I MADE IT TO BALI

After a year of working and saving and waiting and planning I am here in BALI and I'm so excited I need to just remember to R-E-L-A-X and enjoy it. Decided to do the whole 30 days here (which is as much as they will allow on a tourist visa) as there's so much that I want to see and do - as well as take my time doing it so that I don't have to rush around so much.

First of all, I actually want to start with the food here which is just a dream. It's so fresh, so healthy, so cheap, and there's a huge western influence here with lots of brunch places, eggs, avocado, etc. I know that when you're in another country it's more cultural to try all the local dishes, but after 4 months backpacking SE Asia I ate enough local cuisine and it got to the point where a mini packet of lurpak butter excited me. Plus, I'm in serious HOLIDAY mode at the moment, so I'm happy to just be a bit of a tourist right now and ease myself into trying new things as the weeks go on. My favourite place for food was Canggu and I had to stop myself taking pictures before every meal because it was all so instagrammable:

Duan Cafe - Canggu

Crate - Canggu

Shady Shack - Canggu

Coco Poke - Uluwatu

In fact, me and John both loved Canggu so much we're going to swing back there at the end of our trip when we finish up in Lombok. It's really chilled out, laid back, surfer town and it's easy enough to get around, especially if you have a scooter. The roads aren't too hectic either so there's no stress with traffic. After Canggu we headed to Uluwatu which was a lot quieter and had some of the most stunning beaches I've ever seen in my life! All we did here was explore the beaches, eat great food and go to see the sunset at Uluwatu temple one evening. I also tried to go for a run one evening - big mistake. Too hot, too hilly, too tiring. My legs feel like lead running in intense heat. I never learn.

From Uluwatu we went to Ubud. I was majorly excited for Ubud. In my head it was this jungle paradise surrounded by temples, rice paddies and little huts and guesthouses. In reality the centre is really busy with crazy traffic that's a nightmare to navigate through. It's also really touristy, even up in the rice paddies at Tegalalang (there may be more rice paddies that are not so well known, I'm not sure.) Most people come to Ubud to do yoga and chill out by infinity pools. It's also meant to be extremely spiritual but I didn't get that vibe at all, probably because I was staying in the centre. A lot of people also do the sunrise trek up Mt. Batur, which is well worth the hype. It's an incredible experience despite the early start. You get picked up at 2AM and drive a couple of hours out of Ubud centre to a small village where they give you some breakfast and introduce you to your tour guides before you start the hike. The trek up isn't too difficult and only takes a couple of hours, and once you arrive at the top the view is unreal.

After the sun comes up there are LOADS of monkeys about. I like to stay well clear of these little horrors. They will scope you our for food and snatch anything remotely shiny off you and any bags that are left unattended, but some people think they're cute (?!?!) and some people even feed them although they can get vicious at the slightest wrong movement.

Bali is a pretty big island and there's so much to do, you could easily spend the full 30 days here. We decided to try and see a little more of Indonesia and got a fast boat to Gili Trawangan for 6 nights and then on to Lombok, but we head back tomorrow to spend the rest of our time in Canggu <3 So much has happened since I started writing this post and I haven't been able to keep up to speed thanks to erratic WiFi connections so I'm going to be blogging like mad to squeeze it all in as I only have 5 weeks left of my travels!

What I will miss about living in Melbourne

Oh Melbourne. I've hated this city, accepted this city, enjoyed this city, left it and returned pretty swiftly, but now I have finally, FINALLY, really left after living there for almost an entire year. I've had a very on-again off-again kind of relationship with Melbourne, and whilst there are lots of things I definitely will NOT miss (to name a few: the erratic weather, waiting a MILLION years to cross the road, breaking into a hot sweat and flustered panic when the MYKI inspectors get on the tram) there are plenty of things that I definitely will miss. 

Being surrounded by street art

This is something I became so complacent about as time went on, but when I first arrived in Melbourne I was so excited and inspired by all the amazing street art EVERYWHERE. There are places likes Hosier Lane which have become a tourist  for graffiti and urban art, but when you get out of the centre and explore all of Melbourne you notice that every suburb is it's own ever-evolving art space. I stopped taking pictures in the end, it just goes to show how complacent you can become over time. Here are some of my favourites when I had my eyes open in appreciation:

Melbourne's creative scene

Melbourne is a huge creative hub with amazing gallery exhibitions and an array of art classes, workshops and events. I dropped art after my second year of University but continued to draw and paint for years before I just completely stopped around 2 years ago. It  was so difficult not to be inspired and motivated with all the street art around me, so I found a life drawing class in St Kilda (St Kilda Life drawing - check it out if you're in the area. Good people, good music and just pure drawing for 2 hours) and went from there. There's also a good space called Work-Shop Melbourne which has so many amazing courses, work shops, taster sessions, classes. I did a calligraphy class there and met a lot of cool people. Once I realised that there are so many like-minded people around me just being creative for the pure joy of it and not letting anything stop them, it motivated me to start drawing again (even if I think what I create is rubbish).
After being so down-and-out when I first arrived here I thought this would be the least likely place for me to reignite an old passion, but life is full of surprises, so thank you Melbourne for motivating me to create again.

The brunch scene.

Melbourne turned me into that person who takes pictures of food before they eat it, and I don't even care. The brunch scene in Melbourne is as delicious as it is instagrammable (that's officially a word now, right?) I ate at a different cafe every weekend and still didn't scratch the surface. Whether you're veggie, vegan, paleo, gluten free, sugar-free, lactose intolerant, raw, all of these things or none of them, you will find a cafe that caters to you and you won't be short on brunch options. Shout out to some of my favourites - Fourth Chapter on Chapel Street, Monk Bodhi Dharma in Balaclava, Manchester Press in Melbourne CBD for some excellent bagels, Uncommon in Windsor and Sister of Soul on Acland Street in St Kilda. 

Living by the ocean

When I first arrived in Melbourne I lived in the CBD for the first two months. It was hectic, busy and a little isolating. As soon as I moved to St Kilda I immediately felt a tension I didn't even realise I was carrying release from my body. There's something so calming about living close to the ocean. This was one thing I never, ever took for granted and I loved running along the beach at weekends and evenings. In the Summertime we would all head down and sunbathe for as long as we could stand the 38 degree heat. I never did get up early enough to catch a sunrise despite my best intentions, but I did catch some amazing sunsets on walks down to St Kilda Pier in the evenings.

FRIENDS <3

I saved the best until last :) Being so far away from home and from your friends and family is one of the hardest parts of moving to Australia. I would have left a lot earlier if it hadn't been for the amazing people that I lived with and who became close friends over the past year. Everybody is in the same boat and understands you when you are feeling homesick or hopeless or a little lost. Moving into a big house share was a lifesaver. We had some huge house parties, Christmas day on the beach was unforgettable, there is always somebody to talk to, eat with, or just chill with.

Melbourne is a hub for people in Australia over on working holiday visas and there's a huge backpacking/traveller community. Once you feel connected to it and a part of it it really does make the experience less daunting as everybody really does try to help each other out. The friendships that I made and the people I met over the year really did make the experience and it wouldn't have been the same without them. So, thank you everybody for being a part of my year. And thank you Melbourne, for being my temporary home, and teaching me a lot of important lessons along the way.