Christmas Gift Guide

Can you believe that tomorrow, it's only a month until Christmas?! I've already bought a couple of presents but there's still a long way to go, so I've been trawling the Internet for inspiration and decided I'd create a Christmas Gift Guide.

I've kept everything under £50 and there's ideas to suit women of all ages. Happy shopping!

Gladrags ♥

From L-R:

1. Eleven Paris Home Alone Christmas sweatshirt £50 - Home Alone is a Christmas classic and so is this jumper - you could wear it over and over again and it would never become tacky!
2. River Island Black Fabric Backed Statement Necklace £18 - I'm a big fan of statement necklaces and this one would look great layered over a top or dress
3. Daisy H Alpha Ring £37 - Daisy's Alpha rings would make such a lovely personal present, plus they won't turn your fingers green
4. Topshop Small Traditional Check Scarf £14 - You can't beat a bit of tartan in the festive season
5. River Island Black Cut Out Cleated Sole Ankle Boots £40 - I've wanted some cut out boots for so long and these ones are very affordable - I've asked Santa/my Mum for these so fingers crossed one of them delivers!

Home ♥

From L-R:

1. Debenham's Cream sequin stag cushion £22.40 - Stag prints are everywhere at the moment and Debenham's have caught onto the trend with this sequin cushion
2. Carluccio's Christmas Star Hamper £35 -  Hamper's make a lovely present and this one from Carluccio's has a really nice range of treats inside!
3. Next Lit Heart Wreath £18 - I love this heart wreath and it's battery powered, so there are no power cables to ruin the look
4. Paperchase livorno frame green 5x7 £15 - I think framed photos are really thoughtful presents and Paperchase do a really nice range of frames. I love the colour of this one!

Pamper ♥

From L-R:

London Life

Having now lived in London for over 3 months, it's probably about time I wrote a related blog post!

When I moved here, I wasn't a complete London novice, as my boyfriend, Ed, is from Putney, so I've spent quite a bit of time here, when visiting him in Uni holidays and on my year out.

I've taken up residency in the lovely borough of Fulham, just around the corner from Craven Cottage (which would be great if I supported Fulham FC... but I don't) and the beautiful Bishops Park, home to Fulham Palace, which is worth a visit if you're in the area.

Fulham

Coming from another big city, it hasn't been a huge change. What I still haven't got over though, is the fact that you have to book restaurants on week nights (what?!) and that the traffic is never-ending.

Speaking of restaurants, there are literally thousands of them and I will never go to all the ones I want to try, not least when you add in all the lovely cafés and coffee shops on top of that.

However, I thought it would be nice to write about the ones that I have been to, that I would recommend to anyone visiting London:

♥ Big Easy - when I mentioned booking restaurants on week nights, this is where I was referring to. Big Easy is a hugely popular American-style crabshack on the Kings Road in Chelsea, where I had all-you-can-eat Shrimp with fries for £16.95, complete with a plastic bib! They also offer some great deals on lobster and do a few other all-you-can-eat deals. Definitely worth a try if you fancy a greasy treat!

♥ Claude's Kitchen at Amuse Bouche - Amuse Bouche is a very classy wine bar in Parson's Green and upstairs in Claude's Kitchen they serve some great food. Three courses for £20 on a Tuesday - say no more!

♥ Jamie Oliver's Pop Up Diner - For a limited time only, Jamie Oliver has opened a pop up diner, handily, right next to where I work in Piccadilly. I've tried a few things on the menu and highly recommend the avocado fries (and the wine because you can buy it by the litre)!

Jamie Oliver's Chilli Dog

♥ Hudson's - Found on the Lower Richmond Road in Putney, this is a Savitt family favourite (Ed's family for those of you who don't know) and rightly so, both the food and atmosphere are great!

♥ Urban Tea Rooms - running parallel to the shopping district of Carnaby Street, is Kingly Street where you will find Urban Tea Rooms, a lovely café by day and wine bar by night. They serve the most incredible salads, as well as sandwiches, cakes, coffee and (you guessed it) tea!

Urban Tea Rooms

♥ Hally's - Another great café is Hally's, which opened this summer and can be found on the New King's Road in Parsons Green.

♥ Meat Market - No list of recommended places to eat in London, would be complete without a mention of Meat Market, or another member of it's family, Meat Liquor or Meat Mission. Meat Market is a burger joint in a not-so-easy to find location in Covent Garden but it's well worth the search and is rumoured to be getting a Michelin Star (according to a waiter who may well have been joking).

