Category: Uncategorized

We visited Sydney just two weeks before flying back home. Since we were at the tail end of our trip and had pretty much seen everything we could possibly see, we enjoyed just relaxing and taking things slow. Dave suggested we get a hotel for a couple of nights so we would have time to really enjoy the city. No complaints there!

I looked over some brochures and found a ‘free’ guided tour of the city. Technically the tour guide works for tips only so if you’re nice at all you tip something. It was a great intro to the city and helped us get our bearings quickly. She was full of great tips to save us time and money too. Also, we met two other people from NC in our group!!! And they were Carolina fans. This was right after Carolina beat Kentucky so Dave was thrilled to meet someone to hash out the game with.

The second day we walked around the city and went sightseeing on our own. We visited museums, walked through the botanical gardens, visited a fish market where we ate sushi, and bought tickets for a symphony at the Opera House for the following evening. We were exhausted by the end of the day. While in Sydney the traffic patterns are crazy so we relied on public transportation and walking. It was a nice change.

The third day we got up early and caught the ferry to Manly and Shelly beaches. We loved it. The water was a little chilly, but we still snorkeled. Then we enjoyed some of the most amazing gelato I’ve ever had! Not even kidding. After that we headed to Bondi beach which was also great, but very different than the other beaches. We swam for a while there. Then showered at the beach bath house and got ready for our dinner date and symphony back in the heart of the city.

So you’re probably wondering (or maybe you’ve figured it out) what the best souvenir was. The amazing thing is little did we know when we were taking all these photos that new life had just begun inside of me! Yes, you read that right.

As I post this we celebrate our 8 year anniversary AND are 15 weeks pregnant!!

Baby Hammer is expected to arrive on December 19th.

Tasmania, Australia – part 1

I can’t believe we almost did not go to this island! Within a couple of days of arriving we were convinced it is the best kept secret of the world. Had the mountain rivers been full of giant trout like New Zealand then Dave would have continued to deem it so. It is without a doubt though an amazing place. From wines to deserted beaches to the freshest of produce and seafood to super friendly people—- I could go on and on. They had lots of free camp grounds too!

We arrived later than planned (long airport story), but we were upgraded to a big SUV so that was cool to have extra space. We had a bit of a rough start and got a parking ticket within the first hour of landing! Dave was not a happy camper. Then we couldn’t find any fuel so that delayed us some more, but as always it all worked out fine. We then headed south and went straight to a free campground since it was pretty late in the day. The next morning we began our exploring. We ended up being able to cook our entire breakfast, coffee included, on the BarB which was awesome. I love those things!

We quickly found out that not many people inhabit the island and aside from a couple of major cities, it is mostly made up of small towns. The weird thing is that most mainland Australians rarely decide to vacation there even though it is a very short flight away and so amazing. Turns out that many have assumptions about it being small without much to do, or that it is always cold- neither of which is true.

It seemed that we were the only ones on any beach we went to, and they were all breathtaking. One time we just stopped and Dave fished and caught a variety of fish! While he did that I collected fresh oysters and mussels. It was like a dream (except the oysters were spawning so that didn’t work out). When we headed back to the car we saw lots of blackberry bushes so we collected a small bag full. We had fresh berries for breakfast nearly every morning we were there! Berries grew everywhere! You have to be careful though not to pick ones near the road that they’ve sprayed.

Tasmania is apparently known for its incredible food and wine so we stopped at little places each day to check things out like cheese factories, wineries, chocolate factories, berry farms, etc. They have little roadside stands at the end of driveways with fruits and vegetables for sale. We bought a big bag of delicious apples for just $3! Tasmania used to be a huge apple producer, but then something happened with the export business and England so they nearly lost that trade. Thankfully they still grow the delicious apples and it’s starting to build back up.

We rode a ferry to Bruny Island the second night and camped on the beach. You could drive on the beach too so we drove along it the next morning. It had to be a couple miles or more long. There must have been a red algae bloom too because one section of the water looked blood red and the next morning the shore was covered in red.

We headed to Tasman peninsula next to check out the convict trail since Tasmania developed from penal colonies. The landscape was vastly different! Huge jagged mountains, blow holes, and rough seas on one side. We explored as much as we could before camping on an awesome mountain side with a gorgeous sunset. Unfortunately, I got a terrible migraine through the night and into the next morning and we had to find a chiropractor a couple hours away back in Hobart to get me straightened out. Very different experience than going to one at home, but that’s another story. Anyway, he got me fixed up, but instead of heading back out to the Tasman Peninsula we decided to head north on the Great East Coast Drive. It sure lived up to its name and we stopped to take lots of pictures and walk on the beaches.

