Since Bali...

Well, it seem like it's been awhile...

We flew our way to Cairnes and chilled out there for a few days, gathering information on how to aquire harvest work, meaning working on farms. We made a lot of phone calls, celebrated Tom's 21st, and then decided we needed to stop wasting time in the city and get into the thick of farm country.

We managed to get a few rides from fellow backpackers and made our way to the country town of Ayr.

Here we are four days in and number 18 and 19 on the waiting list for work. Today we're moving to a competing hostel, as we went to check them out last night and they seem to have better luck with work and they have a shorter waiting list as the hostel holds 50 people less than our current one. We've booked in till Wednesday here, so we're going to lose a bit of money which stresses both of us out, Tom and I that is, but hopefully it'll land us a job quicker and make up the difference. (Tom has decided to eat 2 minute noodles for a few days out of guilt, I don't know how he does it)

Everyone says there really isn't much to do in Ayr, but we've definitely managed to entertain ourselves these past few days, having instruments always helps. We've walked around and explored many different nooks and crannys of the town, found a few favorite benches to sit on, spoken to some of the locals, read and read some more, lots of sitting the park, thought about climbing a tree (Tom is deathly afraid of spiders, and Australia has a bad reputation for deadly ones), visited the open-air cinema (awesome!), cooked, library, internet, and stared at each other with the question in our eyes of 'what now' (every minute counts you know :).

So yeah, we're a bit bored, and the stress of not having work, and all the other backpackers boredom combined makes for an interesting environment. We'll see what happens....

The Real Bali

Tom and I decided after 3 nights in Kuta, that it was high time to see "the real Bali". We did our research, talked to other tourists, looked at fliers, and haggled with various motorbike rental guys and settled with a lovely feisty blue number for 35,000 rupia per day, as in around $3,50 Australian. Crazy good, helmets and insurance included.

But, if you've never been to Bali, you don't really know what you're getting yourself into when you climb aboard a motorbike. Boy did we find out. You pretty much make your own rules on the road, especially if you're on a bike. Going the wrong direction on a one way road, flying through red lights, and parking wherever you stop is commonplace. By the fifth day, Tom had a good handle of the road, but I was happy to return the bike still alive and unhurt from our wonderful, yet heart-stopping adventure.

For a better image go to http://mapsbali.com/areas/bali.php

We began the real Bali experience in Uluwatu, which is at the Southwestern most tip of the island. Spent a night there in our first homestay and watched the sunset from the cliffs. The next day we headed to Sanur for a bit of a dip before zooming over to Denpasar where we spent, literally 7 hours looking for our hotel. Really I don't know how we kept going after the 4th or 5th hour, but Tom was really determined as we had already paid for it, and I think men are just determined like that :)

We had a couple of different addresses for Piliau Residence, as they may have moved or had a really terrible webdesigner, I may have to refer them to Reg, but the website only gave street names and no number for the address. So 7 hours of driving, crying, rain, darkness, and mixed language conversations later, we stopped at a restaurant that was about to close in defeat to find out where else we could stay. The woman, Melan, was wonderful to us and called all her friends, who called all their friends, and no one knew it, but the hotel happened to call us back in this time and gave her directions so she drove me there with Tom following behind. To this day, we would never be able to find our way back there. PHEW!

The next day we were pretty exhausted, but we made our way to ubud and saw the monkey forest, where there were heaps of monkeys wandering around, jumping on my head and reaching straight into my purse to look for goodies. Those buggas even know how to use zippers! They're pretty darn cute though. That night Tom took a nap, I got a massage, and we went to a shadow puppet show. The next morning we got a tour of the Gaia Raja, which is a Hindu temple also in Ubud, and we learned heaps about the Hindu religion and how the Gaia Raja came to be. Afterwards the tour guide took us swimming in a lovely river. Nice day.

After the tour, we made our way though the mountains to the north coast, buying a snack of fresh strawberries for $1 along the way, and stopping for a cup of coffee at a local families house that we just stopped for a stretch.We were admiring their view, when Katrina, who's 7 decided to practice the only english she knew by asking our names. The mother heard and came to investigate and offered us some coffee. It was a bit awkward because we couldn't really have a conversation, but they were very lovely.

Then we arrived in Singaraja, where a man on his motorbike invited us to stay at his homestay, we got there and it was full, but he set us up with a friend and we got a pretty good deal on a sunrise dolphin cruise and snorkeling. Tom's first time snorkeling! The dolphins were beautiful and intent to impress us with flips and twists and the coral and fish were beautiful and reminded me of home.

Finally we made our way back to Kuta area, stopping in Tanah Lot to see a temple on a small island in the ocean and getting a feast of some of the best chicken I've ever tasted from a local family grilling some on the side of the road. They were very pleased to show off their delicious cooking to some foreigners. Along the way we have been eating as local as possible, and have discovered that we quite like the local cuisine, even thought we're not sure we always know exactly what we're eating, but it doesn't necessarily agree with our stomachs. I think I had to visit the little girls room 4 times last night and again twice when I woke up this morning. Tasted good the first time around anyways :)

Tonight we head back to Darwin and the next morning to Cairnes to look for work. Wish us luck and blessings to you all.