Adventure Awaits…

The journey to Nelsons Bay was not too long and we decided to head straight to the beach once we arrived as weather was so lovely. We found a nice, private little beach which we parked the camper up at and relaxed at for a few hours. Whilst there we phoned some campsites and found a nice, cheap campsite not far from the beach we were at.

We arrived at the campsite and it was actually a family ran lovely campsite. The lady who ran it was really welcoming and she explained that the sand dunes (which we had no idea about) were right behind the campsite. It was kind of a right place, right time type of moment.

We set up the campervan, had a shower and then headed over to the sand dunes. We walked out of the back of the campsite and into a forest and then there we were … it kind of felt like a parallel universe. It was incredible .. sand mountains that went on for miles and miles and miles. We were both absolutely shocked. It was like we had stepped into the Sahara desert. We walked over the sand dunes and found a perfect spot to watch the sunset. We then cracked opened a couple of beers and were ready. The sunset was beautiful and the surrounding areas made it even more breathtaking.

We made our way back to the campsite after the sun had set (trying not to get lost we followed our footprints in the sand). We made some dinner and then off we went to bed.

The following day we decided to book quad biking on the sand dunes. We were recommended this by the people who ran the campsite. At first I didn’t really know what to expect and wasn’t really sure if it was my cup of tea but wow was it fun! I was pretty nervous at first and was at the back of the group the whole time but I had a really fun time and it was awesome to do something I had never done before.

We headed out of Nelsons Bay that day and decided to head to our next destination. Next stop … Port Macquarie! 🐨

We decided to leave the Blue Mountains earlier than expected as the weather was rubbish. The journey to Newcastle was a few hours and we were looking forward to it as we found out some of our friends from Melbourne were staying in the same campsite as us.

We arrived around 4pm and set up camp next to our friends. It was nice to be in the company of other people again and we spent the evening drinking and playing card games.

The following day we woke up feeling a bit sorry for ourselves from all the alcohol and headed to the beach (perfect hangover cure). The beach was very quiet (as we were staying just outside of Newcastle) but it was nice to relax for the day and have some downtime reading my book.

That evening we did the same as the previous evening, drunk and played games. We had a BBQ altogether and ate together as well. George and I decided we would leave the next day and head into actual Newcastle to see what was there.

The following day we headed into Newcastle. It was a quiet surfer town with a few shops and restaurants. We found it not the most interesting place so decided to head to the next place on our destination list. Next stop … Nelsons Bay!

The journey to the blue mountains was short but very rainy, windy and as we approached the mountains it got very cold (8 degrees). We found a free campsite in the middle of the blue mountains and camped there for the evening. It was dark by the time we arrived so we found a spot, cooked some noodles and went to bed.

The following day the plan was to get up and go to the three sisters but the weather was so miserable we decided not to. We woke up, had some cereal in the camper and drove towards the three sisters but it was too foggy to see anything so we decided to head towards Newcastle (along the east coast) instead.

In the end we only had 1 night in the Blue Mountains because of the weather but we were excited to head to our next destination and to also be meeting some friends we had made in Melbourne! Next stop … Newcastle!!

The journey to Sydney from jervis bay was only 2.5 hours so it was a nice, quick journey. When we both arrived in Sydney we were both so excited and happy to be there. Although we had both obviously been living in Melbourne for months we never actually quite felt like we were in Australia as it was so cold and so similar to home! So Sydney was the point at which we would really feel like we were in Australia.

Our first stop (as it was sunny) was the famous Bondi beach. We pulled up in the camper and parked at the beach and wow was it beautiful. Just like you see in pictures, waves crashing against the rocks, surfers and beautiful blue, glistening water. It was paradise. We headed straight to the beach and relaxed for a few hours.

That night we headed from Bondi to the Sydney opera house as we knew it was going to be a nice evening. As we approached the Opera House I couldn’t quite believe I was there, I really felt like I was in a dream. It was beautiful and the harbour bridge was also amazing to see. We had a drink by the Opera House (which we thought was going to be expensive but actually was only $10 for a wine which is £5, so not bad at all) and enjoyed the views that were surrounding us.

We headed over to The Rocks after our drinks and had dinner here. I was recommended by a few people that this was a nice place to go to so we decided to eat here. We found a cute little cafe restaurant where we sat outside and ate yummy food (definitely a nice treat compared to the camper food!)

