It's in any sun worshippers life, that we flock to the warm weather and the sunny beaches. Many times we need to escape the winters of one place to keep our tan. That's what brings me to the southern hemisphere traveling along the east coast of Australia. Hostel life has become second nature for me at this point and could honestly be the most memorable part of my trip. Hostels aren't just a place to stay, shower, and eat, but I have been lucky to have met fabulous people. Most hostel dwellers are young kids 18-25 taking a gap year before University or backpacking to see the world before the 'real world'. I've stayed with people from Holland, NZ, Germany, Brazil, Canada, America, and a wide array of many other countries around the world. Since many travelers are alone hostels bring us together often in rooms of six or more and allow us to communicate and share our travel experiences with one another. My favorite question to ask the friends I meet is "where is your favorite place you've ever traveled and why?" The answers I've gotten have actually influenced my own travel and I am excited to say Fiji is now an upcoming adventure because one friend from Switzerland told me she was amazed by everything the country had to offer. After a delightful discussion of her trip and her recommendations, she shared with me some delicious Swiss chocolate. The mix of outgoing, adventurous youth provides for the greatest atmosphere of conversations and group activities. When one lad goes to the beach, all are offered an invitation and only the fools stay inside to sleep off their hangovers a bit more.
Just got back from my wondrous travels all around the island of Bali. The island has so much to offer from party cities to honeymoon getaways to mountain, hippy towns and all of it is a step away from the beaches! The Bukit Peninsula on the bottom of Bali is home to the most pristine beaches I have ever seen. Some I checked out on the east coast were GeGe Beach in Nusa Dua which had a beautiful barrel ing surf break in the distance. The west coast had Karma Beach. I paid 25 dollars to take a gondola ride at Karma Kandara Resort down a cliff to a gorgeous secluded beach complete with lounge chairs, umbrellas, towels and the luxury of not having to worry about my stuff being stolen while I went into the ocean. Also, 10 dollars of the beach voucher went to food and I had delicious pizza for lunch. Another west coast beach is Dreamland that was a large stretch of white sand and we walked a little bit down further to get away from the tourist section of food and shops and lounge chairs. My favorite beach of all though was Padang-Padang (seen above). A cave-like path filled with monkeys leads you down to the cutest little beach ever that has Bali written all over it. Beautiful water and beautiful surfers made the day easy on my eyes. For more things to do than just swim and tan, we went to Amed for amazing snorkeling. For five dollars we rented equipment and swam out to an underwater temple marked by a buoy. The fish were bright and exotic, but my favorite part were the fifty royal blue starfish that were lining the bottom of the reef.
