Day 4: Bali Adventures

Today marked the last morning we would wake up at Melasti Beach Resort! After lunch today we headed to our new destination just outside of Seminyak.

But let’s start off with the morning. We got up nice and early (I think I am starting a trend here) and did some shopping (also how unusual of us- shopping). We bought some more things, mostly clothes and shoes and met some more lovely locals. It’s a huge mix between some of the nicest people I have met and some of the rudest. On the one hand you get the beautiful people wishing you a nice day, asking how you are and even just saying hello good morning. But on the other hand, you get the people who are very in your face and rude especially when you are walking down the street and don’t want to buy something from their stores. 

After a hot couple of hours shopping we came back for a swim (again how different of us) and then we went and had lunch after a few drinks by the pool.

After lunch it was time for us to get a car over to our next stop on this trip- Anyar Estate Villas. Considering it wasn't meant to be very far away, the trip in the car took about and hour and a half. I feel like I will never complain about Sydney traffic again after being on the streets here in Bali. I feel like the traffic is made up because

a) there are lots and lots of people

b) the roads are often narrow and people just stop on the "side" of the road whenever they want to 

c) the scooters and motorbikes weave in and out of cars like no tomorrow and finally 

d) everyone here seems to have total disregard for any kind of road rule you can imagine?

I don't think I will get over seeing a family of 4 riding a scooter together, mothers carrying babies and small children in their arms sitting in cars and even on scooters, people wearing thongs and no helmets and even the tightest of spaces people seem to somehow manoeuvre in and around the cars. It is insane. 

Moving forward, we arrived at our villas and I am at a loss for words. It was incredible. Private villas with a pool, beautiful outdoor area, king bedrooms with ensuites. I am definitely still the most excited about the bathroom. It is an open bathroom with an outdoor toilet/shower that opens up into plants and trees and it is beautiful. There was also an outdoor living area and open kitchen set up for our villa. Words don't do it justice, so when I have faster Internet I will be inserting all the photos I can. 

The remainder of the day was spent swimming and eating and drinking. The usual, but this time by a private pool. 

Early night again because who knows what adventure will await us tomorrow morning :-)

Follow my adventures on Instagram and Snapchat @krristelley

Thanks for reading (and bare with me, there will be photos soon!)

Kristelle xx

Day 3: Bali Adventures

Good morning everyone! Another bright and early one for me today. I feel amazing. My only wish is that I had that crisp fresh air to breathe in that Australia gives me, but then I look at the breathtaking scenery and I forget that.

Another hot one today. But then again, that is every single day here. Today was the last night that we were going to be spending in Legion at Melasti Beach Resort. I must say I was super excited for this because even though the resort we were currently staying at was nice (the pools, pool bars, view, restaurant and bar were all lovely) I knew the next place we were due to stay would take my breath away. But alas, that is not until tomorrow.

Today we set out with a mission after our morning buffet breakfast and swim. We had to find a very specific tattoo shop, because that is where Kieran has planned out his whole tattoo in Bali. We had some rough directions but in these streets that really just didn’t cut it. We trekked out to the hotel he knew it was near and from there things just went crazy.

It is extremely hot and humid out, but there is no point catching a ‘taksi’ (I love their spelling haha, it just makes so much sense) because traffic is atrocious. It would’ve taken longer sitting in a car in traffic than it would of walking.

We saw a few pretty nice looking resorts on the way to Kuta where the tattoo shop is and some pretty standard stuff you would see at home that amazes me here. We found Starbucks, Pizza Hut and McDonald’s and even though they are such standard chain stores at home, it was so cool to see them in another country. McDonald’s especially, I couldn’t believe how dirt cheap their food was. Makes me miss cheap Maccas back in Aus (it’s just too expensive now for the shitty food lol).

