Post Marbella

It's 2 weeks tomorrow that we returned from Marbella/Malaga. We managed to empty our fridge before leaving and, as we were leaving at silly-o'clock to catch our Ryanair flight on Saturday morning, we decided to have a mid-afternoon late lunch/early dinner on Friday at the on-site restaurant El Med, washed down by a nice white wine:

We'll be back there - probably next year. The resort is immaculate and mature. We were reminiscing about our first holiday there after we bought our time share. It was 1999 and Ross and Jo's Mum were with us:

At that time, only one "leg" - on the west of the resort - was complete:

From this October, 1998 archive photo I found on the web, you can see that construction had started on the next leg in the middle of the resort but I don't recall us being much troubled by any building work when we were there in 1999. This year, we tried to identify the unit we stayed in 25 years ago but were unable to agree which one it was. I guess some changes have been made over the years.

It has obviously been a wet winter in the UK (and it hasn't been much better since we've been back). The roof linings on our shed had started to break up and the shed roof was damp in places when we returned from Australia - it was definitely time for some remedial work. I started to remove the tacks holding the roof felt in place and we then lost one of the 3 strips of felt (on the apex) in the wind, so I had to borrow a temporary plastic cover for the time we were in Spain:

I've since returned this cover and have replaced it for the time being with our car cover until we can get a run of dry, warmer days to allow me to re-felt the roof:

I've got all the materials now so I'm hoping I can maybe start on it later next week. As you can see from the first of the 2 photos above, the issue with the fence has still not been resolved with our neighbour, so it will be tricky trying to work on that side of the roof. Incidentally, we think she may now be planning to do something independently. We await developments.

Next week our new Air Source Heat Pump arrives and the following week is when the installation takes place - we're replacing the existing narrow bore pipes and virtually all the radiators. It's going to be a week of chaos.

We've had our annual blood/cardio checks and, by and large, we're OK. Jo's doing some more blood pressure checks at home and the results seem reasonably good so far.

I've played 2 games of golf since we got back - I had to come off after 16 holes the first time and was in agony when I got home again, but I managed 18 holes this week - painful but manageable - just. In between those 2 rounds, I walked up Scolty last Friday. Going up was OK but coming down I was in terrible pain and only just made it back home. My left knee is beginning to feel increasinly like my right knee did before I got it replaced.

I'm now officially on the NHS waiting list for a (partial) knee replacement. It could be a long haul but I've indicated I would accept a cancellation and also that I'm willing to travel to get it done. Clydebank is one option, the other is Inverness. If it gets done in Aberdeen or Clydebank, the operation is done robotically, but Inverness is still old school. It's affecting my lifestyle and limiting the amount of activity I would like to take but I'm not ready yet to go private - that would cost £14K. I just hope I get the call from the NHS before the pain gets too much.

Keep the Family WhatsApp group going - stories, photos and videos.

Down Under addendum

We finally made it back home to Banchory and the first sound we heard when we were driven in to Arbor Court was the squawking of the gulls - they're back again! It was only 9 in the morning and we had no provisions in the house, so I whipped the cover off the car and we drove over to Tesco to get some essential groceries.

It's now early afternoon and Jo has succumbed to sleep on the couch. I've resisted so far but I have to try and stay awake as we're waiting for our bags to be delivered from Aberdeen airport. We had a fairly tight connection at Heathrow and while we were able to make the flight up to Aberdeen, our cases didn't. They apparently were loaded on to the next flight so I'm hoping they'll be here soon.

That apart, the journey pretty much went as planned. It was a long haul - the elapsed time from Old Noarlunga to Banchory was almost 38 hours. Everything was on time or earlier. The extra domestic flight from Adelaide and the subsequent 5+ hours wait at Sydney for the start proper of our international journey didn't help, and having to pay over $A18 to get from the domestic to the international terminal there rubbed some salt in the wound.

