Ok, part two. Hope you enjoyed part one. Soph read it out loud to Courtney after I’d posted it the other day. It was good to hear someone else read it actually, but they just kept laughing. Can’t they see I’m writing about some serious real life stuff here. So immature.

After a really good few days in Bondi it was time to visit one of Sydney’s northern beaches. The one we’d been told about most was actually one seemingly named directly after myself…Manly beach.

To get to Manly we could either jump on about 135 different buses or get the bus to the city and jump on the ferry that goes directly to Manly. Considering how both Soph and I felt on the boat to Gili T, the buses were a viable option. But we being the brave little soldiers we are, manned up and went for the ferry. We ran to the front and got some seats outside as we thought the fresh air would be our best hope for preventing us from throwing up down the side of the boat.

The view on the boat was superb. Plus it was pretty sunny too. We set off past the opera house, taking as many photos as we could. The trip over to Manly would only take about 20 minutes if that. It would cost us $7.50 each to get over, but if you were returning on the same day you could make the most of their special discount return rate of just $15 per person. Unfortunately we were going to be in Manly for a least 2 nights so had to miss out on such a fantastic deal. Maybe next time.

As we started to lose the city from our eye sight we turned to face the direction of Manly. Only to see a huge dark cloud laughing at us from directly over the town. Ever since arriving from Perth we have come across a miserable annoying cloud pretty much everywhere we’ve gone. Therefore a reasonable explanation would lead us to believe that this was in fact the same miserable annoying rain cloud every time. So I feel that if this cloud is so persistent in its desire to be ever present from now on, that it might as well have a name. So from now on this miserable annoying rain cloud shall be called MARC. Anyway, Marc was showing his ugly face again as we pulled up to the dock and made it ashore.

We found our new hostel easy enough and unpacked our stuff. The girls complaint this time was that the toilets and showers weren’t on the same floor as the dorm room. It’s a tough life not working and seeing different parts of the world. You have to now and again walk down a flight of stairs to go for a wee. I hear ya girls. Disgusting….

All four of us, me, Soph, Courtney and Marc, hit the town to see what was going on in Manly. To be honest there wasn’t a lot. Not while we were there anyway. In fact the day we were set to leave was to be the start of the Australian Open Surf Championships. The signs were all over the beach advertising the top pros that were coming to town. We could see the grand stand being set up as we tried to find some sunshine through Marc’s tiny cracks.

Although pretty slow, the beaches around Sydney offer free WiFi. It was here on the beach that I decided to see if we would be having Marc’s company all week or if perhaps he was going to leave us alone for a bit. When the report said we were set for Sun for the weekend the girls came up with a cunning plan. Perhaps we could take Scott and the boys up on their offer and stay at theirs free of charge, and have a night out in Bondi.

My thoughts?…Get him on the blower now!

All sorted then. We would leave Manly in a couple of days, have one more day in the city to do the bits we never got to do before, then head back to Bondi for the weekend.

Then next day we met up with one of the girls school friends who has now set up a new life on the East Coast and will be in Manly for a couple of hours this very day. George Hallet gave us the name of the pub to meet her so we set off to find it. Only when we got there it looked more like a bookies than a respectable bar for three girls and a handsome chap to meet. Our only means of communication was through Facebook and for that a we needed WiFi. So the girls headed about 10 yards away to the beach to grab some while I went 10 yards the other way to get some money out.

“Meet back here” said Soph as she scuttled off to the beach.

Sure thing. I’ll come straight back. So like the good boy I am I came straight back to the exact spot and waited. And waited. It then became apparent that I’d been waiting for some time. I got up and checked the beach but saw nothing. I looked inside the pub to see if she’d gone in without me seeing. Almost impossible as I’d been sitting in the doorway for 10 minutes watching every character that went in and out. Hmmm. I thought it best to just stay where she said and wait. They wouldn’t have run off without me.

After 20 minutes: I went for another look around but saw nothing. Back to my step I thought. They wouldn’t have run off with out me….would they?

After 45 minutes: THEY’VE GONE A RUN OFF WITHOUT ME!
My phone dings with a message from Soph to say they’re in the pub. The pub right next door. Has nobody wondered why I wasn’t there? Has nobody thought to just quickly pop outside to say “hey Ells, you don’t have to sit in the doorway of that grotty bookies anymore. We have found George and we’ve got the drinks in.”

Well clearly not.

Anyway the girls had a good time catching up with their old dancing mate, reminiscing about old times and chatting about George’s new life. We even managed to get little bit of Sun in that afternoon too.

The next day we were heading back to the city. We had so much unfinished business with Sydney that we couldn’t just move on without saying a proper goodbye. As we left Manly it was the sunniest day ever. Not a cloud in the sky. As we pulled up to the opera house though, Marc was back. Good old Marc! Still we managed to get a few photos in with as little cloud as possible.

Our room wasn’t ready so we put our stuff in to some storage area in the hostel and headed out for lunch. A very special lunch. A meal Soph had been pleading for since we left home. A jacket potato lunch. It was really nice. Filling and healthy. Although more expensive than a McDonald’s. The healthy stuff always is. After this we went over the other side of Darling Harbour to visit the last attraction from our all inclusive deal. The Sea Life centre.

As most people have, we’ve been to many a Sea Life. We’ve got enough fridge magnets and little penguin shaped rubbers to last us a lifetime. But actually we were very impressed with this one. Firstly because it was a lot bigger than we expected. And secondly because it had a ton of big sharks that you could get really close to. Probably the best of the attractions we did, apart from the sky walk of course.

As we left we decided it was time for a drink. We also knew we wanted to see the Opera House up close in day light. So why not combine the two. We took a walk down to the harbour on a slightly different road than usual. Still busy with cars but with barley any people. We were about half way towards the harbour when a bus pulled up in front of us. First we thought nothing of it but then we saw lots of cameras. Another look at the bus showed it had fully blacked out windows and the Cricket World Cup logo all over. I stopped us all immediately.

Further inspection brought the Sky Sports News crew to my attention. Surely this can’t be England. Surely out of all the places in the world we could be at that very moment, we couldn’t be standing right outside the hotel where the England cricket team were staying. And they were arriving right this second.

First a few woman got out. Then some old blokes. Then a fella with a beard….fella with beard? Isn’t that…oh and that’s Stuart Broard. IT IS ENGLAND! I couldn’t believe it. There we were. With the boys. Bloomin’ fantastic! It’s safe to say I was skipping with joy the rest of the way.

When we got down there we bumped into the Sky Sports boys again and started having a chat about our trip and their time in Australia and New Zealand for the world cup. They took some photos of us outside the opera house and the Harbour Bridge before we left them to it. They were due in tv in a few minutes. Very exciting.

The area was buzzing. Packed with people out and about enjoying their Friday night. The sun was shining, the tank was clean (Nemo reference) and we were on top of the world. We had a look around the Opera House, I even went for a wee inside. That childhood inquisitive instinct has never left me when it comes to seeing what the toilets look like in New places. It was a really nice evening chilling out with a drink in one of the best places we’ve ever been. Sydney we love you.

The next day we were back off to Bondi to meet the boys that we never thought we’d ever see again. As I said before, we just didn’t know how much we’d love the place. We grabbed ourselves some food to line the stomachs with and a bag of goon. Basically super cheap wine, probably made from the grapes of hell’s very own winery, served in a box. 5 letres of rose that could knock out a group of fully grown sperm whales should do the trick. The boys introduced us to a game called 3 Man which set us on our way to being fully intoxicated. We made it out for perhaps close to 30 seconds before the club’s doormen started kicking people out. When it’s closing time out here, it’s closing time. No pre-warnings. Just get out and stay out. Oh and get 50 yards away too.

It had been a good night none the less but little did we know the excitement had barley begun. On our slightly drunk walk back to the boys we spotted a young man asleep behind a parked van in the road. Being the gentleman I am I would have left him to his nap, allowing him the chance to wake up at his own pace, when he felt ready. But the group decided we should wake him up and ‘help‘ him find his way home. As he awoke he was clearly out of his face with something. He knew exactly where he was though and could have probably given correct geographical coordinates should we have needed him to. We didn’t.

We managed to flag down a taxi for him as he also seemed to know exactly where he lived, which was, as it turned out, nowhere near where he’d made his bed for the night. A rather interesting decision you must say. Once he’d got in the taxi and we waved him goodbye we set off again to get to our beds. We were just about to cross the road to get to the boys apartment when a rather familiar looking taxi pulled up. It was him again. This time we weren’t in such a helping mood. We crossed and turned the corner, went up a couple flights of stairs, turned another corner, went down another flight of stairs before finally going inside.

First things first we ran upstairs to see Scott who had been unable to get into the club due to his perceived drunkenness. In simple terms, he was obviously smashed! We stayed upstairs for a good 10 maybe 15 minutes before me and one of the boys Mark, not to be mistaken for the annoying cloud Marc, went to get some fresh air on the balcony. Then a knock at the door. Being the closest to it, I looked straight at Mark to grab some clarification as to whether I should open his front door or not. As soon as I got this I unhooked the latch and slowly opened the door….to….matey!

Matey from the street had by some sort of miracle found his way to the boys place. And not only had he found it, he’d burst in and walked straight outside to a chair on the balcony. Who on EARTH was this mysterious character. Nobody knew. I shot upstairs to tell the rest if the team the news which then led to an immediate stampede from everyone down again to see if it was true. Nobody could believe their eyes. What was going on. I knew we should have left him sleeping.

All he could seem to say was that he was absolutely fine. Fine, yes. But your also in our house mate. What are you doing here? How did you get here? None of these questions seemed to have answers from our new friend but just a few more minutes he got up, walked out the door and left. Never to be seen again. Strange but ever so funny. I hope we see the guy again. Just so we can enlighten him on what actually happened. Something tells me he won’t remember.

