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Fujikawaguchiko-machi, Japan

It was a great feeling boarding the express train to Mt Fuji and departing the hustle of Tokyo city. and amusing walking to the station with our front and back backpacks on. We received more looks than the people dressed as cartoon characters. After two hours, we arrived at a tiny little town, Fujikawaguchiko on Lake Kawaguchiko 850m above sea level. It has the same look and feel, and crisp fresh smell as the South Island of NZ or Canada. This was our one night of the 365 that we splashed out and spent 5 nights worth of the accommodation budget. The traditional Japanese Guest house or Ryoken (pronounced: yocan) has the luxury of a 5 star hotel. Who would think that the privilege of sleeping on the floor could be so expensive.Mt Fuji could be seen from our balcony with lake views and from our private hot spring tub. We were welcomed to our room and served tea, on the floor, by a little kimono clad lady. For dinner we were escorted by the little lady to a private dining room. Never in our lives have we eaten a meal like that. The three course meal had about 40 dishes to it, most of which I had no idea what they were but each was beautifully presented. A long way from my ‘old’ staple diet of club sandwich and Hawaiian pizza. From what we did recognise, the sashimi and miso with whole crab were the best we have had.
Following dinner was a foot bath on the roof which psyched us up for the naked hot spring bath. We robed up and memorised the list of instructions. Get this: get completely undressed, put on Japanese dressing gown for walk down, remove, rinse body from tap using wash bowl, use little towel to get to bath edge, enter the indoor/outdoor baths, soak, get out of bath and sit on tiny little stool on ground, use soap to wash ones naked self in public, re enter bath. It was quite an enjoyable and unique experience – strategically timed over dinner time I may add so both female and male baths were free from other bodies.

You can only see Mount Fuji for 76 days a year so we were thankful to have stayed the night to see it first thing in the morning, at least for a full 5 minutes when it was cloudless. Breakfast was equally as unique and interesting as dinner. Many flavours – none of which tasted like our daily Weetbix served in a coffee cup. This experience was the highlight of Japan and definitely worth every Yen. With 1.3 minutes to spare we made it to the train station before our first of 5 trains to Kyoto or 5 hours and 5 episodes of Big Bang Theory.

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Shinjuku, Japan

The ‘transformer train’ from the Tokyo airport to our hotel in Shinjuku split mid journey into two trains going in two directions. Fortunately our reserved tickets placed us on the right part of the train – clever aye? They even have tea ladies on an airport train! Wow!

Arriving in to Shinjuku train station at rush hour was a fast awakening to Japan’s hectic pace. There were so many people, all with next to no English. It only took a few ‘help me’ questions to the locals before we found one that spoke English to point us in the right direction. I later learnt that Shinjuku Station is officially the busiest station in the world. In 2007 it registered an average of 3,640,000 passengers per day and has more exits than any other station – over 200 at the last count and 36 platforms! I’m glad we got out alive.
“Thank goodness moment #1, pre booking accommodation for our first night in a new city and having a map to get there is essential.”

Our upgraded room has a toilet with 8 buttons including an upward shower, warmer and is much easier than the Asian toilets that I have become accustomed to using (the ones where a good aim is essential). It’s pretty funny that the public toilets have a music button to push when you wish to cover the ‘sound’ of a toilet flushing or bodily sounds!

Words can’t describe what we experienced tonight. In the basement of Shinjuku’s Kabukicho district, bikini-clad women staged mock battles using enormous robots – though it’s a more steroid-enhanced fairground attraction than modern-day Gundam. The restaurant looked like something straight out of Gaspar Noé’s Enter the Void, all migraine-inducing neon, video screens and mirrors (That’s straight from Google as I am still literally lost for words after experiencing the most random night of my life). Dave thinks if he had a seizure it would have looked like this. It was seriously an out of this world experience and very, very Japanesey “don’t you think so”?