After about 3 hours of walking, asking endless people for directions, stopping in every mini-mart (just like the standards 7/11 back home minus the petrol) for a bottle of water, stopping at a bar to have a few actual drinks and use their bathroom, paying some random shop owner 10,000 IDR (aka $1) to use their computer with internet- we finally found the place!

The place was really nice for what I thought tattoo joints in Bali would look like and the people were so friendly. We were there for barely any time at all before we headed back to our resort.

After a tiring day where we probably walked for almost 4 hours all up, we went straight for a swim, because well as per usual we were dripping in sweat.

Some more swimming, more drinks and some dinner hit the spot really well and we ended our last night in Melasti Beach Resort with quite an early one awaiting tomorrow’s adventures.

Don’t forget you can follow my adventures on Instagram and Snapchat (both are @krristelley)

Next post will be shortly,

Kristelle xxx

Day 1: Bali Adventures

Bali adventures: Day 1

So, for this little blog post series I am going to be writing daily posts (but as I have mentioned in the last few posts, the probably won’t be posted daily). I have already written a “What’s in my Suitcase” post (which you can check out here).

Day 1 of the adventure starts the second you wake up for the day ready go. We had a 10am flight to Depsnar, so naturally you have to wake up at 4am like we did. Usually I am the grumpiest person in the mornings but today was different (probably because I was way too excited for what I knew lay ahead).

We got to the airport (probably just before 6am?) we had some breaky, got a coffee to wake ourselves up and then checked our suitcases. After all this was done we had to go through customs blah blah the usual airport stuff and then came the duty free shopping. You are only allowed to take 1L of alcohol (per person over 18) into Bali and you’re allowed just over 2.25L on the way back. We purchased our alcohol for both (you can pick up the ‘way back’ alcohol when you come back into Australia.

Next came the plane. Its almost a 7 hour flight here today from Sydney, so we had to be prepared for a lot of sitting down. I brought my laptop with me (and surprise, surprise) I am catching up and planning ahead my blog posts. I am currently writing this an hour after take off (748km from Sydney and 3868km until Denpasar, Bali). I am travelling at 397km/hour and am roughly 40,000 feet above Australia. I haven’t been on a plane since I was 10 years old (which was 10 years ago), so it is all quite exciting.

Arrival

We arrived finally! Took forever to collect our bags but finally we were off into a ‘cab’. I was so shocked at the complete lack of road rules! They drive all over the place here but somehow it works so well for them that no one crashed. Motorbikes everywhere, people without helmets and 3+ people sitting on one tiny bike!

Arriving at the resort was interesting, the first thing I wanted was a mixture of “I’m starving let’s eat” and “let me jump in this heavenly pool”.

We opted for food and a cocktail first and I was amazed by how cheap everything really is here!

After a meal we headed straight to the pool and Kieran, of course, was extremely pleased with the pool bar. It was so warm and so relaxing I can not even put into words how at ease with life I was.

After a swim, we showered and decided to wander the streets and look at the shopping that we knew we would encounter the next day. Although everyone tries to sell you everything, it was overall a fun experience. Buying alcohol from the local ‘mini-marts’ every 100m and experiencing the craziness of it all was amazing.

Eventually we made our way back to the resort and finished the evening with a pizza, drink and a shower before collapsing into bed awaiting the second day of our adventure.

Keep up with my travels on Instagram and Snapchat (both usernames are @krristelley )

Day 2 adventures up next,

Kristelle xxx

Ladies Day Out

Even though it is the time of the year that I should be sitting at home inside studying and not going out drinking and to social events, reading books that don't relate to my uni subjects or watching Netflix for 3 hours. Should be minimising my hours at work for a couple of weeks and not sit on my computer writing blog posts. I seem to go against this and do the complete opposite anyway!

Once such exception was the weekend that has just passed. Ladies Day at the races was so much fun I am so glad that even though the water was horrible and it rained the entire day I still went out and had a fabulous time. 

