We have just spent the last two weeks on a little island about a 25 minute fast boat ride from Sanur called Nusa Lembongan. It was our second time on this island, and I have honestly fallen in love. If you haven’t been there put it on your to do list when you next visit Bali. It’s super quiet so if you’re a traveller that likes to get out of the hustle and bustle this one is for you.
As I arrived I instantly wondered what the hell we were meant to do for two weeks on a little island with two very active girls but looking back now we didn’t even make it diving so we were obviously doing something. The water is crystal clear with a reef surrounding almost the whole island and its main source of income is its seaweed farming. Fun fact, seaweed takes between 20-25 days to reproduce, and the island manages to grow four tonne a month! Noods and I had pre organised scooters at our guest house and it was evident that this island was perfect practicing conditions for me than busier Canggu. The roads are fairly rough and generally any adventure you say yes to with Noodles takes you off the beaten track but I managed the full two weeks with no major collisions or skin off my body.
Hot tip when booking in quieter spots – we only booked our first week in the bungalow style guesthouse. This allows you to book any other nights directly with the owners and generally you can offer a cash payment for a cheaper rate. So, we went from $75 per night to $65 per night just by cutting out the booking platform. I can assure you, cash is still very much alive on the island of Bali!
If you make it to Lembongan then you absolute must venture across the yellow bridge to the smaller island of Ceningan. It has steeper hills and epic lookouts such as Mahana Point. We spent a few of our days at a bungalow type accommodation owned by Australians, swimming in the glorious ocean and of course going on more off the beaten track adventures.
We ended up boycotting our friends 40th celebrations and also celebrated Miss Mila turning 8 with some Mini Golf and a donut cake. Cheapest birthday by far with the cake costing $17 and the mini golf $2.50. With limited access to presents for her it was timely that Noods had to take a quick trip back to Denpasar to sort out his Visa. Although we did all our Visa’s online before we left Australia for some reason Noods’ data didn’t load so he had to visit the Visa office back on the mainland. For the three girls we were able to renew for the additional 30 days by a few clicks of a button whereas Noods had to go to Denpasar, lodge the paperwork, go back again a few days later, take fingerprints and a photo and then go back a few days later to collect it. Thankfully I researched the process before he went as it is essential that you wear a collared shirt and enclosed shoes as Indonesian’s clearly don’t want shabby dressed visitors.
I managed to find some balloons and a happy birthday sign for Mila to wake up to on her birthday. They missed the D in Day but a Happy Birth-ay was better than no Happy Birthday at all. So she woke to balloons on the floor, a Happy Birth-ay bunting and some new rip curl bathers.
Some absolute must dos on Lembongan are the Devil’s Tears which are epic blow holes on the Dream Beach side of the Island. Mushroom Beach for relaxed clear water swimming and you must head to the Lago Pontoon which is a pontoon owned by a wealthy westerner about 200m offshore. They provide a free dingy service to the pontoon and you can spend your afternoon waiting for the sunset while swimming in the most amazing blue water. He also owns the Lago Villa which we managed to score an afternoon at as we had friends that had rented it out for a few days. It’s great being blow-ins.
The only downside to Lembonan was the cough that I had been battling and sore throat. Oh and the night where I thought I could eat creamy mashed potato. For those that know me well know that I can’t tolerate dairy and this was a great reminder. Within the hour I was breathing like I was giving birth again while shit was literally pouring out of me. Too much information but when you’ve worked with poo for the past 10 years it really isn’t ha!
During our stay in Lembongan we also had news that our little pooch Billie needed surgery to remove a Mast Cell Tumour on her paw. These are cancerous tumours that we knew we wanted to remove to give her the best chance of it not spreading. With the incredible care from my mum and her support crew the surgery was a success, and we got the absolute best news that Billie is cancer free and still living her best life at granny’s house.
After our two weeks of absolute bliss, we ended up deciding to head back to Canggu for three weeks to develop some kind of routine. It’s funny right, you leave somewhere to get out of your routine but then you crave routine again. How fucking weird are humans. We managed to find an incredible Villa that was new on the market so had offered an additional discount for the first three bookings. Settling into Canggu had us finding a nanny for two days a week, booking an Indonesian teacher for two days a week and finding co working space and time away from the girls. It’s been amazing being around them and especially watching Lola improve so much with her speech and quirky ways but fuck they can do my head in too and I think it’s best we all create some space at times. Kind of like a it’s not you it's me scenario.
Our next journey will take us across the ocean to the shores of Malaysia so we can enter Bali again on another two month visa. The lifestyle here has me thinking. How can we create a life that includes part living in Australia and part living in Bali? There are opportunities everywhere here with so many westerners doing inspiring things. So as my brain starts to drift off into ideas of how to make this happen, I know I am absolutely the creator of my own destiny and one that doesn’t shy away from a challenge. So let’s go universe, show me the goods to create this next version of my life.

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