It is now time to get back in traveller mode! After working hard for 5 months in Perth we had been counting down the days to go on a two week 'holiday' to Bali, Indonesia before traveling the east coast of Australia. We were all very excited, especially Tim, Lloyd and Danny as we have never been here before but have heard the stories from Sam and other backpackers.

After a couple days chilling in the pool at the Sundancer hostel, we flew to Bali on the Friday and landed at around 9pm local time. As soon as we got off the plane it bought back so many memories of Asia and we just knew we were going to have a gooood time! We haggled with a taxi driver and got him to take us to our hostel we had pre-booked. On arrival we were impressed as it was more like a hotel with a nice swimming pool and courtyard area, the rooms were all brand new and even had a big TV and a fridge… luxury for a hostel! The excitement kicked in, so we dumped our bags, freshened up a bit and headed straight out. Sam has been here before so he took us to the bars he knew would be busy. Walking down the streets we started to realise why everyone had told us to be careful here…you get hassled a lot to buy drugs etc. We would say it is the roughest place we have been, but after the experience we had through Asia we knew how to cope, what to say and what not to say etc. Obviously this is all very new to Danny but we all stuck together and look out for each other always. One night we even got asked if we wanted to buy someone's child, and quite a few times if we wanted guns. You get offered women a lot too, but we've never had much of a problem finding our own…

The next morning we woke up feeling ok, and went for a walk about Kuta, which is where we were staying and the main strip where all the bars are etc. You get hassled in the day just as much as the night, and everyone is hustling to make some money. It's the kind of place where if you wanted something, someone will find a way of getting it for you as long as they can make a bit of money. We walked right around all the shops, which all sell pretty much the same stuff, to the beach. The waves were pretty big and you can see why a lot of people go here to surf. Then we headed back to the hostel because Melon ( Nathan ) would be arriving soon. After having a dip in the pool to cool down, Melon turned up and things were getting better and better. The next day as well Elliot, Conor and Jonnie would be arriving so the squad was getting stronger! Us five went out that night again… shock! Whilst staying in Kuta we always started with local beers in the hostel. The beer is called Bintang and it costs about £1 a bottle, so a massive difference to Australia… and it is really nice! Then we would go to a bar called Alley Catz which would be hard to find if someone didn't show you. After that we would usually go to Sky Garden which is the big club in Kuta. It is actually called a 'super-club' as it has 5 floors and lots of different rooms. Melon's two friends who we stayed with in New Zealand actually live in Bali now and work at this club so we met up with them a few times too.

The next day we went for breakfast at a nice restaurant opposite our hostel where they do really good food and also have old premiership football matches on which was good to watch. Sam loved it because it even showed a time when Leeds were good…a long time ago! We went here most mornings and always had a good laugh with the staff there. In the afternoon we went to a pool party called 'Splash' which is a short taxi ride away to a nicer part of Bali. Fozzy & Skaj ( Melon's friends from NZ ) recommended it. We met up with Dale ( guy we saw a lot in Perth ) and his friends too then all headed there. It was held at a really classy venue and drinks were quite expensive but it was such a good day! The standard of girls there was unreal ( mainly escorts and hookers ) and you could tell everyone had a lot of money. The music was banging all day and we spent the day drinking and dancing in the pool and having a laugh as usual! That night Ell, Conor and Jonnie were arriving. We had news during the day they missed their connecting flight so were going to be a few hours later than planned. We decided to go back to the hostel to wait for them, get some food then go out when they arrived. The taxi driver on the way back had a minivan which had been lowered with massive shiny rims and a decent sound system. We had a laugh with him and we cruised around with him for a bit blaring out tunes! We wanted pizza that night but the hostel didn't sell it. However instead of going out to get it, the security guard said he fancied some too, and would go get it and bring it to us. Danny went with him on the back of his moped to get some and we ate it while waiting for Ell, Conor and Jonnie. Eventually they turned up and there was big hugs all round! Obviously Tim and Lloyd haven't seen them in 10 months now… Elliot being longer as he went away skiing a few months before we left. Lloyd had been so excited to see them especially. Of course we went out again that night!

The next day we spent sharing stories, catching up with the boys, swimming in the pool etc. This was the first time Sam and Melon had met the three boys so they were getting to know each other too. We had also arranged to meet up with two girls, one of which, Tim, Danny and Conor knew from home, well we say home, they are from Clacton. They had also met Dale and his mates which is another example of how small the world is. We all wanted to go to Gili Trawanga the next day, which is an island, so booked transport to there. Again we went out that night, Alley Catz, then Sky Garden. With all us lads, Dale and his mates…. there was a good 20 of us… and everyone was becoming best friends.

Gili T

Sam has always said Gili T is his favourite place he had been yet and we were all excited to find out why! We all woke up feeling weird again, I say weird as we wasn't really suffering from hangovers, just weird tiredness, nothing that would stop us getting back on the Bintangs the next dayevening!

We had an hour minibus ride to the port where we then had some lunch, we had to wait on the jetty for our boat for a good 45 mins in the sweltering heat with all our bags on, not going to lie it was unpleasant! Once on the boat though it was fine, air-con on the inside and a nice breeze, banging tunes and Bin Tangs on tap on the top deck, I say on tap, we did drink the boat dry by the end of it. As we pulled up to Gili T we were all dancing with the workers on the top deck getting excited about what was to come.

