At least he was comfortable.
It’s been an incredible few days and we are just happy that we got a chance to show them around! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so we are really looking forward to showing them our incredible western celebrations!

11.20.10

WOW! I want to say thank you to all our readers! The response to
my last blog has been incredible, and it makes me really happy to know that
we have so many people who are following our travels! THANK YOU! I've gotten
a lot of emails from others who have traveled or been away from the holidays,
giving me some suggestions on how to handle being away from family. Ana,
from Germany wrote:

Dear Autumn and John
My sister was staying at Dougie's and she told me to check out their
facebook page. I had seen your link on their wall, and that's how I found
you! I really wish I had the guts to just pick up and leave and travel!
Since my sister left, I have been thinking about it, and since I've read
your blog, I am really considering on buying a plane ticket. The closest
thing to traveling I have done was when my job relocated me for a year to
Tokyo. I did enjoy my time overseas, and in Europe it's customary for people
to take a year or two to travel. I had a hard time during the holidays too,
and they even made us work Christmas day! What I found that helped me out,
was to not do anything traditional at all. Instead of snow, I went swimming.
Instead of Christmas turkey, I ate sushi. I saved all the cards and gifts I
got from family until Christmas day. I stayed up until five in the morning,
even though I had to work at 8 am so that I could skype back home. I kept
myself busy creating new traditions that I totally forgot about what I was
missing back home. To this day, my family still talks about when we skyped
when I was in Tokyo, and I always remember the very unique holiday I spent
away from home. Hope this helps and I am looking forward to hear how your
holidays turn out!

-Ana

Other emails suggested that I try to recreate my traditions, so that I can
feel comfy, and others simply said to try and enjoy what is in front of me,
because eventually, it too will end. Since the emails, I have started to
feel much better!
I have been waking up every day, listening to Christmas music,
and John and I have been spending a lot of time preparing Christmas lists
and doing some Christmas shopping! To be honest, that has been one thing
that has helped A LOT! I enjoy so much picking out the perfect gift for
someone, and I get so excited to give it to them. I really thought long and
hard about each individual gift that we could get for each person. I wanted
to make sure it was something they could use and appreciate, but at the same
time, still represented Bali! You have no idea how hard it is to do this,
but we succeeded!
Other news is that we will no longer be going to Christmas Island. They contacted us to let us know that they overbooked volunteers but that we were free to reapply for a later time. I will not be lying when I say that I was neither disappointed nor excited by this news. I really wanted to volunteer and the experience would be out of this world, but on the same hand, I am really homesick and am equally looking forward to being able to spend the holidays with John’s Australian family and now his 2 sisters. Everything happens for a reason though, and we hope to volunteer with them in the future.
The news doesn’t stop there though! We just got word that our friend, Sonja and Marco (I worked with Sonja at Zinc in Port Douglas, but they are from Germany), will be coming to visit us in Bali! They arrive late tonight so we are going to meet up with them and help them find a place to stay for the night. For those of you that don’t recall, I had left for Ohio and while I was gone, Sonja had left Port Douglas. I never got to say goodbye, and since my departure was so quick, I never got to even tell her that I was leaving. It was really awesome of her to show us around Darwin when we had our layover, so we are looking forward to seeing them again, and showing them around Bali!
I must say that we are miserable in this heat! Our AC broke, and with all these glass walls; it just traps in the heat. We both get up super early in the morning because we are cooking, and at night, we lay sprawled out like star fish! They say they will come and have it fix Tuesday, so that will be much welcomed!
I’m starting to feel a lot better : )

11.14.10

We are onto our last three weeks in Bali. We have been spending a lot of time trying to get things organized for our nearing departure, and in making sure that Christmas Island is ready to receive us. However, I am still having a hard time dealing with this ‘Christmas away from home’ thing. To help me cope, I made some cut out decorations with magazine pages. I made a snowman, snowflakes, holly, a gift, a Christmas tree and even Christmas lights. I pinned them to our bed curtains with bobby pins, and I must say it certainly has brightened up the room (I posted pictures.) I plan to take my lovely decorations with me to Christmas Island too. I’ve also been making it a routine to listen to Christmas music every day. There are times when I really enjoy it, and other times, a song comes on that remind me of some specific holiday memory and it makes me even more homesick. I don’t think I would be homesick at all if it weren’t for this Holiday thing, and it’s really taken me by surprise! (Of course, I know that if I were home, I would be wishing I was in Bali. Where’s the happy-medium?)
John claims that he isn’t homesick, but today he woke up complaining he didn’t feel good. I asked him several times if he was really homesick, but he insisted it was just a headache. The symptoms that I could see were more homesick then headache, but this debate will remain up in the air. For the most part, John does really well, and I don’t ever hear him say he misses anyone, let alone Ohio. But I am just different. I love traveling and being away, but I miss the people, especially during the holidays. I made it very clear to John that we will NEVER spend Christmas away from home again. Needless to say, I am looking forward to seeing John’s sisters in January. (Did I mention that they will be visiting the family in Melbourne?)
On the flip side, our last few weeks here will be busy. I have 8 shoots this week, and several meetings with photographers starting tomorrow. It’s going to be intense and a lot of work, but the week will fly by and I love that I have found so much amazing work here. I have a few shoots the following week, but we plan to spend our last few days touring the rest of Bali, and possibly going to Java Island. It really depends on how busy we are with the rest of my shoots and such.
I’m thinking of you friends and family. We are both thinking of you and miss you lots!

11.10.10

I wake up every day and the sun is shining. I walk outside to humidity and that familiar scent of Bali incense. I am surrounded by palms and bamboo and want nothing more than to jump in the pool to cool off. When I go online though, I see websites starting to fall festive with red and green, Christmas trees and ornaments. On facebook, I read posts about how it is snowing back home, the different ways people are getting into the Christmas spirit or are preparing for the holidays.
Time seems frozen over here. To us, it is still summer. We don’t have the changing seasons to mark the upcoming holidays, or to help us get into ‘spirit’. When I look at the calendar, I have to gasp at how close Thanksgiving is and I feel ashamed because I completely forgot about it!
This will be our first time away for Christmas, and I never realized that it would be such a challenge, at least not in this way. I figured I would miss my family, but I never thought I would miss the chilly air, or the smell of fall, or driving in the snow, or how every store looks like Christmas vomit the day after Halloween. Furthermore, I didn’t expect to ‘forget’ about the holidays, but it’s a strange thing. When you reminded about the changing seasons on a daily basis, they seem to just not exist.
I’m starting to face the greatest challenge of being away from home, and it certainly requires a certain level of creativity to overcome. For example, I am currently listening to Christmas music, in hopes that it will start to ignite that Christmas spirit that everyone seems to be so full of back home. I am also seriously considering putting the AC to 18 degrees, but I think that’s a little drastic! I am going to research some restaurants and try to find a place that may be appropriate for John and me to go to on Thanksgiving. Come December, we will be on Christmas Island and I have no idea what to expect there. They say that they celebrate Christmas there for the refugees, but who knows if they put up a tree and decorations. If not, perhaps I can decorate a mini tree for our room. Regardless, my brain is full of ideas and ways that I can turn sunny paradise into a winter wonderland. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
John is much better at this kind of stuff then me. I love traveling and wouldn’t trade it in for anything, but I can’t help but miss everyone and the seasons. It fact, it wasn’t until now that I realized just how wonderful the changing seasons are. I appreciate them now more than ever. Just like the old adage goes, ‘too much of a good thing, is never a good thing’. That applies to paradise too! You have to have blistering winter to really appreciate the humid summers, and apparently, it works the other way around too.