I did get a major shock, however, on the eve of our departure from Kelly's and Chris' home when I checked in on the BA app for our international flights. I got a message that we couldn't check in because the flight had already left! Oh no - did I make a mess of the bookings? I hurriedly opened my laptop to enquire further and there on my BA account were 2 separate bookings - one for Sunday departure and another for Monday - same route and times but I noted they had different booking references. I still have no idea how the first booking got there but it was a great relief to see the second booking - and to know that I hadn't made a mess of things after all!

I never reported our close encounter with a large brown snake on our morning walk on Thursday. It slinked across the path just a few feet in front of us. Ironically I had been joking with Chris' brother Matt a few days before that I had seen more snakes in the wild in Scotland than I had in all the times we'd been to Australia. This was my first ever encounter Down Under with one of these creatures:

Although it was a large adult, Chris told me this was far less dangerous than encountering baby brown snakes. The adults have learned to save their venom for occasions of real danger to them, but the youngsters haven't learned  this yet and attack randomly. Wouldn't you know it, but the day after this, when Jo and I were at the Fringe in Adelaide, a nasty baby brown snake was spotted in Chris' and Kelly's house. Chris eventually managed to shepherd the snake out of the house but it was snapping away at him all the time.

Incidentally, we did eventually make it to the "Wheaty" - on Friday for a pre-Fringe show beer. We also had our first 40 C degree day on Saturday. Just before dusk, Chris went up the hill opposite to get a view from on high of the sunset out to sea. After he'd gone, I thought it might be a good idea too. It was the first time I'd ventured over the river since my nasty fall a few weeks' previously and I must admit I felt a bit nervous, even though I wasn't going anywhere near where I'd fallen:

To close, a shot of Matt and Asher (underwater) in the pool on Sunday when he was child minding, plus one of the 4 of us at our lovely lunch at the Currant Shed (which is now my screen saver):

- and I've just had a phone call from the courier to tell me he's on his way with our bags - hooray!

Down Under (8)

We returned from Carrickalinga last Sunday (3rd). On Monday we decided to go shopping for some clothes replacements. The plan initially was to drive to the big shopping centre at Marion - which we did - but we didn't get everything we needed so popped over to Glenelg to complete the shopping - and we took the opportunity to have an ice cream and a walk along the pier:

In the background are the apartments we stayed at when we first came to Australia 13 years ago.

We took the boys to school on Tuesday. On the previous Friday it had been Values Day. I wondered what the 4 values represented until I saw these explanations on a wall at the school:

Wednesday was my 75th birthday and as we hadn't yet been to the "Wheaty", one of my favourite pubs in Adelaide, we thought this might be a good time to go there. I double checked the opening times on their app - 7 days a week, 11 am to 11 pm - good. So we caught the train in and then the tram out to Thebarton, only to find the place closed with a notice on the door saying that they didn't open until 3 pm! Bah humbug. Back on the tram after a short wait:

Our next target was the Malt Shovel behind the station. Closed on Wednesdays. Strike two. Next target was Lady Burra brewhouse and thankfully it was open, albeit we arrived there via a circuitous loop:

We then headed back to Old Noarlunga. Chris was working late but Kelly took the boys plus Jo and me to the beach, stopping first at a "bottle-o" for beers and Barnacle Bill's for takeaway fish and chips - all of which were consumed on the beach. The boys had a boogie board and I tried to pull Asher on it but he soon get fed up with that - I think I was going too slowly for him - so he decided to make me chase him in the water. It was hard work but Kelly soon came to my rescue. A lovely day in the end - and we had cake too.

On Thursday morning with the temperature rising daily, Jo and I decided to try and beat the heat and head out early for a walk round the local river park and take in the boardwalk over the "wetlands" area there:

A bit of grocery shopping and then the pool - and that was the day over.

