Vicki, Jenn, Rob......and Jack?!

Get comfy folks, this is going to be a pretty long update!!

Jenn and I moved out of Kuta and into Watering Hole 2 in Sanur - really lovely place - slightly more luxurious than we have been used to but we thought it best to break Rob in gently (when we say 'luxurious' we mean it has windows and no bedbugs!!)

Jenn jumped into a taxi to collect Rob (and I literally mean jumped - she was so excited!!) and eventually met me on the beach......3 hours later (note to everybody...its only a 30 minute ride to the airport....say no more!!)

Rob's first experience of a 'backpacker's meal' - a 5* restaurant (it would be classed as such in the UK - but out here, its just one of many places struggling to attract business - we were the only 3 people in there and our entire meal plus drinks worked out at about 4 quid per head!!) Then after 35 hours on the go, it was time for an early night....that was their excuse anyway!

Waterbom!!! Yay!! To say that we all regressed to childhood for a day would be an understatement! Spent hours throwing ourselves down some pretty kick-ass slides (on several occasions, only just managing to keep swimming stuff on!)

Vicki's padding was all over the shot, lucky it made it to the end of the day!!!!!

Yes...thanks for that - sure everyone needed to know.

Orchid Garden - don't even bother!

That evening, over dinner, we were treated to some traditional Balinese dancing - pictures will follow asap but we cajoled Rob into striking a dam fine pose with the lovely ladies!

Up early to get to the 'pier' (not a pier at all - just a wade out to whichever boat you were getting on) and caught the boat with all the locals over to Lembongan - a neighbouring island about 90 mins from Bali. The locals were lovely but we had the unfortunate experience of meeting 2 Swedish travellers who managed to severely rattle my cage when the guy referred to me as 'the third wheel!' None of us were impressed and so it seemed only fair that we arrived at our preferred accomodation (and theirs too) and stole "their" room from right under their noses!! HA HA!!

We stayed at Bungalow No 7 as recommended to us by Mark and Jane. Right on the beach front, overlooking seaweed plantations (the local trade) and a spectacualr view point for sunsets.

Parents...look away now!!!  We went on a great tour of the island with 3 of the local lads (Ricky, Frankie and Malbrough)......on the back of their motorbikes. Just to give you an idea of the size of Lembongan - an action packed tour (he he) with stops and visits to the local 'points of interest' (including a boat trip around the mangroves, the village, a bridge suitable for motorbikes only that acts as a connection to Cenningan (sp??), Underground House and Dream Beach) only took us an hour and a half!!! It was a good laugh. Malbrough and Ricky enjoyed stepping up the pace a little for Jenn and Rob by 'racing' on the way home. Frankie, on the other hand, was a) struggling to master gear changes and b) trying desperately to show me 'alternative sights!'

Which stupid person suggested beer at 4pm that afternoon?

I am probably not the best person to be writing about that night.....Rob I do not take much encouragement...if the drinks keep coming, I keep drinking....and it turns out that so do you!! Lethal combination!

(Jenn) Time for me to take over for a while!! Now where to start... the 19 JD's and Coke or the endless number of cockails and other assorted drinks! I sensibly gave up on drinking at about 10PM (most of you know i'm not much of a drinker but i did my best :) ) Vicki and Rob on the other hand eventually left the bar (after the barman i m ust add!!) at 2AM leathered to the eye balls, slurring, stumbling and just generally ratted!

The next morning whilst ordering breakfast (for myself as the others where still comatozed) I discovered the bar tab...... 1000,000 Rp!!!! (about 65 pounds) Doesn't sounds a huge amount for a night out in the UK but over here that would have been 2 weeks accomadation for all of us and food!!!! Good work guys!

Needless to say I was my helpful self and ordered them both breakfast to get over their hangovers HA HA!!

(Vicki) Me again. Yes...lovely Jenn...I felt like I had been repeatedly beaten over the head with a very large shovel and Rob, I have to say, looked worse! It's a good job we were in an equal state of delirium as I think we had a pretty good heart to heart, and if either of us could remember anything, we have maintained the usual British etiquette of pretending it never happened!!

Needless to say, the rest of that day was a write off and our excursion to Dream Beach was postponed ...sorry Jenn!!

The next day, the 3 of us (along with 2 newly regenerated livers) made it to Dream Beach - a beautiful, secluded bay where we spent the afternoon chilling on the beach and playing in the sea. We watched the (pretty poor) sunset from the roof top restaurant before being picked up by Ricky and co.

(Jenn) The next day Rob and took a boat with a local fisherman around the island where we stopped in  several places to do some snorkelling. Althought the water was cold (9am start) and the current was really strong we had a great time seeing some really nice sights!!

(Vicki) We decided to hire bicycles (yet another brilliant idea! - this island isn't exactly the Somerset Levels!) Rob (not overly enthused by the concept of cycling) was easily persuaded to take a 20 min lesson with Ricky, which apparently then qualified him to ride a moped - boys and their toys!! We aren't completely sure how we made it all in one piece (you think my reputation with 4 wheels is bad - try 2 and no sense of direction!) but we got to Mushroom Beach unscathed. It was nice but the more touristy part of the island where holiday makers were shipped in and out from the local cruisers in something which resembled a tuna can.

We left Lembongan early the next morning after a quick stroll along the street to see the decorations and traditional dress - it was their equivalent of Christmas Day.

We docked in Sanur and caught a Bemo to Kuta - a pretty hair raising experience (although highly amusing) when the driver of another Bemo tried to run us off the road because our driver had "stolen" us! It was hand bags at dawn and they had to be seperated by a passing taxi driver! (Just shows how desperate everyone is for trade.)

We found accomodation in Poppies Lane 1 at a place called Mimpi's Bungalows. Nice individual bungalows, friendly service and not-so-friendly mozzies!

The next few days flew by with plenty of shopping, swimming and body boarding (Jenn was sickeningly good!!)

For our 'last supper' (after a false start) we went to a local Italian restaurant highly recommended by Rob and Jenn as they had had a great meal there the night before. It was a dam good feed and Jenn had a whole lobster (another 'to do' we can tick off the list!!) Rob and I also had equally yummy dishes and the in-house entertainment was 1st class!?!  Thank you Rob!!

After a sad farewell and  as an attempt to keep Jenn occupied, we went for a surf lesson! We (eventually) mastered the basics and had great fun learning.

Next stop...Oz!! Harold...here we come!