Introduction

Bali is one of the top destinations for people residing in Australia, presenting a drastic change of scenery for only a (short) six hour flight. Known for incredible natural beauty inland, beautiful beaches in the west and amazing surf all over the place, Bali was the perfect retreat for exchange students desperate to get a change from Melbourne's chilly spring.

Monkeying around Ubud

After a six-hour flight from Melbourne, we rented a cab to the Balibbu hostel. The drive was over an hour — practice aggressive negotiations with cab drivers (we paid 30,000 rupiah). First night: explored the area, discovered an abandoned temple, watched the sunset over a rice field, and attended our hostel host's son's wedding — free food and cheap drinks!

Next morning: rented scooters to the monkey forest. Pay a small fee to enter. We bought bananas as monkey bait — one monkey stole the bananas from my pocket while another distracted me!

We spent the rest of the day scootering through the countryside, visiting a rice plantation, getting foot massages, and enjoying cheap dinners.

Sunrise at Mt Batur

The sunrise hike up Mount Batur was the most worthwhile thing we did in Bali. It's advertised everywhere in Ubud — practice your barter skills (we got the price down from 300,000 to 50,000 rupiah). Pick up is at 2–3am, with an hour's drive to the base. There's a huge mob of people making their way up in procession — commercialised but epic. The sunrise from the top is spectacular, and there are friendly monkeys up there too.

The hike takes about 2 hours up and 1 hour down. It's hard not to appreciate the guides who do this 1–2 times every day. Our guide Modi was awesome!

Braving the Tegenungan Waterfall

On the way from Ubud to south Bali we made a stop at a coffee plantation where we tried the famous — and famously expensive — Luwak coffee. Made from coffee beans that have been eaten and excreted by the Asian palm civet, it's supposedly the world's most expensive coffee. Worth trying once, but it's hard to say it tasted all that different.

Our next stop was Tegenungan waterfall. After traversing through a small local village, you arrive at the edge of a cliff with a magnificent view. There is also a path leading down to the waterfall. Be warned — the path is steep, slippery, and the waterfall itself is powerful. Taking a dip beneath it was exhilarating but also a bit terrifying. The water beats down hard and the current is strong. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip though!

Enjoying a piece of paradise in South Bali

If you are more than a few people going, say 5 or more, I strongly recommend renting a villa for a couple of days. We were 23 people so we pretty much rented a compound of 3 villas, staff and even a bar.

We were situated quite deep in Jimbaran, not really close to the beach or the city, but because we rented scooters this wasn't really a problem. The staff helped out with everything from scooter rentals to laundry — I can't say enough how nice and hospitable the people of Bali are, don't be afraid to ask for anything.

The plan was to stay here for three days to chill, surf and read up on the theory for the SSI Open water course, and then head up to Padang Padang Bay to take the speed boat up to Gili T. But because I managed to fall off my scooter my left leg got pretty banged up, so no surf for me. On the bright side I had plenty of time to chill by the pool and soak up all the SSI theory, most of which is about all the terrible things that can happen to you under water.

To get to Padang Padang Bay we hired one of the villa staff to take us around halfway, and then the boat company to collect us there. It might look close on the map, but with traffic conditions and not always ideal roads, distances in Bali can be deceiving.

Marveling at the sunset in Uluwatu

The stunning Uluwatu temple is located amongst the craggy cliffs of South West Bali. I'm sure it's beautiful no matter what time of day you go, but I find it hard to believe anything can be more beautiful than the sunset. This also coincides with a show put on by the locals — the famous Kecak fire dance. While it was interesting enough, just walking around the temple grounds and finding a nice lookout might be just as worthwhile (and cheaper).

If you're feeling festive the bar Single Fin is definitely worth a visit. We went home to our villa to change and then rented three cars to drive us there, and wait for us to take us back home.

Exploring the underwater wonders of Gili T

Gili T is mostly known for its extreme party culture and while that's certainly a reason to give this island a visit, there is more to this island than meets the eye.

The Gili islands — Gili T, Gili Air and Gili Meno — are three little islands just off the coast of Lombok and they are home to some of the finest diving in the world. The main reason for me going to Bali was actually to get the Open Water diving course. You would have thought that with a left foot swollen to unholy proportions due to the earlier scooter accident, the dream would be as good as lost, but I'm tenacious when I want to be and convinced them to let me dive.