We stayed just outside of Coles Bay in Freycinet National Park and hiked the next morning early to Wineglass Bay. Good thing we went early because when we got back to the car the crowds were piling in. We didn’t know it at first, but we happened to be there over their labor day weekend so all the locals were vacationing too! After our difficult hike we felt we earned some ice cream so we stopped at a place that sold fresh fruit ice cream dipped in chocolate! It was so very good!

Next we continued north and were about to turn inland so Dave could check out a river that was supposed to be popular for catching trout, but we didn’t make it very far. The road was very narrow, curvy and ran along the edge of a rock wall and the other side of the road was a steep drop off. I finally pulled over at the next gap in the rock wall to let Dave take over because my nerves couldn’t take it anymore.

That’s the exact moment we met our new friend who had just somehow survived busting both tires on his passenger side! He literally had pulled over moments before us and said he had no idea what he would have done had we not come along. We don’t know either since there is no cell service out there and it would have been too dangerous to walk on that road. We spent the next few hours helping to get him situated. We told him that we’d just been reading in our Bible study about helping those in need and he was blown away by this. So our route changed again, but it was fine and we enjoyed the opportunity to help. I could write an entire blog post on that day alone, but I won’t! Don’t worry. Haha.

We drove on up to the Bay of Fires where there are boulders on the beach covered in a bright orange lichen. The beach was beautiful with crystal clear water. If it wasn’t so chilly and windy that day we would have swam in a pool made by the rocks. Then we started to head west towards Launceston.

 

(If you missed Part 1 or Part 2 here you go)

The problem with packing a lot, living out of a car, and traveling for an extended period of time is that you lose some things along the way. It’s just a part of the journey, so probably wise to mostly pack items that don’t mean all that much to you. Here is a running list of items we’ve lost so far; some hurt more than others.

• 2 or 3 pairs of socks. I’m not really sure how to report that because I lost half of two pairs, so I can still wear the two halves as a pair except that they are very different colors. This one hurt a bit as they were expensive Merrell hiking socks that I loved and only purchased recently prior to our backpacking trip to the Grand Tetons, but in the grand scheme of things they are just socks and can always be replaced. Besides, isn’t it the trend to wear mismatched socks right now?
• My cream colored down North Face jacket. Yes, I nearly cried on this one, BUT I remembered where I last had it and called the hostel. They had it and held it until we circled back around the south island of NZ to get it. So thankfully it was retrieved.
• My favorite atheletic blue New Balance shorts that fit perfectly. I would have gladly given away 3 or 4 other pairs of shorts I brought instead of losing those. These were left on the dive boat and did not make it to the lost and found box. Oh well. I think I can replace them pretty easily.
• My old black bathing suit cover. Also on the dive ship. It was time.
• Dave lost some lures that got hung while fishing.
• Our convenient little coffee maker which was just a plastic piece that sits on your cup and drips.
• I’m sure there are more things we haven’t even realized yet.

Insert hindsight cliche here:

Halfway into our trip now and it’s easy to see what we should have left at home as well as what we should have thought to bring. You begin to realize some of these early on in the trip. Not a big deal though since we didn’t really know what all we would need for this 5 and ½ month adventure. Here’s what we’d do differently:

I should have stuck with my usual superlight packing. I would have packed everything for cold weather that I packed since we used most of it in NZ , plus one warm weather outfit and a couple of bathing suits. Any additional warm weather clothing I could have purchased fairly inexpensively in Australia.

Left half or more of my shoes back home. We had expected to do a lot of water activities in NZ, but it was way too cold and expensive so I never even ended up using my awesome water shoes. And even if I had needed them I could have bought a cheapo pair in NZ. Also, everyone is pretty casual in both NZ and AU so no need for any dressy footwear.

For shoes I would have just packed flip flops, hiking boots, and my tevas. And maybe my comfy slippers.

We forgot some very important items, well I should say I forgot them, which cost us a pretty penny. One was the spare SLR camera battery and charger which is probably still in the outlet in our kitchen 🙁  It was 3-4x the price to buy this in NZ. I was pretty mad at myself for forgetting such a crucial item. The other was our Capital One credit card which does not charge an international purchase fee. However, we were able to get the card info from Dave’s mom (THANK YOU) so we are at least able to use it for online bookings. We never use the card at home so it was easy to forget.

We would have also packed our car power inverter. We ended up buying another one in NZ. Now we have one that has a funny outlet. Hopefully we can use it for future travels.