Our first full day in Sydney we decided to take a walk around the CBD and get a feel for the city. We were a bit disappointed as the weather was so rainy and pretty miserable but we got our rain macs on and got on with it! We walked around and looked in some of the shops but found after a while we were just getting very wet and it wasn’t very comfortable so we headed for darling harbour for a drink. Darling harbour was a really buzzy place with lots of bars and restaurants so we found a cheap happy hour there ($5 wines) and sat for a few hours until the rain passed.

As the rain stopped we walked around the city a bit more and over the darling harbour bridge fireworks began to start. This was a really lovely surprise as we did not expect it at all .. kind of a right place right moment kind of time. We soon headed to bed after this as it had been a long day, so we grabbed some dinner on the way back and went to bed.

The following day the weather was looking a bit better so we decided to head over to Manly as we had seen a lot of the city already. We were surprised at how cheap the ferry over was ($5.60 return)! Manly was a cute little seaside town with lots of surfers. We decided to have fish and chips on the beach and then took a walk to explore Manly. It was a nice area but unfortunately too cold to lay on the beach so we got an ice cream and headed back over to the city on the ferry.

We decided once we were back to take a walk over the Harbour Bridge. This took us around 20 minutes and gave us amazing views of the city and the Opera House. The sun then started to come out so we had a few drinks by the Opera House before heading out for the evening.

That evening we wanted to explore the surrounding subhards so decided to head into Kensington. We found a crazy golf so we did that for the evening, had some dinner and then headed to bed. We decided that evening that we would leave Sydney the following afternoon as the weather hadn’t been the best and we didn’t want to waste our time.

For our last morning in Sydney we did the walk from Bondi to Coogee. This is a beautiful coastal walk which wakes around 1.5 hours. It has a lot of steps but definitely worth it for the beautiful views. Unfortunately it rained the whole way but we braved it and put our rain jackets on! It was nice to get some fresh air and see some more of Sydney before leaving.

That afternoon we packed up the campervan and headed out of the beautiful city of Sydney. We had an amazing time exploring despite the weather. We took the scenic route out of the city and over the harbour bridge which was a cool experience! Next stop … The Blue Mountains!

We arrived in Jervis Bay as the sun was setting so we decided to take a walk around the campsite (along the beach) to stretch our legs after many hours in the car. We made some dinner in the van that night, ate outside and then got into bed. We were both pretty exhausted from all the driving over the past couple of days so it was nice to have an early night.

The next morning we woke up with a plan to walk along the coast to the whitest beach in the world (as said in the World Guinness Book of Records). It was nice to not have to pack up the bed and rush off in the morning, so we could eat our breakfast outside and take our time a bit.

The walk from Huskisson (where our campsite was) to Hyams Beach (whitest beach) was 6 miles and took us around 2 hours. We didn’t actually realise it was this long before we started the walk. The whole walk was along the coast which made the views very beautiful. We stopped along the way to have some lunch which we had pre-made (saving that money!!).

We finally arrived at the beach, both our legs were aching but we definitely felt like we had achieved something! The beach was beautiful, the sand was so white and the sea had so many different colours within it. We laid on the beach for a couple of hours before having to head back on the 6 mile walk back to Hussiskon.

Once we arrived back at the campsite we were both exhausted and felt like we had ran a marathon! It was a long day but really nice to do some exercise as we had both been in the van for 2 days straight. We definitely deserved our steak dinner that night which we bought on the way back to the campsite! We played some cards that evening and had a reasonably early night as we were up and out early the next day.

The following day we packed up the camper, made some sandwiches and off we went to our next exciting destination. We were absolutely buzzing for the next place we were travelling to and could not contain our excitement. Next stop … S Y D N E Y!!!

The trip to Kosciusko was an adventure if anything. Unfortunately the first stop we had to make was to the mechanics as we realised the night before we couldn’t open the campervan sliding door from the inside, so we had to get this fixed. Luckily it was faulty and not our fault, so we didn’t have to pay anything for it and was there for only 30 minutes getting it fixed. We then started to make our way to the National Park.

We stopped about an hour after driving by a lovely little stream where we had some breakfast and made some sandwiches for the journey. We definitely felt like right campers at this point as we had to wash our bowels we used for the cereal in the stream!!

After our quick pit stop we drove for quite a few hours not really knowing where we were driving to. We googled mapped Kosciusko National Park for our destination but not really aware that it was a massive place and there were lots of different parts of the park we could go to. We ended up finding a campsite in the middle of the National Park so we googled mapped this camping site and began to drive there.