Gili Trawangen is a tiny island, it takes around 45 minutes to cycle round it at a leisurely pace and there are no engines on the island, the only modes of transport are push bikes and horse and kart. Which is a first for our trip, we genuinely didn't think there were countries that just relied on horse and kart. Luckily our hostel the famous Gili Backpackers was only a short walk away, not surprising considering the island is so small.

Checking into the hostel was a bit of a palava as we were all checking out at different times but it all got sorted then all 8 of us checked into an 8 bed dorm. Then we had a go on the climbing wall! This hostel has a 6 metre climbing wall by the side of the pool, so you can climb all the way up then take the plunge into the water….great fun!! After a bit of a feed and a few naps from some people we all got back on the beers and joss shots. A joss shot is when you have a sachet of powder, can't really explain what it is, like sherbet but full of energy, then straight away followed by a shot of vodka, it takes the taste of the vodka away but if you don't swallow quickly the powder foams up in your mouth and there's no way of swallowing it. It does give you a little boost though which sometimes you do need! A few games of beer pong were played with a couple of German girls and then we all headed out. During the day we were looking around thinking it can't be that good of a night life here… how wrong we were. It is awesome, great music, cheap drinks, busy, loads of girls what more can you ask for!?

The next morning another small world moment happened, a girl Laura with her two friends Tasha and Kate checked into the hostel when we were sitting in the social area, she is one of Sams good mates from home, even lives in the same village. So there was instantly another 3 people added to our ever grown Gili Squad! We also got chatting to two sister from London later that day, who were to come out with us later that night with two Swedish girls. Today consisted mostly of chilling by the pool, but we do get around to doing some touristy stuff I promise!

Another night out beckoned the three northern girls stayed in that night but Victoria, Sophie and the Swedish girls and the two German girls from the night before came out with us. We went to Reggae bar, they had a band playing, they were a local band but singing English songs and they were really good. We were all standing around drinking and chatting wondering why no one was on the dance floor, so we all agreed next decent song we will hit the floor. It happened to be a Bob Marley classic - No Woman No Cry, and we all flooded the dance floor followed by everyone else that was obviously wanting to dance but didn't make the move! The girls had an early one and went home earlyish but the lads soldiered on to another bar where the DJ was sick, we were all loving life!! We are so surprised at the music here as it wasn't like Thailand where it is all a bit cheesy pop mixed with loads of base it was actually decent songs on an island so isolated it didn't make sense but we weren't complaining!

We had all agreed the previous day that we would go on boat and snorkelling trip, we had to be at the meeting point at 10, unfortunately only 4 of us made it, 50% not bad! The four were Lloyd, Tim, Elliot and Sam! The trip cost 120,000 Indonesian Rupiah, which is about $12(for Lloyd, Tim, Danny, Melon and Sam) and about £6(for Ell, Conor and Jonnie) so in short very cheap! The trip on the Glass bottom boat made 4 stops for snorkelling. And one stop on another island called Gili Air for lunch. On our first snorkelling stop we saw three sea turtles, it was amazing, we saw one big one, one average one and then Lloyd saw a quite small one! The way they swim is amazing, they don't put any effort in and glide away from us snorkelers who are swimming as fast as we can to try and get a selfie with them! We also stopped off at a couple of coral reefs full of fish and a few Cray fish, we also stopped off at a shipwreck which was pretty cool! The island we stopped off at, Gili Air is even smaller that Gili T but still just as beautiful, we all had pizza for lunch and sat with some locals and had a laugh with them! We also went for a little walk, stopped off at a small bar where we were offered to buy a gun, 'No thanks mate'. Arriving back at the hostel we made sure we rubbed it in to everyone that we saw three turtles, which made them all jealous, Melon was most annoyed with himself for not getting up but he was to go a couple of days later anyway!

We were very close to not going out that night but we came to our senses and still did. What a good decision that was. It was one of the best parties of our entire time traveling! We didn't start drinking till very late so the first couple of bars we still wasn't feeling it too much as they wasn't very busy! So we headed to the beach party at the end of the strip! OH MY GOD! It was unreal, DJ was unreal, light show was decent, fireworks, firedancers we were all loving life and loving each other. We wasn't even arsed about pulling or anything, well not as much as usual anyway, we were just dancing the night away. I think this night may have been the clincher for Ell, Conor and Jonnie that they then knew they want to save up and do what we have all done! We couldn't get Jonnie to come back to the hostel at all so in the end left him too it with some Scots, he ended up staying out till sunrise and got some amazing photos!!

The next day we got the whole squad together, all 15 of us, Tim, Lloyd, Danny, Melon, Sam, Jonnie, Ell, Conor, Victoria, Sophie, Tasha, Laura, Kate and Adam and Terrance, who are two Canadian Bushfireman on their annual 4 month leave, top boys, we are still yet to meet a Canadian we don't like. We all went to the turtle sanctuary which is a company ran completely by public donations to raise baby turtles and release them into the wild! There were about 50 tiny turtles there in big tanks. We all made some donations to the cause! Next we all made a 45 minute trek to the highest point of the island. It was hard work and a lot of sweat was shed between the lot of us, but we all made it and the views were amazing. We had a bit of a chill out up there and a few pics then made our way back down to the hostel. Tonight was to be the last night with Conor, Jonnie and Ell so had to make it a good one.