On Friday we had another Fringe show to attend - this time in the city centre. Like the Edinburgh Fringe there are venues all over the city but two of the main ones are at Gluttony - where our show was - and across the road at "The Garden":

Loads of shows at both venues but the one we went to see was https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/simply-brill-the-teens-who-stole-60-s-rock-n-roll-af2024. It was excellent but definitely for those of a certain vintage. Once the show was finished and after we'd said hello and cheerio to Holly Mullins, daughter of a friend of mine who was working at the Fringe, we took in a bit of the lively ambience of Rundle St and found a nice Italian restaurant for dinner. Kelly met us at Seaford Meadows train station and drove us back in the still oppressive heat of the evening.

It was another Fringe show on Saturday. This time we took a car up to the Star Theatre on Sir Donald Bradman Drive. It was a musical play this time - https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/the-shoemaker-of-havana-af2024 - all about the Cuban revolution and the world missile crisis of the early '60's. Another good show.

Sunday is our last full day in Australia. In the morning we headed to the beach again:

Chris' brother, Matt, came over at 1 pm to child mind whilst Kelly and Chris took us over to McLaren Flat for lunch at the lovely Currant Shed. Chris' Mum and Dad popped over to their house to say goodbye to us and they gave me a little gift:

So that's it - we're almost fully packed. We leave here at 5:45 am tomorrow (Monday) morning local time, flying domestic initially to Sydney before the big flight - Sydney - Singapore - London and then up to Aberdeen.

Down Under (7)

It's Sunday afternoon here in Old Noarlunga and we've just returned from a brief stay down on the south coast at Carrickalinga. We - Jo, me, Kelly, Chris and the boys stayed in the Beach House and Chris' parents and brother hired a cabin in nearby Normanville.

But first to last week's activities. Kelly's trip to NZ seemed to go well - Chris picked her up at the airport on Thursday evening.

With Kelly away for 4 days, and Chris occasionally having to travel to the city, suddenly Jo and I were in charge! On Monday, we took Rufus to the local dog park:

On Tuesday morning we took a drive up to Hallett Cove Conservation Park where we'd been in previous years. Lovely place - lots of photos on FB and WhatsApp already.

On Tuesday evening Jo and I drove over to Glenelg to attend possibly the worst Fringe show we've ever been to - in Adelaide or Edinburgh. It was certainly the worst Beatles' tribute band I've ever listened to. They tried some of the more technically challenging songs and fell flat on their faces. The event was held in a typically high ceilinged church and the acoustics were pretty rubbish.

And to worsen my evening my iPhone suddenly stopped taking a charge. The cable worked when I connected my phone to my laptop and transferred data OK but it still wasn't charging and there was an error message in the settings on my phone. I had no option but to book an immediate appointment at the Apple Store in Adelaide.

So on Wednesday morning I took the train to the city. It turned out that both my cable and my phone were faulty. The battery was running at below recommended capacity and would continue to degrade from now on - I could either replace it now or continue to use it as it died away. I didn't really have time to wait for them to replace the battery today so opted for a simple cable replacement for now. I'll either replace the battery or the phone when we get back home.

While I was away, Jo was having fun and games with Asher when she took him to school. His water bottle that day was a soft flexible one and Asher decided it would be good fun to use it to "skoosh" some of his classmates. Jo told him to stop, whereupon Asher turned the water on her! Jo managed to get the bottle off Asher eventually but he was not best pleased and did a runner, heading straight back home again. Jo followed him all the way but Asher was definitely in a foul mood. Unfortunately, Jo never had time to explain to the school what had happened and had no means of phoning them to explain as her phone doesn't have international roaming - and I was away.

The school had observed that Asher wasn't in class although his school bag was there so they immediately tried to contact Kelly (who was in NZ) and she contacted Chris (who was at work). The head teacher and a classroom assistant eventually walked round to the house and Jo was able to explain to them what happened. By now, Asher had forgotten all about it and was perfectly calm and happy to go back to school. It was all over in an hour thankfully.

