video of tour de Permuteran

Bali 2013 part 3 tour de permuteran.

Maz, Denis, pj , Greg and I took the bikes for a ride up to bio rock for a snorkel. Bio rock is an artificial reef that is being constructed off the coast of Pemuteran beach about 3 km up the road. They have sunk steel frames in varying shapes and sizes and attached low voltage cables to encourage coral to grow therefore creating a man made coral reef environment - interesting and quite ingenious.

On our approach down the final 100 mtrs of dirt road I picked up a puncture in my front tyre, no problem we will have a snorkel and then work out what to do.

The snorkeling was great a bit murky in parts but it looks like it will be a great reef in years to come. Maz and I had had enough and decided to head back, taking 2 good bikes and promising to send Putra back with a car or puncture repair kit at the very least. Maz andmy return was uneventful and we informed Putra of what had happened, and off to the rescue he went. Little did we know at that point this was the start of a comedy of errors.

Putra got the punctured tyre fixed and the boys set off home, Greg's bike, had an issue with its gears being stuck in a high gear, now good for mountain climbing not so good when riding on a relatively, no, no relativity about it DEAD FLAT road, sooo his legs are traveling at a rate of about 100 revolutions a second and his progress is almost non existent. Seeing an opportunity for his latest entry into funniest home videos, pj commenced video and commentary. See attached, warning you may wet yourself.

Greg would like to thank his road crew and support crew for their unfailing assistance in his incredible journey!

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Bali 2013 part 2

We had a fabulous dinner at Sarong restaurant and the next day we decided to layabout the hotel in and out of the pool and not a lot else as we were planning on meeting some more friends at Rock Bar Jimbaren. The Sherrys and another couple, Guy and Robyn, had arrived the day before staying at the Legian Beach hotel. We had heard fabulous reports on this place and had high expectations. The bar is in the Asaya resort, an extremely upmarket place where only the rich and famous can afford to stay whilst the poor and helpless (us) are allowed to visit.

The bar opens at 4pm each day and is accessible via an inclinator which takes you down in groups of 8. They have a dress code and no board shorts, singlets or bintangs tshirts allowed. Dave arrived not having received this message, in a singlet and boardshorts. Ruth, Daves wife raced up to the resort shop and bought him a new t shirt 300,000 rp and as Dave stood on the queue he took his boardies off and turned them inside out so they looked like a plain pair of shorts. At 4.20 we joined the queue, at 4.45 pm we were told that the bar was full and there was no guarantee we would get down, we were however, welcome to utilize any of the other bars on the premises or stay in the queue and try our luck. We opted to use one of the other bars and sat around on the lawn for a couple of hours and enjoyed each others company the t shirt was taken back and dave stripped again in public to turn his boardies back the right way and we paid exorbitant prices for drinks (ie 95,000 rp or about $11 a bintang after tax!). A couple of the group decided to sneak in the back way to get a look. Whilst a nice outlook the reports back were "nothing special"

We decided to head to Gosha for dinner, an old favorite of all of us and so started the trek back via taksi! The normal 80,000 rp cab ride increased exponentially due to traffic and with bursting bladders and a price on the meter of 120,000 we jumped ship and took off at a fair clip on foot to cover the remaining 2-3kms, as the others had told us they were already at the restaurant, they lied!

We had broken land speed records to get there and then sat for around 15 mins waiting for them, the only consolation ice cold bintangs at reasonable prices. The other cab had the same issue with traffic and that group bailed as well at 150,000 rp! With our seafood and steak picked and ordered we sat back and had a good chuckle about the afternoon with our eye on the clock as we needed to get back to the hotel for the imminent arrival of Vicki.

 

We sat in the hotel bar and played pool until Vic arrived at 10.40 then took ourselves off to bed. We had a 10am pickup to Villa semadhi in pemutaran north west Bali. A 4 hr drive that took in reality 6hrs due to the increased traffic because of Ramadan.

The villa, one word, awesome!

 

Massages, staff, pool, beach, boat what more could you ask!

Greg and I on an adventure walk, they're sardines!

Denis, Maz and Vicki on bikes through the villa

On Friday night we went to Tower resaurant for the 'highest level of dining' . The view was amazing. We ate on the 4th level of the tower outside, it was a bit breezy but tremendous fun, food was great, logistically it was amusing watching the staff carry drinks and meals up a spiral staircase passing tourists on viewing platforms, as it is a tower in the national park that looks out 360 degrees around Bali, you can even see Java. To help out the staff, we thought we could move downstairs for desert. This resulted in Vicki knocking the cutlery out of the hands of an obliging waiter on the stairs on the way down, and then being ordered back to our seats to finish our meals....after all, it was the 'highest level of dining' we had asked for, and that was what they were going to make sure we enjoyed. We absolutely did!