Ladies day was an excuse to get dressed up, (for most women) put some ridiculous looking fascinator on your head and call it stylish, drink copious amounts of champagne/wine/any alcohol being served, bet on horses and basically just socialise with all the other women around you. I don't participate in all of this (mostly I just enjoy dressing up and drinking alcohol) but it was definitely a good day. One to remember is probably how I am going to choose how to quote it. 

Later the same night I was also invited to go to a club and I almost didn't go. I got home after a long day at the races, put my pyjamas on, ate some food and settled down and started even laying singstar with the fam??? (Side note: I use the term fam to include those who are not actually family, but are close enough they may as well be). But I decided to put more make up on, change my clothes and go back out because in all honesty how many good stories do people have that they remember that went like this "well I was tired so I stayed at home that night....." No.

Turns out, clubbing was a crazy idea. There were barely any people in the clubs compared to what I remember a few months ago? (maybe the weather had something to do with this). The smartest ideas I had all night were:

1. Leave early enough to catch the last train home of the night so we didn't need to catch a bus
2. Get popcorn chicken and chips on the way to the train

Turns out as smart as those ideas were, number 1 turned out to be a joke and number 2 didn't even happen. Instead we walked out the club and saw the rain. I don't think I have ever seen it rain harder than it did that night when Kieran and I left the club. Of course it was uphill to get back to the train station and although we ran just to get inside quicker (it was freezing in the rain), it really did no good. When we got to the train station it looked like we had gone swimming. Tipping water out of our shoes, wringing out shirts out and me tying my hair up just so it wouldn't stick to my face. Getting home is always something I dread, but after sitting in sticky wet clothes creating a puddle around us on an air-conditioned train for 50 minutes home freezing cold and hungry, I do not want to experience that again.

Anyway, in typical fashion I will end this post by sharing some of the photos we took that day at the races.

Dress by Atmos&Here from The Iconic

One of my gorgeous bestfriends Maddie

My wonderful boyfriend Kieran 

Dodgy photo of a polaroid we took before we left

One of many glasses we drank that day 

Thanks for reading guys, 
Kristelle xx

Parties and Partying

I'm 19 years old, almost 20 so it is safe to say that I am no stranger to going out and partying. I do enjoy it most of the time (I really have to be in the mood for it sometimes) and I have to be out with the right people to have the best experiences. I'm pretty happy to say that 98% of the time I am actually out with the right people (my amazing boyfriend and beautiful bestfriends)!

Like I mentioned in a previous post, I am currently in my busiest time of the year. From July until December I seem to be non-stop on the go. Everyone is having their birthdays (which is actually quite funny because both my bestfriend and my boyfriend don't have their birthdays until January and February). This means a lot of weekends are spent going out celebrating and a lot of money is spent doing so. But it also means there are a lot of times that I (and everyone I go out with) need to be careful of what is exactly going on around us.

I'm from Sydney, Australia and I know the 'nightlife' used to be pretty good. But now there are so many laws and lockouts that apply basically anywhere you go in the city regarding what times you can go into/out of clubs and times you can buy alcohol. I don't really think these laws have done anything except increase drug use. Everywhere you go (and yes I do mean literally everywhere) there are people on drugs. It's really obvious to tell the difference between people who have drunk too much and the people who have decided to do drugs for the night instead. Neither is safe (obviously), but I don't think the laws introduced were the way to go. All that's been done is drive many places out of business because 1am onwards was when they would make most of their money. 

No more club hopping and partying all night long, drinking until the sun comes up. 

I think it's sad (and I know it isn't just here, it can happen anywhere) that people spike drinks... Listening to stories friends of mine have told me about drink spiking makes me so angry. Stories my girlfriends tell me about creepy guys following them around and pursing them even after invitations to dance/ get a drink/ go to their hotel rooms or houses have been declined. It's scary. I'm lucky in the sense that I have amazing friends and a very protective boyfriend who I know will always look out for me and I look out for them. But the scary part is still anything can happen. You can't "let loose" for a night because there aren't good people out there.

