Where's Vic?: September Sun

September sun

The start of September meant only one thing, a trip to Bali for my cousin Sarah and her partner Lochie's wedding!

This date was something I had been looking forward to all year as I knew I'd be able to make it no matter my travel plans. Originally, it was going to mark the end of my South East Asia travels, then the start, then it just became a holiday.

I managed to get an absolute steal of a flight out in the Jetstar sale (about £110) for a 5 hour flight. And after the typical airport chaos after landing trying to find my taxi driver with little internet, I was on my way. Nothing was more exciting then pulling up to the hotel and seeing mum and dad in the southern hemisphere! Later on that night David arrived, followed by Rich the next afternoon.

Our hotel was pretty idyllic. Quiet, with a nice pool, restaurant and spa. It was on a quiet road in Canggu, with hotels literally being built around us. Some people would hate that, but we found it exciting to see the wall grow every day.

The beach nearby was black volcanic sand and very wavy sea. Canggu itself was full of bars, shops and restaurants and quite busy. The main issue with Bali in general was that there aren't really any pavements or wide roads, so it makes it difficult to walk places, and taking a taxi can take a while due to the traffic. It's grown in popularity with tourists (particularly Aussies) but the roads can't cope.

The following day, while David braved the sea for a surf and Rich chilled, me, mum and dad went on our "big day out". Bali is incredibly cheap, so for about £30 or so you can hire a driver for the day, so off we went with Dee. We visited an area called Ubud (if you've ever seen Eat, Pray, Love, this is where Julia Roberts goes), which was lovely and jungley. We visited the monkey sanctuary, which was several abandoned temples in the jungle, with hundreds of small monkeys jumping around. Thankfully we avoided them jumping on us! After lunch we visted a nearby water temple, where we had to put on a particular sarong, shirt and head dress to go in. Dee then took us on a walk around the area which was pretty nice, before heading back.

The rest of the week was filled with fun activities! I went to Sarah's hen do, which was a pool party, followed by some beach front drinks and then a really fun mexican restaurant come nightclub which encouraged dancing on the tables. It was a great night! A random moment that I'll never forget is walking across a suddenly sandy car park in heels with Emma, Shirley and baby Ava (Ava had sensibly left her heels at home) while carrying baby stuff, when a loose cow appeared. Luckily, my time with Countryfile had taught me how to handle myself around cows, and it soon moooved.

We also had a great family brunch the following morning and a beach party the one after.

The wedding of course was lovely and in the middle of the Bali jungle. A random moment was an apparent (south?) Aussie tradition of the men dropping trousers during the song "Eagle Rock"...

The day after the wedding, we had a pool party at the venue, with lots of games, swimming and chilling out.

The final full day in Bali saw me attempt to swim in the sea and generally chilling out.

In a blink of an eye it was time to go back to Melbourne. Mum and dad's flight was around the same time. Waiting in airports by yourself is pretty boring, so it was nice to have company.

Then it was back for my Melbourne finale of 6 weeks.

The rest of September was relatively normal, with a cycle of work, improv and football. I'd been getting into reformer pilates at lunchtime in a bid to help my various injuries (bad back and knee) and perhaps try to get back to normal fitness (too much eating out and a less active lifestyle had started to take it's toll!).

I did go to Sydney at the end of the month for a weekend. It would've been my friend Katie's birthday that weekend and her family and friends organise a picnic once a year. The picnic was lovely. I was staying with my friend Abbie and managed to see a couple of mates too while I was down there. All in all it was a nice "last" visit to Sydney to mark the end of my time in Australia.

End of September also meant a very important occasion in Melbourne's calendar, grand final weekend. The Grand Final is the culmination of of the AFL season. Instead of the team with the most points winning the league, the top 8 battle it out in a knock out style competition, all leading to one big game at the MCG in Melbourne. What's even better, everyone in Victoria gets a day off on the Friday. I'm definitely living in the right state, imagine getting a day off for FA Cup Final weekend. On the Thursday evening, myself, Rose and Sam from work went to see "Hot Dub Time Machine" a DJ that plays a medly of hits from each decade. It was great fun! Then on Saturday, I watched the game with Sam and some of his mates so had a true Aussie experience followed by a BBQ with some of my expat mates.

And with that, I had my last 3 weeks in Melbourne!