Monkey Mia Weekend!

Two weekends ago I went on a tour up north with some friends. It was definitely one of the best experiences of my trip thus far. The first day I left currie hall at 6 a.m. to go meet for the tour. I went with 4 girls I already knew (two who go to UCSB and the other two are from Holland), their friend from England, 1 Italian lady, and 4 Japanese people. Once we got out of Perth I learned what Australians mean when they say "the bush." The Bush is literally bushes on and on forever. Our first stop was the pinnacles. The pinnacles are these rock formations that the aboriginals believe are the people of an old aboriginal tribe who were turned into rocks after using up all the land resources. We got some really cool photos, but an old couple got mad at us for climbing on the pinnacles, oops! As we were leaving, our coach broke down! So we were stuck on the side of the road waiting for them to bring us another one. We were supposed to sandboard that day and there were some sand dunes nearby, so we started to sandboard there, only to find out that it was a national park so we weren't allowed to. So instead we had lunch and then napped/hung out in the bus for a couple of hours. rough start. But then, alas, the working bus came for us! We proceeded with our journey and ended at a hostel. It was my first hostel experience and I liked it! We all shared a room and there were a bunch of young people staying there that we hung out with. The next day we went to Kalbarri National Park, which reminds me of Utah/Arizona because it has vibrant red rock. We saw beautiful gorges and hiked down to the river that formed them. Then we went to see the Stramatalites, which were the first living organisms on Earth! They are these ocean rock things that produce oxygen. We stayed at another hostel that night and played cards with a bunch of funny Irish guys. The next morning we woke up early and walked to the beach where they let a few lucky people feed wild dolphins who swim right up close to shore. We then went to an aquarium with open pools and got to see all sorts of cool sea creatures like sea snakes and sharks! Then we went to shell beach, which is a beach that looks like it's all white sand, but really it's a bunch of tiny white shells. It's also really cool because you can walk really far into the water and only be up to your knees. Finally, we ended the day at a farm stay. We saw wild emus and kangaroos! We got to feed some emus, sheep, and kangaroos as well. Then we went and looked at the starts. It was amazing because there was absolutely no light pollution so we could see SO MANY stars. The farmer showed us a bunch of constellations and explained a lot about the stars to us. Afterwards we went and had dinner in the shearing shed. For dinner I abandoned my pescatarian ways and tried kangaroo in a shepherds pie. After dinner we had a bon fire and we tried to show everyone how to make smores, but it was rather difficult because we were lacking supplies (they don't have grahm crackers or hersheys chocolate here). The smores consisted of small chocolate chip cookies and flavored marshmallows. But they were okay, and the bon fire was fun! On our final day we left the farm stay and finally went sandboarding! It was so much fun, and the sand dunes were beautiful. After that we went to this small principality where a guy decided he didn't want to pay taxes so he found a way to secede from Australia. Now he is this old man with a church, post office, and souvenir shop. He even has his own currency (although I'm pretty sure it's not useable) and stamps. Our final adventure was at an animal park where we got to feed different farm animals and kangaroos. While I was posing for a picture of me feeding a horse the donkey bit me! It hurt so bad and that is when I decided there is a reason why donkeys are called ass's. I also saw dingos and crocodiles. Then I got to hold 3 pythons, a big lizard, and a baby kangaroo! It was so cool. An absolutely amazing weekend.

Me with the "prince"

Holding a baby kangaroo!

Holding a python while having two around my neck- eek!

Sandboarding

Shells covering Shell Beach

Shell Beach- all shells, no sand!

