Today we packed up and left the Ubud Villa to venture to Amed, a sleepy little town on Bali's east coast that has beautiful ocean views, fabulous seafood, and a very young, hip population. We love it and already think we'll be here a while.
Back in December, Mercy Corps put us in touch with Rick Steves and he invited myself and Brian Shrader from another Seattle Rally team, Baatar Hero, to do an interview with him about the 2010 Mongol Rally we participated in. Needless to say, we were super stoked to meet him and visit the studio!
Ever just want to get in the car, hit the open road, and see where the wind takes you? If you're looking for itinerary ideas and want to sample some of Oregon's amazing diversity I've got a fantastic 650 mile Oregon road trip loop with waterfalls, mountains, volcanoes, high desert, a beautiful river, sand dunes, and the ocean!
Armed with scooters, we toured the island, took a bunch of photos, and enjoyed cooling off by riding around during the hottest part of the day. And we also discovered that we're sharing our beach bungalow with a cute little bathroom snake!
We've now developed a new recreational love here in Bali: scootering! It's such a fantastic and cheap way to get out, see the island, and have a blast! We also enjoyed our own little mini version of the Discovery Channel by snorkeling in the fantastic reef just off the shore of our bungalow.
Today's adventure was snorkeling at the shipwreck of the USS Liberty, about 20 minutes north of Amed. The fish were spectacular, the shipwreck was nothing short of amazing and we had a great experience swimming with a school of thousands of fish.
Ironic isn't it that I ran the coldest trail race I've ever done at one of the hottest places on earth? Go figure. No one believes me when I say I almost froze to death in Death Valley.
Tuesday afternoon I left Seattle for a 5-week trip to Australia and New Zealand. I’m flying out with an Australian...
On my last day in Bali I got up early and sat by the pool with the intention of writing something extraordinary to sum up the trip. I had no idea where to start. This trip has exceeded my expectations in just about every possible way and I will always remember it as my first real off-continent travel adventure. Cheers to Bali!
Lone Pine was founded in 1927 and is the world's largest and oldest Koala sanctuary. It's also one of the few sanctuaries in the world that allow you to hold a Koala for a fee. Koalas, kangaroos, lizards, and wombats, count me in!
Phillip Island, about an hour and a half south of Melbourne, Australia is infamous for penguin research and the "Penguin Parade". Thousands of Little Penguins, the smallest penguin species in the world, waddle up the beach shores at dusk to return to their inland burrows after a hard day at sea.
An amazing trip to a temple with 1000 stairs where we met a priest who presented us with a special blessing and told us of his visit to the States and to Seattle. After leaving we found locals at every corner pointing us the way back home. Things like this just don't happen by accident do they?