Meat Market

A handy sign... inside the restaurant

♥ Megan's - Megan's is a beautifully decorated restaurant and deli, also on the Kings Road (what a place), with the most lovely outside area. It's safe to say, I had the best brownie I have ever eaten here - divine!

♥ Bill's - Bill's is a chain of restaurants in the South of England, with 14 branches in London. The menu covers just about everything and the food is great - I just hope they infiltrate the North soon!

♥ Anywhere on Southbank, which if you walk all the way along, towards London Bridge, brings you out at Borough Market.

If, like me, you are a big fan of trying new places to eat, you should download Zomato, which is a really useful restaurant-finding app that also works in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham and Manchester in the UK, as well as a number of other countries worldwide.

Finally, whilst I'm on the subject of apps... two apps that have come in so handy since moving to London are Tube Map (no-brainer) and Citymapper - both so incredibly useful for finding your way around, especially the latter.

Until next time... x

Plastic Fantastic

Wow - it has been far too long since my last blog post. Life has been rather hectic recently, what with moving down to London and starting a new job in PR, but I've missed blogging.

I've decided that from now on, I'm going to aim to do a weekly blog post - wish me luck!

This weeks blog is on all things plastic! I'm usually one to turn down unnecessary plastic bags in supermarkets but I can't get enough of the new perspex and plastic trend, hitting all the fashion stores at the moment.

Here is my pick of the best plastic bags and accessories available online and on the high street right now:

From L-R:

1. Nasty Gal Look See Clutch £16.54 - these bags are a great way to show off your pretty accessories and this version's on sale!

2. ASOS Klear Klutch Small Pink Transparent Bag £40 - this bag comes in black and clear too.

3. Missguided Arien Clear Envelope Bag £24.99 - this bag is no longer for sale but I had to include it, as it's what inspired me to write this blog post, when I spotted my favourite (and fellow Sheffield-er) fashion blogger She Wears Fashion wearing it.

From L-R:

1. ASOS Perspex Swing Triangle Earrings £7 - I have a terrible feeling these have now gone out of stock but I had to include them anyway!

2. Nasty Gal Clear Choice Tee £29.84 - Nasty Gal is great for items that are a bit different to the usual - love this tee.

3. Boohoo Louise Perspex Necklace £10 - this is my favourite new accessory at the moment and they do it in black too.

4. KG by Kurt Geiger Aster Leather Buckled Heel Sandal with Translucent Heel £130 - although they're quite pricey, I swear by Kurt Geiger and Carvela heels, so comfy, not to mention amazing!

5. Fashion Union Black Perspex Suede Lace Up Shoe Boots £30 - for a cheaper take on a perspex heel, try these Fashion Union boots.

My Boohoo Louise Perspex Necklace

 Until next time .... x

Tartan Takeover

Since returning from my travels we have had some beautiful weather here in England, but after moving to London a week ago (so exciting!), the rain has started to creep back in to our British Summer and while some people are probably rather upset about the prospect of colder weather, it is making me seriously excited about my winter wardrobe.

With the monochrome trend set to carry on into Autumn/Winter, then to take your wardrobe into next season all you need to add is some tartan, which is going to be huge when September rolls round. Tartan is one of my favourite prints, so I am really glad to see it back in the shops!

Tartan takeover with two of my favourite Scots!

Here is my pick of the best tartan and monochrome pieces available online and on the high street right now:

From L-R:

1. MeeMee Oblong Monochrome Skirt £20 - I love the hemline on this skirt and at £20 it's a bargain!
2. Zara Checkered Skinny Trousers With Zip £39.99 - Great for the office or on a night out.
3. Fashion Union White Diamond Print Midi Dress £18 - Love the wet-look sleeves on this midi dress.
4. MeeMee Sheer Check It Shirt £18
5. GoGo Philip Heavy Linked Gold Plated Classic Bracelet £15 - This is a great piece of statement jewellery as it's so chunky and would work well with both tartan and monochrome styles.
6. Cambridge Satchel Company Exclusive to Asos 11" Tartan Pocket Leather Satchel £115

Until next time .... x

Cambodia & the Thaislands

From Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Alex and I took a bus into Cambodia to start the final 3 weeks of our trip - 5 days in Cambodia, then 2 weeks in the Thai islands of Koh Tao and Koh Phangan!

Map of Cambodia

The bus took us to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, where we stayed for 2 nights at a really chilled out hostel, 88 Backpackers. On our one full day in Phnom Penh, we had a very depressing visit to the Tuol Sleng Prison and the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. However, as they are both a part of Cambodia's recent history, we felt it was important to visit them to understand what happened in Cambodia only 38 years ago.

