The first day as the Macaulay's was not all smooth sailing! Unfortunately, Sam fell victim to the dreaded Bali belly. Thankfully he was fine for the wedding but woke in the early hours of the following morning with a very uncomfortable tummy!

With minimal sleep, we said goodbye to our parents and headed off to Tegallalang, an area of Bali very popular for it's amazing rice terraces and waterfalls! Fortunately Sam managed to get through the hour long journey without incident!

Our plan had been to spend some time here to get some final R&R before heading home. With Sam really not well, we ended up doing exactly that. Luckily we had picked a lovely small, boutique, resort with only a handful of villas and a beautiful infinity pool looking out over the valley. It was very tranquil! Every morning I would wake up to do yoga on the terrace, order food to the room, swim in the pool and read my book. The resort even organized a massage in the room one day - it was absolute bliss! Being in the jungle as well, we even had some monkey visitors who took a particular interest in Sam's shoes! Thankfully they didn't steal them (I'm guessing they didn't smell too good!)

Meanwhile poor Sam was only just tolerating plain fried rice and was exhausted. He only really started to recover in the last day or so before we left Bali and was still not okay for at least a week after getting back to Melbourne! We are both confused as to what he potentially had that made him so unwell! We both ate the same food (as we share) and had both been super careful about using bottled water for brushing our teeth. The only thing I thought it could be is that I don't like having ice in my drinks whereas Sam was ordering a lot of iced drinks. I guess we will never know, but unfortunately I think this has tarnished Bali slightly for Sam.

After three nights in our jungle paradise, our driver arrived to take us back to civilization. I sadly decided to leave my flower bouquet at the resort. There was not much point carrying it any further as I can't take it back to Australia and at least the family at the resort might enjoy them for a few more days.

We had traveled all this way to an area popular for rice terraces and waterfalls so we asked the driver if we could stop into a few places on our way to Kuta. Our first stop was to Pura Tirta Empul, a Hindu Balinese temple where you can go to purify yourself in the holy spring water. After being outfitted with a sarong and tying back my hair, we headed in to see what all the fuss was about. We didn't partake in the water purifying but watched everyone else. The water was beautiful - like crystal!

After admiring the spring, we headed out past a pond full of the biggest Koi fish I have seen in my life!

From the temple, we headed to the Ceking Rice Terrace. Throughout our journey we saw many rice terraces but this is the main picturesque rice terrace for tourists. Our driver told us ceking means little in Balinese. It was definitely a tourist spot with plenty of points to take pretty pictures and a number of the infamous Bali swings. I wasn't too keen on the swings (they didn't look safe to me!) so after a few snaps, we headed off to lunch.

Our lunch spot was a little pricey but was in a beautiful setting!

After lunch we drove through Ubud to Tegenungan Waterfall. It was quite a steep walk down to the falls. We didn't want to swim and get in the car with wet clothes so took a few snaps before heading back to find our driver.

From here we made our way to Kuta. Honestly, I didn't want to stay in Kuta due to its reputation. We only chose to because it was close to the airport. After a swim in the pool, we headed out and had a lovely meal at a Greek restaurant. We ended up having such an amazing meal we were back there again the next day for lunch!

Our last full day in Bali we started out with breakfast at the accommodation before heading out for a walk along the beach where we stopped to watch all the surfers. The beach vendors were very annoying so we didn't stay on the beach for long. We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool before venturing out for Mexican where we met a lovely young couple from Canada and another German traveler. I was so excited to get back home the next day I packed my bags that night!

Knowing we were flying Jetstar, I was extremely anxious about getting to the airport early for our flight. We were over three hours early and I'm thankful we were because it took nearly an hour and a half to get through the queue to bag drop. I had a few tears in my eyes when we finally got on the plane - WE WERE GOING HOME!!

After 67 days, 19 cities, 11 countries, 11 flights, 8 trains and 2 buses (not including public transport!), we finally landed into Melbourne just after 8pm on a cold Thursday evening. Nothing could dampen my spirits, not even the two hours it took to get our bags and clear customs (Melbourne Airport was complete chaos). We were finally home!

Melbourne is our home now and for the foreseeable future. I have a job to return to - thankfully one held open for me for the last four months. For now, the travel is definitely out of my system! Our next trip will be returning to New Zealand to celebrate our marriage with friends and family. So next stop, New Zealand!!!