Month: February 2017

We arrived in Cairns late afternoon on December 29th. The humidity hit us instantly and reminded me of home in late August. I loved it. We took a shuttle to the hostel we booked for the next two nights. It was a great little hostel and felt more like we had our own apartment. They also had a pool and hammocks everywhere so it felt like we were in a tropical oasis. We just chilled out the first evening. The next day we rode the shuttle into town and explored the town center on the waterway.

They had this amazing very large crystal clear salt water swimming pool which they call a lagoon. I loved it. They also had free grills to use throughout the waterfront, free showers, etc. And there must have been an icecream or gelato shop every couple of stores. We checked in at that dive shop and confirmed everything for the next morning. Thankfully, Dave had the foresight to book a dive trip months before we arrived. The dive companies there were booked solid for the next several weeks.

ProDive picked us up early the next morning and once our group was all together we were transported to the dive boat where we would live the next three days. I read in Fodors about taking ginger pills for motion sickness which I’d never heard of, but we tried it and I loved it. Worked great and no fatigue!

We didn’t bring an underwater camera so I don’t have photos to share of the actual dives, but we did see millions of fishies. We also saw several sea turtles and a few reef sharks. We also experienced night diving for the first time for both of us. That was very cool! The first night we went guided with the dive master and the second night we were on our own so to speak, but we did go in small groups. The second night we saw two huge sea turtles sleeping under rocks.

We met some great folks from all over including New Zealand, England, Ireland, and the good ol’ US of A. The food was absolutely wonderful. Basically the schedule was hour dive, eat, nap or chill and repeat three of four times each day. There were 11 scheduled dives, but Dave and I chose to skip one and to snorkel two others because it can be hard on your ears. We were both glad we chose to snorkel the last two because it was a pretty shallow area and most of the fish were closer to the surface so we saw more than we would have diving. The first day was tight, but the next two were more relaxed.

The dive shop folks even invite you out to get together for an informal dinner in town after the trip which was awesome because we had more time to be chatty. We even ended up meeting up with some of the folks the next day to do a hike north of Cairns. I loved the whole experience. And because of the trip we ended up booking a flight to Thailand to check out the diving there since it was strongly recommended. ProDive staff were very professional, patient and funny. I would definitely go with them again. Great experience! Also, even though it is the rainy season in Queensland, the weather was perfect throughout or dive trip. God’s creation is amazing to see!

Some of the most breathtakingly beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen lie between Perth and Esperance. Granted the water is pretty chilly, probably about 70F, but feels great if it’s hot outside. The crazy thing is that we were never originally planning to go to western Australia, but I’m so glad we did. The weather was perfect for camping. We’re not much for big cities, especially not Dave, so we did not spend much time in Perth itself, however I think I could have stayed much longer. It’s definitely a city I would return to. There is a huge river that the city is built around called Swan River and it is surrounded by lots of parks.

As we made our way south from Perth we drove along the coast as much as we could. Dave suggested we turn off in a town called Busselton which turned out to be awesome. We’d both forgotten that we’d seen it in the airline travel magazine on the plane, but it was a place recommended to go snorkeling because they have the longest pier in the world. They call it a jetty, but it’s a pier nearly 2 k long. We grabbed our snorkeling gear and made the long walk to the end. We jumped in the brisk water and saw some of the most beautiful and unusual coral around the old jetty/pier posts. There were lots of fish too, but they were deeper down so we couldn’t see them as well. We stayed in for about 30 or so minutes then got some ice cream. There was a huge netted off area on the beach and a sign that read it was to keep “large marine life” (aka sharks) out. Thankfully we did not see any while snorkeling!

We headed down to the wine region of margaret River which was very much like Napa Valley. I visited two wineries then we went to a Chocolate Factory- very wisely placed in the middle of a wine region if you ask me. We saw chocolates being made, had an incredible hot chocolate and sampled some other chocolates while there. I met the nicest lady about my age at the first winery and since I was the only one there we chatted for a while. She showed me a map of the area and suggested must see places on the route which I was super thankful for. She told me about a beach where the sting rays come right up to the shore.