On April 17th 1975, the extreme communist group Khmer Rouge, led by the dictator Pol Pot, stormed Phnom Penh and made everyone evacuate to the countryside, as part of Pol Pot's insane plan to create a completely self sufficient country, with the entire population working in forced labour farms. For this plan to work he decided to eradicate professionals and their families, who might oppose his plan. He jailed doctors, lawyers and teachers along with many others, who were then tortured until they confessed to their supposed sins, before being sent to be executed. Tuol Sleng, a former high school, was used as the  largest of all the Khmer Rouge prisons in Cambodia and became known as Security 21 or S21. In the 3 years that the Khmer Rouge were in power, around 20,000 innocent Cambodians were sent to S21 before the majority of them were told they were being moved to another jail, but were in fact being sent to be inhumanely killed at Choeung Ek. It is estimated that altogether 3 million Cambodians, a quarter of the population, were killed by the Khmer Rouge. The prison and killing fields are now museums, which serve to remind future generations of the evils of mass genocide, in the hope that something like this will never happen again.

A touching tribute at one of the mass graves at Choeung Ek

From Phonm Penh we then travelled to Siem Reap, home to the famous Temples of Angkor, with Angkor Wat being the most well known. We spent 3 days in Siem Reap, exploring the temples, shopping at the night market and partying at Siem Reap's most popular bar, Angkor What? on the backpacker haven of Pub Street!

Monks at the Temples of Angkor!

You could spend forever exploring the hundreds of temples, with 1 day, 3 day, 1 week and 1 month passes available. However, we just chose a 1 day pass, which cost $20, and did the typical tourist route - a sunrise trip to Angkor Wat, exploring the huge walled city of Angkor Thom, and finishing with a visit to Ta Prohm where Tomb Raider was filmed!

Sunrise over Angkor Wat

From Siem Reap we took a bus back to Bangkok, where we then headed to Don Muang Airport to fly down to the Thai islands.

With only 2 weeks left of our trip, we decided to skip the islands on the West coast of the Gulf of Thailand (Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lanta and the mainland resorts of Phuket and Krabi) and instead just went to the islands off the East coast of the Gulf: Koh Tao, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. The nearest airport to Koh Tao is Chumphon on the mainland, so we flew to Chumphon from Bangkok, then took a boat across to Koh Tao.

Map of the Thai islands

Koh Tao is probably the most unspoilt of all the islands and it really is beautiful! We stayed there for 9 days at Simple Life Resort on Sairee Beach, the resort where the majority of the backpackers on the island stay. Unfortunately, of those 9 days, only 3 of them were sunny. For the first 6 days we had rain, rain and more rain. So depressing! We filled those days by visiting lots of cafés, going for an excrutiatingly painful Thai massage (never again!) and cloudbathing whenever the rain stopped, either by our pool or at one of the islands' many beautiful beaches with 3 lovely Welsh girls, who we originally met in New Zealand on the Kiwi Experience!

Cloudbathing at one of Koh Tao's beautiful beaches

Of course, we also went on plenty of nights out, which included the infamous Koh Tao Pub Crawl and an amazing ladyboy cabaret show!

When the sun finally came out, Alex and I, along with 2 of our friends, went on a boat tour around the island, stopping in 3 bays for snorkelling before heading to the most beautiful little island just off the coast of Koh Tao, Koh Nangyuan, where we climbed up to the amazing viewpoint! If you ever go to to Koh Tao, Koh Nangyuan is so worth visiting!

Koh Nangyuan

After 9 days in Koh Tao, we took the boat over to Koh Phangan for 3 nights, with the world famous Full Moon Party falling on our last night. There are at least 6 boats a day going between the islands, so it is incredibly simple to just book on to them when you're there. Plus, if you book them from your hotel, you usually get a free transfer to the ferry.

In Koh Phangan, we stayed quite a long way away from Haad Rin itself (the beach where the Full Moon Party takes place), however, it was really easy to catch a taxi into Haad Rin so it wasn't a problem! The two nights leading up to Full Moon, we went to the infamous Coral Bungalows pool party and the Jungle Experience, which was great fun - I actually preferred the Jungle Experience to Full Moon, as it was slightly less busy.

On the night of the Full Moon Party we headed into Haad Rin, where we neon-ed up with body paint at pre drinks, headed to the beach, then managed to lose everyone in a matter of minutes which was a bit of an anti-climax. It was good fun though and definitely worth going to for the experience, but it was without a doubt the busiest place I have ever been to!