Our first full day in Tokyo, was spent walking through the Japanese gardens of Shinijuku to Yoyogi Park and to Tokyo’s biggest Meiji Shinto Shrine. Shinto is Japan’s ancient, original religion and is rooted into Japanese way of life. It has no founder or holy book but has values, such as harmony and purity. The shrine has a pretty amazing story – It is dedicated to the souls of the emperor and empress. After they passed in 1912, the locals wanted to commemorate them forever so they donated 100,000 trees and volunteered to create this forest and shrine. Pretty cool place. Many locals spend the day in the park. I was surprised to see so many people wearing the traditional kimono.
Harajuku was an experience in itself. Seeing the famous street style and cartoon characters was definitely worth the visit. The only disappointment was when Googling ‘Harajuku Gyoza’ for lunch. The only thing that came up was the “Sake-Sake-Sake Harajuku Gyoza” restaurant in Brisbane. We later learnt that gyoza, meaning dumpling, is originally a Chinese dish – and not so famous in Harajuku! So we ended up at an Italian pizza restaurant with random comments and pictures painted on the wall with words in English written by Japanese – I’m unsure if the authors and artist knew what they were writing. For example a picture of a naked woman with the word “hungry” underneath or a picture of a cat with a hamburger on top of it with the comment “I like pasta, milk, wine”.

We met Dave’s old exchange student, Mieko, for dinner that evening which was a relief as we were finding Japan ‘hard to crack’. The very little English everywhere meant we were very much observers rather than actually understanding. Eating where the locals eat is cheaper but sometimes means you are spoken to only in Japanese, therefore you don’t really understand what’s going on. On a side note, I’m unsure why this should surprise me as when Japanese speak to us in Australia we respond in English, so there is no difference.
Until Mieko pointed out that we were actually in Tokyo City, I didnt realise it was the whole area. I thought we had to catch a train to Tokyo City but the ‘city’ is actually 2,200 km wide, has 13.2million people and is made up of 23 wards, of which Shinijuku is just one. Mieko took us to the Skydeck on the rooftop of the 55th floor, so I really got an understanding of how big it is. And it’s big! Huge in fact! Dinner was at a real Japanese restaurant, so real they had no forks and the local miso from the south was cold.

On the final day in Tokyo we headed for Asakusa, a beautiful little town where the atmosphere of Tokyo’s past decades still survives. The main thing to see was the Buddhist Sensiji temple, Japan’s oldest temple which was built in the 7th century. We also went to Tokyo Central station, nothing to report there and we got to the ‘over seeing temples stage’ so came home.

After two full days of sightseeing and eating out in the world’s most expensive city – it’s jam sandwiches and Asahi beer for dinner back at the room. Asahi is asa = morning and hi = sun. I fell asleep at 6pm.. that is a new record even for me!

“Useless fact #1: there are three main scripts in the modern Japanese writing system Kanji, Katakana, Hiragana”

Farewell Tokyo City, looking forward to seeing the rest of Japan over the next few days.

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Hong Kong, China

“Lesson #2: Don’t put snow socks on when travelling in hot climates. Who knew socks have varying levels of warmth. Hiking shoes are ugly but heaps more comfortable than my normal attire.”

In many ways Hong Kong is the beginning of this journey into our new lives. It very much felt that way when we boarded the biggest plane I have ever seen. We took full advantage of the free food and wine. The daily budgeting had actually begun. We had to find a way to make this year on the road not feel like a holiday but feel like a lifestyle. At the end of two weeks holiday you begin to want to go back to home comforts. That was not possible, so we really needed to change our way of thinking. From the beginning. From day one.

Arriving into Hong Kong was an experience in iteself. I have never seen sooooo many apartments and buildings. I saw 21 40 storey apartment buildings all next to each other, all the same. To get from the plane to immigration requires a train. The airport is so big that at night time it seems like day time. The underground subway in Hong Kong is amazing. Each train station has about 5 exits in different directions which take you out about 5 blocks from the station. It takes at least 10 minutes to get to the surface. Trains are cheap and go every few minutes.