We explored one of the local caves. There were several but we decided to just tour one of them.

We stopped in Albany which was uneventful. We did check out a WWI and WWII memorial which was pretty amazing. We also attended a church there which was the most different church either of us had ever attended. Very structured and strong message on the providence of God. We met some very nice folks there. We also did our laundry while in Albany before heading on.

We stopped at several beautiful beaches. One was Hamelin Bay where the rays were and we saw a shark circling the area. Very cool. Dave believes he saw the pro golfer Stuart Appleby walk by us and then heard someone with him call him Stuart so we’re pretty sure it was him.

 

We drove up to a mountain called Castle Rock and hiked a few miles. It was hard, but worth it. Along the way we saw elderly folks, pregnant women and young children hiking so we figured we need to suck it up and keep moving! Ha! At the top is a steel walkway bolted into a giant boulder. You have to crawl around then use handles bolted into another rock to climb up a ways, then climb up a ladder before you get up to the walkway. The walkway itself has a grated bottom so you can see straight down below your feet; a bit unnerving for someone a bit afraid of heights like myself. It was really windy too. We snapped some photos before heading back down the mountain. We also went to a national forest with giant trees and did the treetop sky walk thing. Pretty cool. If you know us at all, you know we have a thing for big trees.

We stopped at a very small out of the way beach town called Bremer Bay. Again, very gorgeous beaches. Crystal clear water and very white powdery sand beaches. Unfortunately it was chilly the day we went there so we didn’t swim.

On our way to Esperance we camped near a beach and snorkeled there in the morning. When we arrived in Esperance we drove the loop around the area and checked out the many beaches there. One beach ran along a high cliff and we saw two people hang gliding. It looked so awesome. They also have a pink lake there, but it was barely even pink and did not compare to the one we saw the week earlier. We stopped by a glass artist gallery too.

What happened that night was the most interesting part and one I won’t ever forget. We thought we’d found a camping spot out in “the bush” or backwoods middle of nowhere. Well, we no sooner got settled into our tent for the night than we saw flashlights and heard voices. Tuns out we were on someone’s land and they had been robbed recently. They said we’re lucky they didn’t shoot us! (which we thought was kind of odd since you can’t have guns in AU, but we found out you can have certain types if you live on a farm). Anyway, there were two guys and one of them offered to let us camp on his land so we agreed. I know, I know, sounds crazy since we literally just met, but it was dark and we didn’t know where else to go especially after that scare. We had peace about it.

He turned out to be the nicest guy and we ended up hanging out with him for half the next day! There is so much more I could say about the event, but rather not on here. Just know that it turned out to be a blessing in so many ways.

We decided we would head back to Perth for Australia Day which is kind of like their Independence Day so we drove the direct route back which saved many hours. It was nice to see the outback and turned out it was a lot hotter than the coast. There were lots of grain fields as far as you could see dotted with a few trees here and there. We ended up driving not far off the road and camped. It was like camping in the desert. The stars were so bright! And it was such a quiet peaceful night.

The next morning we checked out this giant granite rock called The Wave because of it’s shape. Not really much to see, but we hiked around a bit then continued on to Perth. Once we got there we went to the beach because it was over 100*F and we snorkeled. It was perfect. We were going to camp our last night there, but since it was so warm we decided to get a room. Also, we needed to get our things organized and packed for the flight the next morning. We stayed in a hostel not far from the riverside park where there was going to be a huge fireworks display. Unfortunately a couple flying a small plane as part of the pre fireworks show lost control and crashed into the river that afternoon. Understandably they cancelled the fireworks display.

Overall I absolutely loved Perth and the surrounding area and would definitely go back there if the opportunity ever presents itself. Gorgeous city and beaches and friendly people. There are also national parks close to the city that we didn’t get to explore. If you get the chance, go to Perth!