Once we arrived in Australia we sorted our belongings and packed up 30lbs of clothing and other items to ship back home. It is so hot here we definitely do not need any cold weather gear. After a week we sent another box home, and we may send another one before it’s over with. Since we’ve been in Queensland we have practically lived in our swimsuits and for me a bathing suit cover which is a thin cotton dress I purchased while in Kaikoura, NZ.

I’ll probably just get rid of some of the rest of the clothes I brought rather than ship them home.

I ended up wearing a hole in my favorite jeans while in NZ. I was kind of bummed about this and pondered patching or tossing them, but then found replacements on ebay. After ordering a few extra pairs which will arrive at home while we’re away, I turned my jeans into shorts.

I maybe would have left our power toothbrush because we hardly kept it charged and it’s kind of bulky compared to a simple toothbrush, but we’re using it more now so I’m glad we brought it.

Now, behold everything I was able to tightly cram into my backpack. It’s somewhat embarrassing to look at how much I packed, but lesson learned. More on that in Packing Part 3

 

My sleeping bag. I love this sleeping bag. It’s rated 20 degrees and we definitely needed these while in NZ. Dave liked my bag so much that he had me order him one for our trip. It’s lightweight and compresses pretty small.

Shoes. Such a hard decision. We planned to do lots of water activities in NZ so I packed my Tevas and my closed toe water shoes. I love my slippers and they are convenient when camping. My Merrell hiking boots which are super comfy and supportive around my ankles- important for backpacking. My Naots ; love them- super comfy and can be casual or dressy. And flip flops.

Warm weather clothes: 5 bathing suits because they don’t take
up much space. Two pairs of athletic shorts; one pair I often wear as a bathing suit bottom. Capri workout leggings. Three tank tops. If you notice the colors can be mixed/matched creating more variety in outfits.

 

Two sundresses, a cardigan and a thin lightweight skirt.

 

 

 

 

Two pairs of shorts.

 

 

 

 

Two silk tanks. Lightweight, flowy. Dressy or casual. Love them.

 

 

My tiny Therm-a-Rest . Love this thing. It’s basically a small air mattress, but way more durable than an actual air mattress since it is made for camping– though it does have issue with ‘ballooning’ if you don’t use an air pump due to the moisture in your breath. Compresses to be very small and is lightweight.

Let’s see, some warm weather gear. My down jacket, paper thin long sleeved sun shirt. It is great because a nice under layer of warmth or sun cover that doesn’t make you hot. My under armour warm under layers white top and black bottom. It can get cold camping. My Outdoor Research hiking pants (not pictured).

My favorite pair of jeans on the right; 1969 curvy Gap boot cut. A pair of capri jeans. White linen pants. Grey fitted jeans- dressy or casual, they have a slight sheen. And a leather belt.

Paper thin cotton sudara jammy pants because it’s always nice to have some comfy pants to loaf around in especially when staying in hostels.

Enough Rodan and Fields to keep my face clean for five months, thank you Kat Price. And enough Lola.

Not pictured. A couple of Nik Ripken books, my travel Bible, a journal, couple more books, odds and ends camping stuff such as thin tin coffee mugs, toiletries, simple black dress, and who knows what else. But there it is. Bursting at the seams!

Now you can check out Part 3 to see what I would change.

 

Of all the things this trip has done for me, it has done the most for my faith. After two years of being more and more consumed by work, I was growing slowly and consistently away from intimacy with God. This trip has served as a complete rejuvenation and refocusing of my attention toward God. It has also fostered a renewed and refreshing depencency on Him.

I have felt convicted for some time about my lack of specifically and outrightly sharing my faith with others. We are called to do that and there is no excuse for disobediance. And why would we not want to share this joy with everyone we meet? On this trip I wanted to intentionally change that somehow.

God worked in me, in us, first. We were reading the Bible individually, usually daily, and not really discussing it. We decided it would be a great opportunity to do a daily Bible study together. Dave chose the book of Matthew as that is what he was reading at the time and we have been committed since. It was a bit awkward at first which is kind of sad since we used to read it together all the time when we first met, but we quickly got into the swing of things and began looking forward to it each day.

I also brought along a few other books which I did not start really reading until a month or so into our trip. Two by Nik Ripken, The Insanity of Obediance and The Insanity of God, and one called I Am N by Voice of the Martyrs. I cannot say enough about the first two books. Both are life changing and challenging, and speak directly to the command to share the gospel especially in hard places.