Every time I step outside the villa, I feel so lucky and grateful that I am in such a beautiful place, and just like that, I forget all about the holidays again. I don’t know how people in LA do it, because it’s true… it’s just not the same without the chilly air and sparkling snow.
So here I am, trying to merge one world into the next the best I can. I guess I will just have to go out and do some Christmas Shopping in the mean-time.

11.06.10
After our first night in the gorgeous villa, we woke up early to head out back up to Ubud, but this time for more of a visit. On our way we stopped in the village of Sukawati, which is known for its gold and silver smiths. The houses here are much more grandiose, and you can easily tell that the entire village is very well off their lucrative trade. As a matter of fact, it’s very easy to identify the trade for each village. Grandma and grandpa grew up carving wood, so they teach that trade to their kids, and when the daughter marries into a different family, she passes that trade down the line (though she most likely married into a wood carving family as well), so these giant, relative villages have mastered that trade, and that is what they sell and that is what they trade with other villages to help sustain their community. When you’re driving by a specific village, you can tell what trade it is they are masters of because that is all you will see being displayed for blocks in their shop houses. To be honest, it’s hard to believe that they have conquered these elaborate trades by hand. The silversmiths, the bone and wood carvers, the rock and ceramic workers, the ikat weavers, the palm leaf scripters, etc etc do such an incredible job at what they do, it’s hard to believe that it wasn’t done by some mass manufacturing machine. But it does make sense…when all you do, every single day, since the day you were born, was practiced this trade to perfection. It’s no wonder that so many people on this island are extremely talented.
We shopped around for a bit, though we were overwhelmed by everything there was to look at and eventually made our way up to Ubud. We stayed in the first homestay that we had found when we had last come up to Ubud, which is a very cute quaint little family pod, where they had turned un-used homes into guest rooms. Apparently, when your daughter decides to move to Denpasar instead of getting married, or when you didn’t have as many kids as you intended, the extra homes built on your property are a great way of making extra cash. What is neat about this particular arrangement is that John and I got a firsthand look at what it is like to live with a real Bali family inside their comfy compound. We watched them pray in the temple and prepare their offerings, and even caught their laxity when the woman elder was running around in her bra. There is grass in-between all the homes and pebble pathways and stepping stones connect each homes doorway. They had this elaborate outdoor birdcage with a song bird inside (and I am not sure the significance, but I have seen this a lot in the Bali homes. Birds and other small animals, such as squirrels, are kept in cages on the home ground. Ketuts house was full of caged animals, even dogs. Maybe this is a sign of status and money, or perhaps it’s a more permanent offering to the gods). There are lots of manicured trees and flowers, all in which make for this secret-garden-like feel of the family village.
We spent the day shopping around, and admiring all that the city had to offer. We once again stopped at Ketut Liyer’s home, but quickly turned around when we found out he wanted $25 dollars (per person) to become our guru. Just too commercialized for me! (Though we did get a picture)
The next morning we found the hidden path that is behind all the hustle and bustle of the streets to see the rice terraces, of which Ubud is so famous for. We made the trek on our motorbike, but the ground was too soft and muddy to get too far. The rice terraces are beautiful though, it’s just a shame that it too is being overpopulated by western villas and resorts. I don’t think the Balinese have any idea the beauty that is before them.
Right after, we started to head for Danau Bratur and Gunung Batur Volcano. On the way we stopped in Tampaksiring to see the ancient monument, Gunug Kawi and the holy springs of Tirta Empul.
To get to Gunung Kawi, you had to walk through a village of hawkers and down a steep path through rice terraces. The view was magical, and I absolutely loved the energy of this place. Of course, the path was also lined with little booths of stuff to buy, but it ended up being a nice resting place as we made the heated, steep walk back up. At the bottom was a river and a mountain side. Inside niches of the cliff were giant statues. There was an ancient looking temple carved out of rock, and is Bali’s oldest temple. It most certainly looked quite ancient.
We made the short drive to Tirta Empul but realized it was nothing more than the same exact river we had just been too that was considered to be holy spring and bathing water. We neglected to pay the 50 or 20 cents to get in, and went on our way. (Did I mention that this clever Balinese charge you for everything? They charge you to enter any of these tourist attractions of course, will charge you to park, will charge you to rent a sarong and will even charge you to use the toilet. Most of the time it isn’t even government regulated. It’s just a few village people who decided to take advantage of the fact that they COULD charge.)
Our final stop was Danau Bratur and the Batur Volcano. What a sight to see. Danau Bratur is just a big lake. It’s peaceful and smooth as glass and full of fresh water fish. Around the lake are scatters of villages who focus 100% on the tourism. Though here, the tourism seemed desolate. Right next to the lake is Gunung Bratur Volcano (active) which is the first volcano John and I have ever seen in person. It was covered in green, which was far from what I had imagined, but the giant gaping hole at the top was certainly breath taking. It last erupted in 2002 and you could still see the black path that the lava had created. On the opposing faces of the mountain though, it was lush forest and seemed to be thriving.
We drove down to the lake and found a place to stay in Toyabungkah. We paid and left our stuff in the hotel, only to get back on the bike and do some exploring. One thing I hadn’t expected was the temperature change. It was quite chilly up in these high altitudes and we weren’t the least bit prepared. The landscape was rocky and overgrown with tall dried out weeds and just emanated death. It felt far removed from typical Bali, but it was what it was. At the top of the mountain all the large restaurants and hotels were closed up and barren. It gave you this feeling like it was a ghost town. I am lead to assume that after the 2002 eruption, it just hasn’t been the same for tourism.
We stopped at a little restaurant to try the fish that was so popular for this area. What we didn’t realize was that the fish was cooked whole. John had asked me how exactly to eat it, assuming I had a better idea then he since I grew up fishing (thank you grandpa!), but I was never the one who prepared any of the fish, and often ignored the entire process in fear that I may try to release all the fish we just caught. So out our meals came out and fortunately they were already gutted. We carefully ate our fish, pulling out tiny bones along the way. Though scary looking, it was really good. John loved it so much; he even ate the brain and gills (yuck!). We went somewhere else for dessert and made our way back to the hotel before dark.
We had been approached by several hawkers, trying to sell us a morning hike up the volcano where you get to cook eggs on the steaming holes. Enticing, but we weren’t prepared to spend 60 dollars to take a walk. Instead, I sat on the hotel bed, mapping out our way back to Seminyak in the morning. All of a sudden, I felt something hit my arm. A bug had dropped from the ceiling, which reminded me bed bugs. I decided to pull back the covers and take a closer look at the mattress, just to be safe. Sure enough, there were fat juicy bed bugs, waiting to pounce. We showed the staff, whom apologized and started to change the sheets and clean room while we gathered our things. We told them we didn’t feel comfortable staying there, and asked for our money back. Sheesh what a process that was! John ended up arguing with the manager for about 15 minutes. They said they couldn’t give us our money back because we already paid… even though the room was filthy. I guess that’s what happens when you’re the only guest. John proceeded to tell them that we needed to eat too, and that they were wrong in not giving us a refund. He somehow managed to get at least half back, but they weren’t happy about it. It was now dark, and our options for hotels were thin. The first placed we stopped at we made sure to check for bed bugs first. We saw traces of them, though none could be found. We were paranoid at this point and didn’t want to take any chances. We went back up the hill to Penelokan and stopped at the first place (the only place) that wasn’t boarded up. It was 50 bucks a night (versus our typical 10) and figured our best bet was to make the drive back to Ubud. John refused and walked back to the reception desk. He came back 10 minutes later and told me to grab my things. Like a pro, he managed to bargain them down to 20 dollars. The room was large and clean, there was a nice patio that overlooked the volcano and lake, though it was too dark for us to see anything. There was a TV with cable (including Cinemax) and a warm shower (most places are only cold water). It too, included breakfast. So sure, it was more then we wanted to spend, but it came with a few luxuries that we were excited to have at that moment (we even got towels and toilet paper! Yes, even in the hotels, you don’t get toilet paper. And the bathrooms in the shower are a toilet, a large basin for water and a shower head. I have a small problem with showering next to a toilet but unless you’re in a fancy resort, it’s unavoidable).