I am hesitant to write this in case you have positive associations of what Bali may be like. If you continue to read do so at the risk of bursting your Bali bubble.

If you were to Google the word Bali and click on images you would see over-the-water huts on beautiful crystal clear beaches. Well, turns out these pictures are not, I repeat ARE NOT of Bali. In fact, it is against the law to build anything here out over the water. Some hotels have compensated by literally building small swimming pools around hotel rooms. I googled these images while here trying in vain to find where they are in Bali, but they just don’t exist here. If that is what you’re looking for, you probably should plan your trip for the Maldives or French Polynesian islands like Tahiti or Bora Bora, but definitely not Bali. People insist there are gorgeous beaches here as well, and there are lots of images online that imply the same. Unfortunately we did not see them, but that is not to say they don’t exist somewhere.

We have been here for 10 days and have had some time to reflect on what we have experienced here. I must preface this by saying that I have been VERY ill for at least half the time we were here so my views may be somewhat negatively biased because of that. Also, we came during the rainy season and 6 of the 10 days here it poured all day. We did not see the entire island or any other part of Indonesia so there may be amazing parts out there.

Anyway, so we landed Friday afternoon January 27th excited to be in a new country on our journey. We had arranged for our hotel to pick us up at the airport thankfully and it was cool to have someone waiting with our name on a card once we landed. I think that was a first for me. We arrived at our hotel which was super nice for the price. We paid around $30/night and it would have easily cost over $100/nt in the States. We walked to a nearby Bali restaurant which had excellent reviews, and enjoyed a nice dinner since we’d been camping and cooking for 2 solid weeks prior. The food was great and there were musicians and a lady performing traditional dance. We were happy and off to a great start.

The next morning we just lazed around and walked over to the beach for a little while. We weren’t originally going to rent a car, but we thought we’d explore the island and Dave found a great deal. They brought the car to us which was awesome. I honestly think we could have bought it for what we paid to rent it, but we’re not picky so we went with it.

We decided to drive up to a popular place called Ubud which has a temple area/monkey garden. We google mapped it and it said 44kms distance and would take 1 hour and 20 minutes to drive. We thought, ‘great, no problem’. We began the terrifying adventure of driving here. Imagine 4.2 MILLION people inhabiting a 1500 square mile island. I might add that Dave and I generally split up the driving, but I didn’t drive once the whole stay if that tells you anything.  It took us more than 3 HOURS one way to get there. In Australia it would have taken around 30 minutes to drive the same distance!!!  

So, yeah, it was cool to see the monkeys, but not 3-hours-one-way in stop and go traffic cool. Another thing we could not help but notice was the trash littering the streets and the waterways. I don’t mean a few scraps here and there, I mean trash EVERYWHERE. Another thing lining the streets was shops one after the other crammed full with concrete or stone carved idols and altars. I’m not sure who is buying them because they had been sitting there for a long time. You can probably picture how stone or concrete looks after years of elements have worn them down. Somebody must be though because there are a lot of people in business making them.

While we were at the monkey place it seemed like a somewhat nice oasis  where everything was lush and green with walking paths and bridges over waterways…except that the water was filthy and, again, full of trash. After half an hour or so of walking through it we made our way back to the car and the dreaded drive back. After this day I was wondering if we should have even bothered with renting the car. :/

We were thrilled to not have to do any camp cooking since the food here is so inexpensive and delicious. Dave is now hooked on chicken satay and orders it everywhere! He even took pictures of a recipe so we can make it at home. Haha! Love him. We ate at a yummy place again and just chilled for the night.

Sunday morning we headed to the nearest (and possibly only) Christian protestant church which happened to be thankfully only about 15 minutes away. We were very encouraged to see literally hundreds of locals leaving the early service when we arrived. The English service we attended was great, but not many people. They played old hymns I grew up with which made me cry most of the time because it brought back instant memories of my grandmother singing them in the kitchen. The one that really got me was “What a friend we have in Jesus.” The message was on Micah 6:8 and challenged us to be just, kind and merciful. Beautiful open air church building. It started pouring rain during the service and seemed so refreshing.