Our accommodation was in Causeway Bay and was typical ‘Hong Kong’ style. We checked into a tiny room with two beds which were very nice for backpackers. These beds were half the width of a single bed. They kindly moved us to their one bed ‘executive room’ with a double bed the size of a king single. I wonder how long we can milk this honeymoon thing. We didn’t mind the tiny room as this is what we’d expected from Hong Kong accommodation. Dave joked that you needed to do yoga to get into the toilet and shower. It was smaller than a cruise ship where you can do the ‘three S’ all at once. The hotel lounge for breakfast had two tiny tables so small you couldn’t put two dinner plates on it.

First day in Hong Kong and our first real day of doing the travelling tourist thing. We left the hotel with a map and headed for the ferry across to Kowloon (70,000 people take this crossing each day). We picked up tickets to the red hop on hop off open double decker bus, the ones with the earphones running commentary in the back of the seat. This seemed like a cheap way to see the city for the next three days ($40 each person). It included all water transportation too. First of the three bus tours was in Kowloon which is on the mainland, where we were staying on the island of Hong Kong. Kowloon is one of most densely populated places in world with 2.1 million people and the second highest life expectancy (age 84) following Japan. One of the two main religions is Buddhism with 600 temples in the city. What I took away from Kowloon was the diversity of buildings. Firstly there are 8,000, yes 8,000 apartment buildings in Hong Kong which is the highest number in the world. (New York has half that amount). It’s odd to see apartments next to each other that are very, very old and look like a fire has ripped through them, next to the brand new architecturally designed masterpieces.
We went to Harbour City shopping centre on the waterfront to search for a food hall. That concept of cheap food didn’t exist. I couldn’t believe this shopping centre had no normal shops, just four levels of designer brands. Outside there were more designer shops, each the size of an Apple Shop, with the locals queuing to get in. The ‘big bus tour voice’ said it was normal to see locals queuing. I kind of wanted to stand in the Gucci queue to see what the fuss was about but I doubt they would have let me in in my backpacking attire.

We took a boat tour around Victoria Harbour, one of the biggest container ports in the world, followed by a ride in a Sampan in Aberdeen. The Sampan took us to see the tankas, now replaced with the politically correct name ‘boat dwellers’, who live on boats called fishing junks. Once again the gap between rich and poor was clearly visible. The biggest luxury boats sat next to fishing boats and junks. After a long day sightseeing we forced ourselves to stay out for the 8pm daily light show on the side of the waterfront buildings – I can see why this truly grand show is in the Guinness Book of Records.

Our second day was spent exploring the south of Hong Kong island on the public bus. We drove past Deep Water Bay and Repulse Bay before stopping for a swim at Stanley Main Beach and visiting Stanley markets. These beaches are nestled in between mountains and are the most amazing beaches I’d seen – so far. You can tell it’s the wealthiest part of the island because there are so many expensive cars, not to mention land is $2,700 per square foot. It was so hot and sticky even the beautiful beach wasn’t enjoyable. I’d have killed for a swim in a pool with pool bar. Three quarters of the island is undeveloped, which is odd when you see 8,000 apartment blocks crammed on top of each other in the city only half an hour away.

On our last day in Hong Kong we went on the Ngong Ping 360 Cable car to Lantau Island for a boat tour of Tai O fishing village and found it worth the trip over just for that. An interesting part of the world, and the smell off a fishing village with all of the dried fish and ‘things’ will not be a smell we’ll forget anytime soon. We attempted to see Chinese pink dolphins but weren’t successful as there were no sign posts leading the way. Then we took the 250 stairs up to the Big Buddha. The heat in Hong Kong was 35 degrees with 78 % humidity and we felt every bit of that. Dave and I have terrible head colds – how is that possible in this heat?
On returning to Hong Kong we visited the ladies market, electronic market and Temple Street night market. They’re the best quality markets I’ve ever seen. It’s not pushy like Bali and it’s huge, with useful stuff – but very depressing if you are backpacking however. No money and no space. Dave has us on a tight budget which is fine if you are in the desert, but not so much if you shopping in Hong Kong.