The next morning we went back to Seminyak and for the next couple of days, did nothing but shop, watch movies, and relax our tail bones. We enjoyed wondering around Seminyak and Kuta, and got lost a number of times. One of the more exciting things that happened on our days of relaxation are the Bali tattoos we got. Mine is around my wrist and says ‘Nasib Sudah Mene Mukanku’. It means ‘Destiny has found me’ in Hindu-Balinese and is written in Balinese script. At the center is the Bali ‘Ohm’ symbol. Hindu belief says that when the world was created ‘Ohm’ was the sound it made. It is one of the most significant symbols and you can see it everywhere in Bali. They believe it to be good luck, but I also found out that there are several ways of creating the ‘Ohm’ symbol and it varies from each Hindu country. Johns is on his chest and is a picture of Barong, the good spirit (Barong and Kris, the good and bad spirits are very important and popular gods here). The man who did our tattoo was smaller than Aunt Zia! We were both so excited after words, and posted lots of pictures in the gallery.
Tuesday, Nov 2nd, we went to Wonderland (beach) to do the photo shoot with David. We played in the water and laid in the sun all day. The waves here are incredible, and we all really enjoyed watching all the other tourists getting pommeled by the massive breaks.
On Wednesday, we decided to make another trip up north, but this time to a Gunung Batukaru and the lake Danau Bratan. Our first stop was at Tanah Lot, which is another very important temple. It’s a temple that they built on an island rock thing. It’s quite beautiful but it’s too sacred to actually go inside. We took a detour through Tabanan which I really enjoyed. The rice terraces’s to Tanah Lot were really gorgeous, and at one point, we even went down a little side road so that we could spend some more time with the scenery. I’m not sure what it is about the rice terraces, but we absolutely love them. It’s like fine architecture made with nature. The way the water is pooled in the little divisions and the green rice sprouts just make for such a magical feeling (do I sound like a hippie or what!?).
We made it up to Wangayagede to see the Pura Luhur Batu Karu temple. Behind it was the large cascade of Gunung Batukaru, but it was completely hidden by clouds. Now, there wasn’t anything spectacular different about this temple. But there was not ONE hawker. We were one of three other tourists and we were surrounded by complete peace and quiet. We loved it! We took our time to explore all the nook and crannies, explored hidden paths, and stopped to appreciate the silent prayers of the few Balinese at the temple. There was a gorgeous water pool with a temple in the center. Again, nothing compared to the floating palaces and temples we had seen before, but the screen atmosphere made it seem far more spiritual then all the other places. There were stepping stones laid under the water which we both admired a lot.
We made a second detour through Jatiluwih and Senganan to see the never-ending landscape of rice terraces. We stopped a number of times to take pictures, and it was probably my favorite part of the entire trip.
We practically passed up the lake, Danau Bratan, because it was just a pool of water. Not nearly as developed or as large as Danau Batur, we decided to turn around and found a place to stay in Candikuning. Dusk was coming and it started to rain. Again, it was freezing now that we were in higher altitudes. The place we stayed at was shiny and new and was one of the cleanest places that you can get for 100,000 rupiah. Wet and cold, we wrapped ourselves in a blanket and watched what few Indonesian channels our TV picked up. We fell asleep and didn’t wake up till 8am the next day. Well kind of…I was woken up around 5am by the humming and howling of singing prayers over loud speakers. As we made our long drives from one place to another, there were a number of times we would run into a village that was in ceremony. They decorate their village very intricately with bamboo and palm leaves. They twist and turn the palm leaves to make hanging ornaments (Cili) and tall, flag-like structures with bamboo (called Penjor). They will carry baskets of offerings on their heads and walk down the street in a parade to the temple. Normally the head of the parade is led by some large puppet of Barong (the good spirit) or we have seen greatly ornamented chariots, in which they carry the priest. On certain occasions we will drive by a village or a ceremony when they are singing and humming through the loud speakers. As much as I would like to say that it is beautiful, it has a strange, eeriness to it. It’s always a male and is a strange combination of notes. Think monk-like, except more of a constant chanting. It doesn’t even sound like they are saying words, but if they are; it is most likely in Hindu (the language that they use to pray in, though not all the time. It’s also a dying language that the younger generations are losing). Creepy as it may be, it has this strange luster to it, so I laid there awake to listen. I am pretty sure the man sung for about an hour, but I easily fell back asleep.
Breakfast was less then enjoyable the next morning; expecting eggs and fruit, like normal, we were instead brought a dish of bright pink and muddy purple gelatin goo, covered in toasted coconut. We tried it, but kindly pushed it aside when we realized there was no way our stomachs would allow us to digest it. I think it’s safe to say here that it is an acquired taste and something your stomach has to learn to digest. We scarfed down a bag of potato chips instead and went back towards Denpasar. Our last stop was at Mengwi to see Taman Ayun Temple. It is supposed to be quite popular due to the moat that surrounds it, but it was one of these attractive temples we had been too. It was quite small and not nearly as impressive as the others. It was on the way home, so why not? Before heading back to the villa, we quickly took care of our visa extension and spent another hour trying to find our way back to the villa. Dave would be leaving Bali at 11pm, so we decided to have a good-bye dinner at a nearby sushi joint. It was really sad to say goodbye, but John and I are so grateful for all the incredible people and friends we have been making as we travel. It has been the single most amazing part of our entire adventure and it really fills your heart to know you have so many kind and incredible people in your life. We feel so blessed.
The last few days we have, once again, done nothing but enjoy our cheap movies and catching up on the blogs. We got a chance to Skype with some friends and family, and we can’t help but chuckle a little when we hear that it has started to snow back home. Another reason why we are so happy that we are in Bali!

10.24.10
How can I put into words all the things I have to describe? Beautiful, incredible, amazing, gorgeous, mystical…. Those words don’t even start to skim the surface. Bali is just as magical as I have always imagined it to be. It is everything… precisely what you see in images and documentaries. The photos of Bali need no computer retouch or effects. Every color is true and just as dazzling in real life. I wish I could attach some sort of scratch and sniff with this blog, because the smell is beyond describable as well. It’s a shame that so many people (from the states) have so many negative pre-dispositions about this country, and that so many people are too afraid to ever visit. They have no idea what they are missing.
John and I arrived in Bali around 10 pm on Sunday. After our long layover in Darwin, we were exhausted by the time we landed in Indonesia. We carefully merged our way through the airport, checking through customs and gathering our luggage. I somehow summoned any last bit of energy I had to dance about and sing my praise about how excited I was. The resort we were staying at was supposed to have sent us a taxi to pick us up, but after carefully weeding our way through the mass of taxi drivers waiting to pick up their guests, we realized our driver never arrived, so we hired one from the street. We stopped to quickly change over our money, and bought happy panda cookies (my favorite!) and a can of lychee juice (my new all-time favorite!)