The drive towards the National Park was really beautiful full of fields and trees that went on for miles. We were lucky enough to also have blue skies the whole way so this made the drive even better. As we approached the National Park we begun to realise how much damage the bush fires had done to it. It was interesting to see but very sad to see how damaged the nature around us was.

We then began to worry as the road we were meant to go down to eventually reach the campsite had a road closed sign. However being the idiots we are we decided to head down anyway to check it wasn’t an old sign. We went down this road which went on for about 50k, the trees were all burnt out and everything was basically black apart from the road. Unfortunately, we met the end of the road and it was closed so we had to turn all the way back. We soon realised that we couldn’t reach the campsite we wanted to go to so we had to make a plan B.

Plan B was to drive to a campsite half way between the point we were at and Mount Kosciusko so it would make it a bit quicker to get to the mountain in the morning. We drove in the pitch black, down windy lanes and lots of kangaroos jumping out. It was definitely an experience we wouldn’t forget. Once we arrived at the campsite there were only a couple of other campervans there so it was very quiet and a bit spooky actually. The campsite was a free campsite so that meant gross toilets, no showers or facilities. It probably wasn’t wise of us to arrive at night not knowing where we were and what was around .. but never mind! We quickly cooked some dinner in the camper, got into bed and went to sleep.

The next morning we woke up and wow were we shocked at where we had come to … we opened the blinds in the campervan and the bluest most glistening lake was about 10m in front of us. This was the most amazing surprise to wake up to. We ate breakfast by the lake and took in the breathtaking views that surrounded us.

Once we had packed up the campervan we started to make our way to mount Kosciusko. After this we would be heading more towards the east coast … next stop the beautiful Jervis Bay!

So after 4 months of living in Melbourne it was time for us to head off again on our next adventure. We loved the time we had in Melbourne, especially our beautiful apartment and views of the city which we got to wake up to everyday! We were both lucky enough to also love the jobs we had and save enough money to travel the east coast with.

After researching different ways to travel the east coast we decided in the end to hire a campervan. We began our journey on Monday 8th March in Melbourne and would hopefully end in Cairns within about 6 weeks. We packed up our rucksacks (which we hadn’t used in 4 months) and also packed a suitcase which we recently bought because we had bought too much whilst in Melbourne… (whoops!!)

We decided not to take the coastal route throughout Victoria as we figured this would make the east coast trip extremely long (bearing in mind how big Australia really is). We also wanted a bit of a change as we knew we would get a lot of the coastal views from Sydney to Cairns so we thought we would take the inland route.

Our first stop from Melbourne was the Yarra Valley. It was a nice first stop as it wasn’t too far out of Melbourne (only an hour) and we got to see the beautiful wineries in the surrounding areas. We stopped at Chandon and Oak Ridge Winery which were breathtaking. The vineyards went on for miles, were so green and just overall really pretty. At Oak Ridge Winery we even got to experience wine tasting, it was interesting to hear about the different wines and how they are made.

The drive to the campsite also consisted of beautiful views, lots of greenery and blue skies. The campsite itself was actually a shock to us, we weren’t really sure what to expect but it’s was very nice. It had a swimming pool, bbq area, clean bathrooms and a nice area for us to set up for the night. We paid $40 for the night which was probably out of the budget a little bit but we wanted to be safer than sorry for our first night.

Once we had arrived we unpacked the shopping which we had just bought and cooked our dinner (chicken, skewers and salad) in the bbq area. We ate outside the camper and used the camping chairs and table feeling like proper campers! Unfortunately as winter in Australia is beginning (even though it’s still 20 degrees!) it gets dark around 8 o’clock so we had to quickly pack up and set up the bed for the night.

The 2 sofas in the camper unfold to make a bed and we brought out bedding from the apartment to make it a bit more cosy. I was worried that the bed would be uncomfortable but it was actually really comfy. We both slept like babies that night and felt really relaxed in our new little home.

The next morning we woke up, showered and packed up the bed ready to move to our next destination. We were actually heading out of Victoria this day, so it was goodbye to Melbourne officially and hello New South Wales! Next stop … Kosciusko National Park!

We travelled to Amed by taxi as that’s the way you get around mainly in Bali. It took around 2 hours so this was one of the longer journeys, but we soon arrived at our cheap budget hotel and realised how nice it actually was! One thing that I haven’t mentioned on my blogs is how good George is at choosing cheap places to stay that are actually really nice! £7 a night each for a hotel with a pool … bargain!

