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Well helloooo all - sorry its been so long but quite frankly we've soooooooo busy you just wouldn't believe it.....................
Ok so that's totally untrue we haven't been busy at all but in fairness the internet connections in Indonesia were sooooooo slow that we gave up trying to update and decided to wait until we were nice and comfy at Marks friends in Australia, which is where we are now. Last update we'd just been to Singapore which was great, i think it really helped that we stayed at this great place run by young Singaporians that had travelled a lot and after check-in would sat down with us and a local map then went through all the stuff to do and best (cheapest) way to do it - we didn't stop sightseeing the whole week we were there and really enjoyed it. After Singapore we flew into Yogyakarta, Indonesia ready for our next adventure - not really sure what we wanted to do or where to go. We went to an amazing temple called Borobador for sunrise but after a couple of days found ourselves lagging in the adventure stakes and as awful as it sounds, we were just hitting a point where we were tired of being hassled for taxis, tours or general begging. Jogya was nice we after a few days we made the decision to fly to Bali and just take another timeout somewhere.
We flew into Bali the end of June and found this great little studio apartment with its own kitchen and seperate lounge area a kind of home from home so we decided to book in for a week - lucky we did as after 2 days Mark got ill quite quickly and we decided to take him to hospital to make sure he didn't have Maleria - luckily he just had flu (man flu so reallllly bad!) but it kept him in bed for the whole week - luckily we also had a tv and dvd player in the apartment so i was fine too! So after a week of yucky flu and copius dvd watching we decided Mark was well enough (poor thing) for some small travels so we booked a taxi and headed off to Ubud, which is one of the spots that the movie Eat, Pray, Love was filmed - see all that dvd watching came in useful after all!.
Ubud was lovely - amazing artwork, sculptures and general feel to it. We walked past one particular shop and when we looked in we both pointed out the cute dog curled up on the bench in the shop, we then walked to the next window and strangley there was another dog curled up in exactly the same position on the other end of the bench - peering a little closer they were actually wood carvings! It was amazing the wood grain had been used in a way that made the fur seem lifelike - bizarre but amazing. We spent 5 days in Ubud and could of stayed longer but decided to head further around the island not really sure where we were going but managed to end up in a small town called Tulanben on the east coast of Bali. It was super quiet and mostly used by scuba divers and snorkellers - so we booked in for a few days - they also had an amazingly large pool which we could get a good swim in. The staff there were great and we ended up going to watch some of them perform with their band in a local bar. It was about this time that we had to start making some decisions to what we would do our last few weeks in Indonesia before heading to Aus. We originally planned to head to the different islands off of Bali - Gili Islands and over to Flores, maybe a boat tour to see the Komodo dragons but after stumbling across this quaint little town we decided that we would be like just as much to stay on Bali and investigate around a bit more for the last few weeks. That decided we travelled down east coast stopping in Amed, Padang Bai (gorgeous little village), down to Ungasan on the southern peninsular - where we hired a moped and sped around all the little surf beaches, which was great. We also came across a Rip Curl surfing competition which was 'On When It's On' ........ it wasn't on, but we sat and watched some not competition surfing - very cool. We finished up our Bali extravaganza in Kuta which frankly is the Benidorm of Bali - most Australians come there for a cheap break to the sunshine - it was bizarre, after being in Asia so long all of a sudden we were back in reality with regular people on their hols, getting their hair braided (so wrong - even when Bo Derek done it) and just general stuff but for us it all felt quite surreal - our first intro back into 'normal' life.
So on the 6th August we'd finally come to the end of our run in Asia and it was time to change continents and head to Australia - first stop Darwin - arrival at stupid o clock (3am in the morning). We decided to just sleep in the airport on arrival and then get a bus to our hostel later that morning. We had decided the first part of Aus was going to be quite quick as we really wanted to get over to the east coast so we could see some friends, which meant a couple of nights sleeping in airports and on buses but totally worth it - mainly because Aus is soooooooooooo flippin expensive! Culture shock nah, money shock - Yes! We'd been totally spoilt in Asia and had got so used to quibbling over 40p - Aus is simply a different storey. After 48hrs we acclimatised and started enjoying that fact we were now in a country where you could have a whole conversation and come away knowing what had just been said between you - once i realised this i just wanted to talk! Ohhhhh and toilets that were lovely and flushable - once again terrible to say but oh the things you miss - we could finally walk down a pavement without worring about falling down a hole! The little things.....