The next day we washed off our hang over in the Bondi sea water while spending the day on the beach. It was an outrageously hot day that deserved our full attention. The next day would include a 14 hour bus journey up to Byron Bay. I’ll let you know how that went in our next update.

Thanks for following x

Holy moly! It has been a while hasn’t it. Too long. But you can now let out that huge sigh of relief, sit back, relax and enjoy. We’re back online.

So here goes. Since we last spoke we have been all over Sydney. Experiencing the city as well as the awesome beaches scattered along the coastline. We’ve done as much as we possibly could do in the miniscule amount of time available to us, and even though the weather hasn’t been too kind, we’ve still managed to really enjoy ourselves. Though the girls have probably moaned about the weather at least once an hour….every hour.

Being such a long time since I have managed to write about our time here it’s a little more difficult to remember exactly what we did in the order it necessarily happened. But I’ll do my best. If I remember rightly I left you with a picture of the three of us under the harbour bridge on our first night in the city. We walked down George Street that night after grabbing possibly the best steak I’ve ever had for dinner. I can’t put in to words how much I’ve missed a good, perfectly cooked piece of red meat. It was the perfect welcome to the city.

As we neared the end of street we could easily see the bridge over the top of the buildings. Then, as we turned the corner, the opera house. All lit up, reflecting on to the water of Sydney harbour. It was a bit of a surreal moment for all of us really. Something we’d seen in pictures and videos so often was now right in front of us. The bridge to our left, the opera house to our right. We were now standing in the exact spot I had visualised every day since we ever considered the idea of traveling the world. It simply refused to sink in that we were there. Anyone who has also stood on this spot will know a similar feeling I’m sure.

Soph was made aware before we left England that her aunt had once climbed the harbour bridge. She’d walked along the outside of its frame and stood on its tallest peak, staring down at the city below. Upon seeing it in real life, this immediately became a must do for the girls. But realistically we just couldn’t afford it. We’re sharing a speck of dust and glass of water for dinner each day, so justifying over $200 each was simply not feasible. Disappointed we took a walk to darling harbour to see how much it would be to visit the wildlife park and sea life centre located smack bang in the city centre. Very touristy of us.

While there we were all busting for a wee. I was of course in and out in no time at all. Obviously not forgetting to wash my hands. The girls however seem to spend a life time in the toilet. I don’t think I was aware of it before Courtney’s arrival, but since Soph has had a friend to powder her nose with they are in there for ages. I reckon they’re either having a full body and hair wash in there. Or perhaps female toilets are secretly portholes to the Narnia universe where they fight evil villains and lead the Narnians to victory before growing to an old age and coming back to continue their lives where they left off. I’m leaning towards the latter.

The point of all this was that this particular visit to Narnia did actually offer an opportunity for me to flick through some of the leaflets advertising things to do in Sydney. It also gave me enough time to learn Japanese and single handedly solve the meaning of life, but that’s not important for this blog. In one of these leaflets I came across a deal where we could not only visit the sea life centre, the wild life park and Maddam Tussuads. But also go right to the top of Sydney Tower. And all this for less than half the price of the bridge climb. Sold.

It was safe to say Maddam Tussauds wasn’t in anyway up to scratch when compared with the one in London, but it was a  laugh for sure.

The wild life park was also pretty small but definitely worth the visit. Kangaroos, koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils. The whole Aussie line up were there. And I must say, a very  brave Sophie faced not one but two of her worst fears.

But the highlight really was the Sydney Tower. We chose to go up around 7pm on Saturday night. That way we could see the city in daylight but still have to time to catch the Sun going down and the bright lights be switched on across Sydney. Turns out it was a superb choice. We turned up around half six and made our way through the check in area to the lifts. We all got in, shot to the top, waited for the doors to open and then let our mouths drop. We had a full 360° view of Sydney. The harbour bridge looked like nothing more than a tiny Lego replica. The opera house too.

Not only did our ticket include a trip to the viewing deck, it also had a sky walk for all three of us where we could go outside and walk around the tower amongst the elements. Probably unsurprisingly they were a lot more concerned with health and safety than the Malaysians when we took to the top of Kuala Lumpur’s tower. Instead of being able to roam freely around the tower we were hooked up to the side to stop us from jumping off. Not that I would be jumping off that thing in a million years. But I guess there are some crazy people out there (Soph) who would love to bungee off the side. One awesome difference with the Sydney Tower though was the glass floor. The glass floor that looked directly down on Martin’s Place. The location of the recent Sydney Siege that was all over the news in December. Together with our group was a guide who would talk us through everything we could see as well as take pictures of us up there. Annoyingly they wouldn’t allow us to take our cameras outside so the only pictures available were the ones he took. Which of course were so expensive to buy that we would of had to sell our souls to simply afford one. It was a shame, but when the girls looked at the photos after, there was something they hated about them anyway. Of course.

When we headed back inside the Sun was well and truly on its way down and the city was starting to light up. Unlike Melbourne where everybody is seemingly on a Sun down curfew, Sydney is a bit like Courtney on a weekend. It wakes up and gets out of bed no earlier than late afternoon. The city’s new lease of life was kicked off with a firework show on Darling Harbour. Something we had front row seats to from the top of Sydney Tower. A silent firework display happening below our feet. It really was something else.

That night also happened to be the night when Australia won the Asian Cup in extra time. Although soccer isn’t as popular down under as it is in Europe the pubs were packed to the rafters, and when they scored what turned out to be the winning goal the city went crazy. Almost as crazy as the Korean who ran out the pub in tears after watching his side lose.

Having spent a few days in the city, it was time to hit the beach. A short bus ride and a mini walk later we were standing outside a coffee shop looking down on to the famous Bondi beach. This was a huge ‘tick off the list’ moment for me and Soph. We have spent hours and hours sitting in front of the tv watching Dr Chris Brown fix up the sick animals of his town on Bondi Vet, as well as the lifeguard team on Bondi Rescue save the lives of those stupid enough to swim too far from the shore. But even without those programmes, Bondi is famous all over the world for simply being super nice.

So after chucking our bags down in a our new dorm room and waking up our new room mate (it was 2 pm), we headed straight to the beach. It was sunny. For a bit. But soon enough the clouds appeared and forced everyone back off the beach again. Turns out this became a theme for our time in Bondi. Just like it has for pretty much our entire time in Australia. Apart from Perth of course. Wow that was hot.

A few years back both Soph and Courtney worked down at the Angel Centre in Tonbridge with a lad called Scott Harlow. Scott decided one day that enough was enough and he was going to pack up his stuff and head off for an adventure similar to ours. But Scott got hooked on what we now know to be the Bondi bubble. So once he’d finished travelling the world he returned to Sydney, got himself a job, and settled down in Bondi. So, as I’m sure you’ll have guessed by now,  we went to see old Scotty to see what he’d been up to and get involved in our first East Coast BBQ.

It was a really good evening chatting about our trip and getting the boy’s stories about their adventures. Eating something a little more substantial than thin air was also fantastic. They even had a sea view from their balcony where we were all sitting. And with the big city only 15 minutes away by bus, you can quite easily see why people return to Bondi. Even if the weather isn’t at its best.

As we left Scott’s place they mentioned about a possible night out the following weekend. Seeing as it was only Sunday evening, the chance of us sticking around until then were slim to none. With so much more of Australia to see and so little time to see it in, we really couldn’t be staying for that long in one place. But this was only our first day in Bondi. We had no idea how much we’d love it there.

The following day we attempted another beach session. We got our towels and all that ready and headed down to what was a very quiet Monday beach. We wondered perhaps for 2 minutes as to why it was so empty, when we were whipped in the face with an almighty sand storm. We tried to hold out, but with our faces now feeling like they’d been stabbed by a thousand armed smurfs, we had to retreat to the grass area. Which was actually quite busy. They were probably all laughing at us as we wandered confidently down to the beach. “Suckers”.

As usual I disappeared for a little walk while the girls soaked up the Sun. Only on my return they had decided to wrap up in as many layers as they possibly could. These girls are so sensitive to the cold they could sense a fridge opening from 10 miles away. I thought it was just a Soph thing as she used to take her cardigan with her during the day in Bangkok. But it seems Courtney is just as sensitive. Maybe it’s a girl thing. I, as well as the rest of Bondi, was still walking around sweating one out. For their sake, I hope New Zealand is having some sort if freak heat wave.

The next day we headed to Bondi Juntion. The sort of town centre and shopping district for Bondi. But for once we weren’t there to do any shopping. We were going to tick off the number one must do item on our traveling list. We were going to have our picture taken outside the vets. The Bondi Vets. Of course this would mean diddily squot to most people. In fact almost everyone. But for someone who’s girl friend loves animals so much they could burst and who’s mother does her best to hoard them, this was actually a significant moment. We ran up the steps to the door and had our photo outside as discreetly as possible. Although this was cool for us, it was probably super lame for anyone who actually caught us doing it. But we were spotted. Just as we took the last pic a lady pulled up in her car and smiled at us.

Rumbled.

We quickly turned, took one last look at the place, and took off. But just as we did the woman in the car shouted; “have you been inside yet?”.

Have we been inside yet? Was this even an option. Thinking fast I quickly looked around for the nearest pet cat that I could injure in order to have an excuse to actually go inside. But quickly it became clear that this plan was not necessary. The woman told us that we could by all means go inside and take a look. We needed no second thoughts. We jumped straight inside where we met a lady on reception. She told us that Chris Brown was away, which we knew, but that we could see his office and take a look around. We couldn’t believe our luck. We were introduced to Neil from the show and had a quick chat with him before getting our photo taken and then heading out again. Something that doesn’t mean much, if anything at all to most people, but was really great for Soph and I.