Being that it was dark outside, we didn’t have the opportunity to properly digest our surroundings. What we did notice was the chaos of motorbikes and cars, fighting each other like cats and dogs, trying to beat one another in some sort of race. Everyone is beeping, you have motorbikes on either side of vehicles, speedy past, and they hardly pay any respect to the white line dividing one lane from another. To them it’s one big road. Frankly, I think they enjoy he challenge of speeding past one car by merging into the opposite lane while a truck is speeding towards them at the same time. Did I mention there is no speed limit here? What we eventually learn about motorbikes is that 90% of Balinese people drive them. The few, and more well off citizens, drive cars. One per family is enough. We have seen an entire family of four riding on a two person bike. We have seen women carrying their extremely young children, even infants, on this open vehicle. Most wear helmets, though its completely optional, and just because it is a small motor bike, doesn’t for one minute deter these people from hauling large and oversized items. Surfer boards… no problem. Glass panes and large stacks of boxes that far exceed any space allowance…why not? In fact we have seen 4 or 5 mattresses, folded into one another piled onto the back of a single bike. Most of the times they are so wobbly, you wonder how they don’t blow over. It’s a mad house when it comes to driving, but somehow, it all works out.
I was so tired, I fell asleep. An hour and a half later, we arrived to our resting place, Rama Candidasa Resort and Spa. They gave us a refreshing drink of some variety and checked us in. We tried to take in our new surroundings, but had a hard time through glossy eyes. We fell asleep the minute we hit the bed.
I was woken up by the sunshine, and the minute I realized I could finally see where I was, I jumped out of bed and walked out on the balcony. It was a moment similar to when Willy Wonka opened to the door to his candy garden and chocolate river. I couldn’t help but stand there, mouth wide open, thoroughly overwhelmed by new sights, sounds and smells. I just started to run around in circles, not really looking at one specific thing, half way shouting to John… ‘youneedtoseethisweareinbaliohmygoodnessIcantbelievethis’. I was on sensory overload to say the least, and once I got myself under control, I started to focus in on all the little details. Our verandah overlooked a tropical mecca. Palms of all sorts scattered as far as our view point would allow. Red ceramic roofs took to a point in clusters, sheltering the Bali homes that we shared as neighbors. Green moss had mystically covered statues, waterfalls, and rock laid tiles making everything look ancient. I could hear in the distance a clamoring of bells. There was not much rhythm or pattern but made such a beautiful song. The air smelled of incense and flowers, of heat and moisture and of course… the ocean.
We spent the first few days exploring the tiny town of Candidasa which rests on the lower East coast of Bali. We started to learn our ways around bargaining and how to mentally convert rupiahs into dollars. We walked around a lot, shopping and admiring this cultural wonderland. We quickly found out that every Balinese person has something they want to sell you, and they aren’t afraid to get up in your business to finalize a sale. Every day the hotel offered a free shuttle at 10 am into town (which is only a short walk anyways). The taxi (taksi) driver handed us a brochure of all the wonderful sights they could tour us on, if we paid the right price to do so (20 or 30 dollars for each tour). We kindly rejected (a million times) but tucked the brochure away. After several inquiries, we discovered that we could rent a motorbike for as little as 5 bucks a day (50,000 rupiahs) and decided that at some point, that’s exactly what we would do.
Mid-vacation, John acquired pink eye…again! Driving in Bali is a bad idea, driving in Bali with one eye ball is an even worse idea, so we took it easy for the duration of our week resort stay so that John could get better (not going to lie, it was nice to just watch TV and movies for a few days).
In the meantime, I took advantage of all the hotel had to offer. There was 3 o’clock tea time in the quite garden area, in which I greatly look forward too. They displayed traditional Balinese dishes, all in which I am far from recollecting any sort of name (but I did take pictures).
I researched all the locations listed on the brochure given to us by the taxi driver, carefully tracking down each place on a map. Before you knew it, I had a three day adventure planned out for us to go see each and every item by ourselves.
Our first day, we traveled up to Amlapura to see the market place. We stopped on our way to play and gawk at the wild monkeys alongside the road, and got our first glimpse at the coveted Bali rice terraces. With what little road signage we had, we somehow found the market place. We walked around and fought our way through the millions of hawkers (though not nearly as bad as the ones we would later encounter). We ended up buying traditional sarongs and I later found a traditional top for myself (the guys just wear plain button ups).
After, we drove ourselves to Taman Ujung of the Tambu Village. It’s a complex water palace for the last king of Karanagasem (the regency is known as Karanagasem, which is like a state). It was destroyed in 1979 by the volcano eruption and earthquake, and rebuilt in 2002. It’s this beautiful palace surrounded by water, full of fish and lilly pads. The grounds of the palace have these tiers of gardens and are manicured with gorgeous landscaping. There was a large field of rice, and statues and fountains were hidden through the forest walls and tiny pathways. We spent a good amount of time here before taking off to try and find the sand white beach of Seraya. The problem was that there are no signs telling us exactly where to go so we drove up and down the same road before turning around and calling it a day. Luckily, on the way back, I somehow caught glimpse of a tiny wooden plaque pointing towards the white sand beach. We turned down the beat up road and slowly bumped our way down to the hidden beach. We paid 20 cents (2000 rupiah) for road toll and spent a few minutes admiring the hidden gem. The sand was white… but only as white as a normal beach would be. What I didn’t realize was that most of the beaches were black and rocky because of the volcano. Therefore, finding the soft white sand was considered to be jackpot for tourists. Unfortunately, it was the end of the day, and we weren’t prepared to swim so we simply made our way back to Candidasa.
We had checked out of the hotel and were now staying in town at the Ari Homestay. 10 bucks (100,000 rupiah) for the both of us to stay in a dorm style room. Run by an Australian man, Gary, whom has lived in Bali with his Bali wife and children for some time.
Having no clear idea where we would be living for the next month and a half, the next day we made the hike out to Ubud. Having read about Ubud a lot, I was sure that this was where we would want to rent a villa for our remaining time in Bali. We asked Gary to store our luggage for us and, we made the hour and a half drive to the center of the island to villa shop.
I don’t know what I had imagined, but I guess I always thought Ubud to be some quite, rice terrace filled town, full of culture and wonder yet, with a touch of modernity. I cannot lie; I was beyond disappointed when we arrived. In fact, I was so upset, I wanted to cry. I felt like my dreams had been violently flushed down a toilet and then ravished by tiny plankton that laughed and giggled at me as they scarfed down huge portions of my idea of perfection.
It’s a tourist town. Western people outnumber the locals, and the streets are filled with modern western style shops, clichéd art galleries and real estate companies. The restaurants advertised for American and European style cuisine and ritzy villas and resort billboards overpowered the street. Where were all the Bali villages? What happened to the quite roads that you could peacefully ride a bike through (the traffic was bumper to bumper, honking and road rage that was equivalent to Denpasar)? But most of all… where are all these gorgeous rice terraces that Ubud has become so popular for?
We must have looked at 10 or so villas, all being about the same, though one had seemed particularly nice to us. It started to rain, so we grabbed dinner really quick before making the rest of our way back to Candidasa.
At first I blamed the overpowered tourist town on the book, Eat Pray Love. Ubud was were Elizabeth Gilbert had stayed during her time in Bali and where she met her now-husband. However, I later learned that Ubud has always been a busy mini-metropolis, and even before the book, has attracted tourists far and wide. The silver lining was that on our way out of the city, I spotted a small green sign pointing to Ketut Liyer’s home. (For those that are unfamiliar, in the book Eat Pray Love, Liz meets a man named Ketut whom tells her a series of fortunes and readings about her future and past. He paints her a picture and tells her to come back to Bali and stay with and his family. So, when she returns to Bali, she makes recurring visits to Ketut, who has since become her spiritual guru. He teaches her things that only a spiritual guru can, and helps in her recovery after her divorce). Having tried my hardest to avoid all things touristy, I could not hide that I was elated to have found Ketut! We stopped really quick, but decided to come back when we would be staying in Ubud.