So we flew through Darwin and Cairns both nice enough but we were excited to get down to Townsville and see some friends we'd met on Koh Lanta (Cheryse and Rhys). Townsville was a great town, we met up with our friends who were lovely enough to let us stay with them for a couple of nights (home comforts such a treat!), went up a great big hill and realised how unfit we are, but we made it and slept all the better for it! We also met Kat, Cheryse and Rhys housemate who was from Halifax, UK. Kat was kind enough to take us out for the day to the Reef Headquarters with a HUGE aquariam (pictures to follow). After being looked after by the lovely Townsville family we took the greyhound bus down to Airlie Beach where we had booked our 2night boat trip out to Whitsundays. The boat was a sports catamaran with room for 10 peeps and 3 crew - it was a great few days. We set off Monday afternoon (about 4pm) all getting to know each other, as we were whizzing along, up popped a humpback whale just cruising past us the other way - super awesome! We moored for the eve and then had a fantabulous dinner with wine and chat before all getting a tad chilly and heading to bed early as we were setting off early next morning. Next morning we were all up at 6:30am to watch the sun come up and set sail for Whitehaven beach - which is just rediculously beautiful. We got dropped off on the the beach - the sand is so fine it squeaks when you walk on it and feels like walking on snow - soooo nice. After sitting around on the beach for a while we had the chance to get some stand up paddle boarding in, great fun and as we all were natural professionals the skipper said we could paddle board all the way back to the boat - happy days!!!! After Whitehaven we headed off to another cove for some snorkelling - we all jumped in for a while then getting a little chilled most of us heading in (it is still winter our here i guess). Mark stayed in snorkelling about with one of the crew, then in the distance they saw some whale water spouts - the crew member told Mark to dive down and listen and sure enough he could hear the whales singing/talking with each other - truely a great experience. Totally knackered from the day we all had hot showers and settelled down for the eve outside - looking up the stars were beautiful, so bright and clear - we could see the milky way - magical! Then we realised that is was actually pretty cold so we all headed inside. Early up the last day it was off for some more snorkelling where we were lucky enough to end up in the company of turtles swimming around with us - once again so amazing! After that though it was time for hot showers and heading back to port - we'd had a great time and met some lovely people to share it with - a great trip.
So we arrived back in port at 2pm on the Wednesday - just enough time to repack our backpacks, have a drink and fish and chips with our shipmates before getting on the greyhound bus for our exciting 21hour bus trip down to Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast. The trip wasn't that bad as we were worn out from our previous travels however we were ready to get to our destination and meet Marks mate Chris who is kindly taking us in for a couple of weeks and quite frankly it is pure bliss to be here - we have unpacked, put stuff in drawers and cupboards and feel quite at home. We are 5 mins walk from the beautiful beach and aren't moving for a while - feeling lucky! We are really enjoying Aus, it's so different from the last 7 months and we find ourselves sometimes a bit confused as to where we are. Everyone here is relaxed and happy - mind you a country where you can set off from 'Fannie Bay' drive through 'Marthas Big Creek' and end up in 'Humdinger Road' is hard not to smile at!!
So that brings us up to date - this has been quite a blog so understanding if you skip parts - Mark will be putting up pics this week which will be much more pleasant and hopefully we can keep you a bit more up to date as we travel round - next stop after here is Sydney. Hope everyone is well, update soon - Zoe and Mark x
- comments
Lynne and John When will you hit California? We are waiting
Zoe Hi Lynne - just starting to plan that part of the trip - will keep you posted - Zoe x
Anton Glad to hear from you, disappearing off the radar for 2 months started to get a little worrying. So you have gone from paradise to a cold and expensive prison colony. was that really a good move????