On Thursday, we went beach exploring - Seaside, Aldinga Bay and Sellicks. At Aldinga Bay, we found this nice shaded spot:

We took a longer walk along the whole length of Sellick's Beach after which we were both ready for lunch:

For tea on Thursday, Chris, Jo and I took the boys round to the "Oldy" - the local Old Noarlunga Hotel. Chris eventually had to disappear to pick Kelly up at the airport - an opportunity for the boys to indulge a little:

Everyone was at home on Friday. It was "Values" day at school:

Asher chose Respect and went to school dressed as a red-bellied snake.

Meanwhile, I had now fixed the puncture(s) on Chris' gravel bike so I took a ride out to Christie's Beach and had a nosey round the local vinyl records store. Nothing doing this time but at least I got back without any punctures - or falls:

Later on Friday afternoon we took both cars down to Carrickalinga. Photos have already appeared on FB and WhatsApp but here's a couple of others:

That's about it for now. Just a week left of our holiday now.

Down Under 2024 (6)

It's early Monday morning here in Old Noarlunga. I've just returned from driving Kelly to the airport - she's flying to Auckland today for 4 days' work in NZ. I was up at 2:30 am and Kelly not much later. The drive to the airport, although it was dark, was nice and easy with very little traffic so the whole trip only took me an hour and 10 minutes. The dilemma now is - do I stay up or go back to bed? So far, I've opted for the former but no doubt I'll squeeze in a nap - or two - later on.

Now to recall the events of the last week. I previously reported that Jo seemed to have recovered from her seemingly endless series of illnesses this year but I was a bit premature. Finally (hopefully), yesterday she had a full day of eating - the first time she's managed this since Bali. It's been a long haul for her but we hope that she can fully enjoy the last 2 weeks of our holiday. Yes, it's 2 weeks today that we begin the long journey home.

Kelly, Jo, Miller and I took a drive up to Stirling, near where their new house is going to be. We attended a presentation at the Montessori school there, which hopefully Miller will be going to when they move. It's a different form of education - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_education. Miller would be going there for just 3 years - from 12 to 15 - before moving on to a more "normal" establishment to finish off his schooling. The Montessori school in Stirling only has 40 pupils and it's set in a lovely rural spot. We think Miller quite liked it, but he's also viewing a more traditional secondary in Noarlunga.

I've been out for some shortish rides on Chris' bikes 3 or 4 times now - but two of them ended badly and I ended up having to walk back. I started off on his upmarket mountain bike but got a puncture on the gel-filled back wheel. Yesterday I was on his drop handlebar gravel bike and got a puncture on the front wheel, meaning another long trudge home.

Friday lunchtime, Jo and I went to the local cinema to see:

Naturally, the music is the best bit and the showing we went to was advertised as having "Quake Sound" which made it sound even better.

We attended another couple of Fringe events this weekend - both of them alcoholic. On Friday, Jo, Kelly and I paid a return visit to Ayers House for another Gin Flights. Last year it was a riot as the organisers lost control, gave up and just put bottles of gin on the tables for everyone to help themselves. This year, it was the complete opposite - tight budgetary control and miniscule helpings of gins and tonics. Plenty of cheese, however - in fact it felt more like a cheese tasting rather than Gin. Kelly and Jo still managed a smile, however:

On Saturday, all 6 of us drove up to the beautiful and vast Belair country park for Drinks on the Grass. It was a lovely casual event. Acres of space for the boys to throw model aeroplanes and frisbees whilst Chris, Jo and I had a few beers and all of us enjoyed the pizzas. Here's the team in a selfie:

Here,  a role reversal as Miller seems to be educating Jo:

Some beautiful large pine trees amongst the native gums:

Afterwards, Kelly, Jo and me took a slight diversion and went to look at a potential new primary school for Asher at Scott Creek. Some of the photos have already been shown on WhatsApp but across the road the school has extensive playing fields:

This week, Jo and I have our 4th Fringe event tomorrow (Tuesday) night - 15 Beatles Songs that Changed the World. Then on Friday, it's our annual trip down to the south coast where we stay for a couple of nights at a house in Carrickalinga. It's a bit of a family tradition with Chris' parents, brother Matt and his daughter Abby coming along too - and sometimes Chris' best pal Anthony and Matt's ex-wife Amanda make an appearance as well. 

