Back in October 2014 we took a short trip over to Bali where we spent 4 days in Kuta exploring the surrounding areas, and 6 days on Gili T (Gili Trawangan) where Will took his Open Water dive course and I, being already certified, did some fun diving. We had just spent 3 months working in Fitzroy Crossing, a tiny town (if you can even call it that) in the middle of no where of northern Western Australia and were in desperate need of some new scenery. The following videos are of Bali through our eyes.

• Kuta – The Bounty Hotel and Kuta Beach
• Ubud – The Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary
• Gili Trawangan – Mulitple dive sites

The hike to the top of Mount Batur was… challenging, to say the least. Although I’m glad it was done in the dark because if it were anything like the hike down (which you can see in the video) I probably would have backed out at the beginning.

To catch the sunrise you are picked up at 2am and driven about an hour and a half to the base of the Mountain. You are given a flashlight and a local guide who is with you the entire way. From here it is roughly a 2 hour hike depending on your fitness level, we did it in about an hour and forty-five and I was not the fittest I’ve ever been.

When you get to the top it’s about 5-5:30am and still completely dark. Our guide found us a great place to sit and wait for sunrise while he disappeared, coming back a little while later with breakfast that was cooked in the natural steam vents on the mountain. It is an active volcano after all, with the last eruption happening in 2000. Breakfast consisted of boiled eggs, a cooked banana sandwiches an orange and Oreo cookies. We were some of the first people up the mountain and were lucky enough to watch the world around us go from total darkness and silence to bursting with colour and life. The voices of nature coming at us from every direction. It was hands down one of the most incredible experiences I’ve had; getting to watch life wake up from on top of the world.

• Kintamani District – Mount Batur, Base and Summit (1,717m)

10 days was definitely not enough time to explore Bali to the fullest. Luckily, Indonesia is on our list of places we want to get to while traveling in and around South East Asia. This time, we plan to spend a month working our way through the region, focusing on finding great dive sites and hidden gems. So keep following us to see what else Indonesia has to offer.