Dave summed up why the Hong Kong people are small:
1) They do yoga just getting in and out of their bathrooms.
2) It took us 30 minutes to find somewhere to eat last night. Pictures of food everywhere but no food!
3) A lot of walking was required. Getting out of one subway takes 15 minutes before seeing natural light.

Overall we enjoyed Hong Kong more than expected, it’s clean and everything’s in English. Three days was long enough. It was our first real experience out side of the countries we were familiar with.

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Kuta, Indonesia

Over the last 18 days we have welcomed each one of 37 of our loved ones into Bali. Our goal was to spend quality time with these special people and create everlasting memories. The wedding exceeded our expectations. They say it’s the best day in one’s life and that it was. We both will remember every single moment forever. It wouldn’t have been the same if our friends and family weren’t there to share it with us. Many of them took a risk by coming to Bali and for that we are forever grateful. As the holiday came to an end, the teary farewells began. One by one they started to leave and the reality of the next 285 days began to hit home, especially when I packed my bag for the first time and realised my home now didn’t have 4 wardrobes and space for 50 shoes. The zips on my bag screamed at me as I try to squeeze a year’s worth of ‘life’ in. I’m sure it was saying “did you really need to buy two jumpers?” or was that Dave?

Saying good bye to Mum, Dad and little Chris was gut wrenching so we were especially thankful that Heather and David were there for us and to farewell us as we departed for the journey ahead.

Thank you to all of the 37 family and friends that came to Bali to make it the perfect wedding and holiday. It was a once in a life time trip that will always be remembered.

To finish the Bali blog and summarise our wedding is a special poem my Mum wrote and read on the tour bus. I love you Mum for these little things you do and say:

They want to be married
So they said
But little did they know
What lay ahead

Three weeks of looking
We got the dress
Bridesmaid’s, father and
Mum’s nerves a mess

Left the shoes at a restaurant
Jewels on the train
She’d better not leave
Dave on the plane

Need more lists
No flowers to be had
The planner has quit
Things look bad

2,000 emails and 5,000 lists
beds, transfers,details for guests
10,000 more will sort it out for
Flowers and tours and all the rest

‘Might leave sparkly rings behind
And that is why
“Take $20 rings”
Dave did cry.
“Your cheapest ring in the shop”
Dave asked
They’re just for a year
They don’t need to last

The shop keeper was shocked
And asked Mum with a frown
Do they have to get married
Or are they the poorest in town

Engrave the wedding rings now
Only two days to go
They’ve put the wrong date
Now there’s a bad blow

Close call at the airport
Could miss the plane
M C’s tight schedule
He did the same

No wolf juice around
But Bali belly on tap
A few guests have
Come down with the ****

No dance floor, no rain plan
When we check it all out
The management company’s changed
What’s that all about?

A $400 witch doctor
To keep rain away
40 percent chance
Of a downpour they say

The big day’s come
The girls in bed
Champagne and laughter
A few tears shed

A last minute swim
With Chris and Mum
Boys and Bintang are gone
They’ve probably had some

Lost the speech
Where’s the ring?
Oh my goodness
Can’t find a thing

In 40 degree heat
It’s hot as hell
The guests are here
Where’s the water pray tell

The monkeys are stealing
The wine and the lights
Security with slingshots
Are out to fight

The music starts
Here comes the bride
She’s fair,she’s thin and the
Dress is wide

Dave’s face lights up
The paparazzi is there
The words are breathtaking
Tears everywhere

The hoop on the dress falls
Shows Julia’s bare bum
Jeremy’s sick with
A very sore tum

A fairy tale wedding
A breathtaking day

Happy ever after
Cos’ fairy tales always
End that way

20th May 2013: forever remembered, forever treasured

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North Lombok, Indonesia

It’s so good to leave the ridiculously busy Kuta for the tranquil Gili Islands. However it was a horrible start to what we had hoped to be a relaxing few days away. In a sticky 35 degree heat, our land transportation to the islands was over capacity and our boat broke down midway – but it was still good to get away! The first week of this wedding trip was hectic with final wedding preparations. Coming to Gili was a way to wind down and end on a high. I finally feel relaxed and able to enjoy everyone’s company without any ‘to do’ lists.