I'll close  with a personal success. Every week recently I've been doing the Times' online Quiz of the Week and this time I achieved perfection!:

Down Under (5)

I'm writing this at lunchtime Monday, Adelaide time. Jo seems to have pretty much recovered from the tiredness and stomach cramps she started getting as we left Bali. We had a little scare with Kelly yesterday as it appeared that she was now suffering from the same symptoms, but she's made of tough stuff that girl and was up pre-dawn this morning, working away on her laptop, and now she's made one of her very rare trips to an office somewhere.

Chris and Kelly are fortunate to be able to - it seems to us - set their own working arrangements. Kelly's usually home 4.5-5 days a week whilst Chris goes in to the office or pays a site visit probably 2 or 3 times per week. All of which makes their child care so much easier. This morning Jo and I had to stand in for an hour or so between the time Kelly went to work and Chris returned home because today was a "no pupil" day ar school.

Although Jo was still a bit sluggish on Friday, Kelly persuaded her to come out late afternoon and pay a visit to the nearby Never Never Distillery for a gin tasting. Lovely place. On Saturdays Kelly cleans house while Chris does the big weekly shop. They've got a decent sized fridge but to get all the shopping in is a bit like a game of Jenga - Chris seems to manage it OK though.

On Saturday afternoon, Chris' brother Matt and parents David and Lorene came over in the afternoon for a slightly belated celebration of Chris' birthday. In the evening, Jo and I drove down to Victor Harbor to see the first of our planned Fringe shows. It was a Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute band gig and narrative, held in the local cinema. I guess there must have been a couple of hundred there but we seemed to be the only ones who didn't know anyone else.

When we got home - about 10:30 pm, the house was all quiet but when we walked in to the living room there to greet us was:

There was a note on the table:

On Sunday morning, Chris manfully tried to keep up with Kelly as she ran up the hill opposite. They passed the scene of the crime, where I had fallen a couple of weeks' earlier, but there was still no sign of my lost Sennheiser earbud, nor their drinking bottle. I doubt we'll ever see them again as the undergrowth will have buried them for all time by now.

In the afternoon, Jo and I drove over to Port Noarlunga, which was heaving, so we carried on northwards past Christie's Beach which was pretty busy too but we finally parked up at the southern end of O'Sullivan's Beach and walked the length of it, paddling in the sea along the way. There was a cafe at the end but, although it was open, it was undergoing construction work and wasn't an attractive proposition, so we headed back south along the long stretch of beach:

Halfway along, I could see there appeared to be some kind of walkway, which turned out to be a pedestrian/cycle path, above the small dunes, so I headed up there to check it out. Jo waited until I could confirm it was OK, then eventually, up she trudged:

Soon we came to another cafe - one we'd visited in previous years - but we were met with a gruff "kitchen's closed, mate" so we walked back out again. Two down.

"Let's drive back to Port Noarlunga" I said - "there's lots of eating/drinking places there". That is a true statement but can you park your car there on a busy Sunday afternoon? No is the answer, so we just drove back to Old Noarlunga, dropped the car off and walked round to "The Oldy" - Old Noarlunga Hotel. It was mid-afternoon so lunches were finished and dinners hadn't started as we walked through the Bistro half to the bar and beer garden.

We opened the bar door to a cacophony of noise - the place was packed and virtually every TV screen was tuned to a UFC bout, with the volume up high. We ordered - me a pint of Guinness and Jo an ice cream sundae - then quickly retreated to the sanctity of the Bistro.

