Margaret River!

Sam golfing with roos on his 25th Birthday!
Beer tasting at Bootleg Brewery!

We headed further south to the premiere wine and surfing region of Western Australia, Margaret River. It's a cozy little town surrounded by hundreds of wineries, as well as breweries and chocolate and jam factories. We have been sampling our selves silly the last few days. For Sam's 25th B-day we went out for a morning round of golf, Alix was happy to come along because there were Kangaroos all over the course. After that we went to the beach at the river mouth which was beautiful and had a huge surf break where we watched surfers and wind surfers go at it. Then we headed back inland to do some more wine tasting. Now that we have stocked up on wine and chocolate we are ready to keep moving south.

Bunburry...

On our way south of Perth we stopped in a sleepy little ghost town called Bunburry, the beach was beautiful with good body surfing waves which we partook in, but the people in town dissapeared into their hollows at about 4pm. We decided to see a 9 o'clock movie and when we got back to our hotel we were locked out and had to spend the night in our compact Hyundai while fighting off mosquitos and eating left over starbursts all night.

Australia Day!

We happened to arrive in Perth on Australia day (Australia's 4th of July basically). It was a shock to be in a country with level sidewalks and where cars stopped for pedestrians. People were wearing Australian flags as capes and one man painted himself as such and sported only a blue g-string. We were in the central park where 100's of thousands of

people gathered for picnics and eventually a spectacular fireworks show that out-sparked any that we have ever seen in the states. We searched for a beer but there were none! Even after the festival it was hard to find a pub, and when we finally did they wouldn't let us in because we were wearing sandals! Sam went 4 days without shoes, or sandals in Bali!

Our last days in Bali

Our last days in Bali were very relaxed, just hanging out with the community of people we had gotten to know. We didn't mention that Dj is a great singer and Dan is a great guitar and drum player, and we got to see them perform at open mics on a couple occasions, great fun. Sam caught his first wave in Legian as the trash in the water clung to his board and body, disgusting, but good waves to learn on.

Gili Trawagan

The Gili islands are a small group of 3 islands off the west coast of Lombok, the island due east of Bali. Getting there was more painful than advertised. We choose the cheap option of transport on the sluggish ferry across a stormier than expected sea, one of these ferries capsized a week earlier claiming 200 lives, we would never choose this option again and don't reccomend it to anyone. One man wore a motorcycle helmet and prayed for his life, while Sam's projectile vomiting over the side amused some passengers but made others lose their grip on their tastier on the way down breakfast, proving that he still hasn't developed his sea legs. A bus ride through Lombok and then another ferry out to Gili Trawangan made it a nine hour travel day. The island is small enough to walk around in two hours, and there are no cars or motorbikes on the island, only a pony and carriage that runs up and down the main beach strip. We rented some bikes with Dan and Dj for a few days and biked around the island, which was nice for finding secluded beaches but the road quickly turned to sand paths so we walked our bikes here and there. We found some stairs up a hill into the jungle and discovered an amazing view point to see all around the island and watch the sunset. The island itself was full of drealocked balinese rastas with live reggae music every night, little kids who were always followed by a baby black goat, flying homemade kites, or playing in the surf, signs selling magic mushrooms, and mosques that went off a little loud for comfort at the most awkward times throughout the night. Also, cats and/or roosters would start a chorus in the middle of the night that filled warm tropical air. We ended up staying a few days longer than expected, partly because the fast boats back to Bali were full, but moreso because we were enjoying the small island vibes.
We are now back in Ubud staying in a beautiful room for $25 a night, hanging with Dj and Dan who are almost polar opposites, just picture a hyperactive squirrel and eyore. They have been showing us around Ubud, introducing to different open mic bars, restaraunts groups of ex pats who live in incredible houses and have potlucks everyday it feels like. We watched the inaguration on CNN live at 1:30am in a bar full of ex pats and inspired tourists. The next day we went to Dan's uncles house for an incredible Obama potluck, and we brought a deadly chocolate cake from the local bakery with OBAMA written on it. Tomorrow is our last day in Bali before our journey to Perth, so we are soaking up every moment!