The Gili Islands (Gili translates to Island) are made up of 3 islands and are situated between Bali and Lombok. We stayed on the main island, Gili Trawangan, at Hotel Villa Ombak as it’s the only place I could book enough rooms with hot water for all of our family and friends to stay in. Although we were staying on the biggest of the three islands, there are no cars or motorbikes. Only horses and carts and the trusty bicycle to transport us about.

Overall, the service in the Gili islands isn’t as good as in Bali but it certainly has a much more relaxing holiday vibe. Hotel Villa Ombak is a perfect beach front location and has 2-for-1 cocktails in the swim up bar, which were well and truly used and abused by all.
When staying in a western resort it’s very easy to forget that you’re not in a western country. It came clear though, when a few of the group went fishing for the day and came across a man on a boat who had lost 4 locals free diving in a very strong current. They searched for as long as they could, before their petrol ran dry. In Australia when calling for help, people come with boats and helicopters – here, no one came. It puts things into perspective fast about how lucky we are to live in a place with what, we think, are just basic services.

We were on the islands just a few days. The first day we charted boats to go snorkelling. A storm passed through the night before so the clarity of the water wasn’t as good as I remembered it to be last time. But there were turtles, a shark and a sea-snake that Mum literally nearly fell over. I think everybody enjoying being out on the water.
On the second day, we went for an hour bike ride around the island. The once a month high tide came through that morning. This meant the dirt paths were washed away and water continued to wash into the beachside restaurants. It made for a great bike ride. At the end of the bike ride, Webb tied up his slack-line between a few trees and we all attempted a go or two. All that effort used in the morning meant the afternoon was spent trying new cocktails in the pool. Most of this trip was spent in the pool under the hot sun drinking cheap cocktails.

The Gili Islands was a fantastic way to finish our trip to Bali. I’m thankful that most of the wedding guests came over to enjoy some relaxing time before flights home. It’s an amazing place in the world and we hope to revisit it again one day.

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Ubud, Indonesia

A pre arranged tour of Bali was our way of saying thank you to the guests who came to our wedding. It was so good to get out of Kuta and see more of Bali and it’s people. A Bali we know.

With 32 people aboard one bus and a tour guide selling Bintang at a $1.50 or 15,000rp we were set for a great day.

The first stop was to the very long but interesting Barong Dance. It’s a traditional Balinese Dance and is all about good and evil. The black and white checks seen on many of the religious offerings also represent good and evil. This basically sums up what the Balinese believe in. It’s inspiring to learn that the Balinese Hindu religion is so extremely peaceful. They believe that bad must happen for good to exist equally. You never see them upset when confronted with a bad situation.

We drove through many different villages including the Silver Village, Wood Village, Stone Village and Art Village. If you are born into a stone village for example, you must stay in that profession or change villages completely. The average wage for a local construction worker is approx $13 per day. It doesn’t seem very much to us, but I have never met happier, more contented people. Doesn’t that just show you?

The next stop was to the Luwak coffee plantation to taste the ‘world’s best coffee’. There is a special creation process where a mongoose eats the berries, passes the seed before the bean is cleaned and roasted to produce the coffee. Personally I didn’t think much of the taste. Fortunately Dave enjoyed it and finished mine off too. I have heard that it sells overseas for $50 per cup and we paid $5 or 50,000rp. Well worth the stop as most people enjoyed a sip or two.