One of the dolphins at Monkey Mia

Stramatolites

Gorge

Pinnacles

Bali- a little late

View of sunrise from top of voclano

Hike up Volcano

Gidgit Waterfall

One of the twin lakes

One of the temples

Kuta's main street during the day

Sunset

Finally, I am blogging about Bali. We left on a friday and were lucky enough to have a friend drive us so that we didn't have to pay for a taxi. We got there and the line was short, so things were good. We got up to the counter, gave the lady our passports. She looks through them and goes, "Where are your visas?" The visas in Australia are electronic, they need to be scanned. We tell her this and she says she needs visible documentation and sends us to the customs people. We go talk to the customs, get back in line (which is now very long) and wait. We think that they were having computer difficulties because the line was not moving (and they should have been able to scan our passports). Anyway, we basically ran to our flight, and alas, we got on. The flight was pretty good, but when we landed I freaked out. The airport is on the coast, but I didn't know that, so I thought we were landing on the water haha We were so close to the water! We got there pretty late and on the taxi ride to our hotel we drove through downtown Kuta (the main city in Bali). It was crazy! The traffic was terrible and there were people everywhere! In Bali people don't start going out until around midnight. We spent our first day at the beach, but quickly realized how hot it was. We were literally dripping with sweat. So we had lunch at this really nice restaurant on the beach. I paid $6.50 for a smoked salmon sandwich with a salad and fries. Crazy cheap, and as we found out later, this was one of the most expensive restaurants in Kuta. After lunch we went back to our hotel and spent the rest of the day at the pool where we could lounge in the cool water. That night for dinner the hotel recommended that we ate at this seafood restaurant on the beach. The restaurant picked us up and took us back for free. We literally ate on the beach, the tables were on the sand. It would have been a great place for a date because all the tables were lit by candlelight and you could easily have a walk on the beach after dinner. We got to pick our own fish, a first for me. It was a multi course meal and absolutely delicious. I paid $9. We spent the next day at the pool as well- it was cheap, relaxing, and we worked on our tans! haha On Monday we went on a tour up north. It was our own private tour and we saw temples, lakes, the tallest waterfall on the island, and hot springs. Outside the city the landscape is beautiful and green. The next two days we took surfing lessons in the morning and laid out in the afternoon. I was horrible at the surfing, but my instructor was really nice and funny. His name was adios and we got along really well. On Thursday morning we decided to hike up a volcano to watch the sunrise. A guy was supposed to pick us up at 2 am to drive us to the volcano, but we waited for a half an our and he didn't show. So we went back to bed and then at 3:15 am we got a call that our driver was here! So we had to get back up and get ready again. I was not happy with our driver, and I feel kind of bad because I wasn't very nice to him haha So we got to the Volcano and all the guys at the bottom of the Volcano were laughing at how late we were. We had to hike up the volcano in 40 minutes. It's supposed to be a 2 hour hike. I was dying. I felt so out of shape. The whole way up my friend kept saying, "Who's idea was this? I wanted to ride elephants!" haha But it was definitely worth it. At the top we had a beautiful view of the sunrise and there were cute monkeys! Plus we got to explore the volcano crater. there was a cave with bats that we went into. spooky! We hiked back down and then we were taken to have breakfast at this restaurant on a small mountain across from the Volcano. We had a beautiful view of the volcano and the lake below it. We spent the rest of that day and the next day... at the pool. haha Thursday night was our one night out. I wish we had gone out more because it was so much fun! We started a little earlier than we should have and there weren't many people at the first bar we went to. We danced there for a little and then took our friend back to the hotel (i forgot to mention that she sprained her ankle surfing and was on crutches). At the hotel bar we met this hilarious Irish guy. We sat with him for a while and then we decided to go out again (this was around 2 am). This time the clubs were packed. Luckily the Irish guy was with us because there were a lot of waisted creepers. One guy told my friend he really liked her and wanted to sleep with her! haha I couldn't believe it! We danced at a couple different clubs until about 5 am and then finally we went back to our hotel. What a night! The whole week was so funny because all the guys were obsessed with the fact that we were American. Everyone wanted pictures with us haha I felt like a celebrity. Our flight left late friday night and we got VIP service because our friend was on crutches. All in all the week was pretty perfect. I came back super relaxed.

Off to Bali!!

This past week I have basically been trying to get stuff done before I take off for semester break. I have a stupid paper due during break so I need to finish it before I leave tomorrow. blahhh. But once that is turned in my focus is Bali! We leave Friday evening and have a week there :) It should be pretty fun; I'll tell you how it goes when I get back. For all of you who I talk to regularly, I will miss talking to you for the next week ;p haha Love you all!