The sun was finally shining as we got back to Bondi beach. We had been told by a few people about a walk along the coast line from Bondi all the way to Coogee. It was going to take 2 hours to do, but with the Sun shining and it being our last day in Bondi, we thought we had to see what all the fuss was about. So we grabbed some water and headed off for an epic journey along the coast.

Sure it was long, exhausting stuff, but it was well worth it. We came across some stunning beaches and scenery that we just wouldn’t have known about without getting stuck in to the walk. By the end we were all struggling to put one foot in front of the other, but we had made it. Oh and if nothing else, the walk offered us the opportunity to capture something on camera that has never been seen before. Never thought to possibly ever happen….

I….Christopher David Eric Ells…have put on weight.

See…I’m verging on morbidly obese in this picture. And I’m not even eating. What’s going on man!

I think that’s probably a good place to take a break. Part two of our Sydney adventure to come up later.

Thanks for following x

Good morning, afternoon, evening or perhaps middle of the night. Thanks for coming back. Or if this is your first time to our little diary blog thing, welcome and thanks for following.

So, much has occurred since the other day. I will of course recap these events but first I should say we have now left the city of Melbourne, and just like good old Marlin did when searching for his totally irresponsible son, we have arrived in Sydney. Of course we have bigger fish to fry (excuse the pun) than Mr P. Sherman at 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. Instead we are in desperate need of a shower and some sleep following a 12 hour bus ride with a driver who must be going through some terrible family issues, and possibly the most annoying man to have ever held the position of number 5 best break dancer in the world. But that’s the end of the story. Which is a horrible place to start. So let’s rewind to the beginning.

When we woke on Tuesday morning we had already decided that Wednesday would be the day we left for Sydney. The question was how we were going to do that? Thankfully one of the posters outside our dorm room mentioned something about car rental from a small travel shop at the front of the hostel. So once we’d checked out we popped in to see what we could get.

The lovely Irish lady working in there was extremely helpful. Totally unrepresentative of those working around her. She gave us loads of options, called numerous companies to get the best deal for us and despite being Irish, we could still understand the words coming out of her mouth. Which is always a bonus. We needed a little thinking time on how we were going to travel from Melbourne to Sydney, but we were certain on one thing. We weren’t going to walk it….no no that’s obvious. We were certain on the fact we would need to do a lot more traveling even after Sydney. So we all purchased a hop on hop off bus pass so we could be sure of our movements from then onwards. Due to the the bus company, apparently, no longer operating between Melbourne and Sydney, we would have to decide on whether to drive or get the bus. For that we would come back.

We we’re all pretty hungry but first we needed to dump our bags in our new hostel. We chose to pick a room that had only four beds in it. That way we would like to think we could overpower anyone else that may be staying with us. Or even better, we’d have a room to ourselves. Luxury. The second we walked in to reception we knew things were much better. The team working were super nice. They offered us a place to store our bags and an area to have a shower if we wished. It had working WiFi too so we could catch up with the rest of th  world for a while.

Our room wasn’t quite ready so we rushed out to get some breakfast from a little place down the street. At first I walked straight past it thinking it was just some greasy cafe that could give you heart disease by simply walking into. But the girls liked the look of it, and two girls trumps one boy. In fact in my experience two girls trumps any number of boys, but that’s besides the point. Turned out however, on this occasion, they made a really good choice. I’ve never seen so many smiles in one place. The coffee was great, the food was top notch and our tummies were well and truly full. Shame we’d found this place on the last day.

One thing we have discovered since being in Melbourne is that the Aussies can only take a small amount of caffeine. Perhaps they all have sensitive stomachs or maybe the government capped the serving of coffee when they realised an Australian buzzing around on caffeine can be a danger to the general public. Anyway we have come to this conclusion through the pure size of their coffees. They are tiny. A latte in a shot glass seems to be the customary way to serve it out here. You’ve got to be careful not to breathe in to heavily or it will shoot straight up through your nose and be gone before the glass even reaches your mouth. It’s a shame because what coffee they do serve is really very nice indeed.

Full to the brim we headed back to our hostel to check out our new room and see if we would be sharing with anyone or if we would be on our own. We were on the top floor and knew we had a ensuite, so whether it was just us or accompanied by a stranger, we’d be ok. Soph slowly crept open the door to discover some cloths and a slept in bed already in place. There was nobody at home but the evidence  of life was very clear. Not only through their belongings but through a pretty horrendous smell. Drifting out from under our room mate’s bed was the stench of some of the most walked in shoes ever. Perhaps this guy had scrapped both the car and bus options and actually walked his way down the East coast. Either that or he was one of those people who always chooses cheese and biscuits for their dessert and makes sure he keeps a back up set in his shoes in case his chosen restaurant doesn’t offer it as an option. You all know those cheese and biscuit people. Funny breed.

The girls wanted to shower again before setting off back to book our bus ticket to Sydney. Oh yes, we’d decided with petrol, extra accommodation and the fact we didn’t know the way, that the bus would be a better option than the car. So for the first time in days the girls had showers individually and with the aid of a working light bulb. So smiles all round. Just before we headed out however we ran into our mystery savoury dessert loving room mate who was popping back to pick up a few bits. Turned out he was a strongly bearded German man who is studying somewhere on the East coast. He had been down in Melbourne to watch the tennis and would be leaving again the next day, probably to stock up on crackers and a few grapes to accompany his cheeses.

We said goodbye to our new German friend and headed back to book our bus for the following evening. This was  all very easy and we were given our tickets in no time at all. It was  very expensive though. You wouldn’t be blamed for thinking we’d ‘receive our own personal bus each with the cost but hopefully it will be worth it in the end.

Courtney was desperate to eat something noodley for dinner so we headed to town to try and find a Chinese, Japanese, Asian restaurant. Something easier said than done it seemed. We did finally discover a group of them though hiding in a seemingly closed shopping area. We plucked for one that looked to sell noodles and grabbed a table. It was a restaurant with a difference. To save the staff from having to learn English, or by the looks of things, any customer service skills at all, customers were asked to make their orders through the screen computers on each table. Because of this technological investment made by the restaurant’s management, the prices were very high. We had to choose the cheapest things on the menu and stick to our glasses of tap water to wash it all down. Unfortunately for the girls, although mine was pretty bad, theirs was awful. Their noodles had been seemingly marinated for 28 days in the dead sea, before having the clumsy teenage kitchen porter knock over a pot of table salt in his rush to the nearest mirror to see how successful he’d been in his attempt to squeeze a not quite ready forehead spot. Basically too salty to eat.

We left pretty sharpish, still hungry. No time to waste though. We were in the Australian capital of sport and our man Andy Murray was playing the Australian’s big hope in the tennis. It was to be shown on the big screen in Federation Square with a huge turn out expected. Of course it was more my idea than the girls but they were happy enough to tag along. We got our spot and joined  the action midway through the first set. Although pretty cold it was a good watch. Especially as we won. The girls even got into it too, although not 100% sure on the rules.

We survived the night by covering tissues in Soph’s smelly bite remedy and stuffing them in our sheets. Anything was better than the horrid smell coming from under the German’s bed. With both girls taking up the top bunks, it was I who woke up to find our friend standing up between the bunks stretching out in front of my face. From where I was lying down and he was fully upright, my face found itself in a pretty awkward position with his crotch. One I was very keen to roll away from.

The day was taken up by pretty much waiting around for our evening bus. There was a spell of pretty nice sunshine so we headed down to the beach to grab what rays we could. Later that afternoon we picked up some snacks for our night journey to Sydney. It was going to be a long 12 hour trip from 7pm that was bound to be horrendously uncomfortable. We got to the station early as we were told it would be first come first serve for seats. We were first in line. Something the girls were very impressed with as it was the first time in their lives they’d ever been on time for something, let alone early. When the driver eventually turned up he had already allocated us all seat numbers and so it didn’t even matter whether we were first in line or not.

When we got on the girls sat next to each other while I sat the other side of the aisle. So we were all in a line, which was nice. We had been concentrating our thoughts all day on the bus. On how uncomfortable the seats would be or how little food we would get. We totally forgot to consider the type of people we may be sharing the journey with. It wasn’t until the man who would sit in front of Courtney took his seat, that we realised that maybe we should have worried more.

Now, I want to make it clear before we go any further. I love a gay. I mean I don’t LOVE a gay guy, but I’m not one to say it’s in any way wrong. And I’m certainly not one to say they should all be forced to read FHM all day and listen to the commentary of famous boxing matches to try and cure them. There is however limit to how much campness a person can take. Whether they’re gay or not. This guy was ridiculous.

Apparently the number 5 best break dancer in the world, as of last week, he has danced for Drake, Beyonce and almost every man in the city of London. From America he had the accent of the most stereotypical gay man you could possibly think up. He was stroking Courtney like they’d been best friends for years, and told Soph how much he loved her at the end of each sentence. Although he clearly knew she didn’t like him. He wouldn’t stop going on about my smile and how he would love to do things to me when Soph wasn’t looking. To be fair I can’t blame him for that, but still. Calm down man.

He had more lies in him than a blind Pinocchio who couldn’t tell how big his nose was getting. He’s appeared in Skins on Channel 4, he’s best friends with the cast of Geordie Shore, he’s missed two flights already trying to get to Sydney because he couldn’t be bothered, oh and as I said he is apparently one of the best break dancers of all time. All perfectly believable if he wasn’t such a fat chubster. He was one of those people the whole bus were thankful to not be sitting near. Apart from us. Who had no choice.

