May turned out to be a very different month from the previous ones we had had in Oz so far. In the beginning of the month Oliver moved to Adelaide after landing an IT job there, so suddenly we were living and working in different cities. This was something very unexpected and also unfortunate, since we had not planned to live separate lives during our adventure in Oz. We both felt quite lonely without our family and support networks. On the other hand the job opportunity Oliver got was too good to pass and we really needed the money. So Oliver packed his bags and flew to Adelaide while Rosanna traveled to Bali (again!) to be with her mom and celebrate her turning 60.
Hence living mostly separate lives in this month we will write this blog in two separate parts, from Oliver's and Rosanna's point of view.
Oliver
Everything happened really fast with me getting my job. I had an interview on Friday, they got back to me on Monday letting me know I got the job, I flew to Adelaide on Tuesday and started on Wednesday. I didn't really have much time to think about anything, which is good as I felt bad enough going away and leaving Rosanna on her own.
Me and all my stuff
The job I ended up getting was as a Test Engineer in a large American company. Their office was located in one of Adelaide's suburbs called Mawson Lakes, a 20 minute train ride away from the center of city. One of the good things about the job was that it was very much the same work I had been doing back home. I really hadn't expected to find a job doing something so closely related and doing something I really enjoy doing.
Just a heads up, there won't be a lot of pictures in my section as I usually rely on Rosanna to take all the pictures. I'm absolutely hopeless at pulling out my phone to take a picture.
The first weekend in Adelaide turned out to be quite a busy one. I went to watch cricket at a pub with a really nice English fellow called Aaron. I met him at the hostel I was staying at for the first week in Adelaide. On Saturday we did a guided walking tour around the city, which was brilliant! The same evening we watched the West Coast Eagles beat Port Adelaide Power before going on a bar crawl in the city. And on Sunday I spent a lovely afternoon tasting excellent wines and eating lovely food at the Penfolds Magill Estate with Margaret, Errol and some friends of theirs. They happened to be in Adelaide that weekend to visit friends and for the footy.
At the footy game
At the Oval
Penfolds Magill Estate
Wine tasting menu
Errol is happy with the wine
After the busy weekend it was time for me to move in to my new place. It was in the same suburb as my job and I was able to walk to work in 15 minutes. I was sharing the apartment with a lovely Malaysian woman Dhuse and her cute dog called Peggy. The next few weeks were quite uneventful to be honest. Work and walks to and from work along a creek with lots of interesting birds is what my days mainly consisted of. One weekend Dhuse invited me to come and have dinner with her and her friends which was very nice!
Peggy, my new flatmate
Wildlife on my walk home
Scenes from the creek
Mawson Lakes at sunset
Is this all for me?
Dinner with Dhuse(third from the right) and her friends
The last weekend of May, Aaron was back in town and we'd previously decided on doing a wine tour in the McLaren Vale. It was an excellent day in perfect weather with beautiful sceneries, great wine and fantastic company. After the tour we headed to the Adelaide Oval to watch some footy. This time it was Adelaide's other team playing, the Adelaide Crows, against WA's other team, the Fremantle Dockers. It was a special event because of the upcoming ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day. The Crows ended up winning by a country mile.
Yet another wine tour
Alpha Box & Dice
Lunch views
Special tasting at Chapel Hill winery
Chapell Hill tasting room
Rosanna
The reason why I ended up in Bali again in May, was that my mum had originally suggested that she would travel to Australia to see us while were here. After discussing the weather in Melbourne in May (not great) and checking the prices of plane tickets from Helsinki to Melbourne (eeeeexpensive) we decided it would make more sense to meet somewhere half way where it would also be warm and sunny. My mum suggested that she would fly me to Bali to meet her and to celebrate her turning 60 next August, which of course was an offer I couldn't refuse! We made these plans long before I started in my new Australian job but luckily they agreed to let me go on my 11 day holiday. Also when agreeing to this trip I didn't know Oliver would end up moving to another city. So I was definitely having very mixed feelings when going on my holiday and also saying goodbye to Oliver.
I flew to Bali, Denpasar via Kuala Lumpur on 5th of May and met my mum in our hotel in Seminyak. She had never been to Indonesia before and as I was already quite familiar with Bali and its surrounding islands (check out our blogabout our travels in Indonesia and Malesia in 2014) I had made an itinerary for us in advance. Our plan was to stay 4 nights in Seminyak, take a fast boat to Gili Air for 3 nights and spend the last 2 nights back on the main island in Ubud.