We're not going to lie the whole trip is a bit of a blur, and remembering where we went out and who came out which night is a bit of a challenge. It all seems to merge together but all we know is it was amazing! The next day the two sisters Sophie and Victoria wanted to go snorkelling, and so did Melon as he missed out before. Tim told Melon before he would go again if he wanted to go, because he enjoyed it so much… or maybe he just wanted to spend the day with the girls. So the four of them went snorkelling whilst the others slept and chilled out for the day. Tim said it was a lot choppier on the sea this time and visibility wasn't as good under the water so unfortunately they didn't get to see any turtles! But they still had a good day together enjoying the sun, the water, the fish and each other's company. That afternoon it was time to say bye to Connor, Ell and Jonnie so we waited with them at the port. We said our final goodbyes then left Lloyd to say bye to his brothers alone. We will miss those three and would have happily wanted them to stay but obviously the timing isn't right for them at the moment. But mark my words… after the experience they had, they will be back!

The rest of Gili was spent purely enjoying each other's company. We didn't even feel we needed to go out and spend money… we would just spend hours chatting, winding each other up and laughing!!! We all agree we have never laughed so much in our lives. The friendships and bonds that formed over these two weeks do not come around often, and some people spoken about in this blog will hopefully stay in our lives forever, and we can't wait for you all to meet them one day. We know you will love them as much as we do.

We went out every night in Gili…even though a lot of times we agreed not to, but then someone would say they feel ok, could go out, and then we all just end up together on a dance floor somewhere in paradise….Can't grumble! There was not once that any of us regretted going out, even when we were traveling back to Bali on the boat and the sea was rough as a*******s! Tim and Victoria felt the worst, but they had each other's back and made the journey…. Just about! It was sad leaving Laura, Tasha, Kate, Adam and Terrance in Gili, as we are not sure when we will see them again but hopefully it's not too long. Sam wanted another night there so he stayed with them whilst the other six went back to Kuta.

That night was our first night in 11 nights we didn't go out, and it was needed! Sophie and Victoria checked into a nice hotel which they blagged for cheap, being pretty girls and all that!... we went back to our hostel as we liked it there and we got on really well with the staff etc. Melon and Danny wanted a chilled one and went for a massage, and Tim and Lloyd went and chilled with the girls for the night.

The next day us six agreed to meet at a place called Potato Head Beach Club…weird name, but it is actually a 5 star luxury resort. Swim up bar, infinity pool, nice big sun loungers, expensive drinks - you know the sort! We had been before with Ell, Conor and Jonnie too, but the girls hadn't. Us boys rented mopeds for the day and went for a cruise before meeting the girls. Tim was unlucky and got randomly pulled over by police and taken away for a bit. The police are the most corrupt people here. They tried to claim he didn't have the correct licence ( which he did ) and were going to fine him 1 million rupiah (£60). If he didn't pay they would not give him back the moped and he would be arrested. He refused to pay so they called for more police and was taken out the back of a shop, out of view of the street and passers-by. In the end he talked them round into only paying 500,000 rupiah (£30) and they let him go. It was a bit annoying for him but oh well, could have been worse! The same thing happened to Melon on the way home but he had no money on him so they physically couldn't get any and he managed to get away which is lucky! We saw it happen to a lot of people… but there is not much you can do! F*** Tha Police.

That night was our last night us 6 all together so of course we went out! We met up with another group of Irish people we had met and a couple scouse lads who actually knew the girls cousins! We had a good night but it did get a bit emotional saying bye to the girls. They said bye to everyone then Tim and Lloyd took them back to their hotel to see them off in a taxi to the airport etc. But we will see them in January when we come home, and Melon is meeting them for a bit in Singapore so it's not all bad.

Our last day we spent chilling and shopping, then Tim, Lloyd, Danny and Melon went for a last meal together. We wont see Melon until June probably now which is horrible, especially after the amazing times we have had! He has become a best mate and will be a friend for life now. That night we had to get a taxi to the airport at 3.30am…so we made the most of our last few hours together. Danny and Sam fell asleep, but Lloyd, Tim and Melon stayed up having a few beers, chatting about love, life and dreams until we had to get a taxi to the airport. Melon now goes to Asia and we go back to Australia. But we will be staying in touch, always.

We all agree that was the best two weeks of our life. Gili T was unreal….and the people we shared it with made it that much better! Thank you all.

We are back in Perth now for Stereosonic festival, before flying to Cairns to travel the east coast. This is when we say goodbye to Sam too, which is also sad. We had some good times living together in Perth and in Bali, but differences with money etc mean we have to go our separate ways… all the best mate! Right…. This was so much effort writing this, especially after the amount of brain cells we have lost, so we hope you enjoyed it haha. Now to carry on our aussie adventure….