Neon body paint!

The morning after Full Moon, we somehow managed to drag ourselves out of bed and on to the boat to Koh Samui, where we flew home from the following day.

What an amazing 4 months - I can't quite believe that it's over! I have seen some of the most beautiful places imaginable and made some great friends along the way. I have a feeling that it won't be the last time I go traveling though!

Next stop, London, where I move to in a few weeks, where no doubt the adventures will continue...

Same Same, But Different!

After our quick stop in Singapore, we flew to Thailand's massively hectic capital city, Bangkok, to start the next part of our trip: 10 days in mainland Thailand, spent in Bangkok & Chiang Mai, followed by 3 weeks travelling down the coastline of Vietnam, from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh.


A map of Thailand and Vietnam


In Bangkok, we stayed on the popular Khao San Road in Khaosan Palace Inn. Khao San Road has a great market and is definitely the best area to stay if you want to meet other backpackers, although I would recommend staying one road over on Thanon Ram Buttri (Thanon is Thai for street) if you want to get some sleep! Plus, Thanon Ram Buttri has a much better selection of restaurants and street food.

We spent our entire first day in Bangkok at MBK shopping centre, which is essentially a ginormous indoor market! Prices weren't actually that cheap, but it's a good place to pick  up fake  handbags and purses, if that's what you're looking for (same same, but different!). On our second day, we visited Wat Pho, the Reclining Buddha Temple, in our full on temple gear - bloody boiling! Having previously visited the Emerald Buddha Temple with my family, I would say either is a good choice to visit, as they are both equally beautiful!

Wat Pho

That night we went out on Khao San Road, where we met some guys and decided to go a ping pong show together! If backpacking in Bangkok, it's just one of those things that you have to do - it was both disgusting and hilarious all at the same time! If you go though, you have to be aware that it's more than likely that you will be ripped off.

From Bangkok, we took the overnight sleeper train to Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand. We bought our train tickets on the day, from Hua Lamphong, the main train station. This is the best place to buy your tickets, as travel agents will overcharge you! The train journey took 12 hours and though we didn't get much sleep, I felt completely safe and the beds were actually quite cosy. On arrival in Chiang Mai, we took a 'sawngtheaw' or red truck (similar to a taxi, except there is a set price and the driver will stop and pick people up wherever he fancies) to Vanilla Place Guest House, which we found on Tripadvisor (so useful!). That day we visited a museum, then headed to the Sunday walking market - the best market I've ever been to, stocked with all sorts of local handicrafts, rather than the typical commercial tourist crap! Bought loads!

We spent our second day in Chiang Mai at the Mae Sa waterfalls, which I also found on Tripadvisor! I knew I wanted to visit some waterfalls in Chiang Mai, as sadly we didn't have enough time to visit the town of Pai - which my friend Danielle had told me was her favourite place in Thailand, partly because of the amazing waterfalls - and the Mae Sa waterfalls hopefully compensated for this! A series of 10 waterfalls surrounded by picnic tables and barely any tourists - lovely day out!

One of the waterfalls at Mae Sa

Our third day in Chiang Mai was spent at Thai Farm Cooking School, where we learnt to make 6 Thai dishes including green curry and pad Thai. I love to cook so I really enjoyed our day at Thai Farm, especially as we got to eat everything that we made!

Our cooking teacher at Thai Farm

We spent our last day in Chiang Mai at Patara Elephant Farm, which was the most surreal experience ever! If you ever go to Chiang Mai you HAVE to go to Patara (make sure you book in advance), as it is literally amazing! Patara adopt domesticated elephants from circuses, illegal logging camps and from families who are no longer able to take care of them. The elephants are free to roam around, thoroughly looked after (as they would be unable to survive on their own in the wild) and, when the time is right, breeded, in an attempt to increase the massively declined population of elephants in Thailand. 

You become the owner of one of the adopted elephants for the day; mine was the smallest elephant, named Bang and she was 7! During the day I got to feed her, as a bonding experience, check she was healthy (which included checking her dung - ew) and ride her bareback to a waterfall (her daily exercise) where I washed her! We then got to visit the elephant nursery, where since Patara was founded, 14 years ago, 18 baby elephants have been born. Adorable!

Washing Bang before riding her to the waterfall!

From Chiang Mai, we took the train back down to Bangkok to then fly to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, as we could find no direct flights from Chiang Mai.