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale........

Saturday morning we were picked up early at 7.30 and driven right up almost to the farthest north west corner of Bali to go snorkeling at mengangen island. Awesome day, brilliant coral and fish, then back to the villa for massage, swim, bintangs and rest. Although, Greg did get adventurous and tried his hand at doing some kayaking.....without much success. There will be a video to have a look at, courtesy of PJ...again, he was the on the spot newsman.

Dinner was arranged at the Frangipani Restaurant, a local place with some good wraps. It certainly lived up to its reputation. Sensational! And they allowed us to bring our own white wine. The staff were helpful with great senses of humor. Unfortunately, They wouldn't sell Net her martini glass? What a great night!

A super early start to the morning on Sunday. Up at 5am to go on our trek with Putra to the top of the very high mountain at the back of our villa. The name of which we have to check up on....In complete darkness, we climbed one of the. Out difficult treks I have seen. It was literally six inches wide in some places, steep, loose stones and covered in stinging nettles and blackberry bushes...and we couldn't see a thing. Only just over a one km walk took us about fifty minutes! But so worthwhile. Without doubt the most spectacular sunrise I have ever seen. Breathtaking, stunning. Even the great photos don't do it justice. The walk back, although in the light, was even harder. Old man Cato really did it thought with those chalky knees of his!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Putra!

Next up, a day of cycling, snorkeling & Babi gulang!

 

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Bali 2013 The girls trip that the boys gate crashed!

You're going to Bali, how many time is that? If I had 100,000 rupiah for every time we heard that!

Yes, in actual fact it's our 7th trip to the isle of smiles. This time the BOT girls (bitches on tour for the uninitiated) were planning a week in Bali for our punters club, Bali? The boys said, we'll have ambit of that, thank you very much. Ok come along for a week boys and the girls will stay for 2 - that only seems fair, we don't go on the boys trips away! Although that could change.

 

So currently there are 6 of us here at the Adhi Dharma in Legian/Kuta. Maz and Denis, Annette and PJ, Cath and Greg. Vicki will join us tomorrow (Wednesday) and once the boys head home, Pix will join us for the final week.

We had an unevenvtful flight over this time, no out of date visas, no lost passports, money or anything else to remark on, the biggest challenge was how much we could spend on duty free before leaving the country!

We arrived at the hotel around 10.30 pm Bali time that's 12.30am Sydney time.

Had a quick cleansing ale at the 24hr bar attached to the hotel and hit the hay!

We awoke to a rather overcast day and all met for breakfast, Maz and Denis had already been for a 2 hour walk, had I known I would have joined them and left Greg to snore uninterrupted till breakfast call.

After a leisurely breakkie we decided to find Crazy Donnie at legian to order our outdoor furniture cushion covers, alas after walking up and down the street in which he was last seen numerous times and asking for assistance in some surrounding stores we decided that the brand new Aqua villa and apartments was where his store had been. Oh we'll, we'll head back to the hotel and see if we can find out where he moved to, if he still existed. Fortunately on the way we came upon another store, Star store, who willingly accommodated our requirements and its costing us $130 AU to have our our door dining and lounges equipped with bright green waterproof uv resistant covers, we will see!

With my main task for this trip now out of the way, it was time to hit the pool area and sink some bintangs.

 

As today was our 30th wedding anniversary, I had pre booked a 3 hour couples spa treatment for 2pm. As 2 o'clock rolled around, Greg and I headed off to the spa to be massaged, scrubbed, polished, yoghurted and facialed!

We met the others at our room around 6pm for some pre dinner drinks and then headed off to sarong for a sumptuous dinner.

I will have some photos to upload in the next blog. Stay tuned

Cathngreg

 

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Darwin, Litchfield & Kakadu Part 2

Well after viewing all of the rock art, which is quite impressive when you think about how long ago it was done, and by the level of difficulty in some of the locations as well as the tools that would have been used! Luke explained that in some cases a form of scaffolding would have been constructed so that the paintings could be done in certain areas, Wow really interesting and impressive!

