5.30am
I’m an early riser, especially with my two beautiful girls; Indi who just turned three, and Lulah who just turned one.
7am
The sun rises around 6am in Bali. My fiancé, Trent, and I love to start the day with a walk on our gorgeous local beach which comes alive at this time with surfers, fitness aficionados and dog walkers! Trent is a keen surfer so if the waves are good he may jump in for a quick surf session while I wander along the shore and enjoy a little quiet time before launching into the day.
8.30am
We arrive home in time to take our two little girls to their playgroup, then we have breakfast and plan our day. Running our own businesses and living in Bali means we don’t live by the Monday to Friday nine-to-five, although sometimes it used to feel like Monday to Sunday nine-to-nine! Thankfully, since we had the girls we’ve been able to pull back a lot from work with the support of our incredible management team. We still spend half of our year in Canggu, where Escape Haven and our new boutique women’s retreat The Palm Tree House, are both located. The other half of the year is spent in New Zealand on our boat or down at the surf beaches in the Coromandel where we both grew up.
9am
When we are in Bali, our mornings are often filled with meetings and although we are not involved heavily in the day to day running of the retreats, it’s great supporting the team and collaborating on new projects. If it is a weekend, we love going on adventure days as a family or couple; this may mean horse riding on the beach or heading to our favourite local beach resort. If it is just Trent and I, we love visiting Ubud for a day of wellbeing to fill up our energy tanks after a busy week. Switching off and filling up your own cup is what our retreats for women are all about, so it’s important to practise what we preach too!
12pm
Canggu is a paradise for healthy food lovers! Often we will have lunch at our favourite beach-side restaurant COMO Uma Canggu. I also enjoy popping into retreat for lunch to meet some of the incredible ladies that visit from week to week. The meals on retreat are absolutely delicious. Our therapeutic chefs make everything from scratch and utilise the freshest local ingredients. Lunchtime may be healthy jackfruit tacos, fresh seafood, Balinese-inspired rice dishes and abundant salads. Gorgeous vibrant smoothie bowls and colourful pool platters are two highlights on retreat that we introduced this year that I also love.
3pm
In the afternoons I always enjoy some kind of movement or exercise. At the moment I am loving switching between yoga and pilates, especially after two back to back pregnancies in my mid-40s! We have a luxury, air-conditioned gym in Canggu that offers wonderful private reformer pilates classes, as well as sunrise yoga classes overlooking the ocean. I’ve found yoga and pilates hugely helpful in getting me back on track in body, mind and spirit after both pregnancies.
5pm
Trent and I have a daily ritual of heading to the beach and watching the sunset. This is my favourite time of the day. Bali is well known for its stunning sunsets where the sky becomes a kaleidoscope of pink, purple and gold. No matter how busy the day is and how much we have on our plate, we always make the effort to fit this in. The girls and the dogs also love this special time at the beach each day.
6pm
Dinners are early and enjoyed with my family. We have three amazing nannies who help us to look after the girls and are also terrific cooks, so often we will eat dinner in. Otherwise we will order dinner from one of the local restaurants. Canggu has a plethora of incredible eateries and everywhere in Bali home delivers. The days fly by so fast that being able to order in delicious healthy meals and eat in the comfort of our own home is really grounding and a lovely way to end the day together.
8pm
As an early riser, I like to head to bed early. So once the girls are asleep I love to finish the day with some inspiring content; I absolutely love reading and also enjoy listening to inspiring authors like Brene Brown or Cara Alwill. We also love to travel and are mad boaties so sometimes I spend this time getting ideas for our next global adventure and reading up on the latest boats!