We spent another night with Gary and woke up early to begin another trek out east. We went past Amlapura (of course we stopped to see the monkeys again, only this time we fed them bananas and peanuts!) We drove through Abang to see the rice terraces (simply breathtaking) and up to Amed; a quaint little seaside town, known for its beach coral and magnificent snorkeling/diving. Now, this was much more how I imagined Bali to be. Quite yet comfy, with Bali villages and warungs (little café) sprinkled here and there. If you look up into the mountains, you see the rice terraces, and out East is the crystal blue Indian Ocean. We drove to a lookout point to take some pictures and noticed the dazzling coral that lay just feet away from the coast. We decided to take an hour or two to snorkel, which was a much needed relief from the heat.
The reef was incredible. In fact, it was a million times more amazing then when we went diving in the Great Barrier Reef. The water was impeccably clear, and the coral was incredible colorful and alive. The fish ranged in so many bizarre colors and patterns, and giant blue starfish were everywhere. We even caught glimpse of some squid and a blow fish. I started to tire so went back to shore to hunt for shells and John continued to explore the vast underwater forest. I managed to find several gorgeous shells which I have seen in a lot of jewelry. Its face is perfectly flat and smooth (round) with a pretty spiral design in the center. I collected as many as I could find, carefully tucking them away for later.
We jumped back on the back and made our way to Tirtagangga. It’s known as a Bali Aga village (original Bali people, and original Bali village). We didn’t stop to see the floating temple because we wanted to make it to our final destination before sunset.
Pura Besakih (Bes-AH-key) is one of Bali’s most important temples. It is a massive collection of temples, shrines and gazebos galore. However, let me first start off by explaining a little bit about Bali temples and their religion.
Balinese people are Hindu, at least most of them. A small percentage is Muslim; however practice a much less orthodox version of Indian Muslims. In a way, they incorporate the Muslim and Hindu practices together. Each family lives in a pod together. When a daughter marries, she will go and live with the male in whom lives in a modest home that is within his parents compound (imagine a few shack like homes all scattered about on your parents property, and that’s where you lived and raised your family as an adult, and your children would eventually move into one of those little houses as well, etc). Eventually these pods of family grow so large that they create a village. Everyone, somehow, is related, even if just through marriage.
Now, there is a reason why they call Bali the ‘Island of the Gods’. Though I don’t know the fine details, I do know that a great majority of their religion revolves around the good and bad spirit, Barong (good spirit) and Kris (bad spirit). They make these tiny offering plates out of dried palm leaves and inside, put flowers, rice, a cookie or some other sort of food and burn an incense. They will say a little prayer and sprinkle holy water and put one plate on the ground to pacify the bad spirit and keep him happy and away. They will put one dish up high, as an offering to the good spirit and in thanks for protecting the family. They will do this on the outside of their door, inside the temple (though they also have other gods that they put the offerings out to), in front of their shop houses, on their motor bike, and even do a mini- version of it on their own heads (you will see them walking around with rice on their forehead or chest/throat and have flowers on their head or behind their ears). They have temples in each family compound, in each village, for each regency, and then have several large temples that resemble Bali as a whole community. You will also find temples for businesses; McDonalds and gas stations included.
When you are driving on the road you pass tons of stores, but it is essentially just a big open square box. These are known as shop houses. If you were to pass through the door in the back, you would have entered the family’s home. So as you are driving by, you are looking at the back portion of one of the many homes located within that family compound.
Anyways, I’m getting off track, back to Besakih. This massive temple is one of those all-important temples that represents all of Bali and means ‘Mother-Temple’. Behind it stands the magnificent Mount Agung, and is considered to be a sacred holy place and has very rigid rules that without exception, need to be respected (women can’t be on their period, you can’t point or exchange gifts with your left hand, you can’t enter if you had a child within 40 days…the list goes on). We came prepared, with our sarongs, but before we even reached the parking lot, we were being bombarded by hawkers, hoping to score as our tour guide. I had read that the Bali people will try to tell you, you can’t enter the temple without a Bali escort, but that is not true. However, I wanted to know exactly what we were looking at, and have some sort of explanation, so we kindly asked our pursuing merchant how much for him to guide us. He replied verbatim “ It’s up to you!” Alright then, so I am left to assume, by that response, it’s by donation. We hadn’t even taken our helmets off before we were surrounded by 5 girls, begging us to buy a postcard or pencil or wooden necklace. They have no concept of personal space, and to say no, regardless if in English of Balinese, means absolutely nothing to them (though speaking in Bali tells them you may be local, or at least far from a first time tourist and they will back off much more quickly). They will just keep on keeping on, hoping that you spare a dollar. John doesn’t seem the least bit bothered by the madness, but I can’t help but feel overwhelmed and invaded. I lose my patience with them quickly, so I run ahead as far as I can, hoping that I have reached the invisible line that they won’t cross. I guess it’s the one thing about Bali that I can’t stand.
We tour the magnificent structures of the temple and took lots of pictures. I tried to understand what the guide was telling us, but his English wasn’t very good, and most of what he was describing was translated into Bali because it was a name or something. I had a hard time differentiating English from Balinese, so I just nodded my head and acted amazed. As we finished the 10 minute tour and made our way back to the front of the temple, our guide stopped us and told us this is where we pay him. We asked him how much he is normally given, in which he said 500,000 rupiah. That is 50 us dollars. We told him we couldn’t afford that and instead offered him $10.
Really quick, let me explain their money situation. First of all, to convert rupiahs to dollars, all you do is count the numbers from right to left 4 times. That’s where you put the new decimal point to make it US currency. So, 1000 rupiah is ten cents. 22,000 IDR (rupiah) is 2 dollars and 20 cents, 500,000 is $50 and 1 million rupiah would be one hundred dollars. We met a girl, who had a college degree and worked with a reputable company. She made $150 dollars a month. A good salary would be $300 dollars…A MONTH! A pack of Marlboro cigarettes cost $1.90. A Bali meal with a drink is $1.50 and if you want a fancy dinner with all the trimmings, $15 bucks is all you need. So you need to understand, that fifty dollars is certainly asking a lot, and even in America, you can forget anyone paying a tour guide fifty dollars to show them around anything!
Back to our tour guide…we handed him 10 dollars and he just kept saying no way, you owe me 50 bucks. He said that’s what other people gave him and that’s how much he wants. We looked around as if he was going to summon the police who would further insist we pay him 50 dollars. We explained that we were backpackers and couldn’t afford that. I reminded him that he told me it was up to us and that we never would have agreed to enter the temple if we knew it would cost us 50 bucks. He got so angry with us and furrowed his brow in disgust. Perhaps he simply didn’t understand that 50 dollars is a lot of money to us too. Maybe, the Bali mindset is that ALL western people have a lot of money, so what they may think is a lot, to us is not (which in most cases is true). Or maybe perhaps, one clumsy tourist had mistaken 50,000 rupiah for 500,000 and handed him 50 bucks, not knowing what he just done. And since then, this spoiled man demands this of follow tourists. He clearly stated he would not accept anything less than a 50 and so we clearly stated he was SOL and started to walk away with our ten. Of course, he changed his mind, and took the ten. He noticed a small corner had been ripped off the note and tried to tell us that the money was no good because it was damaged. At this point John and I were so enraged (mind you, we are still inside the temple), that if we had anything smaller than a 10, we would have given him that instead and walked away. I threw up my hands and walked away. He realized we weren’t to be pushed any further and took the ten. He led us out the temple and followed us along like nothing had happened. He crept around us, hoping we would pull out or wallet again, perhaps as another way to leverage more money out of us. As we walked to our motorbike, we were again greeted by the female hawkers (one of whom was pregnant) now accusing us that we promised to buy something from them, so we couldn’t possibly break a promise. The pregnant one kept rubbing her belly, telling us ‘for the baby’, and frowning like she would fail in life as a parent without our money. Being thoroughly annoyed at this point, we shoved 2000 rupiah in her hand and quickly geared up so we could quickly drive away. She tossed the money in her hands like we had just given her trash, looking at it with disgust. We were so upset.