I'll finish with an Asher tale. Like an Octogenarian with dementia, he has no filter - he just says it like it is. The other day he was trying to explain something to us and we couldn't quite understand. Asher is quick to pick this up so then turns to us with a sneer and says "you two need hearing aids" and walks away in disgust!

Back from Bali

It's Thursday here now in Old Noarlunga. We flew back on Tuesday and the travel, added to the time difference, meant it took virtually all day. Kelly dashed out to the supermarket and quickly bought some essentials for an evening meal and also the boys' lunchboxes for their return to school in the morning. The carbohydrates - bread mostly - were a big hit as we weaned ourselves off from a week of rice and noodles.

We didn't escape Bali entirely scot-free - despite being very careful not to consume water from the taps - danger points include salads, ice and even brushing your teeth - Jo and I did get a bit of "Bali belly" on the morning of our travel back to Oz and took some of Kelly's anti-diahorrea pills. Thankfully, there were no little accidents on the flight.

Wednesday was always going to be a slow day. We went to the store for some food top-ups, picked up books at the library for Kelly and the boys plus a parcel at the Post Office. That was more than enough for Jo - she was exhausted and has since spent most of the time sleeping. She seems a little brighter this morning and hopefully the worst is now past.

A few final Bali photos:

Jo at the main statue on the peninsula "island"

The other statue on the peninsula

Jo and me at the entrance to Nusa Gede peninsula

The daily housekeeping team always made an effort

I've now booked some shows etc for us at the Adelaide Fringe, which officially starts today, I think. It's a huge affair - 2nd only to Edinburgh in size, we're told. Our first event is this Saturday, down at Victor Harbor.

Although I posted some photos on WhatsApp, I made no mention in previous posts of my nasty fall when out on a short hike just a couple of days before our travel to Bali, partly because I'm still in recovery mode. Most of the external cuts and scrapes have now healed but my upper body is still very painful when I move. My neck, lower back and stomach muscles are still restricting movement. I suspect some of them are still in spasm.

My mind still goes over the event and I often shudder about what might have happened. I would love to go over the river again and repeat that particular walk - or any of the others - but, right now, I know it's best if I don't go out alone - and Jo's not able to accompany me.

The walk is one that I've done several times before - it's circular and this time I chose to do it clockwise, so the first bit of the walk isn't really hilly at all, but then you come to a bit of narrow dusty track, with the river down a steep slope to my left. There's then a bit where you have to drop elevation down to the river level and this is done via a series of natural, irregular height steps down a rock face. It's OK when walking anti-clockwise as you have to climb the steps but a little trickier when going down - especially with my joints. I decided to be safe (!) and go down the rock "ladder" backwards but when I stretched my left leg down to what I thought was a solid step, it slipped away from me and I was gone.

Somersaulting backwards, I tried to grab anything that would halt my fall and I did manage to grab a bush which slowed my momentum. Thankfully, the actual landing was fairly soft on thick marsh reeds and grasses, but, on the way down, I'd obviously hit a few of the solid rock "steps" which caused the cuts and bruises etc but at least my head escaped solid contact and I was conscious - sore and bewildered but otherwise OK. My new earbuds were lost in the marsh (one of which Chris subsequently recovered) and the water bottle was lost but I managed to recover my hat and stumbled back to Riverside Cottage.

Apologies for being long-winded but I felt I had to re-tell the tale - if only to remind myself of what I went through and as a warning not to do it again - at least not alone. My confidence has been shattered and I'm now very wary of losing my balance in even the most simple of downward steps.

Bali

It's now Saturday here in Bali - day 6 of our holiday. We arrived early Monday morning and leave early Tuesday morning next week. Before we came here, Jo and I paid our annual visit to the Cellar Door Festival in Adelaide. Kelly should have been with us but was at home recovering from her illness and praying that it wouldn't affect her travelling to Bali. Chris might have been a potential stand-in but he was a bit wary too, having a tickly throat. In the end Chris' brother Matt came along with us.