Padang Bai

Padang Bai was our favorite place yet, a tiny port town with cheap accomodation and fresh seafood, nice people, a couple reggae bars and a few very nice beaches. One was a white sand beach that not many people know about with clear turquoise water, the other a black sand beach, and then blue lagoon (picture above) which was a decent snorkeling spot, but nothing to write home about. Here we met some interesting characters, Bobby a sailor from San Diego, who we met during a fresh baracuda dinner, has been sailing for 3 years down Central America, out to the Galapagos and the across the Pacific visiting many places along the way eventually landing in Bali which he says is his favorite place. We met Dennis, Chaz, and Tree who are nice, fun people. Dennis is a real character, always hugging and kissing every man and woman and telling them how beautiful they are. It's crazy how the room changes when he walks in! But, there are many characters in Bali. We have also been honing our skills of finding good Balinese cousine, babi guling or suckling pig has become Sam's favorite lunch, and Bak Su, chicken ball soup is a rainy weather favorite, just don't ask what the chicken balls are really made of. The fresh calamari has been another cheap favorite of ours. The last night in Padang Bai we met Dj and Dan at the Babylon who we traveled with to the Gilis the next day and have been hanging out with in Ubud since, they are lots of fun and we are enjoying everyday to the fullest!

Bali Adventures

We found ourselves back in Ubud again on a white water rafting trip through a canyon consumed by jungle, with waterfalls pouring down around every corner. The rapids were fairly mellow but a few good drops gave us some thrills. The highlight were the rock carvings along the river where local artists had carved intricate scenes into the rock walls for about a half mile stretch along the river. Later that night we went to a Kecak dance, which was 100 local men chanting and singing and using their bodies to tell a story. We journeyed down to Sanur, where the feeling was that of a retirement home, grey hair everywhere. We quickly departed and hired a driver who took us around southern Bali. We stopped at the Ulu Watu temple where monkeys played on cliffs overlooking the Indian Ocean. We stopped at Dreamland Beach, which is currently being ruined by massive hotel developements. We were swarmed by hundreds of children from Jakarta who all asked us for autographs and pictures (part of a school project) but it made us feel like celebrities especially when other people on the beach took the opportunity to snap some photographs with us. We had a delicious seafood dinner on the beach to end the day, fresh clams, prawns, and red snapper, all cooked to perfection. The next few days we hung out in Semiyak which was a more mellow version of Kuta, and then headed to Padang Bai, which has been our favorite place yet! More to come on that soon... we are headed to an Obama potluck now to celebrate!!!!

Lovina!

This past week we rented a jeep and drove around the island. Let it be known that driving here is nothing like in the States. Not only did we have to get used to driving on the left side with the steering wheel on the right, but people here are absolutely nuts. We would have someone pass us as we were passing with a blind corner ahead with a bus already coming at us, total chaos but somehow traffic keeps flowing. We headed north with our new friends, Bas, from Holland, and Naoko from Japan, who were on their honeymoon, to Lovina Beach, pictured above, which was a sleepy beach community that we grew to love. The main attraction is the dolphins, so one morning we woke up early to take a boat out onto the bay and spot them. The best part was being on the calm water at sunrise, because while we saw a few dolphins, it was ruined by all the boats chasing them when someone spotted the pod. The next day we went to a waterfall and hotsprings close by, we had a few unwanted guides accompany us to the waterfall who showed us the good mud spot under the falls and scrubbed mud all over us, nicer than it sounds. The next night, we agreed , was one of the most memorable of our lives (picture and short description below).

Loving Living Life in Lovina!

A tropical lightning storm, swimming in an ocean alive with the most incredible bio-luminescense* we have ever seen, and magic shakes, need we say more?

Happy New Year from Bali!

We arrived in Bali safely and found an overpriced cockroach infested room our first night in Kuta, everything is booked here this time of year because all of South East Asia is on holiday. Our taxi driver dropped us off at what he called 'ground zero.' We thought that meant it was where all the clubs were or that it was the center of town, it was both of those but what he meant was that it was where the terrorists had bombed a nightclub in 2002. Our hotel was literally right next door to the club that was bombed where now there is momument dedicated to the victims of the attack. Kuta was a cesspool of tourists and very pushy salesmen. We are happy to be in Ubud now on new years day, an artsy town surrounded by rice paddies where yoga classes are highly available (Alix is stoked). Last night we celebrated the New Year by first having an incredible buffet of traditional Balinese cuisine, which was made by a sweet balinese family who taught us about their culture. We were sitting at a table with people from all over the world including a couple from Santa Rosa (small world!). After dinner we all headed down to the center of town where a traditional Gamelon band was playing (really loud). The pyrotechnics went off at midnight, right above our heads, and the tourists all laughed out of utter fear. The rain started coming down right at midnight and we danced late into the night, or early morning. Happy New Year 2009!