No sleep and 12 hours of listening to why Will and Grace is, and I quote, the reason he breathes, and how Princess Diana is super amazingly awesome later, and we were in Sydney. Thankfully the girls made up some excuse as to why we couldn’t go to breakfast with him and we went our separate ways. Hope he meets someone else to talk to soon. Sure he will.

So here we are. The girls have fallen asleep in our new hostel which at the moment seems quite nice. In fact that’s not true. When I wrote this they were but I had no WiFi to post it. So I will leave you with a sneak peak of our evening and report back in more detail another time.

Thanks for following x

Hi all. How are we? Hope you’re not too cold at home. They call Melbourne the city with 4 season in one day. You never quite know what you’re going to get. Seeing as we come from the country with 4 seasons each day you would think we’d be used to that sort of unpredictability. However some of us have been in the constant heat for over 2months and the other member of the group has flown half way around the world to escape it that sort of thing. So it’s been a bit of a shock really.

Still, there’s no point worrying about the weather. So where did we leave it last time? Ah yes. The night in the drug addicts play house. It was actually a super nice sleep. We had been upgraded to a family room, mainly because they couldn’t be bothered to move a z bed into our originally booked twin room. Which is nice. We had two separate rooms with an ensuite, a tv, a kettle, a microwave and not a used needle in sight. Although I’m sure they were probably there if we looked hard enough.

Hotels are not as nice as in Asia where you can check out at midday. Here it’s 10am sharp. So following a pretty severe scrubbing in the shower we headed off to what would be our very first dorm room hostel. With just the two of us it always worked out cheaper for us to get an entire room than two beds in a dorm. Now we have grown by 50% that luxury no longer applies.

When we first checked in we were greeted, or rather not, by the wicked witch of the west. Super miserable. Our room wasn’t ready but we sort of expected that as we were quite early. So we dropped off our bags, leaving the receptionist to pop out the back, where I imagine she could stir her cauldron with the skin of young children and goblin hair. Maybe. Just a guess.

We headed off to grab some coffee and something to eat before exploring the area of St Kilda. Our home for the next two nights. It’s a pretty nice place. Beach, pier, coffee shops galore. Lovely. But what we really needed today was to do a little shopping. And when we say shopping we mean the cheapest possible shopping. Slave children produced type shopping. From our time in Perth we found the place to grab this high quality produce was from the store K-Mart.

Unfortunately K-Mart was not that easy to find. Probably because it’s verging on illegal how cheap the stuff is in there. I grabbed a pair of $2 thongs while Soph got a couple of tops and Courtney took the store’s entire stock into the changing room with her. In case you’re wondering, thongs are the Australian word for flip flops. I may have spent a month in Thailand but the place didn’t have that much of an effect on me.

After Courtney managed to narrow her original selection of 2,341 items down to 4, we headed back on the long tram journey to the hostel. Where hopefully the witch had waved her wand around enough to have got our beds ready for us. And thankfully she had. We got our card keys and headed up to pick a bed in what we knew would be an already pretty busy dorm room. We managed to pick 3 top bunk beds close to each other before going off to explore the place. Which didn’t take too long. Turned out the entire place had about 3 bathrooms between 100 people. And one of those showers was not only windowless, but also lightless. And seeing as none of us, to our knowledge, are related to a badger, we wouldn’t have seen a thing in there. Soph and I have seen some pretty nasty places, but for Courtney, the sight of a lonesome toe nail making itself at home beside one of the only sinks in the place was almost enough to push her over the edge.

We headed out and grabbed ourselves some pizza from one  of the restaurants near the hostel. As always my head was saying small while my stomach was screaming at me to go large. Which I did. Once again my head was left shaking at itself when after two slices I was searching around for a takeaway box. The girls were very happy with their salad. To share. Boring. Even though the world and his kangaroo were seemingly out to celebrate the evening before Australia Day, we headed back to our room to make sure we were first in line for the showers.

Once we’d plucked up the courage to grab a shower, we got all our things together and went in search for one with at least a light. We made our way to the very top floor where we found an almost luxury styled shower. Sure it didn’t have what we’d originally decided was a priority, I light, but it was hidden away from everyone else and had hot water. So after some pretty meticulous planning, the girls jumped in the shower together. One with a torch and a blindfold, the other with some shampoo and conditioner. I of course was more than gentlemanly enough to avoid the temptation to set up a hidden camera for the event, and stood outside as the night watchman.

A couple of pretty awkward nods to passers by wondering what the girly chuckles coming from the bathroom were later, and it was my turn. Of course I had nobody willing enough to hold a torch for me. And asking another bloke to do it for me didn’t seem to hold the same appeal as it did for the two girls. So I struggled through a pitch black shower attempting to keep the light on Soph’s phone from landing in the shower with me. Fair to say I probably didn’t get everything super clean. But I’m sure you’ll all be pleased to know the priorities were well looked after.

Then came the further awkward moment of whether or not it would be ok to turn the lights out or not. There was one other person in the room but he was right at the back, busy with his laptop. We weren’t even sure if the fella was even English so we waited until he got up and left the room. We then plunged the room into darkness the second he shut the door. We then climbed up on to our top bunks and attempted to grab some sleep. Only for some other foreign man to come strolling in, leaving the door wide open. We guessed that perhaps he was only coming in to grab something quick before leaving again. But as he left he didn’t even make an attempt to shut the door behind him.

We all looked at each other. But said nothing. A minute or so later he reappeared, again leaving the door open. Courtney had had enough. She jumped down ferociously off her bed and marched towards the door, slamming it shut and forcing the room into darkness again. Although Soph and I couldn’t now see each other, we were 100% looking in each other’s direction with an expression of “NO SHE DIDN’T!” on our faces. Turned out the foreign guy, who was clearly raised in a barn, had the same facial expression. He instantly walked over to the door and without saying a thing, reopened it. He turned, faced Courtney, and slowly, as if auditioning to be the next Terminator, told her he was trying to pack and so needed the light for just another 5 minutes.

Fair to say that was the end of that. Well and truely put in our place. Glad it wasn’t me that got up and closed the door. Phew!

Somehow that night I slept like a baby on a bed of Chloroform. The girls however were up and down like a twitchy kangaroo, barely getting a wink of sleep between them. In the end Courtney seemed to give up hope on getting any sleep and got up and ready before I’d even opened my eyes. Which is obviously good as it meant I would only have to wait around for one girl to get ready rather than two. It’s a tough life being a boy around girls. Nobody considers the amount of waiting around we have to do. It almost makes you want to get up and wash properly yourself while you’re waiting. Almost.

A new day. AUSTRALIA DAY! The celebration of when good old Caption Cook accidentally discovered Australia when chasing a crocodile that had swallowed his hand while simultaneously battling a pesky kid called Peter who never seemed to grow up. Or was that not the same guy? I don’t know. Whoever it was is not really the point. It’s the celebration of Australia being named Australia and they conduct such celebrations through the use of alcohol. Obviously.

Due to the hostel also having no WiFi we had to go out and find some before we could get involved in the celebrations. Thankfully we found it pretty easily and had a very productive session of booking further hostels and finding out where the main firework show would be for that night. We then went for a little walk to see what was going on around the city centre. We came across a little skate park that was hosting a trick completion. And with 250 bucks on the table for the best trick, there was some pretty stiff competition. We watched for a little while with our barbecued sausage in a bun before moving on.

The weather was again all over the place. Layering up and then delaying seconds later was beginning to get annoying, when the Sun seemed to finally come out for good. We chilled out on some bean bags in a park with a drink and listened to some live music. It seems nobody out here seems to understand the concept of a larger shandy. When I asked the guy at the pop up bar for a lemonade, a beer and a two plastic glasses, he responded with “Gee mate, you gonna have some sorta mix up? A cheeky British cocktail maybe?”.
A cheeky cocktail indeed. Us Brits must seem like such daredevils with our lemonade and larger in the same glass combo. What crazy cats we are.

The evening’s entertainment was over by the Docklands where a huge firework display was due to take place. Just by the Docklands is the rather large Aussie rules footy stadium named the Etihad Stadium. If you didn’t know, this also happens to be the name of Manchester City’s football stadium. And if it wasn’t for the cartoon like accent coming out of everyone’s mouth we could just as well have been in Manchester. It was cold and grey as we waited for the display to commence. But it was well worth the wait. It was a super display which probably cost the Melbourne tax payer their life savings. A proper good show.

The tram back to the hostel was jam packed. But we managed to get back and into our room for another night of awkward happenings. The most notable came when Soph and Courtney went for the shower. Same routine as the night before, just this time they were so excited they forgot to lock the door. Who forgets to lock the door? In a strange place where tons of random people are crawling about, I would be making sure that door was barricaded shut. I’d have been hammering planks of wood to the door if it was me. Piling chairs in front to make sure not even the Incredible Hulk was getting through. The girls however, forgot. So some unsuspecting lady got a full on glimpse of Courtney in the  shower before getting beaten over the head with the bathroom door when Soph’s immediate reaction was to shut it in her face. Brilliant entertainment.

So another night was spent sleeping in a small room with 13 other people all with absolutely no intention of interacting with each other. Just the way I like it. Again I will leave it there for now and update you again when we can. But just like in a tv show, Next Time On Backpacking Live…we are staying in a new hostel, in a room with 4 beds. The only other  person in the room is a German guy who seemingly stores his collection of fine cheeses in his trainers. It could be another long night.

Thanks for following x

G’day from the bustling city of Melbourne. Since landing in Australia last week I have been sick as a dog having seemingly contracted nothing less than an Ebola like illness. A lesser man would have crumbled into a dark corner to quietly die, but I have, with the help of numerous large glasses of red wine and a glass of scotch, survived.

