And So The Adventure Begins ...

Day 1 - 2 ... Our adventure started with a 4.45am wake up call for our 9am flight from Manchester Airport. Flight one of three was to Abu Dhabi which took 6 hours 25 minutes. It flew by with us both watching 3 films each! So far, so good!
Flight two of three was from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur after a three hour wait in the airport which also flew by after walking the 4 miles (not literally, but a heck of a long way) to the gate we need to depart from. This flight was another long one, 7 hours this time. By the time we landed it was 2.50am at home in the UK.
Flight three of three was from Kuala Lumpur to Denpasar, Bali. Thankfully, this was only a short 3 hour flight. Landing in Bali at 4pm Bali time (7.45am UK time) after a change of tyre on the plane delaying us by half an hour. By this time, we were shattered and so glad to see Eka who was collecting us from the airport holding up his sign with our names on it! It was then an hours drive to Uluwatu Surfer Cottages where we arrived around 6pm….anddd relax! By this time, we had been travelling for 28 hours from

door to door! But finally….we were here!! We ventured on the 5 minute walk up to Ulu Resto Restaurant which was pointed out by Eka on the way here and tucked in to a great meal with drinks for the grand total of around £9! Bargain!! I think we lasted until 9pm, then we both collapsed in a heap in bed and had a pretty good sleep on our first night!

Day 3 … Today we hired a scooter from the place we were staying as we wanted to explore the nearby area. Once we had rented the scooter, we were told they had no helmets, but maybe tomorrow!! We decided to risk the 4 minute drive to the nearest beach, which was Pantai Beach, even though it was Adam’s first time on a scooter, he did so well! We got there and back in one piece and had a fantastic first day. Although, when we arrived, all we saw was the beach in the photo below. The tide was right up which meant there was no way to get onto the beach. So we went up the steps to the restaurant and sat in the sun with an ice cold Sprite watching all the surfers and the huge waves until the tide went out a little. By then, there was a big enough gap between the rocks to crawl through without getting drenched, about knee high water so we followed some of the locals as we presumed they knew what they were doing. Once we got through to the beach, it was a lovely little cove with a small beach, about 15 people and a ship wreck. We spent a few hours relaxing with a Bintang we bought from ‘Sally’ before going back to the Surfer Cottages and Ulu

Resto for tea. We then had Charlie the gecko join us in our room for the evening, which I was surprisingly okay with, he stayed high up along the ceiling and disappeared after a while...phew!

Day 4 … We are starting to feel the jet lag this morning, we both had a rubbish nights sleep and were awake at ridiculous o’clock! Once we’d had breakfast, Adam went for a spin on the scooter to get a little more practice in. We asked again at reception for helmets for the bikes, they said they only had one and we would be fine without them (famous last words!!). We told them we will rent a scooter from somewhere else if they don’t have helmets. So the guy went off on his scooter and came back with 2 questionable looking helmets, one of which only had one strap on one side, so wouldn’t fasten, therefore kinda defeats the object!! Anyway…Adam arrived back just in time, before the monsoon like rains started. This is something we’ll have to get used to I think! Bali 's wet season is getting closer and the rains are so heavy! But it’s still warm and they shouldn’t last too long! We can then hopefully get to Nyang Nyang Beach this afternoon…we’ll have to wait and see!!