Our days in Seminyak went by fast. We had so much to talk about not having seen each other in six months and our hotel pool turned out to be the best place to share the events that had taken place and enjoy some refreshing drinks at the same time. We did some shopping and went for a couple of relaxing massages in the streets of Seminyak. In the evenings we relaxed by the beach and marvelled at the amazing sunsets. We did do a day trip to the Potato Head Beach club on our second to last day in Seminyak. I had been there with my friend Anna in February and was sure that my mum would love it.
Our hotel's garden and our room in Seminyak
The beautiful Balinese style doors to our room
Plenty of room for swimming
Happily reunited mum and daughter
Soaking up the sun at the beach
Burnt noses at the beach club
Sliders
The Potato Head beach club in Seminyak
After spending our first days of the trip in Seminyak we were ready to travel to Gili Air to experience the relaxing island atmosphere. Our boat ride went well despite my mom's concerns and soon we found ourselves on the beautiful Gili Air island enjoying our hotel's welcome drinks. The next days consisted of us exploring what Gili Air had to offer by bicycling around the island, scuba diving and snorkelling. On our snorkelling trip we got to see some of Gili Meno, the smallest and most peaceful of the three Gili islands as well. My mom absolutely loved the Gilis and their atmosphere (and the drinks as well). Though what she didn't love was the abundance of geckos and spiders.
On the boat to Gili Air
Our hotel Villa Karang
Traditional Indonesian boats
Our view at breakfast
On Gili Meno
Baby turtles on Gili Meno
Kippis!
Volcano view
Time to do some diving again!
Well hello there!
The way we spent our evenings on Gili
How romantic!
Cows were grazing in the middle of the island
There are no motorized vehicles on Gili Air, only these horse drawn carriages
After relaxing a couple of days on Gili Air we headed back to the main island and drove to Ubud where we spent our last days in Bali. Neither or us had ever been there before, so we were very eager to see and experience as much of Ubud as one can in two days. Therefore we booked a biking tour, which promised to show as all of Ubud in one day. And yes, it definitely did! The tour took us to see the Tegalalang Rice Terraces, to the Pulina coffee farm for some coffee and tea tasting, for breakfast at the volcanos, to the rice fields to witness rice harvesting, to a traditional Balinese school and home as well as for a lunch in the centre of Ubud. We were exhausted but happy after our half-day tour. The rest of our time in Ubud we went shopping, had amazing massages and experienced a magical Balinese dance performance over dinner.
Tegalalang rice terraces
At the Pulina coffee farm
Cocoa tree
Coffee and tea tasting
The view from Pulina coffee farm
This is what I call a breakfast with a view!
Our lovely guide Nick
Rice harvesting
We got to try harvesting rice as well
Balinese elementary school class room
A couple of exhausted bikers
Traditional Balinese door to somebody's home
Balinese dance performance
Time flew by on Bali and soon it was time for us to depart, for my mum to travel back to Finland and for me to return to Oz. We had both really enjoyed our time in Indonesia and like last time upon leaving Bali I felt like I had to come back soon. It was so hard to say our goodbyes and I was feeling pretty bad about returning to Melbourne.
Luckily when I got back there was so much work at my new job that I could drown myself into and not think about anything else. I felt like I had to keep myself busy with Oliver being gone so that I wouldn't collapse altogether. I also munched away the salty liquorice and chewing gum my mom had brought me from Finland.
Finnish candy and chewing gum my mum brought me
The rest of May I spent mostly working as I wrote earlier but I also went out to explore Melbourne a bit. The people I worked were all super nice and made me feel welcome from the get-go. On one Friday night we all went out for a dinner to an Ethiopian restaurant which was a totally new cuisine for me! After the dinner we went to see one of our colleague's band play which was a lot of fun. The next day a quite hung-over version of me went for a hike with my roommates and their friends to the You Yang Regional Park. How wonderful were the views from the top of the hill! On our way back to Melbourne we made a quick stop at Geelong to enjoy a couple of beers at the White Rabbit and Little Creatures breweries.
My amazing work colleagues
My favorite cafe close to my work in South Melbourne
An Ethiopian dinner with colleagues
Jump!
The view from You Yangs
Hiking crew
Brewery excursion in Geelong
Little Creatures in Geelong
That weekend was the perfect to end May and I started to prepare myself for June, since I knew it was going to be very busy at work. My first trip to Adelaide was also coming up in mid June so finally I would get to see Oliver again!