The interesting thing is that the church was literally side by side with other places of worship. One on side was a gold covered buddhist temple that nobody was allowed to enter, then a Catholic church, then a mosque and I think one other building- perhaps a Hindu temple?

 

 

After church we decided to get a massage. Initially I was so excited that you can get a massage for less than a quarter of the price it would cost back home, but I also felt conflicted and somehow guilty about what seemed to me an injustice. I felt the same about the cost of food and lodging. Also, most of the locals are over the top genuinely nice. It kind of made me uncomfortable, like we were put on some kind of unnecessary pedestal. They would bend over backwards to cater to any need or to not risk any offence.

It was just overcast the rest of the day so we decided to go to what was supposed to be one of the nicest beaches in Bali, Nusa Dua, to snorkel and hangout. The beach was okay. Lots of people. We snorkeled, but there wasn’t really much to see and the current was strong. We swam back in and stayed on the beach for half an hour or so before heading back to our place. To be one of the nicest beaches in Bali we were not impressed. We thought maybe it would be prettier if the sun was out, but not sure. It was nice that the temperature was comfortably warm in and out of the water.

The next day we went out on a charter fishing trip that Dave arranged. An Australian couple went too. I will start with the positive. Dave caught a giant fish which was super awesome! I wish I could leave it at that, but I must share the rest. First they were an hour late picking us up in the morning. They called to say they were running 10 or so minutes late, but it was way later. I got seasick within the first hour of being on the boat despite taking medicine well before the trip. This should have been the first clue to me that I was about to get really sick since I’ve never before thrown up riding on a boat. I spent the remainder of the fishing trip lying down and sort of sleeping except to get up when Dave caught his fish. Prior to the excursion they never would confirm whether they provided lunch, but kept reassuring us they would have plenty of beer which we didn’t care about. So we packed lunch and they also provided. I couldn’t eat any of it.

The 2 man crew were very nice, however they did not seem well prepared. They forgot to bring ice for the catch. The hooks were rusted and some straight. They did not know how to tie a basic fishing knot. They ran out of bait halfway through. They ended up trading some of ‘our’ beer for more bait when they saw a local fisherman nearby. Good thing we weren’t planning to drink it lol.  When we got back to land they did not clean the fish though they said they would, and there was very poor communication about who was doing what. They seemed more concerned about rinsing off the fishing equipment than getting ice for the fish. They didn’t have any knives to clean the fish. Oh, and one of the engines on the boat was broken which they proceeded to work on throughout the trip. On the way back to land we rode alongside probably a mile or so of a steady stream of debris/trash floating out to sea from the island. The irony was the large sticker in the boat which read “Keep Bali oceans clean!” I forgot also that they told the other couple they could just throw their cigarette butts in the ocean. They didn’t thankfully. We later read that our experience was pretty much the standard for Bali. 

When we were dropped back at the hotel, Dave proceeded to clean the fish on the hood of the beater rental car. Onlookers seemed quite impressed, or maybe shocked? Ha, who knows?  I was still not feeling the best so we just stayed in the rest of the evening.

We decided we would try to explore the island the next day even if it was going to rain, which it did- a lot! We drove to one of the ‘lakes’ up in the mountains halfway across the island thinking perhaps we might get away from the crowds and see something different or even peaceful. We were wrong.  On the way as the monsoon hit, the streets were quickly flooded with murky dark water and plenty of trash floating along with it. The thought of all of this running into the surrounding ocean made us wary of swimming in it anymore. The entire drive took about 4 hours one way, with crowds of people along the route including thousands on scooters weaving in and out of the bumper to bumper traffic. Oh yeah, we also found out the brakes on the car worked intermittently. At one point closer to the top of the mountain and when the rain broke we did see somewhat pretty vistas of rice terraces behind buildings. I brought my camera but forgot the sd card so didn’t get any photos though. On the way I felt certain I was getting sick and coming down with a fever which made the ride that much more miserable. I had no idea what I was in for 🙁  Once we arrived and there was clearly nothing to see despite how the tourist magazine had played it up, we ate a quick lunch and made the long drive back to our place. My fever got even worse and by the next morning I thought I was dying.