Vietnam was under French colonial rule from 1883 until after WWII and the influence of the French is still very visible in Hanoi, with some beautiful French-style buildings, such as the opera house, and tree-lined streets throughout the city.

We spent 2 days in Hanoi, where we visited the Temple of Literature, explored the Old Quarter and booked our Halong Bay trip. There are an unbelievable amount of tour companies and hotels in Hanoi offering boat trips with different cruise operators, and with incredibly lax anti-piracy laws in Vietnam, there are many tour companies all operating under names of reputable brands, making it not only a really confusing decision but one where there's a chance that you are being conned and may end up on a boat that is no where near as nice as the one you paid for. After lots of research, and again with the help of Tripadvisor, we decided to book on the Alova Gold Cruise for a 2 day, 1 night trip of Halong Bay!

Halong Bay

Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, made up of 1969 limestone islands and it is absolutely beautiful! Our trip included a stop at Titop island where we walked to the viewpoint at the top, kayaking round a floating fishing village and visiting the aptly named Amazing Cave, which really was pretty amazing!

After our return to Hanoi, Alex and I sadly said goodbye to Laura who was headed home at this point, then made our way down to Hue, halfway down the coast of Vietnam, on an overnight train.

In Hue we visited the Dong Ba market, where we were the only non-Vietnamese people and went to explore the Citadel - a former Imperial City, which was home to 4 emperors before being heavily bombed by the Americans during the war!

A beautiful building in the Citadel

From Hue we took the relatively short bus journey to Hoi An. Hoi An was my favourite place of our trip so far, such a picturesque little town! In Hoi An we stayed at a brand new hotel called Vaia Boutique, once again found on Tripadvisor. At £8 a night each, including  breakfast, it was literally the best value for money ever. If you go to Hoi An, you have to stay in Vaia Boutique.

Vaia Boutique

Hoi An is famous for tailoring, so we spent our first morning there designing our own dresses at To An Cloth Shop, a few doors down from Vaia Boutique. Before we got to Hoi An, I spent quite a while researching how to choose which tailor shop to go to (there are over 500 to choose from) but I think this is all the advice you need - choose somewhere close to your hotel so it's easy to get to for fittings, and if you want to pay more find somewhere that looks expensive, if you want to pay less find somewhere that looks cheap. Easy! We spent the rest of our day at a traditional Vietnamese tea house, where you are served by speech and hearing impaired waitresses to make you appreciate the beauty of a cup of tea or coffee drunk in silence. How lovely!

Traditional Vietnamese coffee!

We spent the next 3 days at Hoi An's nearby beaches, which we cycled to, and spent the nights exploring the restaurants and shops of the old town. Also, one night whilst we were there, there was a festival to celebrate the full moon and we bought lanterns to float down the river, which are meant to bring good luck to your family!

Nha Trang was our next destination in Vietnam. Very popular with the Russians, Nha Trang is a beach resort filled with high rise hotels. We spent three days there, which included a visit to a mineral mud spa (which left our skin silky smooth!) and a trip to Vinpearl Land, Vietnams answer to Disneyland. Vinpearl Land is a waterpark, theme park and aquarium all rolled into one, built on an island which you have to take a cable car too - great fun!

The cable car to Vinpearl Land

From Nha Trang, we headed to Mui Ne on the Southern coast of Vietnam for 2 nights. Mui Ne is famous for its red and white sand dunes, which we did a half day tour of. At the white sand dunes, Al and I rented a quadbike to ride around the dunes on and, of course, we managed to get stuck... Twice. Oops!

Quadbiking at the sand dunes in Mui Ne

Our final stop in Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh City, which is still referred to by its previous name of Saigon by the locals. In HCMC we stayed on the backpacker road of Bui Vien which was great for bars!

From HCMC we did two popular day tours: one to the Cu Chi tunnels and one to the Mekong Delta. The tour to the Cu Chi tunnels was so interesting! In the Vietnam war, the communist Viet Cong, from North Vietnam, were fighting the anti-communist South of Vietnam, along with the American Army and their allies. However, the area of Cu Chi, although in the South, was under Viet Cong control. The local Cu Chi fighters constructed a 200km long underground tunnel system to assist them in battle - it protected them from American bombs and allowed them to ambush the Americans when they attacked, by running through the tunnels undetected, then taking them by surprise! On the tour we got to crawl through a 25m section of the tunnels (it was SO small!) and we saw some of the booby traps used by the Cu Chi fighters - scary stuff! What made the tour even more interesting was that our tour guide, Mr Bean, a half Vietnamese, half Filipino man, served as a lieutenant in the American Army and his platoon fought at the Cu Chi tunnels! He told us that after the war, because he chose to stay in Vietnam, he had to serve 5 and a half years in a communist prison!

