David –
Our final stop in South East Asia was Bali and our journey there from Gili T was surprisingly easy given our low expectations of the boat transfer. The wind was down and swell was small so the trip from atop the of our fast boat was mostly smooth. We were dropped off in Jimbaran and settled in to watch the sunset over the beach!
Nick and Tuuli had made last minute plans to come to Bali for a week of R&R and we were excited to catch up. Our trip had been in the works for quite a while and we would unfortunately be missing their wedding in February 😦
We took a stroll down along the beach and found a great seafood place to catch up over delicious lobster, scallops and prawns. The plan for our final day in Bali was to head out for a surf and catch the last of the swell.
The waves at Balangan were small but I hired a mini mal which made them a bit more fun. Lauren showed off her much improved surfing skills, making it look easy. Our final meal together was at a little Mexican spot – delicious but we wondered how it would compare to the second leg of our trip. Lauren and I waved farewell to Nick and Tuuli who would no doubt enjoy the rest of their stay.
The transfer to Mexico city via Sydney was underway!
A few short hours later we arrived at 9am at Sydney airport. Perfectly timed our Canberra family – Alex, Aiden and Jess swooped us away towards the AirBnb in Manly where we would spend the weekend sharing stories and catching up.
Our cozy place in Manly was perfect (even if we had to sleep 5 in a room – sorry about any snoring). After a tasty lunch at Dee Why we headed around to the look out over the ocean, finding Matt and Alex on our return to the car. In the afternoon we picnicked down by Manly ‘Office’ where Rachel joined us too. We chatted late into the night, the crazy neighbor either listening in or just acting crazy late into the morning.
The following day we had fish and chips in the inner harbour by Balmoral. We of course we had to wrap up our visit with a few drinks at 4Pines and then squeezed in a few rounds of somewhat overly competitive game of Articulate.
Our Canberra friends were out early on Monday, they had to return to the reality of working. Lauren and I however had a few life admin things to sort out before heading around to Deepa’s place to catch up with our other East coast family – Cameron, Eleanor, Warwick, Ellie, Deepa and Hitanshu (who was coincidentally back from Vietnam). A delicious home cooked Indian meal was prepared for us and we enjoyed catching up on-top of Deepa’s roof as the sun went down.
Next stop Mexico City (via San Francisco)!
Far Away From Home 