The number of fights I've been around and that have impacted me is ridiculous. Being pushed down and bruised and cut up because of fights happening near me is ridiculous (and I know I am not the only one that this happens to).

I wish everyone who decided to go out partying and clubbing would take a bit more responsibility, control their behaviour and not be inappropriate/creepy because then I know everyone would have such a better time and the government wouldn't have to be so strict with laws and enforcements on everyone as a whole. 

I'm really looking forward to my birthday 'week' this October because I have about 4 days/nights of fun planned and I really hope none of it is ruined or spoilt from anything I've mentioned above. All anyone would like is to feel safe when they go out. 

And on a much lighter note, enjoy these happy snaps from the last two birthdays I attended over the last two weekends.

Am I Sober?

So I've been divided on this for a very, very long time. I live in Australia and I am currently 19 years old. The legal drinking age here is 18. But if I am being completely honest (and I am right now) where I lived as a teenager, the people I know and people I went to school with all started drinking around 13/14. I think I had my first drink when I was 14 (one drink, no big deal?) then when I attended parties from probably 15 and on, there was always alcohol around so I would always drink it (everyone else did so what was the big deal?).

Looking back on this now, I can not believe I did that. Sure I didn't drink much (because how much does a small 15 year old girl actually need to drink before they are drunk, answer: not much at all). It was probably the worst thing I could do for my body! Even though it might have been once or twice a month when I went to a party, it was more than it should of been. 

There are times I can remember (pretty ironic that I use that word considering I don't remember the nights at all, more so the consequences of said nights) where I didn't know what I was doing. Parties that police showed up to, times I would throw up everywhere (classy, I know) and the countless hangovers I had the next day. Not to mention that it became worse when I was 17, had many friends who were already 18 (easier access to alcohol) and the fact that I had my license and I was always too scared to drive pretty much the entire next day after a night out (so I should of been).

This was one of the worst nights I ever had out. Didn't have much to drink
but was sick enough not to remember a thing. This night my friends told me
they think my drink was spiked

Once I turned 18, the novelty of alcohol was no where near as big as I thought it would be. Everyone makes 18 out to be a big deal because you can go clubbing and legally drink, smoke, gamble etc. Sure, I went clubbing 5 months after I turned 18. I still drank regularly though (mostly still parties and "gatherings" with my friends).

I am now 19, I turn 20 is less than 6 months and I am over it. I am over the hangovers, the sickness, the drama that intoxicated people cause. I am over the stupidity of the drunk people, the desperation of drunk guys and girls in clubs and I am over the sleaziness people seem to think it is okay to bring about when they have been drinking. 

I honestly don't remember when exactly my last drink was. I remember probably 2 months ago sitting down at home after work one night and having a glass of wine while I was eating cheese (how adult of me). I went clubbing about a month ago and had one drink before I got there and I had a bouncer harass me about my alcohol intake for the night (I was probably looking bored and tired waiting to get into the club, not sloppy and drunk like everyone else). I've been out so many times and I am always the first to say I am happy to drive. My boyfriend quite enjoys that because he loves to drink beer with his mates when we are out, so I just drive. Even last Saturday I went to a gathering at my friends house for Easter and I didn't touch alcohol once. It is unappealing to me now. 

I am happy and I feel better now that I have stopped binge drinking (and yes that is exactly what I would call what I have done since I was 14). Drinking to the point where I was drunk on random nights was 'fun' at the time. But now I know better. I am trying to get back into shape as my adult metabolism already wasn't what it used to be when I was 16. I don't need the drinks to have fun anymore and I'm okay with that.

I feel like I should also add in here that my body has never been very good at processing alcohol. No matter how little or how much I consumed, I am always sick. I am sick that night and sometimes I even spend the next few days trying to recover from the one night of drinking. I get extremely bloated which leads to me feeling sad and self conscious and there's no reason I should make myself feel like that if I don't have to. But yeah, it's just not for me.