The Festival itself was fine but the Masterclass we chose was a little disappointing - a pairing of whisky and chocolates. There was a bit too much waffle from the presenters and we didn't think the pairings were great. The Australian whisky was a mere 2.5 years old - not even legal in the UK - and it seemed pretty raw. It's a lovely "classroom" with huge glass windows looking over the river to the Oval:

After this was over we wandered round the stalls, sampling a few of the wares on the way. The usual collection of wineries, segregated by region, but also a number of new distilleries exhibiting this year. Unfortunately for Matt, who's a bit of a whisky buff, only one of them had a whisky available. It was all white spirits - gin and vodka.

Did I tell you that we'd spent the previous Sunday down in Port Elliot with Chris and his Mum and Dad? We had a nice time visiting their new house in a retirement community, lunch and then a look round the record and book shops in Victor Harbor. I bought a couple of old vinyl albums - couldn't resist.

On to Bali - as I said, a very early start on Monday morning for the 5 hour flight and we were at our resort by mid-morning - too early for Kelly and Chris' large apartment to be ready but the single room for Jo and I was, so we were able to take all our bags in there and it allowed the boys to get in to their swimmers and jump in the pool just a few yards away.

We had a nice lunch at the lovely pool bar surrounded by the lazy river and later Kelly, Chris and the boys were able to get in to their room. Kelly, Jo and I took a short walk to the local supermarket. When you enter, the smell hits you. We couldn't make out what it was at the time but we now know it was coming from the fresh fruit counter, dominated by the pungent durian (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian). The odour is so strong that our resort has completely banned it - if you bring any on site, you are liable for a $250 fine!

The temperature in Bali is always around 30 C (86 F), day or night. It only ever seems to differ by a couple of degrees either way. It's humid, of course - tropical - so it feels even warmer. Plenty of rain - usually overnight - that's why everything looks so green and lush. The gardeners here must have a real hard time keeping the resort's extensive plants so pristine - everything grows so fast.

So far, we've spent a few days at the resort - it's hard to keep the boys away from the pool - but we had one day when we travelled up to Ubud by taxi - a distance of just 41 kms (25 miles) - which took us 2 hours negotiating our way through the busy narrow winding streets, with all human life surrounding us - fascinating for a while. You would not believe the number of scooters/mopeds on the road. Some of the riders are wearing helmets but many are not. We've seen families of 4, including babies, on one scooter; boys clearly not old enough, riding home from school, just to mention a few. Highway Code? Are you kidding? It seems at first as if it's just every man for himself but watch carefully, there is some kind of pecking order/rules in place.

Anyway, the two places we went to - the Monkey Jungle and the Rice Terraces - were really interesting and well worth the effort, although the two and a half hour drive back tested our patience somewhat as we hit rush hour in Denpasar. Here's a shot of the lovely Rice Terraces, taken just before the tropical rainstorm hit:

and here we all are at the Monkey Jungle:

That's our driver on the right - obviously receiving another lecture on Balinese culture from Jo!

Chris, Kelly and the boys took a cab to the water park yesterday but Jo and I stayed here. We shopped in the morning, swam to the pool bar for lunch, then took the shuttle bus to the beach:

We wandered through a couple of the huge beachfront hotels - especially the Grand  Hyatt, which is a massive upmarket complex. From there, we wandered round the Bali Collection, a fairly upmarket and spread out shopping complex. Then it was back to the resort to have cocktails with Chris for his birthday. Mine - basically a fancy G & T - came in a shiny copper mug:

This morning (Saturday) was the official start of the Chinese - or Lunar - New Year - the Year of the Dragon. We were treated to a morning show at our resort, with the dragons coming round to our door:

We were saddened to hear of the passing of Carole's Dad yesterday. Carole drove down and just got there in time. I think we only met Mike once but Gary really liked him and he'll of course be a miss to Carole and the rest of her family, including Luca.