The worse thing about all this was that it all happened at the holiest of all temples. The place that THEY consider to be sacred and the focal point of everything they believe in. What their entire life…what every single day of their being revolves around. The man lied to us several times for pete’s sake! We didn’t have a moment to enjoy our time there, nor did we have the opportunity to appreciate this sacred place for what it was because the people, who say it is so, abused it relentlessly, so that they could make money. Where’s the honor in that?
What else you need to understand is that Bali people aren’t poor, at least not in Bali standard. There aren’t bums on the street. There aren’t homeless people. Because of the way the families are made up into villages, they have a very tight knit structure, and everyone helps each other out. When grandpa is too sick to tend to the rice fields, the neighbors come by and help. When a mother can’t feed her children, the other mothers make sure that everyone is full. It’s how things work over here, and it works! The homes they live in are modest, but they aren’t cardboard boxes. They have solid and sturdy cement walls, with a proper roof and proper windows and doors. So yes, one dollar has great value over here, but they find a way to do just fine with the resources they have. They use a lot of what is around them to provide. They grow their own gardens and are surrounded by natural vegetation and fruit. Rice is a cheap and plentiful crop, and chickens roam this land in bulk. I guess my point is that though having money is nice, they don’t need money to survive. They have the knowledge and resources to take care of their basic needs simply with the ground they live on. Of course you have your wealthier families, and those who have merged to a more modern society and into the larger cities (like Denpasar) to pursue bigger and better dreams. With that said, I hope you better understand why we don’t feel bad when we are hassled by hawkers.
It was getting dark outside and we no longer felt comfortable trying to find a place to sleep nearby (remember, everyone knows everyone and is most likely related). We stopped at a local food court (just a gravel lot with tiny kiosks of food carts) and ate a meal. Again, we were taken advantage of when, after we finished eating, the lady told us we owed her 8 bucks. That’s what you would spend in a nice restaurant out here, but for street side food, 2 or 3 bucks for two meals and a drink is standard. What were we to do though? She didn’t speak any English, we were surrounded by Balinese people, and had already finished our meals. We just paid it and grunted to ourselves in misery. What an awful experience.
Our final resting place was Padang Bai which is South-West of Candidasa. We checked into a clean hotel and spent the night conversing about our day. We promised ourselves we would forget the experience and hot hold it hostage in our memoire of Bali. We also promised to never let it happen again, and from now, not be afraid to hassle right back and demand fair prices.
We woke up refreshed and back tracked a little bit towards Besahki so that we could see the Bukid Jambul lookout and the Goa Lawah Temple.
Bukid Jambul lookout is exactly that, except I am pretty sure we could see as far as Denpasar. The road was sprinkled with rice terraces which made for supplemental scenery and of course, we were face to face with our first hawkers of the day. The man was selling cow bone that he had intricately (and quite beautifully) carved. He wanted 25 dollars for each, but we walked away with 2 for 15. Now that’s how you do business.
Our second stop was the Goa Lawah Temple. Right off the main road, and runs up and down the entire coastline of Bali. Considered to be another important temple, but what makes this one special is the fact that it was built around a bat cave. There were so many bats, the cave walls vibrated with their squeaks. It was a pretty neat sight to say the least (check out the pictures and video in the gallery). On our way in we were given wooden necklaces which we were told were good luck. Of course, when we came out, they demanded we pay for them. We offered to give them back and started to take them off, but they insisted we keep them. So we did.
We had to be back in Candidasa to meet a photographer who invited us to stay with him at his Villa in Seminyak. He had come to Candidasa to go diving with a friend, and we arranged to ride with him and his driver back to Seminyak. The photographers name is Dave, and he just so happens to be American. I contacted him when I found out we would be in Bali at the same time, and after many emails, he offered John and I his guest villa in exchange for a shoot.
Seminyak is West of Denpasar and is one of the trendiest spots for tourists. When I say city, I don’t mean skyscrapers. Most of the stores are two stories or less, and anything bigger is a resort, but those are normally tucked away and out of view anyways. The traffic is bumper to bumper and horrific, and the streets are lined, endlessly, with shop after shop. Some of the stores are Bali style, with Indonesian made clothes, and bulk items that you can find in every other single store like it. Other stores are trendy fashion boutiques some even as prestigious as Dolce and Gabbana. Street warungs (café) are far and few in-between and the restaurants are chic and fancy. Just like Ubud except more busy and hectic and much larger.
There are tons of private villas, all of which are gorgeous, I’m sure. David’s villa was no exception. You walk up to this creative, wooden door and walk into a grass terrace with circular stepping stones. Straight ahead is the luxury pool which wraps half way around both villas. On either side are the two villas… the master and the guest. Each are made up of floor to ceiling glass walls, with a door in every section. The guest bed is large and comfy decorated nicely with mosquito nets, just incase we want to sleep with the door open. The shower is only privatized by a tinted glass wall and is completely open in the bathroom section of the villa. The ground is covered in rocks and a few stepping stones. There are dual bowl sinks, and a very clean, and proper toilet…with toilet paper (most of the bathrooms here are just a toilet bowl in the ground that have footsteps on the seat. Where you would normally sit, you now squat, and there is no toilet paper (maybe that’s why you can’t use your left hand at all in a temple?). There is a large ceramic basin with a ladle for you to pour water into the toilet to flush it, but you only have about 15 seconds, or however long you can hold your breath because the smell is often nauseating). Its luxury in a nutshell and we are now officially spoiled rotten with our big screen TV and air conditioned room. This particular partition of the villas connects to what Dave calls the common area, which is shared with 3 other villas. Inside this common area is a large swimming pool, an outdoor kitchen, and a large fully enclosed gazebo with a library, workout equipment and lounge area (also with an outdoor shower and toilet) and the coolest yoga room EVER on the opposing end.
We quickly settled into our new comfort zone, which was much needed after our exhausting few days out. Those motor bikes do something nasty to your tailbone when you’ve been on them for too long, and adding the condition of most of these Bali roads doesn’t make it much fun. Tomorrow we wake up to another few days out, so time for me to get to bed!

The past few days have been marvelous! Aside from having complete freedom (again) from working, we took advantage of our time to see some of the more exciting sides of Tropical North Queensland!
The night of my last shift, John and I ate bruschetta and garlic bread with some cocktails and beers with the other staff. I took the liberty of introducing Reece's peanut butter cups to sweet ol' Vanessa and Chell, and hung out with Mick, Jono, Lisa, Dave, Tim, Rob, Ben and Tatijana until Zinc was ready to shut its doors.
The week started with Emily's good bye party, which we made an appearance but had far too many things to take care of then to be out all night drinking. John had spent a night out with all the wonderful ladies from Tortillas as a farewell to his departure.
We had sold our lovely (big) tent to four German girls, so Tuesday night we slept in one of Dougies stylies. The next day we rented a car, and made the short drive to see Mossman Gorge. (It didn’t take John long to get used to driving on the other side of the road, but it was scary at first!) Considering that we are literally at the base of the mountains, it was only natural for there to be tons of waterfalls, streams and lakes, Mossman being one of the many. It’s particularly nice because of how close it is to Port Douglas. Nice for swimming and scouting out the hippie hole, where you can slide down the soft boulders into a pool, all of course if you can handle the chilly water. Unfortunately, when we arrived, they were renovating the walking paths and had shut down most of what there was to see.