Me in one of the Cu Chi tunnel entrances!

Disappointingly, the Mekong Delta trip was not so interesting - especially combined with a hangover from a crazy night out the night before with Alex's friend from Uni, Anna, and her friend Kaz! I did enjoy the part where we rowed along a canal through a mangrove forest though.

Alex & I at the Mekong Delta wearing traditional Vietnamese hats!

I really enjoyed visiting Thailand again, after a family holiday there 2 years ago, and I absolutely loved Vietnam! Such a great place and with so many lovely French bakeries and coffee shops, I didn't even feel that far from home!

Next stop... Cambodia! x

Indonesia & a Singapore Sling!

The beautiful island of Bali was the first South East Asian stop of our trip. After landing at Denpasar Airport, we took a taxi to our hotel in the nearby, popular and heavingly busy tourist destination of Legian. Kuta and Seminyak are the 2 other well known tourist hotspots near the airport, but from what I could tell, Kuta, Legian and Seminyak all roll into one along the same stretch of beach!

We stayed in Legian for 2 nights and spent our time there shopping (you can't avoid it - the streets are literally paved with back-to-back shops), trying out Indonesian cuisine and watching the sun set on the beach with a Bintang (Bintang is the local beer and is literally everywhere. I don't even drink beer but it felt compulsory to have one!).

The beautiful sunset in Bali

I read about watching the sunset in my Lonely Planet travel guide - South East Asia on a Shoestring - which Ed bought for me before our trip (thank you!). I had originally thought that it would be useful for pre-planning our trip but I have actually found that it is far more useful once you have turned up in a place, to read about what you can do there. Lonely Planet books are the king of all travel guides and I would recommend checking them out for any country you plan on visiting.

After our quick stop in Legian - where thankfully we somehow didn't get run over by the thousands of mopeds hurtling down the narrow streets - we took a taxi up to Padang Bai, where we then took a fast boat over to the Gili islands. There are 3 Gili islands: Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan, which is the largest of the 3 and is where we stayed. The Gili islands, whilst still popular tourist destinations, are remarkably different to Bali, with the main difference being the non-existance of motorised transport on the islands. Hiring a bicycle or taking a horse and cart are the only 2 options other than walking!

A horse & cart on Gili Trawangan

So on arrival, with our massive backpacks but nowhere booked to stay, we chose to walk along the main road and look at hotel rooms on the way until we found one we liked the look of. After looking at about 4, we came across a divine hotel - the Good Heart Resort - and although it was £17 a night each (which is pricey in SE Asia), we felt we deserved a treat after 2 months of hostels!

On our first night on Gili Trawangan, we found out another difference between Bali & the Gili islands: Bali is the only Indonesian country that is Hindu, whilst the rest of Indonesia is Muslim, therefore, we had a very early wake up call (we're talking sunrise early, so about 5am) from the island's mosque!

We stayed on Gili Trawangan for 4 days, with our stay involving as much sunbathing as we could bare in the boiling heat, a bike ride round the island/taking our bikes for a walk along sand tracks that were largely uncyclable, a big night out (Gili T is known as the party island of the 3) and a snorkelling trip round the islands!

Gili Trawangan Harbour

From Gili Trawangan we took the boat back to Bali, where we went to Ubud for a couple of days. Ubud is known as the cultural centre of Bali and was made famous by the 2006 book, Eat, Pray, Love, which was later made into a film. In Ubud we visited the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, home to over 500 Balinese macaques who certainly weren't afraid to interact with humans - 2 leapt on Laura and another stole Alex's water bottle right out of her hands! An intimidating experience but definitely worth the visit. We also went to see a traditional Balinese dance at Ubud palace (thanks to Lonely Planet), which was amazing! If we had had more time in Ubud, I would have liked to have been to see the famous rice-terrace covered volcano as well - maybe another time!

Traditional Balinese dance

From Bali we flew to Singapore, where we stayed for only one night before continuing on to Thailand. Singapore is like an Asian version of England - I can see why so many ex-pats live there. In the short time we were there we wandered to the famous Raffles Hotel, where we looked around, spent ages browsing in the gift shop, then had a cup of tea! I definitely want to return to Singapore when I have a bigger budget!

Raffles, Singapore

Next stop... Thailand!