Day 5 ... Our 2 year Anniversary! We didn't manage to get out anywhere yesterday, apart from the 5 minute walk to the restaurant for lunch after we had unpacked our pack-a-macs! (I knew they'd come in handy!!). So today, even though it's forecast cloud all day and 50% rain, we thought it would be the perfect day to get some scooter practice in without getting too sunburnt! Scooter sunburn is a real life dilemma over here!!
So we headed up to Nyang Nyang Beach which is a 13 minute scooter ride away. When we got there and parked up on the cliff top, we could see what people meant when they said it's a trek to get there...it literally was a trek, an almost vertical trek down the winding man made, uneven, rubble pathway with some monkeys for company along the way. Once we got down there, it was a nice beach but not quite the powder soft sand I'd hoped for and wasn't going to be the best beach for walking along, so we set up our beach towels and relaxed for a few hours, having a dip in the sea now and again. Once we had run out of drinking water, we decided to start our hike back up to the top and headed off on the scooter to explore a bit more and get some lunch.
Once we were back at the Surfer Cottages, we decided to have a walk over to Singlefin, seeing as it was Sunday and all I see on Instagram is Sunday Sessions at Singlefin! The view was amazing, but the walk up to the bar was a little precarious to say the least with uneven, wonky steps all the way up. Once we got there the place was packed so we got a drink and admired the view with the sunsetting! Then a good old Bali power cut, so after a while we decided to go and get some food then head back to the cottages. Thankfully I took my phone so we had a torch for the walk back, otherwise it would have been an interesting walk, dodging toads, steps and sheer drops!

Day 6 ... We had a lazy pool day today...what else would we do on a Monday in Bali?! After lunch we headed to the shop for our first holiday ice cream and I came across Red Velvet Magnums...Bali officially sell THE best ice creams! On the down side, I burnt my butt, the strength of the sun here is ridiculous plus the constant breeze is lovely but deceiving! In just 40 minutes with factor 30 suncream on, I burnt! Thankfully we brought plenty with us! Note to self (again), not long in the sun needed to tan/burn! Lazy evening ahead with possibly a walk to the Mexican food place recommended to us by the group of girls from Cornwall! Which will be a

nice change from Nasi Goreng! Adam also ventured out on the scooter this afternoon for another little practice and found out the road is no longer closed, so we can venture over to Bingin Beach and Dreamland Beach to continue our search for Bali's best beach, 2 down, a lot more to go!!

Day 7 ... After breaki at our local, we headed on another little adventure, this time across to Dreamland Beach, which was about 25 minutes on the scooter. When we finally arrived, we got a couple of sun beds with an umbrella (a brolly is a must!) and relaxed for a while watching the ridiculously strong waves crashing onto the beach and wiping out anybody stood in the way! Flipflops were being pinched from underneath sun loungers by the waves and swells that sometimes came a lot further up the beach than you thought they would! After staying out of the midday sun (unknown for me, but necessary here!) we had lunch, relaxed for a while then decided to head back around 4pm as the rain clouds looked like they were closing in. Adam is getting a lot more confident on the scooter, to the point where he's over taking traffic. A little hairy when you end up meeting a car coming the other way while you're trying to pass a truck!! But he did it like a pro...then let out a huge sigh of relief! Then it was another evening at our local for tea (Ulu Resto).

Day 8 ... We decided to have a lazy morning around the pool and then

headed off to find Yumyum Organic Cafe and an ATM which is around a 20 minute scoot away. Although the Indonesian food is quite nice, we're craving something other than rice or noodles and this place looks like it will do just the job...and it sure did! We had a chicken salad bowl and a chicken burger along with a smoothie and a coconut. It was one of the best meals we'd had since we arrived! Even if it did cost a bit more than our usual meals and I had to run across to the conveniently located ATM across the road...all well planned out, of course...!! We're starting to feel a lot more settled now we're more familiar with our surroundings, just as we are about to move on to our next accommodation we have booked which is only 5 minutes up the road, right near the Uluwatu Temple entrance.

Day 9 ... We went to Lands End Cafe for breakfast, then we headed to Padang Padang Beach. Venturing down the 176 steps when we arrived (we didn't count, it was on a sign at the top!) it brought us down to a lovely stretch of beach! The sand looked soft, white and was one of the longer beaches we had found so far on our travels. Before we headed for lunch, Adam decided to get his L plates out and rent a surfboard for an hour! The beach is perfect for beginners as the waves are no where near as vicious as the waves at Dreamland Beach the other day (the sun beds were also 1/4 of the price too)!!