Moving on, we decided to take on the coveted 'spring creek'. Not to be accessed by any road, signage or path, this waterfall can only been seen if the weather conditions are ideal, and if you are up for the hour and a half hike of rough terrain, and if you can even find where to begin. We received mix reviews from people when we started to ask for directions. Some told us it was beautiful and did their best to explain how to get there and where we should park. Others told us we shouldn’t go if we weren't with someone who knew how to get there and that it was too rough to go at alone (especially since it had rained rather hard a few days before, and even just a bit of rain makes this hike impossible to tread). We ignored them and continued on.
After driving around for about 25 minutes, we eventually were lead to the grassy patch where we parked and started walking. Along the way we ran into a beautiful (and large) caterpillar, which I believe is called a ‘4 o'clock’. Bright yellow with black dots...and turns into a large yellow and black butterfly. We saw a snake, which I believed to be harmless, but it was simply climbing a tree and had no interest in us. We were being followed, relentlessly by horse fly's which was enough to have me almost throw in the towel and turn around. We saw so many strange spiders and creatures all in which we stopped to photograph.
About mid-way, I had noticed a leaf that seemed to be floating. After taking a closer look, I realized it was this strange vine we had heard about that has razor thorns on it and will give you some pretty serious cuts if it catches you. The vine itself is very thin and waves carelessly in the wind. Be in the wrong spot at the wrong time, and this vine will grab you. The more you move, the more it cuts you up. Anyways, I yelled out to John (behind me) "HEY! This is that moving vine thing we heard about..." and just as I finished my sentence he yells "OUCH!!!!" Sure enough, the plant got him.
Luckily, the vine grabbed him on his pants; skin unscathed. We got the camera out and started to take pictures. The vine was attached and wrapped up in other plants so we pulled here, tugged there...trying to get a good view. What we didn’t realize was that under this mass of greenery was a bee hive. In three seconds I got stung in three different places. Throwing my arms about and smacking the air as if I just got attacked by a ghost, I backed off. I knelt down to tend to the one sting on my ankle, and that’s when I noticed the bee hive. John freed himself of the vine and decided to take a picture of the bees. Just as he was about to snap the picture, he got stung as well, and threw the camera in retaliation. We nervously stared at each other, nursing our burning bites, trying to recollect if we have ever heard of deadly bees. Fortunately, we hadn't and were thankful that neither of us was allergic. (The camera was fine as well.)
As we moved on, the rocks were now big enough to climb over, and the terrain became more intense. We did eventually make it to the three tiers of waterfalls, 2 hours later. We were so excited to have made our short journey, and loved relaxing in the peaceful setting. (It wasn't until a day later that we found out if we had climbed another 5 minutes; we would have been at the biggest and most beautiful waterfall!) It was getting dark though, so we headed back, this time it only took about an hour.
That night, we slept in the car, ready to wake up bright and early for our three day adventure out and about! Lisa and Kane were going to be joining us which we were dually excited about. We checked out of Dougies for good and left 8am sharp. Our first stop was the Daintree and Cape Tribulation. The Daintree is the protected rainforest, and a small portion of it is nestled just across the Daintree River, only to be accessed by ferry, a short one at that. $20 dollars later, we crossed into what seemed like another world. Far removed from our Port Douglas, only about an hour and a half away; we were now surrounded…no, dwarfed, by the massive trees, ferns, ancient vines and the jurassic like creatures we knew were around, but had yet to see. There is just one main road way that takes you to the tippy-top (after that, the road is unsealed and unbearable to drive unless you like 3 foot deep pot holes). There are several side roads that will wind you up the mountains or take you to a tourist hike, bug museum or tea farm. We stopped along the way at a look-out point that scanned the mouth of the Daintree River and several close islands, though it was too foggy for us to see much past the river. We also stopped at Thornton Beach and seriously considered swimming out to the tiny rock island maybe half a mile out, but Lisa and I urged we kept going. Our next stop was Cape Tribulation. Just another beach, but a peaceful one. We walked up the paths to the look-out point and got an up and close look at the mangroves.
Now Kane had already been to the Daintree, and had told us about a place he had seen called the Blue Hole. Apparently, this water hole is the most beautiful azure blue color, but is an ancient Aboriginal birthing hole considered to be sacred. We asked around for directions, but got nasty replies in exchange, saying the locals don’t want tourist's there. This just made us ten times more determined. We drove up and down the main street, pulling into little side roads hoping it would trigger Kane's memory of its locale. The one road we drove down accidentally lead to some home, whose people ran guided hiking tours ($45 dollars for 2 hours! can you believe that?) We told them we got lost and turned around, this time, making a pit stop at one of the creeks on their property. We quickly snapped pictures and went on our way. As we slowly crept our way through their long, gravel driveway, I had caught glimpse of what looked like a Valossel Raptor! I yelled out "CASSOWARY! CASSOWARY! CASSOWARY!" John stopped the car and every one jumped out of their seats, hoping to catch this giant bird before it ran away.
A Cassowary is exactly that...a giant bird. Similar in size to an Ostrich, this wild creature has a bright blue head with a large, red bone fan protruding from the top of its head. Needless to say, this endangered species is quite the sight to see in the wild...if you are that lucky!
Our Cassowary quickly ran across the road, and we crept up to see if we could still see it through the trees. Sure enough, there he was, a juvenile bird munching on berries. We stayed particularly close to the edge of the road, seeming just as interested in us as we were him. We must have sat there for 15 minutes taking pictures and videos; gasping in awe of his size and his close proximity to us. We had hoped to see his mother close by, but we had no such luck. We were still so excited to have gotten such an upclose look at even a young Cassowary.
Now feeling our trip was complete, we headed on...still in search for the Blue Hole. We made our way to the very last side road before being at the entrance of the ferry. We passed a bug museum and Kane started to say that things were looking familiar. He told us to kept going on, but we came to a fork in the road that was no longer apart of his memory. We turned around and decided to head down another gravel drive. Again, Kane exclaimed the familiarity, but quickly second guessed himself as we moved forward. We came into a clearing and Kane was sure that this was it. When we got out of the car, he then again doubted himself, though at this point, we were anxious to find out. He leapt and ran ahead, hoping he had taken us in the right direction, and sure enough, there it was. Blue and green like the prettiest little opal; we all stared and marveled, trying to take in the idea that this was once an Aboriginal birthing hole. The boys jumped in right away, but it didn’t take much to convince Lisa and I to follow. We took a quick dip in the icy waters, said our 'thank you’s' to this sacred hole and moved on.
Our next stop was our exotic fruit tasting tour that I had taken the liberty to book for everyone. Back up the road we went till we found the beaten path through the rainforest that lead us straight to a humble farm, littered with over 10,000 exotic fruits and veggies. Digby and his wife were the proprietors of this farm; a lovely couple from Australia who had moved to the Cape Trib. rainforest about 20 years ago in search for something more 'exotic'. Year after year they planted and continued to master the art of perma-culture. One of the most interesting things that we learned on our little tour was that most of these plants take 18+ years before you will ever see a piece of fruit. Pineapple, for instance, takes 8 years before any fruit will grow, and even after that, takes about half a year before the fruit is mature enough to harvest or eat. The fruits on their farm can be found in most equatorial countries, but try as they may, will remain exotic and un-commercialized for many different reasons (some fruit wouldn’t last being shipped, most are too strange looking for the average consumer to know what to do with it or how to eat it, others simply have a 'required-taste' and just wouldn’t go over well when it comes to consumer palates). Ten to fifteen fruits are in season at one time, and on our particular tour, we tasted 11! (Tahitian lime, Pommelo, Jackfruit, Star Apple, Yellow Sapote, Mamey Sapote, Sapodilla, Solo Papaya, Jaboticaba, Rollinia and Guanabana, otherwise known as Soursop.)
