Bliss and Mayhem

Nusa Lembongan has recently become my most favourite place in the world. We visited this tiny island on our last trip to Bali. Imagine what Bali would have been like 30 years ago and that is how it feels stepping onto Lembongan. There is no traffic, no stallholders hassling you. The pace over there is slow, relaxing and exactly what we needed for a 2-day stop over to chill out, refuel and explore. It was the highlight for me of our trip, and when we return back to Bali – I will be booking at least 4 nights over on this untouched paradise. The details that you need:     Image via Pinterest Getting there  Nusa Lembongan is a 12km boat ride east of Bali. A number of boat charters head to Lembongan from Sanur with up to 3 boat rides there daily. We chose Glory Boats. Return boat ride with transfers from you hotel cost approx 500,000 Rp ($50 AUD).  Check out Glory Fast Boats site here for more information.   Where to stay There are many accommodation opti...

   Earlier this year, back in July, I signed up to become a Kiva lender . If you’re not sure what a Kiva lender is, in a nutshell it is a non – profit organisation that was established in October 2005 with a mission to connect people through lending (micro-financing) to alleviate poverty. I loaned $25 to this lady from Bali, Indonesia, her name is Harini and it was to help her buy more fish to sell through her business.     Her total loan through Kiva was $750. That’s over one million rupiah and in rural Bali that is A LOT of money.  To give you some perspective, the minimum wage per month is approx 1.6 million Rupiah (approx $161 AUD) I’ve already received 2 updates from Kiva since my initial sign up and lend. Harini’s latest repayment which I received a couple of days ago means that she has already paid off $3.13 from my $25 loan to her. I love getting updates like this. I love knowing that in a small way, my ability to provide a micro-finance loan t...

  Image via Pinterest   A few nights ago, I watched the doco-movie about Amy Winehouse . I had known of her, had listened to some of her music, but let’s say I never really followed the paparazzi fuelled exposure that was up until her death. This movie, which documents Amy’s life in never seen before footage timelines from the ages of 14 until 27 where she was found dead after a history of drug and alcohol abuse. It has stayed in the back of my mind ever since. You never really know what is really going on for someone. But I can truly and whole heartedly empathise with was I saw, a young woman seemingly spiraling out of control and self medicating her pain. It was her pain that I felt throughout the film. The pain of hopelessness, despair, loneliness and sadness. I understand those feelings, because I have had them many times throughout my life. And I also know, what it feels like when you get to that place that you are just empty and seek anything to fill that void, nu...

  Image via Pinterest   I am my biggest critic. I am also my biggest supporter. Funny how it works, these interesting minds of humans. I had the one of the worst experiences happen a couple of years ago. It taught me perspective, humility, thought and taking stock. It also highlighted to me how we all go on and on and on  and on about bullshit really. Insignificant stuff, that doesn’t  really matter in the big scheme of it all. I’ve also this year had some really big highs and really big lows. I lost two very special people in my life in a tragic motorbike accident early in the year . The grief has been overwhelming. Time has not healed this – my normal day is not normal anymore and I think about them every single day. But Motherly Guilt . Motherly Guilt gets me every time. I really don’t care what other people think of me. I’m proud of the person that I am, proud of the way I conduct myself and focus on my bubble; which are my children and my man. They are t...

   If you're a regular reader on my blog, you would know for sure how much I love travelling to Bali. We have been visiting this beautiful island for the last 6 years and honestly I can't get enough of the place.  When I first visited Bali, like with all new places I was a bit wary when it came to food. Where I ate, what we ate. We ate in more "westernised" establishments and thus paid "western" prices for the luxury. I think I lived on club sandwiches for a few days!  But as we kept coming back, each trip, we started trying different places. We spoke to locals as well as fellow "frequent flyers" and over time received fabulous recommendations of where to eat and what to try.  When in Bali, we eat Balinese food. So now, 90% of where we eat during our trips are local Warungs (local kitchens, little local restaurants). The Indonesian cuisine is so vibrant, fresh and full or flavour and you'd be crazy to not at least try the Balinese food whe...

 With every returning trip from Bali, I come back with fresh tips and information which may be especially handy for a first time traveller to the Island of the Gods. It can be daunting visiting somewhere new, so here are some of my tips when heading over to Bali on a holiday:               Money When arriving to Bali you need $35 US each for your Visa on Arrival (VOA ) { This is if you are travelling on an Australian Passport }. The US rate conversion with AUS is pretty crap at the moment but we just change this at Melbourne Airport. We also change about $100 AUD over the Rupiah at the airport which with the current rate is about 900,000 RP to get us through the first day with drinks and something to eat when we get to Bali. ATM’s If you are going to use ATM’s in Bali, remember to contact your bank to let them know that you will be using your card overseas (in particular mention that you will be in Indonesia) Over the last few weeks...

   The last three weeks have been mentally and physically tiring. We have slogged through our kitchen renovations and have now come to the pointy end of it all with splash-back tiles, flooring and bench-tops left to complete. Working full time and then staying up till well past midnight every night has been exhausting! But no pain, no gain they say and my goodness the reward speaks for itself!    Behold! 90% finished Kitchen! Steve has a "big" birthday coming up and I really wanted to celebrate it with him in style. So what better place to do that than our favourite place to visit, Bali.  There truly is something about the place that has captivated me. All around me when I'm there, I am surrounded by culture, tradition, beauty, history - every time I visit a little piece of me stays there. {it's probably one of the reasons I keep wanted to come back} I won't go all " Eat,Pray, Love" on you though. As the first thing I love to do when I land in Ba...