Now I am feeling a little better and seem to be able to stare at a small screen without passing out, I can start writing again. And write I shall.

A quick round up of our 6 days in Perth to start. We stayed at Soph’s aunt’s house for the week, being taken around the city, visiting a number of Soph’s family members along the way. The weather was absolutely perfect all week with approximately 4 to 5 clouds throughout. We visited the beach, the city, the local parks, the shops and our favourite place, the wildlife park. If there’s one thing we’ve learnt from Australia so far it’s that this country has some crazy animals. If an alien spaceship landed directly in front of us, an alien popped out, waved, said hi and then flew off again, I would think it less weird than to watch a kangaroo simply get up and move to the other side of its pen. Crazy thing.

The summer of 2014 saw one single lonely barbecue when I’m pretty sure it rained through anyway. Last week we had two in a day. And if you’re not having a barbecue you can smell that someone next door is. It’s a super place where everyone is so laid back they’re walking around doing the limbo 24/7. You can quite easily see why so many Brits move over here for good. There are so many reasons from the weather to the job opportunities, the healthy lifestyle (even though there are tons of fat Aussies) to the general way of life.

When we talk about the UK in comparison to Australia we always seem to describe it as some sort of hell where if you’re lucky enough not to freeze to death or drown in a flood, you’ll probably end up homeless because you can’t afford to buy a house. Yet still, whenever someone asks me where I’m from I get an overwhelming sense of pride when I say London.

So a big thank you to everyone last week for their amazing hospitality and generosity. We both had a great time seeing everyone again, meeting those we’d never met and drinking Cedric’s never ending collection of red wine. Thank you so much.

Now however we are 3 time zones away and yet still in the same country. The country is so vast it’s mind blowing. Especially as there are more sheep here than people. It’s ridiculous.

Our first day on the East coast was a strange one. We took a night flight from Perth that took 3 hours. So with the time difference, by the time we arrived we’d bypassed an entire night of sleep. But at 6am we couldn’t exactly go check in to our hotel. So we had to wait in the airport for a little while. 6 hours to be exact! We could have flown back to Perth and then back again in that time. But that would of course be stupid. So we just slept in the terminal watching everyone check in ready for their holidays. Plus, and you may want to remember this one, having a face full of snot is possibly the most dangerous thing you can have when getting on plane. My ears would simply refuse to pop. So the pressure building up in my head was agony. I honestly thought my head was going to explode. Like a piece of uncooked popcorn in the  microwave. Dangerous indeed.

Anyway we finally got into our hotel around 1pm where we instantly fell asleep, waking up some time later with absolutely no idea where on earth we were. Around 9pm we headed back to the airport where Miss Courtney Youngs was coming to the end of her horrifically long 24 hour journey around the globe. Back in November when we waited for Hartfield to arrive at Phuket airport, we stood outside the terminal for what seemed like days for him to finally appear. So this time we left it a little later to get down there. Unfortunately however Courtney enjoyed her journey so much she decided to hop on another plane around the coast of Australia. Well it seemed like that anyway as it took an age for her to eventually walk through the arrival doors. And when she did, we missed her. It was her that found us in the end.

So now we are a team rather than just a couple. And as a team, decisions on what to do are discussed among the whole group. Yet none of us needed to discuss what the plan was going to be for day one. Sleep was on the agenda and nothing was going to get in the way of it. So sleep we did. Pretty much all day actually. Not great for Courtney’s transition into her new plus 11 hour time zone but what can you do.

We did manage to get out in the afternoon though. We walked to the train station and bought the Melbourne equivalent of London’s oyster card. Yet in Melbourne you can buy them for a set period of time with unlimited travel. So getting around is now a breeze. With buses, trams and trains everywhere, you really can’t get too lost. So on our first journey into the city we headed towards what we were told was the main train station in Melbourne. Flinders Street.

Once at our stop we stepped out the station to find ourselves right among the hussle and bustle of central Melbourne. The huge sky scrapers were behind us, while the entire city buzzed around the temporary visitor areas for the tennis. And  not only is it the Australian Open it’s also the holiday weekend of Australian Day. So the place is jam packed full of people from all over the world let alone Australia. We have arrived at a really exciting time.

Exciting does bring with it some pretty large downsides though. Having eventually found a place with WiFi we sat down and attempted to look for a place to sleep for the coming weekend. A task which turned out to be nearly impossible. Over two hours we sat in some chairs within the small shopping area opposite the station trying to find a bed for the following night. Then, just as we were getting ready for a weekend of sleeping on the beach in our sleeping bags, we came across an apartment with availability. We quickly dialled the number on the screen and got through to a very helpful out of hours guy. Our dreams were quickly dashed when he said the room had gone, but then immediately raised again when he said they had a sister hotel on the beach. And best of all it had a free room with an extra bed. JACKPOT!

Obviously we had to look up the address of this godsend of a hotel to make sure we knew where to go. If you’ve ever done  this before, which I’m sure most of you have, you would know that Google likes to offer you some of the latest reviews on the place you’re searching for. Elwood Sands, the lovely name of the hotel on the beach we had for the following day, was given such promising reviews as;

“SHOULD BE UP FOR DEMOLITION”

“DO NOT STAY HERE”

“REAL LIFE HELL ON EARTH”

Understandably we couldn’t wait to get in….

Turns out we were actually booked in to the local drug addicts and prostitute social club. The place only the desperate and deprived end up. A motel that even the Melbourne homeless were turning down for a night on the streets. The place only those who failed to book in advance for the Australian Day weekend spend the night. Hmm.

That day started by walking the, as the receptionist at the Ibis hotel said, 10 minute walk to the station. 25 minutes later we arrived at the station and jumped on the train with a large bag and a small bag each. Soph and I have been doing this for some time now, and although the walking around with all our stuff is getting slightly easier, it’s still pretty tough. And Courtney was just starting out. So you can imagine what she was in for. Having found the closest station to the drug addict’s hide away, we walked, and walked, and walked some more until we finally found the place. Fair to say the girls have been paying for it since but on the bright side, we got to see more of Melbourne. They’re not too sure.

As we stepped inside we half expected the devil himself to be holding the door open before slowly chuckling as he locked the door and threw away the key. Instead we were confronted by an extremely cheerful and helpful Asian lady who couldn’t wait to offer us her assistance. Yes the room smelt like a couple of the area’s latest prostitutes were slowly rotting away in the wardrobe but come on, we’ve been to Thailand. People pay extra for that kind of thing there.

We quickly vacated for some lunch and an afternoon of burning in the beach across the road. It was actually a really nice day with beautiful weather throughout. Unlike parts of Asia, the beach here has a slight breeze to make sunbathing for long periods of time much more appealing. Which in turn can be deadly as Courtney later discovered with some pretty nasty sunburn. But again, we’ve been at this for two months. She’ll catch up within a week. If she hasn’t collapsed from exhaustion first.

Awaiting us back at the motel was a crying lady screaming down the phone begging for 100 somethings of whatever it was she was clearly addicted to. I do hope she got whatever it was she was after. She was very polite to whoever it was she was speaking to. Every other word was a please.

In the evening we headed out for a bit of Mexican dining before retiring for an early night. Courtney was lost to the world before I could even find the remote, where as Soph and I stayed up to catch up on the days tennis. To be honest it was a super nice sleep. Best I’d had in a while. Perhaps I now need a grease layered sheet accompanied by the smell of rotting flesh to get a little shut eye these days. Have to get mum to redecorate my room on my return perhaps.

This has got a little long now so I shall stop here and update you all asap with another blog. A little glimpse into the future for you though. Tonight we are staying in our very first dorm. And seeing as we like to throw ourselves in the deep end from the get go, our room is a 16 bed dorm with seemingly one shower. Should be interesting.

Thanks for following x

Hello! It’s been a while. Too long. I’ve tried writing and uploading a couple of blogs but for some reason or other the island of Gili Trawangan hates what I write and didn’t want the world to suffer any longer. So sorry about that. Now we have left the island it seems like everything is ok again and I can finally update you all. So here goes.

We will start from the beginning as there isn’t really ever a better place to start. Unless this was Star Wars when we would  probably start somewhere in the middle. But it’s not. So yeah….

We arrived at the harbour at around 9am along with 3 French boys who had been living in Australia for the past year. Before  travelling to Ubud they spent a little time, like us, in Kuta. The pretty disgusting place we’d spent Christmas in. Turns out it seems we’re not the only ones to hate the place as one of the lads had his bag stolen by a thief on a passing scooter. The bag had his mobile, his passport and all his cash in. And we thought we had it bad.

The boat ride was not as fast as the title ‘Fast Boat’ originally depicted. We waited around for ages for all our bags to be chucked into the lower deck of the boat before jumping aboard ourselves. We never really had ourselves down as being ones to get sea sick. But this boat rocked us about so much we felt our brains could quite easily have fallen out of  our ears. The journey itself took about 90 minutes including a stop at the large island of Lombok for some people to get off.

By the time we got to Gili Trawangan I was fully recovered but Soph was still just one sharp move away from seeing her early morning banana pancakes again. And although those pancakes were lovely, they didn’t seem to have the same appeal having spent a good few hours in her stomach. We waited on the beach for our bags to be lifted out off the boat and on to shore. Thankfully it didn’t take too long for ours to land on the sand, and we were in our way before we knew it.

Gili Trawangan is a tiny island to the East of Bali. There are no cars or scooters. Just horse and cart. But having looked  up that our hostel was only a ten minute walk away, if that, I wasn’t going to be tricked into jumping in taxi, no matter the horsepower. So we grabbed our bags and walked along the beach to find our home for the next 6 nights.

