Sydney 25 January 2009

Kuta, Bali. Sometime just before Christmas. We stayed at this great guesthouse (Kedin's?) for some ridiculous price like six quid a night. And had this great pool pretty much to ourselves.

On the boat going over to Gili Trawangan.

On Gili T. doing the early morning catching-a-boat thing. About to cruise to Flores.

Bye bye Gili T!

Hello ocean! And dolphins.

That's our little boat. The scenery was spectacular.

Johnny going off to frighten the bats.

Komodos getting it on. Ugly beasts.

More fabulous scenerey.

Living on board.

Arrived! Flores.

Boxing day pint. Oh, and an armful of tattoos. Nice!

Sometime between Christmas and new year. Our gorgeous little bungalow in Bali. Directly across the road from the beach and a really big spend at 4 quid a night, including breakfast!

Exploring around Bali by bike.

Rural Bali.

Black beaches.

Lunchtime pit stop.

New year's eve. Before...

...and after!

Another get-out-of-the-rain stop. With ice-cream!

Balinese kids.

New year's eve and the beers are in!

Johnny doing his own stunts. With two beers and an egg on his shirt.

Boys. I think.

Check out this sexy outfit! Mmmmm....niiiiiice.

Volcano.

Lovely hot springs next to the volcano.

I don't think life gets much better than this. Really.

View from the guesthouse balcony, Ubud, Bali.

Our last night together, Kuta, Bali.

And on to Oz! King Street backpackers, Melbourne. And a 4-minute massage for a dollar.

Becs tries out her new sleeping bag. Road trip here we come!

Wilson's Promontory, about 4 hours from Melbourne.

Cousin It.

Oh God. Get me a haircut.

And the catalogue models are back.

Sunset over Lakes Entrance. Somewhere between Melbourne and Sydney.

We stopped to watch the pelicans. They never came.

Becs and Djamal napping in the back of the car.

Jervis Bay. A few hours south of Sydney. And gorgeous.

Made it! 3 Days later and two nights with 5 of us sleeping in the car...Josh's flat, Chippendale, Sydney.

A poof with a pouffe.

Melbourne, Australia. At last! 8th January 2009

MADE IT! Well, not quite to Sydney and not quite yet but I'm nearly there. I'm SO excited to be in Australia. I got a big shiver when I heard the solid stamp from immigration on my passport. Albeit at an ungodly hour after an overnight flight. Although I was really lucky and had three seats to myself on the plane so managed a few naps along the way in between being woken up to put a seatbelt on due to the turbulence. What the hell good would a seat belt do in a plane crash anyway? Hrmph.

I met up with Ruth and Claire and it was SO good to see them both. We spent ages chatting and catching up before heading out to a bar for some beer and a boogie. The plan is to hang around here for a few days while we wait for Djemal and Becs to arrive on the 12th. Then we're going to head over to Sydney soon thereafter where I will find somewhere to live and start job-hunting in earnest. Apparently there are agencies that sponsor you, getting you a work visa, in exchange for a percentage of your salary. This is excellent news and means I'm now in with a fighting chance of getting both sponsored and a job. Yay! Also, apparently the 'global crisis' hasn't really hit Sydney. I've already started applying for jobs and there seem to be plenty about so fingers crossed.

Anyway, just a quick update to let you all know that I've arrived. It's only taken NINE MONTHS! But what a blast! I've overstayed my half hour of free Internet time but I'll try to sneak back on here later with my camera to upload some long overdue photos. I'm really, really happy to be here and very excited about my new life and the future. I can't wait! TTFN.

Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, 4th January 2009

Happy New Year everybody!

I hope everyone is well and that those in England aren't too cold. Johnny and I came to Bali on the 10th December where we met up with the Balcony crew to resume bucket fun for a few days before going our separate ways. Johnny and I headed East on a 4 day boat cruise to an island called Flores. We went via Komodo and Rinca to see the dragons which are HUGE. Next time I'm online I'll post up the photos. We did some excellent snorkelling, the best ever, and saw loads of interesting fish including a blowfish. We then spent a few days, including Christmas in Labuanbajo, Flores, eating a lot of tuna and recovering from dicky tummies. We were intending on hiring a 4x4 to travel across the island to climb a volcano but after much deliberation and the unlikeliness of being able to hire a car, we decided against it. We just wouldn't have had enough time to get there, climb the volcano and get back to Bali in time for me to catch my flight to Melbourne on the 7th. So we headed back to Bali on a huge 36-hour ferry, bus, ferry, bus, ferry journey and stayed in the lovely seaside town of Padangbai for 5 nights where we saw in the new year with the locals and a few beers. We used Padangbai as a cheap base from which to explore the surrounding countryside.

We had a gorgeous little bungalow right on the beach for a mere 70 Rupiah (four pounds 30 pence) a night, including breakfast. The food was excellent too and we ate loads of seafood. We chilled out for a couple of days and hired mopeds for 3 days, stopping for lunch at local 'Warungs' (food stalls) having tasty meals for as little as 12 pence. We spent 2 days exploring the lovely local villages including another charming seaside town called Amed. This brought us back along a very scenic coastal road which we took slowly in order to enjoy the breathtaking views across the many little bays. The people are so friendly here and all the little kids stick their hands out for you to smack as you drive past. On one of the days we went up to a volcano called Batur which last erupted in 1994. It's hilly and scenic with a big lake in one of the craters. We didn't climb to the top though and opted instead for a dip in the thermal pools which was lovely.

Yesterday we came to Ubud which one of the two main touristy places in Bali (after Kuta in the south). However it's not full of bars and English breakfasts but is the cultural centre with traditional dance, handicrafts and excellent food. Last night we went to a dance performance which was really good. There are no musical instruments and the accompaniment is provided by a choir of about 100 chanting men. The costumes were lovely and the movements of the dancers very engaging.

Sadly we don't have nearly enough time here as we need to get nearer to the airport. Johnny's got a 6am flight on the 6th and I fly to KL on the evening of the 6th to catch my midnight flight to Melbourne arriving at 11:40am on the 7th.

A short post for now but will be back online again soon with more news and photos. If anyone knows of some nice people in either Melbourne or Sydney who wouldn't mind my company and travel stories in exchange for a bed for a few nights, I'm shamelessly seeking cheap/free accommodation there and would love to hear from you (lynda_jaros@hotmail.com). Ta! Wishing you all the best for a healthy and happy 2009!