We came to Amed for 1 reason and that was to dive at the Liberty Wreck. We booked our diving through a coming called ‘Adventure Divers’. They were probably the best company we have used for diving so far, they were so professional but also so friendly and comforting when you needed them to be. They gave us such an amazing experience so I would highly recommend them.

We spent our first night in Amed having dinner at the hotel as we wanted to have an early night before the diving the following day. The dinner was really good and so cheap, so we were really happy!

We were picked up by Adventure Divers the following day and taken to their office. They had set up all our equipment for us already so all we had to do was fill in a couple of forms, get into our wet suits and get to know our dive master. We travelled to the wreck by van and it was 30 minutes out of Amed to Tulamben. We were surprised as we were told that we wouldn’t be getting on a boat at all to get to the dive site as it was a a shore dive. This was good for me as I tend to get bad sea sickness on the small diving boats.

We arrived at the dive site, were given our briefing and then put our equipment on. We were so surprised as the Liberty Wreck was literally 10m off the beach so we would drift into the water and then we would be able to see it.

I was amazed at how big the wreck was (120m). We actually swam the whole way round the wreck. The coral was so alive and there were so many fish. On our second dive we got to swim through the Liberty Wreck which was an amazing experience. You could even recognise things like the wheel of the ship and the cannons, this was fascinating to see as they had been there for years and not eroded away. The dives at the Liberty Wreck were awesome as they were so historical and dives that we had never experienced anything like before. We even managed to stay in the water for 50 minutes which was our record time yet!

Our third dive was a drift dive off the shore in Amed. On this dive we saw the underwater pyramids, they were filled with live coral and fish. We also got to see turtles on this dive which was really nice! The dive was really good as we drifted the whole way so you didn’t have to fight against the current at all or really kick! It was nice and relaxing and a great way to end the fab day of diving we had just had!

That evening we headed to a restaurant that was recommended to us by the dive people. It was really yummy and only a short walk away from our hotel! We were exhausted from all the diving so got back to the hotel and went straight to sleep. It was an amazing day.

The following day we were leaving again so we packed up our bags and headed to the ferry harbour in Padang Bai. Amed was a great place for diving, it didn’t have much else there apart from this so I wouldn’t recommend going unless you want to dive or free dive. We had so much fun there and loved diving at the USST Liberty Wreck! Next stop … Gili Islands!

We travelled by taxi to reach Ubud as it was only an hour away. We stayed in a cute little family run homestay and it was perfect for the time we had in Ubud. We were happy to be away from the beach and back in a busy town where we could get a feel for Baleniesen life.

On our first night in Ubud we rented a scooter from our homestay and headed into the town. The town was very buzzy with lots of restaurants and shops. It had a really nice feel to it. There was a huge market in the centre of ubud that sold lots of clothes and souvenirs and obviously I ended up buying something! After wandering around the town we found a cheap hidden restaurant that did really good Indonesian food. It was just off one of the main streets but in a really cute garden. It was a hidden gem!

On our first day in Ubud we headed to the Sangeh Monkey Forest (yes if you’ve read my previous blogs my worst nightmare). Now there is a main monkey Forest in the centre of Ubud but I had heard/read bad reviews on it saying they treat the monkeys badly there and they can become quite aggressive. Therefore we decided to head to the other monkey Forest which was a bit of a drive away but it was nice to see some of the villages in Ubud on the way.

The Sangeh Monkey Forest has 600 monkeys in total in the forest. It was a huge forest, very green with lots of temples within it. When we arrived at the entrance of the forest there were lots of tour guides offering tours around the forest (this was for no price), we decided to walk around with a guide just in case the monkeys decided to attack us!! The tour guide was excellent in telling us information about the forest and the temples. The monkeys on the other hand were terrifying for me but George on the other hand loved them and had them climbing all over them! I had realised by this point that monkeys were really not my cup of tea and I just wanted to find the exit! Nonetheless the Forest was really peaceful and the monkeys were (mostly) very respectful and non aggressive. It was also interesting to hear that the monkeys to the Balinese people are sacred and they worship them. Overall it was a great trip and I would highly recommend over the other monkey forest as it is much less touristy (we were the only people in the forest) and the monkeys seemed so peaceful!

After the Monkey Forest we headed to the Tegenungan Waterfall which is 25 minutes outside of Ubud. We arrived at the waterfall and we immediately could see it was an extremely touristy spot. There were lots of market stalls and restaurants approaching the waterfall which we had some lunch at before heading down to the waterfall. The steps down to the waterfall were a little steep but definitely were doable! The waterfall itself was massive and it was just one straight stream which made it different to the waterfalls we had seen in the past. We were able to swim in the waterfall (with all the other tourists..) which was also really nice.