One side of the island is packed full of bars and restaurants all along the beach. A beach that has the clearest water we’ve ever seen. It really was perfect. The further round the island you go the quieter and less touristy it gets. We hired a couple of bikes and cycled our way round the entire island. We had heard lots about how clubby the island was and that the more tranquil sister islands of Gili Air and Gili Meno were much nicer. But really we feel those people must have only stayed one side. The quiet side of the island is just private beaches with perhaps the odd bar to grab a drink from. Gili T is truly the best of both worlds.

When we first cycled past the last of the restaurants on the busy side of the island we found ourselves a little lost. We could no longer see the sea and we were clearly in an area only the locals went. But after making our way through some thick mud and past some pretty filthy looking cows, we found ourselves back on the beach outside a rather expensive looking resort. “That’s obviously where all the rich people stay” I said as we cycled past. The next thing we knew we were chilling out by their pool drinking bottles of beer and strawberry smoothies. As we got closer the staff asked us if we wanted to come in and use the pool for free. Having just exercised more in the last 10 minutes than we had in the past 2 months, we needed the rest. They even brought is some fresh towels to lay down on. Luxury.

Pretty much every day was spent grabbing a light lunch before relaxing on the beach. But one day instead of just relaxing, we hired out some snorkelling gear and went in search for some fish. It wasn’t too long ago that Soph and I used to visit a tropical fish shop every weekend to find a new character for our tank. So we knew our stuff. But without going scuba diving in deep water we never expected to see too much. We were so wrong. As soon as we dipped our heads in the water we were surrounded by some of the most amazing fish. The cast of Finding Nemo came out to greet us and take us on a tour of their favourite spots. But what we really wanted to see was a turtle.

We’d heard rumours that there was one near where we were looking but we just couldn’t see it. We looked everywhere but couldn’t see anything turtle shaped other than coral and bits of rock. We were just about to give up and head back to shore when something caught me eye. It looked like just another  bit of coral but this time it was moving pretty fast. We swam closer to get a better look praying that it may be what we had  been searching for. Then it became clear. There he was. An actual real life turtle, there, in front of us. He was huge. I had  been searching for something no bigger than my hand so I was totally shocked to see something so big. I guess it was one of those moments that you realise, at that very moment, you will never forget it. Unfortunately however it also happened to be the day our waterproof camera decided to brake. So perhaps we will forget it. Hopefully not though.

On our very last night we decided to head over the far side of the island to see the sunset. Bit girly I know, but we heard it’s worth a look. Turned out the clouds really weren’t playing ball and we could barely see anything going on behind them. Still it did mean we were able to see some different restaurants than the usual ones we’d been visiting during the week. We plucked for one right on the beach front. So close that if I’d dropped my knife or fork it would have been taken out to sea immediately. Making it hard, if not impossible, for the 5 second rule to be applied. Unless the salt water extends it. I’ll have to look that particular rule up.

The next morning we got all our stuff out the room and asked for the weeks bill. The man on duty happened to be someone we hadn’t met before. And it wasn’t as if the place had an influx of staff. So when he brought our bill over with the room rate much cheaper than expected and with a whole night missing off it, we weren’t going to say a thing. Who were we to question his judgement. Especially having only just met the guy. That’s just down right rude.

We sat down at a small bar where we were told to wait for the boat and ordered some breakfast. Having just saved a little money on the room we thought why not treat ourselves. Just as the boat was arriving we asked for the bill and got the money out to pay. Yet all the staff started to get distracted by some fella playing his guitar and singing some Argentinian folk song that nobody could understand. We tried our best to get someone’s attention but nobody was looking our way. So amongst the crowd of people we grabbed our bags and snuck on to the beach with everyone else. Obviously I still had the  bill and the cash in my hand to pay, but only when someone was good and ready to come get it from me. Turned out nobody ever did become good and ready because we were on our way back to Bali still with the cash. Turned out things were going from good to better on the financial front.

We spent that night back in Kuta as it was close to the airport. Same hotel as we spent our first night on Bali in, better room, cheaper price. As usual we booked the room online and paid the deposit of £3. We would need to pay the rest on arrival to the front desk. Yet they never asked for it. But this was normal. Many hotels are happy for you to pay on departure. Yet this hotel didn’t ask for any money on departure either. Quite a strange way of making money we thought. But we didn’t question it. We don’t run businesses after all, so what do we know.

So, if I’m right, we paid only £3 for the hotel, who on Christmas Eve, were charging £195 per night. And we got breakfast the day before free. And our room that night. And we got a cheaper rate for the past week. Not bad.

Unfortunately a large chunk of that saved cash was then eaten up by Indonesia’s ridiculous 200,000RP charge per person for simply leaving the country. Any who, it’s done now and we have finally touched down in Australia. Not a single cloud in the sky for as far as the eye can see. As if there is some cloud forcefield surrounding the whole country. Like England, but the opposite way round. We are staying in Perth at Soph’s Auntie Penny and Uncle Cedric’s place. We’ve been here only a few hours and already the beers have come out the fridge and talk of a barbecues and trips to the beach have started. We’ve got a really good feeling about this place.

Thanks for following x

P.S. Now we are in Australia and we clearly have much better internet I will start to blog more often again. The past week has been difficult and I’m sure there are hundreds of you out there worrying about where we must be. Literally hundreds, I’m sure.

Hi all. Sorry for the gap between posts here. It seems the hostels WiFi doesn’t like our website and so doesn’t let us post anything. It’s no bother, just it happens to be one of those things that causes me to find the closest brick wall and bang my head against it.

Anyway so it’s January still. I’m sure at home it’s cold, wet and miserable outside, high streets are packed full of people wearing their brand new coats and jumpers they got for Christmas, and A&E departments are packed with patients suffering from ‘pointy bit of umbrella to the eye’ syndrome which can hit anyone when they least expect it. Well you’ll be surprised to hear a very similar scene appears here in Bali. It does rain, quite a lot. The locals do still wear coats and jumpers even though it’s boiling. And anyone from, what we can work out, Japan or China, walk around under umbrellas. You know like Michael Jackson used to. Or Vampires do.

We were saying to day that we have really learnt a lot about how different cultures and nationalities live their lives. Not just those who live in the countries we have visited, but all those we come across. And the Eastern Asians from countries like China and Japan have probably taught us the most. Never before had we heard of Sun Lotion with Whitening agents. Face masks with snail slime and salmon ovaries to give you that frosty, pale look. And as I said, umbrellas in the sunshine. Oh and of course walking out in front of you and stopping for a chat. Is there anything more infuriating than that? I think not.

Anyway we have really enjoyed our time in Ubud. It’s a pretty busy place with scooters flying around everywhere, but yet not as crazy as the likes of Kuta or Seminyak. There seems to be a local community here that don’t force themselves and their children to solely live for tourists. Kids want to grow up and make something of themselves. Police are present and act to keep order on the roads and punish locals just as they do tourists. Not actively seeking out those not from these parts and pressuring bribes from them. There are just as many locals walking around doing their daily routines as there are tourists. And those that are tourists are not ALL Australian either. In places like Kuta and Seminyak you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in a strange part of Australia. But here it’s much more multicultural.

We have spent most of our days having breakfast at the hostel before heading into town for some exploration. Yes you read that correctly. We are actually making breakfast. It helps that it doesn’t finish until 11 though. We have visited lots of the bars and restaurants around, that we can afford, and found the ones we like. Soph is particularly fond of the one with bunny rabbits bouncing around freely in the garden. Thank you Lydia Bell for that recommendation. I can give or take a bunny to be honest. If it’s there I’ll say hello, but I won’t be making any chit chat with it. Soph on the other hand loves it there, as you can imagine.

We popped back to the monkey sanctuary too as I reckon it was probably my favourite place of the entire trip so far. I never realised I had such a love for monkeys, but I really can’t get enough of those little guys. They’re running about without a single stress in the world. Jumping on people’s heads and showing off in front of the cameras. Eating more bananas than the probably would in the wild. But we did have a sad moment today when we saw a mum carrying around its baby, not breathing. She was acting like she really didn’t know her baby was dead. Trying to feed him and get him to cling on to her. It was extremely sad. As you can imagine it was too much for Soph. For me, it was one of those things I really didn’t want to see, yet couldn’t stop watching. Just like when I saw that dog on Seminyak beach.

Outside of monkey forest and bars we have also managed to visit the Ubud temple. Voted on Google as one of the top must sees of Ubud. We came to the conclusion upon visiting this temple that perhaps none of these apparent voters have ever been to Thailand. Or anywhere with a temple. There was  simply nothing there. Some building that perhaps looked a tad like a temple but nothing more. It was barely bigger than the temple on the side of my head. It took us approximately 30 seconds to see every inch of it, look at each other slightly confused, and leave rather underwhelmed with the whole thing.

Our time in Ubud hasn’t brought with it any odd photo requests from locals but it has included some children asking us some questions for their school English project. When answering where we like in Bali we said Ubud above all others. Just like any local would do about their home town, they replied with a very shocked and confused ‘WHY?’. For us we reckon it’s the much more relaxed atmosphere. The fact not everyone is vying to con you or grab you off the street. That people are nice and respect no for an answer. It’s definitely been the nicest place we’ve seen in Bali.

And today really brings an end to our time on the island. I am writing this in the evening, doing everything we can to avoid packing our bags. But by the time I get to post this it will be tomorrow and we will be about to leave for the island of Gili T.  A tiny little island with no cars that attracts all number of travellers to enjoy its paradise beaches and warm seas. You may remember we have attempted to get there before. New Years Eve. Another card lost in an ATM. Panic. Everything as  of right now, and remember I’m writing this the evening before, is all good. So fingers crossed by the time you all wake up, we will be there.

