Back in Oz!

Wow, what an awesome time I've been having! Bali was pretty much one of the most amazing places I have ever been. Surfing twice everyday and waking up at 5 am for two weeks is something that I never thought I'd be able to do, but surprisingly I managed to have enough energy- the surf spots that they took us to were amazing...so much different than back at home and we had to be extra careful with the reef breaks (I got a cut on my toe) and the strong rips and currents. It was ridiculously hot there too, so Sean and I were dripping sweat the whole time, always jumping in the pool at the hotel. We also decided to take a boat trip to Lembangon Island and it was my favorite part about the Bali trip. We took a 45 min boat ride from Bali to Lembangon and immediately went out surfing when we got there to a place called "shipwrecks." Haha we got out there (there was 5 of us...me, sean, a couple from austria, and a guy from italy)...the other girl and I got slammed by the huge sets and I was stuck under water for a long time and remember thinking "which way is up??" When I finally got up for a breath, I realized I was holding the other girls' surfboard! We were tangled up and were both very scared, so we decided to swim back to the boat and swim and snorkel for a bit haha. We then went to a surfspot called "playgrounds" which was a much much better choice. The waves still got pretty big, but they were much more calm and not as heavy and strong. The boat that we slept on was really sweet- we had a cook that made us the best banana pancakes I've ever had and I of course got extremely excited every morning and made a fool out of myself and the cook even called me "Mrs. Pancake" hah. I don't think he's ever seen anyone get as excited about food as me. We all slept outside on the boat, because the inside (where the beds were) was way too hot. It was so relaxing and easy to fall asleep by the rocking of the boat and the fresh air. On the second day we were there, we rented motor bikes and cruised around the Island...we even crossed a rickety old bridge (which I thought we were going to fall off) that took us to the other Island (Lombok). It was GORGEOUS!!! I can't wait to show everyone pictures from my trip! The last day we were there, we went snorkeling and saw so many sweet fish and even saw a sea snake! Sean took his underwater camera and took some amazing photos. The ocean was completely covered in live coral reef, which was a pretty cool thing to be surrounded by! Anyways, Bali was amazing and I would definitely recommend going there...everything is SO cheap (food is about $2-$3 per meal).
Now I am traveling up the east coast with my good friend, Shayli. We started off in Coolangatta to see the Quicksilver and Roxy pro-we had the best time watching the competition and the hostel we were staying at through a surf film benefit party and the 3 top surfers in the world were there! (Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson, and Bede Durbage)....Shayli and I even managed to take a picture with Mick Fanning!!!! We stayed in Coolangatta for 5 days and now we are Noosa now and the weather has been rainy :( Tomorrow we leave for Hervey Bay and then to Fraser Island! Can't wait to see what's in store for us....we have been planning everything VERY last minute which has been fun & has made the trip very spontaneous and exciting...looking forward to upadating you all IN PERSON in just a few weeks! Love you all!