From Ubud, we got up at 2 in the morning so we could do the sunrise hike of Mt Batur, which is an active volcano. After about an hour drive we got to the start of the trek and met our guides, who gave us torches and led the way.
After lots of stops we made it to the top, but still couldn’t see much as it was still dark. Then it started to piss down rain and so we got soaked, but our guides brought ponchos for us so at least our clothes kept mostly dry.
After driving from Seminyak to Ubud, we checked in at our hotel which had great rooms and a nice pool. Just up the road was the Ubud Monkey Forest so after our welcome drink we headed straight there.
The monkeys themselves were okay, but the forest had an awesome walk through a stream and a temple so it was well worth the visit. As we were leaving we noticed that there were heaps of Monkeys' running on the roofs of the buildings in the town and climbing down the power poles which was a pretty crazy sight.
We got our driver Gede to take Rachael and I to see Uluwatu. At the temple we saw our first monkeys and they stole the sunglasses from another girl there. The cliffs that it overlooked were cool and you could see why they would want to have built a temple there. We then went to Panang Panang Beach, was stunning but then it started to pour rain so we left. To get onto the beach you need to walk through a tight cave.
Our flight to Bali was interesting because I think it’s my first flight over mainland Australia in daytime. Just hours and hours of nothing.
Rachael was a little overwhelmed when we landed by all the drivers asking if we wanted a taxi, and the intense traffic to get to Seminyak and meet Tom and Bec. We stayed in a private villa with a pool near Double Six beach and the rooms were pretty awesome.
So last weekend we took our new car off-road for the first time, camping at Double Island. To make the most of the weekend, we left Friday and spent the first night at Mapleton. We’ve been to the Sunshine Coast Hinterland a few times already, so didn’t go anywhere new, but it’s still a lovely part of the world.
Once we met up with Tom, Bec, Sarah and Emily at Noosa, we got the ferry across to Noosa North Shore.
Last weekend we went to Lamington National Park again, however just camped at the normal camp sites no hike-in camping.
We went the long way to get there so we could detour past Allora and see if the Sunflowers were in season for Bec. They weren’t really but there was one field at the racecourse.
We went to O’Reilly’s last time so would have been good to go to the Binna Burra end instead, but Darcy told us of the Treetop Walk.
And one more item that was on my 101 Things list from Switzerland:
Travel to at least 15 different countries. I thought it was worth having it’s own post to list them all.
New Zealand Switzerland France Germany Liechtenstein Italy Vatican City Czech Republic Vietnam Fiji Japan If you count layovers then I have hit the 15(but I’m not).
Thailand (Bangkok Airport) Austria (Train Station) China (Hong Kong Airport) Singapore (Airport) Uptype: post date: New countries added (now more than 15).
Last weekend we went down to the Granite Belt area again, this time camping and prepared for the hike up Pyramid Rock. Last time was just before winter, we didn’t prepare for it and Rachael was wearing jeans, so she didn’t make it to the top.
There was severe weather warnings forecast for the weekend, but when we left Saturday lunch time the skies were clear and it looked like while there was some big storms closer to the coast we should just get some patchy rain.
Since we spent Christmas in Toowoomba this year, Rachael wanted to head to the beach for New Years. Given we tried booking about a day before, almost everywhere at Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast were booked, and so we decided to stay inland a bit at Murwillumbah YHA. The area around there was great and there was awesome views from the deck of the Tweed River and Mt Warning.
On the drive down we stopped around the Palm Beach area and it was busy as.
We flew out from Christchurch and so got a rental car to drive from Queenstown, staying the night at Tekapo.
Lake Pukaki was as awesome as I remembered it, and we stopped and got out to skip some stones. Lake Tekapo itself seemed less appealing for some reason, it seemed like the water level was lower maybe. The snow tubing was still there though, so that was fun.
Last time I went to New Zealand we didn’t see much of Christchurch besides the airport, so I was keen to see the city.