We continued on to Bali’s second highest volcano for lunch. We sat on the summit of the outer rim of the large volcano. Since the original explosion, a smaller volcano has erupted inside the crater, creating a volcano inside a volcano. (kind of like those little Russian dolls). On the way back to Kuta we had a quick stop at Ubud’s monkey forest. All enjoyed watching the naive tourists feed the monkeys before they began pick pocketing the hands that fed them. Particularly amusing was the monkey that pulled down the lady’s strapless top.
Another enjoyable part of the day was seeing the reaction of the locals receiving $2 in Australian coins from us.It was as if we had just given them gold. To be able to share the ‘real Bali’ with our family and friends was very important to us. We hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.

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Uluwatu, Indonesia

The day before the wedding, the wedding party left Kuta for the wedding venue. Some of us were excited, stressed, sick and slightly nervous. The wedding party consisted of: Mum, Dad, Dave, Me, Adriaan, Allison, Chris W, Rhian, Anita (following on her motorbike), Nibbs who had really bad Bali sickness and Chris who had salmonella poisoning. Those who were well enough to move, headed straight for the pool where Bintangs awaited. We have chosen to get married at Bayuh Sabbha villa, a private villa on the Cliff top off the Bukit peninsula. As it’s located between Dreamland and Padang Padang, the 180 degree view of the ocean looks over both. When Dave and I, and our trusty assistant Chris, looked at this venue a year ago we knew we could stop looking. Maybe I am biased but it was jaw droppingly beautiful then and today is no different. The villa is big enough to have the wedding party to stay and be entertained in its 2 pools, library tennis court and gym. Food is served to order in the outdoor dining room by the six lovely Balinese staff who are there to ensure a relaxing enjoyable stay.

In typical Julia style, after all the jobs were done, I found something else to stress about. That was spending 3 hours perfecting the wedding walk with Dad – a bit daft considering it ‘s all over within minutes but we both wanted it to be perfect, as two perfectionists would. After a group dinner, Dave and the boys went to their side of the villa and us girls went to the main house. Allison and I were up in the master suite. We were reasonably good about not staying up all night nattering.

IT’S OUR WEDDING DAY!! Allison and I woke at 6.30am and the first thing we saw was blue sky. Every bride wishes for that blue sky the morning of her wedding. I could have kissed the ground but instead I was thankful for not paying $400 for a weather God to bless the rain away, as suggested to us. Mum and Dad joined us girls in bed for my last morning of being unmarried. It was exactly how I imagined the day should start.

After the boys left for surfing at Padang Padang, the coast was clear for us girls to enjoy a champagne brekkie, yoga and meditation overlooking our 180 degree view of the ocean. It was perfect and was exactly what I needed to unclutter the mind and enjoy the day and the most amazing villa.
Eka and her team of makeup ladies arrived at 10am and started beautifying the girls. Chris, Mum and I headed down to the tiny little ‘Impossibles Beach’ next to the villa and ended up having a quick swim in our undies. It was one of the highlights of the day, spending time with just them. After a morning of pure relaxation my hair and make up began. Before we knew it the time was here and guests had arrived. I put on my dress with 8 photographers and videographers chasing my white bum around the dressing room – literally – and it’s all on the full length video – how kind of them! The moments before we walked out the door for the final time went so quickly.

The moment you put on the dress, the hair and make up is complete and you look into the mirror – that’s when it becomes real. At that point I just wanted to see my Dave. There were so many emotions going through my head as my Dad walked me down the aisle. I held back the tears until I saw Dave standing on the floating stage. I will never ever forget that moment.
The wedding day went off without a hitch but with A LOT of sweat. 42 degrees and the boys were in full three piece suits and the dress was hot. Fortunately the delay in the ceremony commencing (hair and make up took so long) meant less photos and we could get straight into enjoying the night. The food was perfect. The decorations were exactly how I imagined (and of course planned!) and the speeches were speechless (haha) . The words in mum and dad’s joint speech and Ruth speech will be with us forever. Brother Chris did the best job of playing MC. The hours of effort put into learning how to dance around a pizza box paid off with the first dance and the cocktails helped the dancing get started.

To all those people who came to Bali and to those who sent love and support from afar, thank you for making it the most perfect day. It really was the best day of our lives.