I won’t go into details, but suffice it to say I was bedridden for the next 4 days and easily lost about 5-10 pounds in that time. Dave was wonderful and brought me chicken soup, lots of fluids, and let me sleep.  I can’t really complain since we have had great health for the trip prior to that, and if there was a time for one of us to get sick, what better time than when we had a nice hotel that we were already booked to stay in for the week and close to a good hospital if needed. Also, the entire time I was sick it rained heavily each day so we didn’t miss anything, except for home that is. Nothing makes you miss home more than being terribly ill.

The last couple of days we were there the sun actually came out and we enjoyed a couple of days by the water. Even though I wasn’t close to being back to 100% I was ready to get out of that room and get a dose of vitamin D. We did get to see some beaches in the sunshine, but they sure were not that impressive the way people have claimed. We went to a beach on another part of Nusa Dua, which is where the 5 star resorts are by the way, and it was terrible. There was at one time a concrete boardwalk built way too close to the water and had crumbled due to erosion. There was rebar, broken pieces of concrete and trash littering the narrow beach. We came upon a flow rider surf thing which was cool. Dave got to have some fun. I wanted to, but not a good idea since I was still recovering. We also walked around this shop area called Bali Collection which was nice and clearly catered to ‘rich’ tourists. We had a couple of nice meals there and some ice cream.

 

The last day we thought we’d check out the other side of Denpasar called Kuta which is another popular spot. It was also a congested nightmare and we didn’t even make it over to the beach so I can’t tell you what it looked like. There was a terrorist attack there back in 2009 and it apparently really set back the Bali tourism industry which has taken years for them to recover.  

Dave and I were so ready to get out of this country. The whole time we kept wondering what we were missing and why so many people think of Bali as paradise because that is so far from what we experienced. We heard the north side of the island might be a bit nicer and we had planned to check that part out, but for obvious reasons that didn’t happen. The only thing we could conclude is that it makes perfect sense for Australians to flock there because it is cheaper to fly their entire family there for vacation than to vacation in their own country, the air and water temps are consistently warm, food is cheap and activities are generally pretty cheap as well as lodging. Seems kind of like Bali, or maybe SE Asia as a whole, is to Australia what the Carribbean, Mexico and Central America are to the States- though personally I would take our options any day over Bali as I think they are MUCH nicer.

I’m glad we got to check it out, but as it is I don’t know that you could pay us to return. I’m not really sure what it is we expected, but it was definitely not our idea of paradise. If Dengue fever, dirty water, insanely crowded roads and towns, and mediocre beaches are your thing then by all means go for it. If you stay in a 5 star all inclusive resort and don’t leave, or have someone taxi you around, you will probably have an enjoyable time. I would recommend possibly staying on the northern side of the island and also if the weather is nice take a ferry to the Gili islands which look promising. Be careful travelling in boats or vehicles since safety standards are WELL below what you are likely used to. Well, really, be careful with any activity that requires any measure of safety. Otherwise, just go to Puerto Rico which is just as inexpensive and has much more beautiful beaches with living coral to see when you snorkel.

If you’ve been to Bali and had a more positive experience I’d love to hear about it. I’m sure it can’t be as bad as we experienced or hoards of people would not flock there. I just found this guide online http://baliinformationguide.com/things-to-do-in-bali/ and looks like there are some amazing places to visit especially in the dry season. We considered rafting or going to waterfalls, but it was advised too dangerous in the rainy season. Anyway, this has gotten long enough.