That's not to say I am going to preach about how drinking is stupid and tell everyone not to do it. I've made my choices for myself and I am extremely happy with them. I'm not going to shun my friends for drinking or anything (lol) I just don't want to be pressured or looked down upon because I say no (sometimes that happens, but I'm not overly fussed). As long as people do not put themselves or especially others in danger from their drinking (fighting, driving or anything else that is dangerous) then I say drink as much or as little as you want. 

Thanks for reading, I would love to hear anyone else's opinions on the subject. Until next blog post!

Stelle xx 

Nineteen

It's been about a month since I wrote last, life has just gotten crazy busy. So let's quickly catch up on all the exciting things that have happened in the last month and what has been going on. 

1. I turned 19!
2. Lifelong dream of seeing Miley Cyrus in concert happened
3. Work work work oh and more work
4. Uni has been kicking butt lately
5. I seem to have become a party girl in between all of that

So that's just a quick summary of the last month of my life. I don't even think the word busy begins to describe how I've been.

My birthday was simple and sweet, I babysat during the day (dislike working on my birthday, but adult life). Then in the evening I went out to my favourite Chinese restaurant with my beautiful family. The waiters sung me happy birthday, gave me free birthday ice-cream, a balloon and chopsticks. Safe to say, birthday's are fun!

first photo as a 19 year old

To celebrate my birthday with some of my best friends, I went clubbing. There was a lot of drama revolving around that night (that I won't get into because it doesn't even matter anymore!) but I went out determined to have a fabulous night (who wouldn't?). The night didn't exactly go according to plan (when does it ever?) but I had a great time regardless and getting home to bed was the best feeling. Day light savings (shout out to NSW here) messed up our body clocks completely, from leaving at 1:30am for the hour and a half journey home, then getting home to bed at 5am???

Always a mission getting to
Kings Cross

so happy I spent the night with my bestfriends

Round three of birthday celebrations continued the following week with just a few drinks at the local leagues club with the remainder of some of my friends who didn't get to come out on the weekend with me. It was a more relaxed night with a bit of drinking and playing the pokies (I actually hate it because I think it is boring). Either way, was a good night once again.

I only like this photo because we look
so happy

Another pretty spectacular thing I got to experience was a ride on a 45 foot yacht with my mum and sister. It was a beautiful day and the views were great. Sydney is such a beautiful place and I was lucky I got to soak up the beautiful sunshine and enjoy the views on the luxury yacht. It would be hard to argue the beauty of Sydney in the picture I got below. 

Photo I got on the yacht of Sydney Harbour Bridge

Miley Cyrus. Do I even need to say anymore? I bought tickets to her Australian Bangerz tour in June (I think) and I had been crazy excited ever since. I lined up with a whole bunch of my friends and some others, from about 7am just to be in the front of the mosh pit. And I am so happy to say that 13 hours of waiting for Miley waited because we were at the front! There was about 10 of us, we all got split up into pairs (I was with my boyfriend) and we all battled for our lives in that mosh pit and I am proud to say I survived and I was so close to Miley I literally started crying (fangirl moment). The concert was the best that I have ever been to and ever since I have been suffering an extreme case of post concert depression.
#mileyfanforlife

Waiting in line with my boyfriend for Miley Cyrus (we both love her)

Best photo I got of Queen Miley riding the giant weiner (because I was so close)

Other things that have happened: more clubbing and a lot of working. A lot. Not sure where all this time comes from, but I feel happy and so alive. I'm grateful for the amazing friends I have and my wonderful family. I have so many opportunities in life (uni, work) and I am proud to say I really am making the most of it all. I'm quickly writing this to share my happiness and fill my readers in on my life in the last month, but now I have a lovely essay to get back to!

Best night in the city last weekend!

Standard couple photo while out clubbing 

Thanks for reading everyone!