The Land of Oz

After an amazing time in the beautiful New Zealand our next destination was Australia, where we had 5 weeks to make our way up the East Coast from Sydney to Cairns, leaving the cities of Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide & Perth for another time (hopefully!).

Our route

The most popular way to travel round Australia is on Greyhound buses (Premier buses are also a popular choice), however, we booked to go on Oz Experience in the hope that we would have a Driver Guide and be able to meet a group of likeminded travellers. Unfortunately though, on arrival in Australia, we discovered that Oz Experience had moved to its "winter schedule" and so we would be travelling on Greyhound buses anyway, even though we had paid more! Very annoying!

On our first morning in Sydney we went on a 3 hour free walking tour with a company called I'm Free, who also offer free walking tours of Melbourne. If you are planning a trip to either of these cities I would definitely recommend doing the walking tour as it was a brilliant way to see things that we otherwise might not have seen! We spent the rest of our day sunbathing in the nearby Botanic Gardens, before heading out to the suburbs where we went for a BBQ at Laura's family friends house - what a great way to start our time in Australia!

The next morning we went on a shopping trip (Sydney is amazing for shopping) and I just couldn't resist the lure of Topshop and ended up buying a dress that probably cost me twice what it would have at home - oops! Ed arrived in Sydney in the afternoon so we went for a walk to the harbour, then that evening my Mum's cousins son, Robbie, very kindly took us out for dinner at really nice place called The Sheaf in Double Bay.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

For the next few days, Alex & Laura stayed with Steve, a family friend of Alex', and his family, whilst Ed and I stayed in Bounce Hotel, a budget boutique hotel, which was recommended to me by Hannah, my older sister, and it was amazing!

On our third day in Sydney, we took the ferry to Manly Beach where we met Laura, Alex and Brad and Chippy, the boys Ed is travelling with. I would definitely recommend going to Manly if you're going to Sydney, as on the ferry trip you get such a great view of the harbour! The following day we went on the ferry again to Taronga Zoo, where we saw koalas, kangaroos and an amazing seal show - without a doubt the best zoo I've ever been to!

A koala at Taronga Zoo!

After a great few days in Sydney, we boarded our first Greyhound bus up to Spot X Surf Camp, an inclusion on our Oz Experience pass. Rubbish weather, even worse accomodation, and the surf lesson was also pretty useless! Our sleeping bag liners got their first use of the trip at Spot X - grim.

Two days at Spot X was two days too many, so we were very pleased when the bus arrived to take us up to Byron Bay! On our first night in Byron Bay we stayed in Nomads hostel - such a nice hostel. To book all of our hostels in Australia we used Hostelworld, a website and app, where people can rate the hostels, so you can then rank the hostels by rating. So useful, as we then stayed at the best rated hostel in each place we went!

The following day, we met my Mum's cousin, Terry, and her daughter Lara, who were on holiday in Byron Bay, and Terry very kindly offered for us to stay with them for the rest of our time in Byron Bay. On our second day in Byron, we went on a day trip to Nimbin, another inclusion on our Oz Experience Pass. Nimbin itself was a tiny street filled with hippies and drugs and definitely not worth the visit, but the trip was a good way to meet people, who we then met that night in Cheeky Monkeys  - a great club in Byron Bay where the dancefloor is made up of picnic tables. So much fun! On our last day in Byron Bay, Terry and her husband Neil booked us a surf lesson with Style Surfing which made us realise just how rubbish our other surf lesson had been. All three of us managed to stand up on nearly every wave and it was a great hangover cure!

Nimbin

From Byron Bay we headed up to Surfer's Paradise, which ironically wasn't a little surf town, but a city filled with high rise hotels - certainly not paradise! The good thing about Surfer's Paradise is that there are tonnes of activities to do if you have the money, but as we are on a budget we spent our day cloudbathing.

Brisbane was our next stop, where we spent the majority of our time at Southbank, a lovely area next to the river, with a manmade lagoon, museums, art galleries and cafes. On our second night in Brisbane, we met up with Dave and Arj, Alex and Laura's friends from home, for a night out. From what I can remember (not much) it was the best night out we've had whilst travelling!!

Southbank, Brisbane

Our next destination was Noosa, where we stayed with Al's Nanna's friend Jill for two nights, then with Jill's daughter Caroline for one night. Noosa is such a pretty place! Whilst there, Jill took us on a trip to the nearby coastal towns and we went on a walk in the Noosa National Park - lovely!

