BALI!!!!!!

HELLO BALI! We're so excited to see you!

Bali was a bit of a culture shock for us at first. So far our travels had only been in California, New Zealand, and Australia. Up until Bali, we had been pretty spoiled and hadn't gotten out of our comfortable little bubble very much at all. Being in Bali was exciting and different and new and wonderful. A culture and part of the world that neither of us had ever experienced. Our first few days there, we spent in between Legian Beach and Seminyak and we spent most of our days wandering between beaches, shops, fruit juice stands, and restaurants. It was particularly lovely to live a bit more luxuriously since most food and necessities cost next to nothing! It was waaaay cheaper to eat out then to cook at home, especially because I didn't know what much of the stuff was at the grocery store.

Around sunset, people would start selling beers and drinks on the beach where you could sit or lay on reclining chairs as you watched the sun set over the water. Along with drinks, there were people walking around carrying boxes and trays of sunglasses, make up, scarves, ice cream, etc to sell you while you tried to peacefully watch the sunset. I almost fell for a $10 Urban Decay Naked eye shadow palette that is normally at least $30 until I saw that there was no punctuation on the box - dead giveaway that it was a fake, not even sure why I thought it could possibly be real for only $10!

The rainy season in Bali means that it rains at least once a day, usually in the afternoon and it could rain for five minutes or three hours. This particular day, it rained, thundered, lightning-ed (is that a word?!) for quite some time so we took shelter in a little cafe and ate salad and cake till it passed. 

B100/Great Ocean Road

We flew from Cairns down to Melbourne to drive the Great Ocean Road before heading to Bali! Some of the highlights were seeing the 12 Apostles, which is kind of deceptive since there aren't really 12 of them anymore. Couldn't really figure out the real story...were there ever 12 or is that just a name they were given? It seems like everyone has a different idea about them.

Funny side story: Our first day in Melbourne wasn't going so well; just one of those days, ya know? Anyways, Don was reading the guidebook while I was driving the first portion of the Great Ocean Road and he told me that the Lonely Planet Guidebook said there was a New Mexican Restaurant along B100. Seeing as how I love New Mexican food and more specifically sopapillas, I got so excited. The day was looking up! As we were talking more, I started to wonder in my head why there would be a New Mexican restaurant in Australia of all places...I think Don started picking up on my wonder because he proceeded to tell me that it was a New Mexican restaurant but a new Mexican restaurant, meaning that was a Mexican restaurant that was new to the area. "What do you mean it's not a New Mexican Restaurant?! Does this mean I can't have sopapillas?!" Sadly, that's exactly what it meant.

The Great Ocean Road was beautiful, but after our adventures in New Zealand, it didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary to us. After seeing New Zealand, it's hard to be impressed; probably not the best way to look at things but I think at this point, we were done with Australia...ready to move onto something new and different.

One of the highlights for me was one of the places we couchsurfed at along the Great Ocean Road. It was the home of about 6-8 twenty-somethings who were a bit unsure who actually lived there and who was just hanging out. It was a beautiful huge mansion that reminded me of the house I rented with my three best friends our senior year at URI. All the people who lived there were fabulous, fun, wonderful people who were so gracious to us! They made us feel very welcome and spent the evening having drinks and dinner in their beautiful living room that had the loveliest giant picture window looking out onto the water that I've ever seen.  Please pardon the run on sentence but the giant beautiful picture window was insanely awesome. So awesome that I wanted to steal it and leave their living room windowless, but Don talked me out of it :D

Our last night in Australia, we spent going to a few rooftop bars and restaurants for drinks and dinner - absolutely lovely!

Before we flew to Bali, we hit a few used bookstores in hopes of finding a few books to read during the remainder of our travels...ummm, this particular used bookstore is very likely going to be on the Australian version of Hoarders sometime in the future. I asked about a particular author and the woman asked me to hold a bunch of books as she looked through a shelf that was triple stacked, meaning three rows of books before you hit the back of the bookshelf! I thought I liked books, but this was a bit extreme.

The end of the line, otherwise known as the Great Barrier Reef

After Airlie Beach, there was a long drive to get up to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef but it was all worth it. We loved Australia but honestly, the best part of the whole trip was Airlie Beach and the Great Barrier Reef...it made the hours and hours of driving worth it!

Our first few nights in Cairns, we stayed with a woman named Leslie, who was actually originally from Chicago, and who lived with her husband and two adorable dogs in a open-air home that felt like a tree-house! She took us to the botanical gardens and the arts center that she used to be the director of. We also had a lovely afternoon swimming in the artificial lagoon on the promenade in downtown Cairns.

Our second to last day in Cairns, we went on a boat tour out to the reef to snorkel and also try scuba diving for the first time. It was magical...we saw giant clams, sea cucumbers, and some of the most brilliant colored fish I've ever seen. We wanted to purchase a disposable underwater camera but they didn't have any on onboard...bah humbug!

The first dive that we got to do, about four of us linked arms with our instructor and honestly, I hated it; I felt claustrophobic. But our second dive, we were allowed to swim around as long as we were less than ten feet from our instructor and I think the freedom helped me feel much less claustrophobic. It was amazing down there!!! Like another world!

Because we didn't have photos from the reef, we had to take pictures of our empty plates of delicious boat buffet

What's going on in this picture is that I don't know what's going on

Oh, heyyyy!

Drinking a glass of wine on the boat ride back

BEAUTIFUL.

Airlie Beach

Airlie Beach! Last stop before the Great Barrier Reef and Cairns!

I should note that before arriving in Airlie Beach, there were a few days which we pretty much spent just driving and doing a few odds and ends along the way...one activity of note was our surfing lesson in Agnes Water! It was both incredibly fun and incredibly exhausting. Both of us stood up several times, which was exhilarating to say the least.

Back to Airlie Beach...we decided to splurge a bit and do a day trip on a jetboat that would take us out to the southern portion of the reef to snorkel, on a tour of the Whitsunday Islands, and also to Whitehaven beach for lunch and a few hours swimming and enjoying the pristine white sands. At this time of year, the box jellyfish are out and so we had to wear Lycra stinger suits to protect ourselves from being stung.

I had never snorkeled before and it took me a bit to figure out the whole breathing aspect, but after I got it down, I loved it...the reef was absolutely breathtaking! Don purchased an underwater disposable camera for us to use throughout the snorkeling portion of the day. When we drove out to Whitehaven Beach, my jaw dropped; I never imagined how beautiful it would be. I mean, I had been told that it was named one of the top ten beaches in the world, but still, it was breathtaking.

I've never seen blue water like this before. It's so BLUE!

Us in our full body stinger suits. Yay for Lycra!

Our tour guide was very energetic and fun; he did little photo shoots with every group that came.

The Harry Potter pose - ha.

Please don't be distracted by my weird bangs - look at the beautiful blue water! 

I wish I could say that we flew in on our seaplane. 

Last but not least, a photo of the artificial lagoon at Airlie Beach. Too many crocodiles and jellyfish to swim in the real ocean but for a fake ocean, it was pretty freaking great.