So up and up we climb to the spot most people know about through that classic movie "Crocodile Dundee" you know the scene where Dundee is explaining to his American reporter that 'see that line of trees down there, thats where the croc almost got me'

 It is quite a way up to the very top but man what a view! This place should be on everyones bucket list, yep you need to climb a bit but anyone with an average level of fitness, you shouldn't have a problem, just take it slow and steady and wear decent shoes! 

From Ubirr we moved onto the absolutely beautiful Majuk falls. You would need to step up your fitness a little or at least your rock scambling ability! It is a fair way up and keep your eyes open and down, Ive found if you concentrate on looking up you never get there!

 These two pools are joined by an underwater tunnel (allbeit a short one) but creates another dimension of fun! Goggles are probably a good idea.

Another top swimming hole, and we were the only ones here.

 Here is the truck/bus/coach whatever you would like to call it, that we spent our time in. For the next part of the trip 4WD is definitely required. Up to this point we had done river crossings, and some pretty hairy driving, but did not need to put it in 4WD, until today.
Not to worry, but if you want to see one of the most celebrated and advertised spots in NT up close and personal, you need 4WD or a helicopter, oh and decent walking shoes! 

One of the highlights for me Jim Jim Falls, from where you park your 4WD it is 900meters to the falls. This 900 meters takes approximately 45 minutes to complete. Along the way you have many opportunities for photos, but you need to step up a bit and bring your rock hoppers with you. This is a serious workout over boulders as large as an average loungeroom. Follow the reflecting arrows, and the pink tape and go carefully and you will get there and my god it is soooo worth it!

 Possibly the most special part about this spot at least for us, was that we were fortunate enough to be the first visitors in for the season and we had the place to ourselves until we were ready to leave. So the first car in the carpark, Greg was the first one in the water hole at the base of the falls and the 8 of us were completely alone. We were able to get in and out of our swimmers in relative privacy, by the time we left however, there was people streaming in.
My advice, make it the first stop for the day and start early.

From here we had lunch at the entrance to the 4WD track, there is a very nice camping ground here with great amenities and its run by the lovely Greg and Gina, caretakers of the area. This is how we know we were the first in for the season. The road to Twin Falls was yet to open for the season.

We then started the trip back to Darwin with a stop at the Bark Hut, a very nice drinking hole with a handy map that detailed everywhere we had been. The photo above is the wonderful Luke our guide, thanks for making this such a wonderful experience.

So on leaving the tour we were delivered back into Darwin to the Mantra Pandanas on Knuckey St, a 4 star hotel and very nicely appointed. This is the view from our balcony, enjoyed with a bottle of wine while the washing machine worked its magic on our dusty sweaty clothes. Greg and I went to dinner at Char restaurant, a very popular and classy restaurant and then dragged out tired bodies back to the hotel for a good nights sleep with the attraction of a sleepin the next day.

The hotel was kind enough to keep our bags for us, while we explored the city. As this is peak season no late check out was avialable and our flight was not unil 1am.

So off on our city walk after a nice breakfast at The Ducks Nuts! 

The following photos are mainly views from Bicentennial Park along the foreshores of Darwin Harbour.

 Memorials to the fallen in the Bombing of Darwin by the Japanese on February 19, 1942, This attack was 10 weeks after Pearl Harbour and more than twice as many japanese planes were used in this attack.

This plaque is the route that Leichhardt took on his expedition.

Don;t know whether this is classed as the Arafura sea or the Timor Sea, either way thats about as far in as I was willing to go, we had seen a small shark earlier and Crocodiles and stingers are also a threat.

 We jumped a cab and went down to Cullen Bay, for Sydneysiders think Darling Harbour equivalent on a smaller scale. A beautiful marina with lots of expensive boats and houses, some nice restaurants and bars of which we tried one or two for a well deserved beer!

Then we jumped on a ferry and took a ride out to Mandorah. Its not an island but to drive there would take approximately 2-3 hours or a 15 minute ferry ride. Not much out there but a very nice pub and a lovely beach, although you cant swim in it without danger of stingers!

Now the Marina is accessible for boats only through a lock.

The tide has a variance of up to 9 meters

 Check out the different levels for the ferry passengers, depending on the height of the tide!
We had been told to head down to Mindil Beach for the markets on a Sunday afternoon and to witness the sunset, so glad we did, the markets are great for a look but the sunset OMG!

 The gathering crowds

Greg

A very appreciative crowd, at the end of the sunset there was much applause and cheering to Mother Nature for her spectacle.

and so the end of another of our short excursions, one thing for sure, we will be back, thats a promise, from Darwin with love xox

ps stay tuned for Bali!