My prayer on this trip has been to practice sharing my faith with others and that God would provide opportunities to do so. When you ask to be open to God’s will, you better get steeped in the Word, keep your eyes open and hang on. He provided many opportunities to share the gospel. Some we outright failed, some we blundered, some we felt we did something right, but all were great opportunities to practice and can be redeemed by Him. You have to start somewhere and it’s easy to look back and see what else we could have done or what more we could have said and how.

There was the time we encountered a homeless man and were able to serve him by sharing our resources. Then there was the young hitchhiker we picked up. And another man who flattened both tires on one side of his car and seconds later we happened to pull over at the same area. He was amazed that two complete strangers would spend several hours helping him. We told him we had just read in the Bible about helping those in need. He was so impressed with this he immediately told someone at the tire shop we arrived at not long afterwards. He just could not believe that there are people like this in the world. Then there was the Asian lady who gave me a pedicure in Thailand who works 12 hours/day 7 days a week. The American dive guide in Thailand who was still recovering from a painful divorce.

I think my favorite was the time we were invited to camp in someone’s backyard after accidentally attempting to camp on private property. We accepted the invitation and spent half of the next day hanging out with him. He shared his loss of hope, his grief and bouts with depression and drugs. We began to share the hope of Jesus and I tell you what, there is no high like sharing Jesus with someone especially when they are open to it.

Another great thing is that we traded contact info with several of these folks and can continue these conversations.

Looking back at how God has blessed this trip and His intricate involvement in our lives is humbling to my core. It brings me to tears. Just before this trip I was deeply and freshly reminded of His personal love for me, and throughout this trip He has been faithful to keep reminding me. It is so easy to resort to forgetting or doubting, and get down on myself or start trying to take control of everything again.

Shortly after arriving in Perth I was particularly struggling with those nagging anxious thoughts that creep up when you’re trying to fall asleep reminding me of every socially awkward experience or shameful choice I’ve ever made. We were both suffering from the weariness of travel that can make you snappy and bitter. In short I was feeling worn down emotionally and physically. We had also toured a prison and felt the weight of evil in that place. Thankfully, the church we attended the next morning was overflowing with a message of love, from the worship leader to the compassionate grace filled message reminding me to run into my Father’s arms, and how he views me as his child. It was just what I needed that morning to soothe my soul. It was one of those times when you feel like God himself is speaking to you. It is hard for me to even convey the depth of it in words, but God knew very much that I needed a strong reminder that morning of His love for me. And yes, I was crying throughout the service.

Just a couple of Sundays ago near Melbourne we attended a great little church and the passages preached on were two parables from Matthew- ones we had just recently studied ourselves. Then that night there happened to be a performance in Melbourne based on the gospel of Matthew. It was originally scheduled for a month earlier, but had been rained out and rescheduled for the night we were in town. I love when God confirms His presence and involvement in our lives.

There was the Sunday morning in Strathmore listening to a passionate longterm overseas missionary share his experience and then offer individual prayer. My heart burned inside of me to go up. I hesitated for a moment, then saw the open space between a few other people up there which I saw as my spot so I pushed past my inhibitions and went up. Then I heard several others follow suit. I can’t quite describe what it is like to have someone lay hands on you and pray a blessing over you and perhaps a prophesy if you will, and to confirm the path you’re on. His words still ring in my ears. I kind of feel like Mary did with all these experiences- “storing all these things up in my heart.”

I have absolutely LOVED attending a different church every Sunday allover New Zealand, Australia and one in Indonesia. All the brothers and sisters in Christ we have met are so welcoming and loving. It’s as if we already know one another just like family is when you haven’t seen each other in a while. The most mind blowing concept of it all is the awareness that even if we never meet again on this side of eternity, we will be reunited in heaven forever. I just can’t wrap my mind around how very awesome that is. It has been so encouraging to my faith to meet believers literally allover the world. We have also met and heard from longterm missionaries which is so inspiring. Not many people know it, but I wanted deeply to be a missionary from an early age. It just hasn’t played out how I thought it would.

Before we left for this trip I wondered if I was somehow being disobedient to God by leaving my job and going on a 5 month vacation of sorts. But now I know that this was somehow all part of His plan. He can use all things for His glory and purpose. And I am excited to see how he continues to grow and use us for His kingdom when we return home. I’m sure there are so many more moments I could share about on here. I’m just so thankful that He has restored my joy in Him and brought me back to seeing Him in all things big and small, given me a new perspective on persecution, and an eagerness to share the gospel.

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.

We flew into Perth late Friday January 13th with a full moon. Good thing we’re not superstitious. We walked out of the airport into the cool crisp air and were relieved to be back to camping weather again. In fact, we may have prematurely sent our sleeping bags and under layers back home. We ended up buying a couple of inexpensive blankets for the cool nights which we will give away when it is time to fly to Bali. We’ve enjoyed losing the extra weight of items we shipped home so honestly no regrets there.

