I never was very good at having girl friends. I had an older brother, was more of a tomboy, hated my all girls’ school, am a Sagittarius…for whatever reason I made my way into my twenties with just a handful of girl friends to show for twenty years of living.

In my twenties I did better, I made three of my best friendships (Vic, Nic, Sara – thank you my lovelies) and even though 8,000 plus miles separate me from them it makes very little difference to how we feel about each other.

I didn’t expect to find in Bali a whole other type of female friend. In under a year I’ve met and become friends with some of the most phenomenal women I could ever hope to meet.

I think maybe it is easier here to make friends – we’re all ex-pats and generally the ex-pat community here is incredibly open and warm, I rarely experience the first of the boat mentality I’ve met in other places (Goa for example) and maybe it’s got something to do with the type of person who washes up here, but I’m starting to properly understand what women should be like to each other and how amazing it is when we are.

Sorry if I’m coming late to this party. But better late than never right?

It’s kind of an epiphany to me that women can be supportive, rather than competitive, that women can support and love one another without gossiping behind each other’s backs, that women can be powerful and strong without being bitches.

So living amongst women who every day inspire me with their energy, their positivity and their kindness is …well it’s one of the reasons that never made it onto the post-it board but is now one of the main reasons I love to live here.