From Noosa we travelled up to Rainbow Beach, which is where we did our Fraser Island trip from. You can get to Fraser Island from either Rainbow Beach or Hervey Bay, with Rainbow Beach probably being the best choice, as it is only a 10 minute ferry crossing compared to 45 minutes. We did our Fraser Island trip with Rainbow Beach Adventure Company, who offer a self-drive 4WD tour of the island in a convoy of 4 cars, with a guide in the lead car. The other option on Fraser Island is to go on a 4WD coach but I would 100% recommend the self-drive trips over a coach, even if you can't drive, as driving or being a passenger in a 4WD car is the whole point of the experience and it just wouldn't be the same in a coach!

Fraser Island

On our first day in Fraser Island we drove to Lake Mackenzie, where our guide, Muzza, found some tiny turtles for us to look at - so cute! From Lake Mackenzie we headed up to our campsite for the night. It is safe to say that if you are more of a glamper then this trip is not for you! On our second day we went to Eli Creek (a lazy river that you can float along in), the Maheno shipwreck, then to the Champagne Pools, which are rockpools that are deep enough to swim in, where waves crash over the edges making the pools look like fizzing champagne! From the Champagne Pools we drove to a massive sand dune which we hiked up (seriously tiring), before heading back to the campsite. That night we played a hilarious drinking game with the lovely Swiss girls that we shared a car with, which did not make for a pleasant drive back to Rainbow Beach the next day (via Lake Wabby which we walked to for 40 minutes in the pouring rain).

The Maheno Shipwreck

So we arrived back at Rainbow Beach, looking like drowned rats and feeling slightly worse for wear to be greeted by Ed, Brad & Chippy in their Jucy campervan. (If hiring a campervan to travel round Australia, then Jucy are definitely the most popular company to hire from.) The next day, the boys headed off on their Fraser Island trip and we headed further up the coast to Agnes Water. Agnes Water is an even smaller place than Rainbow Beach, yet somehow I managed to get lost whilst on a run and had to hitchhike back to our hostel! At Agnes Water we stayed at Southern Cross which had a great pool to sunbathe next to.

Airlie Beach was our next stop, which is where you sail to the Whitsundays from. We spent 2 nights in Airlie Beach before our Whitsundays trip, staying at Nomads hostel (Nomads is a chain, with other chains of hostels including Base, YMCA & YHA), which was so nice! The morning of our Whitsundays trip we woke up to unbelievable weather - so lucky as the week before, most trips were being cancelled due to a storm! We had booked a 2 day 2 night trip on a boat called Powerplay, which takes 18 people plus the crew. There are hundreds of boats to choose from and we chose that one as it's not a booze cruise, but still for people our age. On the trip we stopped at 4 snorkelling spots and at one we saw 5 turtles which was incredible! The boat was ideal for sunbathing and the crew literally did not stop feeding us - without a doubt, the best thing we did in Australia!

Whitehaven Beach, Whitsundays

After returning from our Whitsundays trip, we headed up to Townsville where we took a ferry over to Magnetic Island for a 2 night stay at Base hostel, which was included on our Oz Experience pass - definitely the best inclusion. The hostel was right on the beach and would be better described as a resort! On our full day there, we hired a white and pink "topless" car to explore the island, and whilst there wasn't much exploring to do on the small island, it was such a fun day, plus we got to feed some wild rock wallabies!

Topless!

Our next stop was Mission Beach, a really popuar spot for skydiving. Having already done a skydive in NZ this made it a pretty pointless stop for us as there is not much else to do their apart from sunbathe.

Our final stop on our Greyhound route was Cairns where we spent 4 days, staying at the incredibly popular Gilligans hostel, complete with its own club! In Cairns we spent all 4 days at the manmade lagoon, as we managed to miss our trip to the Atherton Tablelands (oops).

From Cairns we flew to Darwin as this is where we flew to Bali from. For some reason, we had dismissed Darwin as a transfer day but unexpectedly, it was such a great place! It has a really nice waterfront with a wave pool and a deckchair cinema, and is home to the vast majority of Australian Aboriginals making it a culturally interesting place also! Darwin is also home to a huge number of crocs, so on our one day there we hired a car and drove up to the Adelaide River where we went on a jumping crocodile cruise. We got so close to the crocs and although it was pretty scary it was amazing to see them in their natural environment!

Jumping croc!!!

Whilst the weather let us down a lot, I really enjoyed Sydney, meeting my Australian family and our Whitsundays trip, all making Australia well worth the visit!

Next stop... Bali!