Tahitian lime is easy. Just like a normal lime, except much more small and round. We tried this muddled in a glass of water. Delish! Pommelo is like a very dry grapefruit, literally no juice whatsoever, but has a nice citrus taste. Average size is about as big as a soccer ball. Jackfruit is most interesting; this spinney shell fruit easily gets to sizes of 60 pounds or even larger and as tall as 3 feet! Inside are pods of white seeds, which are surrounded by the meat of the fruit. Keeping all this together is this strange, sticky, latex-like white goo. Eat too close to the rind of the fruit and your mouth will stick together. It's a giant mess preparing the fruit to eat and is often best to wear gloves. The taste? Well, I can't even really go on to explain the taste. Kinda nutty, somewhat bland. For the most part, my mind was too concerned with the filmy, gummy texture. Star Apple is this tiny little dark fruit, about the size of a tomato (and round). Not too pretty from the outside, but inside, is this gorgeous purple and pink color, and of course, looks like a star. I found the texture to be somewhat slimy, just like passionfruit (sorry to those whom never had the luxury to try passionfruit, but I simply cannot think of anything else that it resembles). The taste was somewhat bitter, but again bland. Yellow Sapote was one of my favorites. From the outside, is the shape of squash with the skin that looks like a brown potato. Inside is this incredible burnt orange/yellow, and is a smorgishborg of soft fruit. Everything about this fruit reminded me of partially cooked sweet potato. Was really soft, but not so soft that it couldn’t hold its shape. It also tasted a bit like squash, pumpkin or even sweet potato. Now, I would love to go into more detail about the rest, but I forgot most of the rest, and who wants to keep reading about fruit!? They showed us around the farm, pointing out all the different edible objects along the way. Even though we had eaten so much fruit, we were all so hungry. We ran across the street to P.K's backpackers lodge to freshen up, and then went out to dinner to the Cassowary Cafe. We enjoyed the last few minutes of happy hour at P.K.'s and then went to bed.
Next morning we headed straight to the tablelands. On top, inside, and on the other side of the mountains are the flats of land known as the tablelands. Really just a nice way of calling it 'country'. We went up through Julateen and up to Mount Molloy. The tropical forest eventually turned into flat, dry land, covered in gum trees and termite hills. Somewhere along the way, we came to a long stretch of fire burnt land. We were so far removed from any civilization that we assumed the fire was natural. Grass and low laying plants were crispy and black and the trunks and tree limbs were chard as well. Green buds and baby leaves were sprouting at the tops of some of the taller plants, which lead me to believe that the fire may have happened only a few months ago. The sun was super-hot that day and we passed smoking objects as we drove by as if the fire had only occurred a few hours before we arrived. Oddly enough, on the other side of the road, there were lush green grasses, thriving trees and a wet marsh that was full of ducks, turtles and creatures unknown to our eyes. It was beyond strange to have so much death and darkness on one side of the road, only to have life and color at its exact opposite.
Anyways, we continued on through Mareeba, Atherton and Ravenshoe (pronounced ravens-hoe), admiring the new scenery, we drove 3 hours without much stopping so that we could make it to the Innot Hot Springs in good time. In my mind, I had imagined a wide creek and small pools. Perhaps surrounded by tropic greens, similar to what Spring Creek had looked like, except nice warm water. I think all four of us had the same idea, and we were all most excited about these hot springs more than anything else on our three day agenda. We were practically in a desert when we started to see signs pointing us to Innot. We pulled up to a beaten up building that was make-shift hotel/caravan park. The lady running the place told us there was a creek just a few feet away that we could go in, or we could enjoy one of the many pools they had. (Yes, man-made pools filled with spring water that was naturally heated by its hot waters. Not exactly what we had planned for.) We made our way down to the creek, which was mostly small pebble. For the most part, the creek looked dried up and barren. As we walked on, it just became dried up woods. However disappointed we were, the water was still really warm. There were some parts that were so hot; it would have burnt our feet if we kept them in. Also amused by the tiny tad-poles and frogs that called these hot waters home; we quickly called this one a loss and went on our way.
Our next stop was Milla Milla, which had a trio of water falls that we visited (Milla Milla, Ellinja and Zillie). We visited the wind farm on the way, and ran into a herd of cattle, meandering there way on the very road we were driving. We visited the Mungalli Dairy farm, which is where Zinc gets their yoghurt from (and very tasty may I add). Before reaching our resting place, we stopped at Lake Eacham. A peaceful and most beautiful lake. Small and quaint, we admired the setting sun and calm waters, wishing we had arrived a few hours early to take a swim.
We decided to spend the night in Yungaburra, which Lisa suggested after reading a little excerpt in her lonely planet book. We checked into a nice hostel called 'On the Wallaby'. We ate some wonderful pasta at Nick's Swedish/Italian restaurant and played a few games of ping-pong before calling it a night.
We got on the road early the next day after having breakfast in an adorable cafe in Yungaburra. Our first road stop was the curtain fig tree. I have taken many pictures of these curiously strange trees but had no idea they were fig trees. Every fig tree I have seen was large and oversized, but this one was particularly grandiose. Try as I may to explain its vastness; perhaps pictures would do it better justice, which you can see in the photo gallery. You can't have a giant tree without giant spiders, which of course, there are pictures of too.
We stopped at Josephine Falls and Crystal Cascades before our final stop a Lake Placid. The very exact lake that inspired and starred in the movie, Lake Placid. I guess we imagined a black creepy lake, full of crocs and man eating things, but it was actually quite beautiful. It was full of rope swings, and jumping platforms perfect for swimming, but then again, thats exactly what those man-eating things want you to do, right? One of the coolest part was our run-in on stinging plants. It was something that none of us had heard about before, but its Australia! Apparently, this normal looking leaf is covered in tiny hairs, that when touched, lodge into your skin and eject a poison that rocks your nervous system like an 80s hair band. It lasts for months, is extremely painful and has no treatment beside pain killers. We found it, and it took all sorts of effort to keep John and Kane from touching it. Thankfully, they didnt.
We got back to Port Douglas in time for Lisa to go to work, and for John and I to start packing our things. Exhausted, but accomplished, we were all sad to see an end to our three day adventure. We had a lot of fun, and I so enjoyed spending my last few days in Australia with Lisa and Kane.
As a good-bye, our chef friend, Jono, had prepared seafood curry and chocolate cake at his place. Mick and Chell were there as well, followed by a few more co-workers as the night went on. Jono delighted us with his fire twirling act before John and I said goodbye. We stopped at Zinc to quickly say goodbye, and then finished packing up for the morning.
We took a bus into Cairns at 9am and waited for our 12 o'clock plane. We had a 5 hour layover in Darwin, so we decided our call our old friend, Sonja, from Zinc. She had left while I had been in Ohio, so I never got to say goodbye. She picked us up, just as eager as we were to see one another again. She gladly gave us a brief tour of Darwin and then took us to a local market where we ate and walked around for the remainder of our time. I’m SOOOO glad that I got to give her a formal goodbye, and John was equally excited to reconnect with a good friend.
Now here I sit, waiting to catch our plane to Indonesia. I have never been so excited to fly before, though I am trying my hardest to contain myself. In just a few more hours... we will be in Bali!