We travelled back into Ubud after our day of adventures and had a really early night as we had to be up at 1.30am. Our early start was because we were going to climb Mount Batur (an active volcano an hour outside of Ubud). We were picked up at 2am and taken to the starting point of the trek up to Mount Batur. We were in a group with 2 other couples and were given our breakfast once we arrived at 3am.

Obviously at 3am it was still pitch black outside so we needed a torch in order to see where we were going when climbing the mountain. The hike was extremely rocky on the way up and you really had to watch where you were going. Luckily as it was 3am it was actually quite cold so the heat didn’t factor into the hardness of the hike! We stopped every half an hour and made sure we drunk plenty of water. We approached the top of the mountain at around 5.30am just as the sun was rising. The sunrise was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately about half an hour in the clouds came over so the visibility got quite pour but then luckily the sun begun to shine through the clouds making it an ever better sunrise.

After the sunrise we headed over to where the active volcano was. This was pretty cool as neither of us had seen anything like this before. Oh and then guess what obviously had to be over by the active volcano … monkeys! So this was a great surprise for me… These monkeys were actually really aggressive, a lot of people got bitten by them so if you do go up to the volcano stay clear of the monkeys like I did!

The hike down the mountain was one of the scariest things ever! I thought the way up for rocks were bad but the way down was even worse. The rocks made the trek extremely slippery and you also had nothing to hold onto. I was scared I was going to break my neck the whole way down! It was a relief once we had reached the bottom as luckily there were no broken bones and we were back in one piece! We got to the bottom of the mountain around 8.30am, so all in all it was about a 5 hour trek.

This mountain climb was honestly one of the best things we have done on our trip so far. We enjoyed every second (apart from the coming down) and you didn’t even need to be that fit to do it. The sunrise was beautiful and it was nice to watch it with a hot chocolate too. Even though the early start is extremely early I would 100% recommend this to anyone going to Ubud, it is something that can’t be missed!

We spent the rest of our last day relaxing around the pool as we were really tired from the exhausting morning we just had. That evening it was the rugby World Cup final so we found a sports bar (with lots of British people in) and watched the game there. It was fun to be around lots of English people again even though the result wasn’t as we wanted! We headed back to our favourite little restaurant where we went on the first night for our last night in Ubud. The owners were happy to see us return and we had a really yummy meal.

The following day we were leaving Ubud but not till later in the day as our next destination was only a couple of hours down the road so we didn’t have to be there at a specific time. We had been recommended whilst in Ubud to try the suckling pig, so on our final day for our lunch we headed to the best restaurant that served this in the town. The food did not disappoint, it was so tasty and the crackling made the whole meal even better!

We ordered our taxi once we got back to our homestay, said our goodbyes to the lovely family to hosted us and headed to our next destination. Ubud was such a cool place with so much culture and interesting things to do. It was really nice to do some touristy things again and get a real taste of Indonesian life. We were really sad to leave actually because the family who we stayed with made us feel so welcome, gave us amazing advice and were all in all just so lovely! Next stop … Amed!!

We travelled back to Bali from Nusa Penida by boat and and then got a taxi to the other side of the island to get to Canggu. We stayed in an Airbnb in Canggu which was lovely and the family that owned it were amazing hosts.

Canggu was very similar to Seminyak, lots of surfing, nice restaurants, cool breakfast bars and beach bars/clubs. Similar to Seminyak we didn’t do a lot of touristy stuff, we mainly relaxed on the beach or by the pool and spent our afternoons and evenings at the bars/clubs.

Old mans bar was a really fun place to party and drink. On Wednesdays they change the whole main area into a dance floor with a live DJ. We were actually there on a Wednesday so we ended up having lots of fun there.

We also spent one of our afternoons at the expensive Finns… This was a great experience but very very pricey. However we really wanted to go and have a ‘glam’ evening for the first time in 3 months. Finns was extremely posey to say the least but we definitely had lots of fun and the sunset on the beach was beautiful!

Canggu was a great place to party and drinks lots of alcohol. We enjoyed the breakfasts we ate – especially at Crate Cafe, although do go before 9am as the queue is massive otherwise! However we felt we had enough of beaches, bars and clubs and were ready for a little bit of culture and history again (back to real travelling and not a holiday!) Next stop … Ubud!!