  

We went to pick up our rental car and I was thrilled to see that we got a Toyota Corolla hatchback! I’d seen them allover NZ and in Australia and love them. I wish they were sold in the states. There are lots of different cars in NZ and AU that we don’t have in the states even though the same maker. Anyway, I was glad to get our car back in the order we had it while in NZ. Also, Toyotas and Hondas have the most comfortable seats I’ve experienced in a car. (We drove a Hyundai while in Queensland and there was a metal rod in the seat just below the lumbar that presses into your sacrum. Very painful and extremely poor design; the seats are also C shaped which makes you hunch over. Who in the world designed those in this ergonomical design age?)

Once we got our car we drove to a beach to cook breakfast. When I saw the beach I was so happy. It was so beautiful, and full of people and their dogs. No stinger nets. Just gorgeous clear water and dry hot weather. We were going to hang out there for a while, but decided to check out the prison in Fremantle before getting sandy. The tour was very interesting and informative, but I was saddened to hear many of the stories such as young children imprisoned and receiving lashings. Also, women were imprisoned back in the day for things such as “idleness” or “drinking too much”. They were thought to have a serious mental disorder for doing those “crimes”. Then there were the disgusting tales of serial killers. There was a clear presence of evil in that place and I was ready to leave when it was over. It was very strange to be touring a prison that was operating in my lifetime. It closed in 1991.

We had heard about and read about some places on the coast north of Perth so we began our journey north after leaving the prison. We decided to find a less crowded beach to go to, but once we did it had become cold and windy.  We ate dinner in a park and while we were cooking, kangaroos hopped through the park grazing. They came within 10 or so feet of us! They tend to come out around dawn or dusk.

One of the first places we went was the Nambung National Park with the famous Pinnacle Desert. It was very cool. A big thank you to Rebecca Little for suggesting it.

We continued on up to Port Gregory where there is a pink lake officially known as Hutt Lagoon. It was really PINK! Our nephew Alex told us about this before we came to Australia, but we didn’t know we were actually going to see one. It can range from deep red to pale pink due to beta carotene in the water. There is actually a plant there that harvests the beta carotene to use in supplements.

We stopped at several beach towns which were all quaint with pretty beaches, but not very much to do. We played golf one cool morning in a small town called Dongara. We made our way to a town called Kalbarri which I really liked. There were some beautiful beaches there and we went snorkelling at a couple of them. We had really hoped to visit the Kalbarri National Park which has a huge red rock gorge with a river running through it, but the road to hikes we wanted to go on was closed for the next several months except to tour operators or weekends. It was early in the week and too late to go on a tour that day so we missed out on it.

We saw some amazing sunsets along the way too.

We visited this gorgeous lake of stromatolites which are millions year old bacteria mats. Beautiful. No swimming though which was torture since it was nearly 100 Farenheit that day! But cool to see such beauty.

Saw this pack of emus crossing the road. They tend to travel in groups.

 This is a spot where Dave snorkeled in Kalbarri.

These are of the pink lake from the opposite side. As you can see it is huge!

We drove on up to Shark Bay which was very underwhelming especially considering how much hype was built up in the visitor magazine and the very long drive it took to get there. At that point we were at a bit of a crossroads. Our plan was to drive as far north as Coral Bay where you can literally swim out to the coral reef from the beach to snorkel. However, from Shark Bay it was going to be an additional 6-7 hours driving one way to get there for it to possibly not be any more impressive than the towns we’d already seen so we decided to head back towards Perth and explore south of the city. On the drive back we stopped in a couple of the towns we’d passed through before and did some snorkeling.

We were blessed with this amazing sunset in Jurien Bay. We decided to camp near Jurien Bay and while we were cooking our dinner we noticed a man who appeared to be homeless. I wish we had asked him to join us for dinner, but instead we bought him some food from the grocery store. He was very grateful and we planned to invite him to eat breakfast with us, but he was gone in the morning. Lesson learned; don’t miss an opportunity when it presents itself.

All in all I don’t regret the drive north. The beach towns were nice and not commercialized with annoying high rises. The beaches had white sand with clear water. And it was an experience driving on the long redundant straight flat roads of the outback. We saw some beautiful landscapes. And it was definitely worth going to the pinnacle desert in Nambung. I of course cannot leave out the incredible weather; practically no humidity, mostly warm to hot days, and cool nights perfect for camping.