Before I knew it I was sorting my bags for my mini break to Indonesia, crazy to think I booked these (ridiculously cheap) flights back in Melbourne 6 months ago!! And even better that my loyal travel buddy Amy BING was meeting me over there after flying from Brisbane! We decided to treat ourselves to some top luxury for the first two night, when in hindsight really we should have done this at the end as after 2 amazing days and nights at the 5* Ramada Beachfront hotel, it made checking out the normal backpacker priced hotels a bit of a nasty shock haha!

It was so nice to not really worry about money for a few weeks after leaving the expensive Australia for a while, eating out two meals a day, cocktails whenever we wanted...it was bliss. We started in the crazy hectic Kuta, which was far too touristy for me but a good night out to say the least. Prices were a bit of a shock when we first got there, of course still way cheaper than Oz, but Asia prices are definitely increasing and its not really possible to 'live it up' without a modest budget anymore, but still it was nice to swap a box of goon for freshly made cocktails and not have to do any washing up and eat out all the time!

We hired mopeds for a few quid a day, at first I just jumped on the back with Amy as I was confident enough to battle the crazy city roads for my first driving moped experience. Amy did well cruising inbetween the crazy traffic whilst I did the directions. It was stil rainy season when we got there but mainly just a humid 35c everyday, with the odd downpour. Though we were lucky enough to get caught in two monsoon like storms on the mopeds which was crazy, it got so bad we had to pull over under cover as it was so dangerous, but we were just soaked through.

After a few days in Kuta we decided to head up to Ubud in Central Bali, which is meant to be where the real Balinese culture is. We ended up staying with a local family in one of the many homestays, it was really nice, they were a lovely family, the room was very basic but had beautiful Balinese architecture and we much preferred giving some money to a local family than just a typical hotel out of the lonely planet guide. We hired mopeds in Ubud again to get around, this time I had my own. We found this great local little restaurant down a side road and it was so much cheaper than the main road and all the food was freshly made it was lovely. We went there everyday whilst we were there. Though Ubud was meant to be much quieter than Kuta, the main street still got a bit hectic at times. It was impossible to walk down the street without getting hassled to buy something or asked if we needed transport!! But thats part of the Asia life I guess.

We spent an amazing day cycling around local villages and through central Bali, it was beautiful. The day started with breakfast overlooking Mt Batur, the active volcano. The trip was worth every penny.

Once you got out of the built up areas Bali was really beautiful, so so green, full of rice paddies and rainforests. I loved the freedom of being on the mopeds and on the bikes exploring. It was great.

Then we decided to head to the Gili Islands...I'd heard it was pure paradise...we ended up staying on Gili Trawagan for 2 weeks...it was amazing. In the end we decided to just pay a couple of pounds more a night to stay in a really nice place, rather than scrimp it in a s***hole...we stayed at Dream Divers...it was so nice, it had an amazing swimming pool, we had aircon,fresh water, great bkfast every morning overlooking the sea and it was on the main strip in the heart of everything. I did my Advanced diving course with them too and it was great as we stayed there so long we all became good friends with the staff and I was able to split my dives over a number of days so it was great and felt like I was doing a lot more. I specialised in peak peformance buoyancy, a deep dive, navigation, underwater photography and did a night dive. It was all amazing and I felt such a better diver by the end of it. The water was just incredible on the Gilis, crystal crystal clear, 30c, I saw turtles, sharks, amazing coral and so many different types of fish and some massive ones.

The island was like paradise...in all honesty though there were parts which were left a bit dirty by the locals and the animals on the island didnt get looked after properly. There are no cars on the island, but locals ride a horse and cart, but we refused to use it as the poor horses looked in such bad condition. Also lots of malnurished cats around with their tails cut off...but again once you got away from the main strip where they was a but of rubbish in parts, it was gorgeous. The water was just amazing. The sunsets were incredible.

Gili Island life was just a relaxing combination of chilling, snorkelling, diving, eating nice food (our favourite was the Beach House where you chose what you wanted to be BBQ'd and helped yourself to the free salad bar), watchin films, drinking at beach bars, enjoying cocktails in the pool (or at the 5* Villa Ombak hotel where the staff gave Amy and I '241' cocktails all night, every night, and they always made them strong for us!) We met lots of people and just generally loved every day there!!

Sadly, and frustratingly, I managed to loose my camera on my last night in Kuta...so you wont be seeing any of the amazing 400 pics I took....absolutely gutted and usually I have my laptop to back them up but Amy and I decided to leave ours in Oz for the few weeks....oh well whats done is done...I am getting a ball and chain for my next camera though!