Three days and four dives later I was certified and ready to head back to Bali, but Gili T will always stand out as one of the best experiences of my life. My only regret is not taking more photos — I guess I was too busy having fun.

Taking a break from it all in Amed

After the intense stay at Gili T it felt pretty great to catch up on some sleep on the boat back to mainland Bali. Limping up the beach, my foot looked worse than ever — my friend and I were stopped by a very long-nailed man insisting we should come to the hostel he worked for. I usually have a hostel prebooked when I rock up to a new place, but this was an exception. I was tired and hot so I decided to for once leave where I slept to someone else's hands. Luckily the gambit paid off and he led us to a beautiful, rather big, homestay a little bit left of the main beach.

At the homestay we actually ran into some other friends staying there and when I saw the blood drain from their faces when they saw my poorly bandaged foot, I finally conceded it was time to see a doctor. One nerve-wracking ride on the back of the hostel owner's scooter later I arrived at a not completely unsanitary medical clinic where I got patched up and was given some broad-spectrum antibiotics.

After a night of some well-deserved sleep we went over to the nearby dive shop to gear up for our dive of the USS Liberty, a sunken shipwreck off the coast. On Gili T we were responsible for carrying our own gear, but here this work was delegated to the local women. Make no mistake — the aluminum canisters they carry are heavy!

The dive itself was incredible, with literal tons of fish and even a mantis shrimp — the coolest animal on earth — near the end.

Traversing the country in style

My last real day in Bali consisted of me basically traversing half the island and visiting temples on the way. I had already decided I would rent a driver for the day — the long-nailed man from earlier intervened and said he'd do it for 800,000 rupiah, roughly 80 AUD. There was only one problem: I didn't really like the guy and I felt like I was being ripped off.

The guy didn't really take no for an answer so I ended up escaping over to the dive shop from the day before where I negotiated with one of the staff there. He said he would drive me down for around 50 AUD and seemed like a cool guy. However it turned out I misunderstood and it was actually his cousin who was going to drive me — and after driving for around 15 minutes we turned down a side road and picked up his brother. Reading this I realize it almost sounds like a set up, but the truth is these guys made my day! They were both in their early twenties and it was really interesting learning about their lives and joking around while driving in the sweltering heat.

On the way from Amed to the first stop, the small water temple Tirta Gangga, there were some impressive rice fields and panoramic views — and the little temple itself didn't disappoint either.

Paying respects at the mother temple

The Besakih temple, also known as the mother temple, is one of the largest temple complexes of its kind in the world — it is absolutely massive. Upon arrival you are surrounded by local women dressing you in some form of religious garb that is actually mandatory when walking around the temple. When you're all dressed up they start asking for payment, which was of course not discussed beforehand. Be sure you only pay for the minimum (the bottom piece and the "hat"), and don't get tricked into buying the whole package of praying candles etc. like I was.

It doesn't end there however — once you're in the temple courtyard you'll be approached by a manager to be assigned a guide, also mandatory inside the complex. This guy really tried to rip me off and it was the first time I actually got quite angry in Bali. Finally I got the price down halfway and was on my way into the temple. At least I lucked out with the guide, a rather corpulent man who wanted to take photos of me with every conceivable background and angle — precisely what I was looking for!

When the tour finished I got lunch with my taxi drivers and started the longest part of the drive. I actually fell asleep during most of this ride so before I knew it I was in downtown Denpasar linking up with my friends who I would be going back to Melbourne with the next morning. My adventure in Bali was over this time, but the island has plenty of other places, beaches and treasures I didn't get to discover on my 11-day journey. I guess I'll have to come back one day.

Things you wish you knew before you went

Getting around

• Bring your driver's licence — international if you have it.
• Rent a scooter if you want to explore the local area; hire a driver if you're going long distances. Pro tip: wear closed shoes when riding a scooter or you risk scarring your foot like I did.
• NEVER DRIVE A CAR YOURSELF. Traffic in Bali is chaotic at the best of times. By hiring a driver you'll get there quickly and (hopefully) safely — and instead of hunting for parking you can negotiate with the driver to wait or pick you up.
• If you get stopped by the police without a valid licence they will expect a bribe of about 50,000 rupiah. You can try playing the innocent tourist card, but generally I'd advise against tangling with the law when travelling.

General tips

• Try the local food — especially the street food — especially the satay sticks!
• Have a massage every day. Just because you can.