So we will be picked up at 7am by our bus before catching a speed boat to the island. We’ve also managed to get return tickets for cheaper than the one way ones we cancelled on New Years Eve. So perhaps it was meant to be that we lost that card. Well done me ay. Well done me….

Thanks for following x

P.S. We have been unable to change our flights to Perth too. So we will be returning by boat from Gili T to Bali on the 14th to then catch a flight to Perth on the 15th at 13:30 (Bali time) with Virgin Australia. Then for the sake of those who don’t have Facebook to keep up with our updates, notably my Grandad, (hi Grandad) we will be flying from Perth to Melbourne at 23:40 (Perth time, same as Bali time) on 21st with Tiger Air. Add it to your calenders. Or calendars. Never sure which is right.

Happy Sunday everyone and welcome to a brand new year. Of course we are already three full days in to it but by now I’m sure 99% of you have already failed in your attempts to keep to your new years resolutions. Never mind, 2016 is only 362 days away.

My new years resolution is, as of today, still intact. If you’ve been keeping up to date you should be able to guess what it is with little trouble. It is of course, not to lose any more bank cards. Soph’s NYR is to make sure she keeps an eye on me whenever I use an ATM, pay with my card, have control of the wallet and generally at all times. So we’re pretty proud of ourselves at the moment. The fact we have no bank cards left to actually lose is besides the point. We’re doing well.

Our new years day was spent in bed worrying about finances. Nat West were blocking my Western Union transaction due to suspicion of fraud, we had less money in our accounts than expected, and we still had a rather large bill to pay to the hotel we were staying in. Thankfully, after numerous online chat conversations with Nat West workers, tens of phone calls to the fraud squads and a conversation with a Western Union scout in Germany, we go it all sorted. We also realised we had a little more money than we first thought. Phew.

Having spent enough time in Nusa Dua we decided to head up north a little to the small town of Ubud. We were hoping to find place that was not only interesting, clean and fun, but also cheap. Basically we wanted to have our cake and eat it. However we still had little expectations for the place after such poor experiences elsewhere on the island. To be honest we knew very little about it. Just that I took about 90 minutes to get to and didn’t have a beach.

The journey consisted of traffic jam after traffic jam. As we got to Ubud we passed lots of hotels and hostels. We saw lots of bars and restaurants too. As we pulled outside our place there was nothing but a plastic sign and a tiny entrance that would be invisible to the passer by. We had a bad feeling immediately. We’d spent ages choosing a hostel that would not only be cheap but also be livable. One that perhaps you could spend more than 5 minutes in before having people jump on you with air sealed suits and fumigation sprays and locking you in a plastic cell. Our first impressions lead to us looking over our shoulder for men in bright yellow body suits.

However the second we squeezed through the tiny Alice In Wonderland door, our feelings changed. We were given a tremendous welcome by everyone. The lady who seems to run the place, her husband, their one year old son, her sister, his parents, their grandparents, everyone was so happy to see us. Our rooms not bad either. Nice shower, clean bed. The fact their is no air con, no tv, no in room WiFi doesn’t seem to matter after the welcome. Perhaps if we’d got that last week at the bug hotel things would be different.

No, they definitely wouldn’t.

After dropping our bags down we headed out to get some dins. We decided on a small place that was just off the main road. There were signs all over the walls about how they considered customer service their number one priority. We’d been to many places like that. Difference was they prioritised super bad customer service rather than good. Here the food was great, they gave us a free beer, free cinnamon and jasmine tea and a smile. In fact they probably asked us if our food was ok too many times. They either loved hearing compliments or they were almost expecting us to dislike something. We stayed there for hours before heading back through the market. It was good to have something to do in the evenings again that wouldn’t brake the bank.

Our sleep was ok. There was some miserable cat moaning all night right outside our door and a cockerel that couldn’t tell the difference between moonlight and daylight, but it wasn’t too bad. We actually managed to get up for breakfast too. 2015 was turning out to be a good year.

2015: the year of the breakfast.

Ubud is famous (even though we’d never heard of it before last week) for its monkeys, or long tailed macaques. You may remember that we visited the Thai town of Lopburi a month or so ago. There the monkeys run a small section of the town. Here they are kept, as best as possible, to the confinement of a large monkey sanctuary. Here they can ran about and swing through the trees like they were born to do. You can, if you’re feeling brave, buy bananas to feed them with. Instead we decided to save money and just pick up the left over bananas lying all over the floor. It wasn’t long before one spotted me.

Marty, we’ll call him, saw my banana long before I saw him (cheeky). He took off from his little rocky perch and went straight for it. Startled a little, I forgot to let go. Instead I just pulled my arm away. But Marty was fully committed to the cause. He followed the prize and finally took control as he reached my shoulder. You would think, having now grasped my banana (stop it…), that Marty would have run off to his tree to show off his winnings to his jealous monkey mates. Instead he stayed put. After all the effort of having to get his lunch, he wasn’t going to simply ask for a takeaway. He was eating in today, and nothing was going to stop him.

A top of my head he ate. He mushed up the banana, now well and truly his, squashed it into my hair and ate it from there. He dribbled it down my back and my bag as well as slowly massaging it into my neck. Even as I attempted to move away he wasn’t having it. He just repositioned himself and continued his lunch. Finally he had enough and jumped off into the woods, belly full. I was of course left with chewed up banana dripping off me. It was an experience I tell ya.

We both continued to walk around taking as many pictures as possible. Soph is like a ninja with the camera. Nothing gets between her and a good shot. There were tons of tiny baby monkeys clinging on to their mum’s or causing little play fights, so Soph was filling up our memory card quickly. While she was attempting to get close to one, I had another  monkey get a little too close to my bag. The next thing I knew he had something in his hand that I wasn’t willing to let go. At first I pictured one of our phones in his grasp, so, without thinking, I went for him. I managed to nick it back only to realise it was a map from Penang. Fair to say he wasn’t to keen on my sudden attack, so he went for me. Teeth glaring he threw a few punches at my arm before jumping on me. I quickly flew an arm out and pushed him away. We then ran. There was only two of us and a whole jungle of them. We were well and truly outnumbered.

After a narrow escape we came across some more little ones that Soph could get close to. Most were running about like the children they are but one was chilled. Soph went and sat down next to him so I could get a photo. But after only a matter of seconds he decided Soph needed a good grooming. He began picking at her jumper like she was flea ridden mate of his. Think she felt a little uneasy about the whole thing so got up pretty quickly after I’d taken the picture.

Having spent 3 hours playing with these little rascals we left to get some lunch, but not before I ran into another mini ruck with a monkey attempting to steal my bag. It really was a great place to spend the day. We both really enjoyed Lopburi but those monkeys had a tendency to bite us every time they got close. These guys just wanted to eat. One even stole some hand sanitiser for a woman bag and attempted to eat it. Reckon if I was eating bananas all day everyday, I’d be willing to try anything new when the opportunity arose.

So now we have come back the hotel for a bit to shower and wash off bits of banana. We were hoping to changing our flight to Perth from the 15th to 10th, but it seems STA are messing us about a bit by saying there are no flights available. There are, so we are trying to get them to do their job and sort us out at the moment. But as it stands we are not moving to Australia until the 15th. Thankfully we have now found a place where we can enjoy and still stick to our budget. Seems that we can have our cake and eat it. So far so good.

We’ll leave you today with a few more of our monkey pics. Enjoy.

Thanks for following x

Good day all. Hope being back to work hasn’t been too much of a shock after the Christmas brake. Without the usual lead up to th  big day it’s made us realise how horrifically short the Christmas holidays actually are. All that excitement, over in a flash.

Since we last saw you a few things have happened. Firstly if course has been the tragic news of Air Asia flight QZ850. We found out as we waited for a taxi on Sunday morning. Surabaya isn’t a million miles away from Bali, and coming from Singapore just last week, we flew a very similar path to that plane. It was for sure the roughest of the 4 flights we’ve taken so far, and I remember saying out loud to Soph that I was not enjoying it. As always I had my face plastered against the window the entire time but saw no particularly bad weather to speak of. I’m a pretty bad flyer as it is, this does not help.

We flew Air Asia from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur and then from Kuala Lumpur to Penang. We know for sure that the plane wasn’t the same one we were on, still scary though. As I type this the news has just confirmed that the plane has been found and bodies are being recovered. Thoughts go out to the families of everyone on board.

On a much, MUCH lighter note, we are no longer staying at the hostel from hell. We managed to escape the ugly bug ball early and move to the South Eastern area of Bali, Nusa Dua. The hostel took the fact we were leaving pretty well. We simply told the woman on reception we were leaving and wouldn’t be paying more than the single night we’ve stayed for, so she didn’t have much of a choice. She could have said no I guess, and forced us to pay for our whole booking, but she probably knew how bad the place was and almost expected us to jump ship early.

Think the worst thing about it was the price. We paid more to sleep in that place than we did in a full on hotel with a pool, a tv and WiFi. And we never saw any dead dogs on the beach anywhere else either. Still can’t get over that. So we were very happy to move on. We walked up and down the main road looking for a taxi that wasn’t trying to con us out of all our money. Took a little longer  than we hoped but we finally got one, threw our bags in the boot and jumped in.

The driver was fuming by the end of the journey as it took longer than he expected. We didn’t care though. Once we got our a man ran over to help us with our bags. We knew we’d hit the jackpot already. We headed in, got our room key card and looked for our room. Wait outside the lift was matey with our bags. Opening the door we walked into a room so big we could have rode an elephant through the door. Bathroom is awesome. Bed is huge. Tv is actually there like they said it would be. The place is top notch. Soph was screaming with joy when we walked in. Much better.

