We packed up everything and left Jenolan Caves on the 18th, for a few days in Sydney before a week in Bali and then the new permenant mailing address in Yulara, aka Ayers Rock.
Erin picked us up in Jenolan Caves (she is my friend who worked with me at the Delta in PEI last summer but is from Sydney) and we drove back to her house in Lidcombe. We had a BLAST hanging out for two days relaxing, hitting the beaches and chilling in the city! We went to Curonella, our fav beach we think, where we eat some great food on the beach and watched the sunset. The next day we got up early and hit up Manly Beach, one of the iconic ones in Aussie. It was FABULOUS we took the ferry over, so it was also a great time experiencing the ferries and going through Sydney Harbour. It was fabulous! Then we pack up again and took of to BALI for a week!
Bali was amazing! It was relaxing and just what we needed before getting to Ayers Rock! We stayed in Kuta Beach which is a great surfer town. Filled with lots of Aussies and anyone who wantes to get away. We spend the first night just getting to the hotel, cause our plane landed at 11pm, and we just got some food from the hotel. Then the next day we spent the whole day exploring the town! Checking out all the surf shops and chilling on the beach! Then that night Tony took me for a walk on the beach to watch the sunset....then HE ASKED ME TO MARRY HIM!!! of course I said YES! He gave me an amazing ring too- exactly me. I love it. But more then anything I love him and he loves me! That's what matters! Then we went out for some supper to celebrate with some drinks as well! IT was so romantic and amazing!
Then the next day we got up early and went on our first tour. It was a fun one that's for sure! We went to soooo many different places all over the island! A textile manufacture, a jewerly manufacture, wood carver, rice fields in Ubud, the Monkey forest in Ubud, the Volcano (also where we stopped for lunch- with a great view of the volcano!) and then the coffee and spices plantation. It was all AMAZING! I think that we both liked the coffee and spices plantation the most though. It was super fun! The even gave us some free samples- and then we bought a cup of luwak coffee. This coffee is considered the best coffee in the world. Basically the Luwak animal eat the coffee beans but dont digest it all and it poos it out, and then they roast it and then we drink it. Yep, so in the end we paid to drink poop. But it was great! Nothing I would run out to buy but it was very good coffee! That night we just chilled out, and caught the last of the sunset before going to bed early!
Thursday we had a day of nothing, so again we went around town looking at everything and finding out lots about the locals. Apparently they are very pushy with the haggaling! haha You have to say NO THANK YOU like 10 times before they stop asking you!
Then on Friday we got up super super early to get to our cooking class. It was prolly our most fun day! We arrived and he took us to a market where he explained about traditional breakfast snacks where and what they were made out of. Then we eat some. YUMMY! He then took us to the fish market, where we were turned off fish for the rest of our trip! hahaha they were just selling fish that shouldnt have smelt liek that, or looked like it, it was defintely not fresh anymore! Then we went back to his property and started cooking! It was great, nothing hard or too challanging, but LOTS of fun! We made 20 dishes in the day, then we got to sit down and eat them all! It was super fun and fabulous! It was called Bumbu, and we would recommend it for ANYONE going to bali! Definitely worth the day of fun! And of course Tony purchased a cookbook from him, so if anyone wants to make balianse food, let us konw, we are up for it!
Then on Sat we did another tour of the island, this time going to the North side of the Island. It was great fun. It was great to see the difference between the different sides of the island! It was SOOO mountainous and hilly! We went to a hot spring and got to relax in the pools for a while, then a waterfall, a fruit maket and a temple. It was amazing too see the culture of the temple. So fasinating, to watch the prayer services. Then we went back to the hotel to see just see the sunset. It was GREAT!
Then on sunday we packed everything up and moved to Ayers Rock!
We have now started our orientation and it's going well, we are really enjoying it, and cant wait to tell you all more!
