Swales Tales

09/05/2024

My new favourite window cleaner in Marion Bay. 🙌
Xavier has all the new cleaning gear and is practicing for his new business venture.

09/05/2024

Maya is all about Japan lately. 🌸💴🍣🎏

it’s time we came for a visit. ♥️

31/03/2024

My final day in Bali I spent learning the art of Batik painting up near Ubud. It’s such a beautiful and relaxing process. Originating from Java. Drawing and tracing your design with the hot wax takes a lot of patience and precision. Holding the canting tool at just the right angle to allow the wax to flow but not spill it, and refreshing the wax often. Adding the colours using traditional inks that change colours with light exposure and the chemical bath they get at the end is another fun challenge. Grey becomes blue and brown becomes green like magic in the final reveal.

I really had a great day and I would recommend having a go. Widya and his team were so helpful and informative throughout the process. I’d love to spend more time playing and learning. Next time. 👌

28/03/2024

The last photo together as we sent back to Canada. No one knows when we’ll all be together again. Bitter sweet, but we are glad we all came.

28/03/2024

Happy birthday to my beautiful Mumma. It’s been a fantastic week spending time with you and my sisters.

We had the most gorgeous spa day yesterday at . We were massaged, scrubbed, painted, washed, soaked and pampered. The best hair wash and head massage of my life.

So privileged to have this time together. Thanks to my hubby and brother in law for holding down the forts for us to have this time. Love you both.

And love you all my girls. ♥️♥️♥️

27/03/2024

It’s actually so hard not to become a food photographer enthusiast here. 😂 Every meal is a work of art. Loving it. Avocado and eggs on sourdough poolside at . 👌♥️

27/03/2024

Girls days out on the daily. Today snorkelling and swimming at Nusa Dua. Don’t recommend the water clarity but do recommend an ocean swim for the soul. 💙🙏

26/03/2024

🍔🌊 Lunching at Ulu’s with my girls with the best view. Every time I come back here it’s just so different. Always changing. Never static. Always gorgeous, albeit a little chaos. I had the best crispy fish burger while watching the surfers chase the waves and thinking how much my family would love hanging out here next time we visit. ♥️

26/03/2024

My darling sisters and Mumma and another quick photo op. 👌♥️

26/03/2024

🍹Girls Day out starts with rainbow juices. One of the best things about a tropical climate is the abundance of tropical juices. 🍓🍇🍎🍉🫐🥝🥥🥬🥒🥑🍍🍋🍊🍐🥭🍑🥕🍈

25/03/2024

My beautiful Mumma making the most of the rainbow display at the Beachwalk Mall. 🌈

25/03/2024

Sisters night out on the foreshore. Gourmet dinner, mocktails, night time massage & pedicures and some much needed sister chats. Love you my sisters. So glad to have you both. Thanks mum. ♥️

24/03/2024

Love you ladies. Such a special treat to spend time with my mum and sisters. ♥️♥️♥️♥️

24/03/2024

Not much can slow me down. Things to do. Places to be. 👌 Where there’s a will, there’s a way. 😂

24/03/2024

Girls brekkie on Kuta beach. ♥️

How lucky are we to have time to just chill and relax with our girls?! Loving it. Every minute. ♥️

24/03/2024

We made some more gorgeous treasure today. This time I dragged my sister and mum along to play. Alicia loved it and made the gorgeous sapphire earrings, but mum wasn’t as enthusiastic with the process and the heat. I’m stoked with their creations and mine. It’s so great seeing the different tools and techniques that they use here in Ubud. 👌 Plus a great day out with my girls.

24/03/2024

Delicious lunch date with my sister and mumma overlooking some rice paddies. So lucky to get to spend time with them. Crispy duck, delish. 👌

24/03/2024

♥️ Sister Hangs ♥️

22/03/2024

🌅 Sunset Swings 🌅

22/03/2024

Seafood sunset dinner with my girls at Jimbaran Bay.

So nice, except some idiot fell down the stairs and rolled her ankle. 🙄😂🐟🦀🦞🦐🦑🍹♥️

21/03/2024

First time travelling overseas since the Big C, and I flew solo without the rest of the family. Missing my Swales clan, knowing they’d love to be on this adventure with me. But this week is all about my mumma and sisters. It my Mums birthday so we have gathered in Bali from all corners to celebrate together. ♥️

I gave myself an extra day to solo. I went to a jewellery class in Sukawati to learn about different tools and techniques, ate out in Ubud, walked far too much in this heat and FaceTimed by little sidekick Maya half a dozen times. I’m feeling pretty confident as a solo traveller, enjoying being on my own schedule, but definitely miss my people.

Day 2 I dedicated to collecting my mum and sisters from the airport. ✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️

13/03/2024

Life’s too short not to. 🏝️🗺️✈️⛵️🚘🏕️🌏

MOTIVATION MONDAY! 🌸

24/02/2024

08/02/2024

So lucky to have a dinner date with these legends on opening week at .adl. A brand new restaurant on Magill Rd. We tried the red duck curry, chicken and squid BBQ skewers, green papaya salad, pad sea eaw, sticky rice and crispy chicken wings with the most delicious nam jim jao ever. Going back for round two tomorrow night to try some other dishes. Everything is delicious. 🥘🦐🥂🔥

05/12/2023

Maya diving into the crystal clear waters of Shell Beach rock pool. We have a beautiful backyard. 💙

24/07/2023

Home sweet home. 💙

24/07/2023

Out final stop on the way home to SA was the thermal pools at Lightning Ridge.

The hot artesian waters provided the bath I needed to soak off a couple of months of travel dust. 😝

As soon as we hopped out the water we went for one last scratch around in the dirt for opals before tackling the final leg of the trip to arrive home safe & sound.