Hey Guys! Finally able to tell you, we made it to Bali!! Hurrah!! Its just taken us a while to conect due to the strenuous cocktail drinking in the pools at the beautiful hotels! I know sounds terrible doesn't it!

So our last day in Cairns was good, we just chilled out by the pool and wondered around town till the taxi picked us up. Ed got patted down at the airport but then he does look a little dodgey when he hasn't shaved for a coulpe of days! The flight was good, we had to stop in Darwin but it wasn't for too long. We arrived in Bali at 11.00 local time and got picked up by a tour guide sent from STA called Gustu and his driver, only known as "Schoomacker"! I'll let you figure it out! We arrived at the hotel called the Bounty. What can i say! It is gorgeous! There's a pool with a 24 hour bar attached and arround that are the apartments and rooms but the are no higher than two stories. There are hindu statues everywhere and beautiful architecture! Amazing! Plus our room has aircon!! We went straight to bed coz we were exhausted, it felt like 3.30am to us!

Next morning we could see just how lovely the hotel was as we ate our buffet breakfast overlooking the pool in the sunshine! We met with Gustu who is going to arrange a tour for us in a couple of days. He gave us loads of good advice about food and drink and how to handle the street sellers. so we thought we were ready to face the world - - -how wrong we were! i hadn't even got out the hotel before i had a band strapped around my wrist being told i was having my hair braided! Ed was pulling it off and when we finally got it off we put  our heads down and power walked all the way to the beach ignoring everyone and everything! They are at you constantly, 'taxi!', 'come in my shop', 'i give you bloody cheap!' it was a bit of a shock to the system! We spent an hour trying to wade through it all before heading back to the sanctuary of the hotel and jumped in the pool with a beer and a cocktail! We met a couple from perth who have been coming here for 21 years and they really took us under their wing! We went down the beach with them and went to a bar they know, we were pestered alot but they showed us how to react to get rid of them quicker and to have fun with them too! We then went out to dinner with them and to a bar where ed was a bit more than merry by the time we were through! They were really lovely people and i reackon if we hadn't met them we'd still be in that pool supping cocktails!

Next day we headed out in a different direction around Kuta and felt alot more at ease. We booked to go on a tour around the island with Gustu for the next day but other than thawe just enjoyed the beautiful weather ( its a quite humid though) and the lovely people. they are so friendly once you've got past the first on slaught with the sellers. Kuta itself is very lively and loud. theres people and scooters everywhere! its not unusual to see 5 people to one scooter! Crazy driving here but apparently you do need a licsence ( i'm not convinced!).

Wednesday we took a tour and went to see stone carvers, painting, a temple, paddie feilds, coffee plantations, the active volcanoe (from a distance!) and then dropped off in Ubud ( further inland). We really loved the whole day but its too much to go into detail. But i do have a question, How does a pinapple grow? Please post your answers on the blog and be honest, don't use the internet as research! Ed and i saw one at the coffee plantation, its very funny!

Ubud is a lot quieter than Kuta. maybe somewhere between tourist Bali and real Bali. We saw the monkey forest which was wicked! As we were walking in a monkey started pulling on eds shorts! They are very cute but quite vicious when they want to be so you have to be careful. The forest itself was amazing. It was like walking through the set of Raiders of the lost ark! There were stone carvings and temples everywhere but so old they were covered in moss and had monkeys sat on them! We loved it! We also went to see a traditional Bali dance. It told a story but i'm not sure either of us folled it! The costumes were amazing and all the music was done by 100 men's voices. We also saw someone walking on fire ( hot burning coconut shells ) it was a really good night. We went for a drink in a bar where they were playing live music and had some cocktails before heading home. i could get used to this life i tell you! Although i have been attacked by mozzies again and this time the bites are swelling up to the size of a golf ball! No joke, they are so annoying!

We came back to Kuta again today for a couple of days then maybe go off somewhere else again - who knows! Its just so chilled here with nothing to worry about except can we afford a 50pence beer or not . . . . the answer is always yes!