The next day Anita took us down to the beach to get photos in the dress, apart from the lack of time on the wedding day, it was just too hot to leave the hotel grounds. My aunty and uncle, Peter and Helen and Dave’s cousin Jenny and Uve joined us for a family lunch the next day. It was the perfect way to end the stay in our wedding villa.

Link for photos
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= a.10151686231763690.1073741829.74120868 9&amp;type=1
and
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= a.10151686218628690.1073741828.74120868 9&amp;type=1

and for video (short version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p0iuwu xy6c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsgjeJm v60c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwPP0Hh 9Gu8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-dP9iC ZXJQ

May 20th, every year will be remembered with treasured memories of that day and all the years after.

Today is the first day of the rest of our lives, together as Mr and Mrs Morton.

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Kuta, Indonesia

Today is the first day of it actually feeling like we are on holiday – and it’s actually a Saturday!
Its great to be back in Bali. The Balinese hospitality and their genuine welcoming nature hasn’t changed over the years. Unfortunately though, each year it’s becoming more and more western. It’s great in many ways, 80% of Bali’s income is tourism, but it would be sad to see the local street markets replaced with Starbucks and Billabong. I am told that the Chinese are buying much of Bali’s coastline and building up large. As a spin on that, it’s good to see the streets busy and it’s recovery from the disaster of over 10 years ago. Bali means a lot to us. It was the first destination Dave went on a holiday as an adult and it was the first destination we went on holiday together, with the exception of New Zealand. Each and every time we visit, Bali continues to get under our skin; maybe it’s the people, maybe it’s the memories, maybe it’s a mixture of both. What is for certain, we can’t wait to see everyone and their reaction to this chaotic place called Kuta. I’m sure it will be mixed. Kuta isn’t what we love about Bali that’s for sure. It’s central location makes for an ideal location, hopefully, suiting the 90% of our family and friends staying with us at the Adi Dharma Hotel. The hotel’s wonderful staff made a point of remembering all of the 35 guest names, which made our stay there a memorable one.

The arrivals began with Jeremy, Mum, Dad, Chris, Allison and Adriaan. We were like children at Christmas, waiting on the steps of the hotel awaiting each and every arrival of our family and friends to emerge from the arriving taxis. In between friends arriving, we still had a list of jobs to achieve before the big day in a week’s time. Being an overly organised person, I had pre booked our welcome dinner for our guests a year in advance. On the Sunday, I had a gut feeling to confirm our booking. So we made a night of it and headed for a dinner out with our guests who had arrived. Sure enough, my gut feeling was right – Segara Asian Grill bumped us for a larger group. Fortunately with a little Julia persuasion / enforcement we were upgraded to a prime venue for our upcoming dinner.

By the Monday there were 8 of us so hiring a mini bus was required to take us to the Monkey Temple, in Uluwatu, south of Bali. Dave and and I visited here a few years ago and remembered it as a place where the hundreds of monkeys steal things. For example, the monkeys will have both hands full of human belongings (a thong from your foot) then trade you bananas for your belongings. Unfortunately or fortunately, on this visit there were only one or two monkeys at the temple so nothing was seen or stolen. Lunch followed our visit to the monkeys.The magnificent rock bar on the bottom of the cliffs of Ayana is accessible only via cable car (Flash -as place in the middle of nowhere). Cocktails in Bali are about $5. Here they’re upwards of $15 so only one was consumed between 2!

By the Wednesday another 15 friends had arrived. The Christmas feeling of opening the doors of the taxi vans to see who had arrived next continued. On the Thursday I opted for spending the day with Chris and Rhian lounging by the pool, buying supplies for the wedding day and taste testing a place to take everyone for dinner the following night. I was getting slightly stressed with the ever increasing list of jobs to achieve before the big day. I really, really enjoyed spending quality but relaxing time with Rhian and Chris. The rest of our friends went to Bali Safari and Marine Park with Dave. Monkeys were held, Elephants were ridden and cats and guinea pigs performed…. Dave thoroughly enjoying spending time with friends and a day with no lists.