The whole of Nusa Dua is like a resort paradise. Huge all inclusive 10 star hotels are everywhere. From what we’ve seen there isn’t much else here other than the best of luxury pampering and on the beach all you can eat restaurants. There are no people screaming at you to buy their stuff or jump in their taxi. I wouldn’t say it was a place many backpackers go. Everything here is focused on those who already have everything they need within their hotel.

As soon as we’d got settled in to our suite…darling….we went off to discover what’s around. After walking in the wrong direction 2 or 3 times we eventually managed to locate a shopping area. A shopping area created solely for those with bursting wallets and Coutts bank accounts. Still we managed to find a few reasonably priced places to grab some food and a few snacks along the way.

The beach, just the other end of the shopping area, is gorgeous. I mean it really is fantastic. But we reckon the fact we had such an awesome time in Phuket with Hartfield that it’s left us a little spoilt. We still can’t seem to enjoy it as much as we did the icing sugar sand of Kata Beach. Perhaps the fact a lot of the beach is closed off to the general folk and privatised for those in the luxury hotels. We obviously didn’t find it too hard to get over these small issues and spend some quality time on the beach soaking up the Sun.

So tonight is New Years Eve and the celebrations are well and truly under way. Before we left England I had booked a hotel on the paradise island of Gili T just to the East of Bali. We’d heard so much about the place that we couldn’t wait to get there. So we’d booked a fast boat to pick us up at 6:30 this morning and take us to the harbour. But last night I was feeling a little hungry. So I picked up my wallet to walk over the road and grab a few snacks from the quickie mart. It was  then I realised. It was then I noticed. It was then I broke down. Because it was then I had seen a space in my wallet. A space where my last and only bank card was supposed to be. I’d done it again. For the third time I’d gone and left a card in an ATM!

Panic set in for a while. Tears were flowing as the realisation that we had no access to money at all started to sink in. It was an awful moment. I called Natwest but they could do nothing. So I ran down stairs to reception to cancel the early morning boat. With no money, we simply couldn’t afford to go tomorrow. It was a total disaster.

But Natwest did mention one thing. Western Union. We could create an account and have money sent to me immediately. Better yet there was a bank that I could get the money from less than a minutes walk from me. I called Mum for some help. Just a quick call that nobody else but Soph, Mum and I would know about. Everything would soon be fixed and nobody would be the wiser. Of course you can probably imagine my face when mum picked up our face time call to then show me my uncle and two of my aunts who had come round to say hi. This crisis was no longer a secret.

Thankfully mum managed to sort everything out and we are now ok. We still have no access to money apart from Western Union but it’s something, at least.

Today however has now not been in anyway how we planned. Instead we are sitting in our hotel room surrounded by bottles of Bintang and mini snacks. Last year I spent New Years at work and then in a bath with two of the lads from work. It was a little crazy but nevertheless still at work. This year, after 6 and a half years, I get to spend New Years with Soph for the first time. We may not be on the paradise island of Gili T but we’re still having a great time.

So to everyone reading, have a great time tonight and we wish you all the best for 2015.

Thanks for following x

Right then, we hope you all had a lovely couple of days eating too much stuff you shouldn’t and drinking alcohol as soon as you wake just because it’s Christmas. I always think there is nothing that says happy birthday Jesus more than a couple glasses of 8am bucks fizz followed by an afternoon of slowly drowning in Bailey’s.

I hope those of you who didn’t receive either a selfie stick or got engaged this Christmas still enjoyed your gifts from old Saint Nick. After all that’s what this festive holiday is all about right. I’m totally kidding of course. All the pictures we’ve seen of everyone spending time with their families and friends has made us miss home a little bit the last few days. But then seeing the current weather reports for the UK quickly eradicates any feeling of homesickness.

Our Christmas of course was hot. Very hot actually. So hot that I managed to pick up a full body sunburn. It was a weird day weather wise. It was sunny and hot as I said, but there was loud, gunshot thunder going on all day. At first we thought it was some pesky kids letting of fireworks round the corner, but it just kept on going. These kids would have to be millionaires to afford that many fireworks. Thunder without the rain or even clouds is quite cool though. Especially on Christmas Day.

One of the big things we wanted to do was visit the beach on Christmas Day. The beach in Kuta is pretty average so we weren’t bothered about spending all day there. We just headed down for the sunset and to say, at least for a little while, we’d been on a warm beach for Christmas. Now you may remember at various places on our trip we have been stopped by someone to take our photo. Maybe it’s the blondeness of Soph. Perhaps it’s my paleness that excites them so much. Perhaps it’s my muscles. We just don’t know. But one things for certain, people like to have us in their photos. So when a group of local teens came over and asked to take a photo with us we thought why not. A little confused at first but we went with it.

Minutes later I spotted another group of lads eyeing us up. And sure enough they came over and took a photo with us. A huge group followed them. All wanting to get a shot of us with their mates on their phone. Boys and girls. Surely this was some sort of school project. Get a photo with two pale white Europeans or get a shot on the beach of someone really really good looking. Something like that.

Then things changed. I spotted an older couple walk past us about 10 minutes before. The older man smiled but nothing was too weird. We were still over come with all these kids wanting our picture. But when he returned asking for us to pose with his wife in a picture we knew something was up. The guy must have been retaking the 11th grade for the 25th time if this was still a school project. And then it clicked. Once he’d taken the photo he came straight up to me and shook my hand like he’d grown up with a picture of me on his bedroom wall. Like I was his idol. I felt so sorry that I couldn’t understand what on earth he was blabbering on about, but I knew he was super happy to have met me. But…who did he think me was?

All these people we not interested in the paleness or blondeness or muscularness of us. They were interested in me. They were interested in whoever they thought I was. This instantly made us feel super embarrassed. I mean what if the real George Clooney or the real Brad Pitt came walking down the beach. Things could have got ugly. So we started to walk away. Not before being stopped again by two lads in their late teens who couldn’t wait to get a shot with us. Super weird, but I can’t blame them for wanting a picture. Bless ’em.

We had our Christmas dinner at the German restaurant we’ve been going to all week. They had their usual menu on as well as a special Christmas one so we could feel more at home. Soph went for the pork medallions. Not so festive but still nice. I went for the stuffed Rudolf with plum and cinnamon sauce. Sorry deer, stuffed deer. I always get then mixed up. It was pretty nice and we felt like we’d at least got to experience some home comforts. When we got back to our hotel we tried contacting some family members over the little internet we had. But it seemed everyone was doing the same thing so we didn’t really get to talk for long, if at all.

Since the big day we have continued chilling by the pool. That was pretty much all we did yesterday. Not exactly the traveller lifestyle perhaps but it’s Christmas and that’s what we fancied doing. Doubt we will get to lounge in the Sun on boxing day ever again so let’s make the most of it.

Today we have moved out and just a couple of miles up the road to a town called Seminyak. We’ve heard lots of people say that it’s a nicer, calmer and altogether cleaner version of Kuta. Our taxi took us straight to the door of our new hostel. Through the main road of shops and a restaurants. It looked very similar to Kuta, just without the awfully busy one way system. When we got to our hostel we climbed the stairs following the signs to reception. When we got there we were greeted by a couple from the movie The Hills Have Eyes. If you haven’t seen this film they basically looked like zombie inbreds who’s only means of communication is through a sequence of grunts and moans. The woman behind the desk looked like….uhm…well, dead. She literally looked dead. She must be a zombie. She is about 180 years old minimum and we reckon she must have been fed metal bolts as a child because she has only a single tooth the size of a large chisel poking directly at who ever she’s looking at. Wouldn’t surprise me if this tooth controlled her every move. Whispering to her. ‘Eat them’.

Ok so that’s that. When we got to our room we discovered the worst room in the history of rooms. It’s similar to being on that night train with the windows open. We feel like we’ve interrupted the shooting of the new Bugs Life sequel on the day the whole cast have brought their families along. It’s disgusting. The shower is cold too so we can’t even enjoy that. We have 4 nights booked too. Not going to happen. Before visiting the land of the undead and telling the zombie upstairs that we won’t be staying, we decided to head down the beach to at least see what the fuss is about.

Seminyak beach is disgusting! We got there and discovered the worst beach we had ever seen. Covered in rubbish. We stepped over nails, broken glass and what seemed like a forest load of dead wood to reach the sea. Where the first wave brought in 4 crisp packets, some more broken glass and a tree. Then things got a lot worse. We walked along the beach for just another 30 seconds before it officially topped the ‘worst beach ever’ awards. I had to cover Soph’s eyes and walk her straight off the beach as she cried in my arms. Because there, in the middle of the beach, surrounded by kids building sand castles, was a dead dog!

Luckily I spotted it before Soph had a chance to. I made sure she didn’t actually see it but just the knowledge that it was  there was enough to cause her to brake down. Could have set me off to be honest. Nobody gave a hoot either. Think that was  the worst thing. People we letting there kids play in the sand around it. Like it wasn’t even there. Shocking!

We immediately walked back to the hotel, told Frankenstein that we wouldn’t be staying after tonight and booked somewhere else.

Ok ok. So what we don’t want to do is scare anyone away from Bali. We are more than likely just staying in the bad places, or simply turning up on days when things are not at there best. But for two backpackers with a tiny budget, so far Bali is not ticking the boxes. Perhaps it’s because we have been spoilt by the amazing beaches in Thailand only a matter of weeks ago. We don’t know. But tomorrow we are pretty sure things are about to get better. We head to a town called Nusa Dua and Geger Beach. From what we’ve seen an  heard about this area of Bali, were in for a treat.

So of course we shall let you know how that goes. But for now, we have a bushtukka trial to get on with. Sleep well, don’t let the bed bugs bite. Ours will…..

Thanks for following x