We have already had a bucks and hens in Australia but many of Dave’s friends live in New Zealand so what better excuse than to spend the day with them. Dave chose to to spend the day whitewater rafting for his Bali bucks while the girls and I lazed around the pool drinking over – priced cocktails at the beautiful Potato Head beach front pool and restaurant venue.

On Saturday night, eight days after arriving and two days before the wedding, we all enjoyed the best (or at least second best) party of the trip. Our Welcome party was held in our very own beach front private function area complete with pool and DJ. If only we could always live like the rich and famous. I can’t recommend enough having a wedding overseas. At no other time in your life can you bring all of your family and friends, from different cities and countries, to congregate and enjoy a week or two of pure fun. The alternative was having a wedding in Australia with only an evening together. The stress was worth it! The welcome party was important to us both as we wanted to gather everyone together for the first time for friends to get to know one another before the wedding and week at Gili. With only 38 people here in Bali, it’s a small enough group to spend quality time with each and every one. We reflected on this thought as the boys were backflipping into the pool while the rest of us had the best pool party of our lives!

Our guest list included: Mum and Dad, Chris, Ruth, Linda, Peter, Anita, Peter, Helen, Jenny, Uwe, Allison, Adriaan, Rhian, Brendan, Chris, Cathie, Nibbs, Jeremy, Jin, Webb, Erica, Bel, Grant, Mel, Steve, James, David, Heather, Blake, Bex, Alex, Rochelle, Brad, Steph, Sam and Barb

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Sydney, Australia

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Brisbane Airport, Australia

We made it to our first of many airport check ins with literally 5 minutes to spare. Let’s hope this isn’t the first of many last minute rushes. I’m unsure how two very organised people can be so disorganised at times. Last minute changes for what to pack and what to leave were still occurring as Janine and the boys dropped us off at the airport. The list of ‘to dos’ never seemed to end, but I’d say it wasn’t the best idea to create wedding song playlists the morning of our departure. However, we made it to the airport – just.
It’s been a crazy year leading up to this moment: wedding and travel preparations, building and selling houses and of course packing our lives into boxes. With the help of family and friends we did it! It was a surreal feeling leaving Brisbane airport today. It felt as if we were just going away for a few days, not 365. Although packed and ready to go, the excitement and reality of our year adventure hasn’t hit us yet. My aching back is starting to tell me it’s actually happening only when I put that ‘increasing-in-weight-now 17kg’ pack on my back. I can barely lift it off the ground and I haven’t mastered how to pack everything into it as yet. As well as clothes for a year away with different seasons across the world, we have ‘holiday’ clothes for a few weeks in Bali strapped in a bag on my chest, Dave has a surf board in hand and I have a wedding dress in mine…. I will never complain about a heavy handbag again. I’m glad I’m wearing my super practical, super ugly Keens – not the pretty heels in my Bali bag. If I can retain my pearls I’ll be a happy traveller- but it’s unlikely.

The first of 27 pre booked flights is from our home in Brisbane to Sydney. As we take off, it comes to mind, a year without cooking – or is it that I don’t need to START cooking for another year? Dave squashes this hopeful thought by recalling the fact the Intrepid trip notes state “shared cooking duties” for much of those 100 days. My stunned look says it all. Who knows what the Julia Trengove, or should I say Julia Morton, returning to Australia in a year will be like. She may not even use the microwave for boiling eggs or cooking steak. Dave’s hope is to return with a domesticated wife.

Although we were in Sydney only a few hours, we lost a years worth of travel documentation. Those few hours were spent in a tizz, however they showed up in our bags on the second plane to our wedding venue in Bali, Indonesia. I think our nerves just got the better of us and gave us something to worry about. We both were ecstatic for a free plane meal though. I foresee free food, of any kind, becoming a luxury not to be taken for granted.

“Lesson #1 – of many to come: we are learning fast that planning everything isn’t possible. Some things are just out of our control. I believe that’s been said to me before”.

Farewell Australia, catch you on the flip side.

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