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NUSA DUA THE FIRST TRIP
4th September 2004
[view photo gallery of the
trip here]
We all gathered at Eagleton Ridge on Friday 3rd of
September.
It was a pretty busy evening and as we arrived Belinda
filled out our paper work and receipted our money. It
was then that we found that Erin had left her passport
at home so her parents had to go home and get it. We
were going to go to bed very early but we did not get
to bed until about 9pm as we all waited for Erin's parents
to get back. It was hard to get to sleep as we were
all very excited.
Saturday 4th September 2004
We got up at 3am in the morning as we had to be at Mascot
Airport by 7am and had to all get dressed and get the
car packed with our luggage. We were all much quicker
than Belinda thought we would be and we were off by
3.45am. We all dozed on and off on the way down but
Vince had us at the Airport by 6.30am so we had plenty
of time to get organised. After our baggage and seats
were confirmed we headed for a restaurant for some breakfast.
We had hot ham & cheese croissants and coffees and
teas. We took photos of the mosaic frog at the airport
and then headed through the gates and waved good-bye
to Vince.
We were off to Bali. We had to wait in the boarding
lounge for about an hour and we wandered around the
Duty Free shops. We were sitting waiting for our flight
to be called when a steward came and personally escorted
us onto the plane before everyone else. We were very
surprised to have this escort. We were seated on the
plane first and we were in the middle of the plane.
When our plane stopped in Melbourne we were taken up
to the cockpit to meet the Pilot and Co Pilot who were
very nice and showed us the Flight Deck. There were
so many buttons, switches and lights. We had a great
trip over. We had lots to eat and we also saw 2 movies.
The first movie was called Suddenly 30 and the other
movie was called The Stepford Wives. They were both
pretty good.
When we arrived in Bali, we landed at the Airport in
Denpasar and made our way through to get our Visas and
then on through customs where our passports and baggage
were checked over. We were picked up at the Airport
by "Dewa" and his brother "Kadek "
who were our guide and drivers while we were in Bali.
Belinda already knew Dewa and was pleased to see him
already waiting for us. We loaded our baggage in the
buses and off we went to our resort.
We arrived at the Peninsula Beach Resort at Nusa Dua
on the eastern part of the Island around 4.30pm where
we booked in and got settled into our rooms. The resort
was beautiful. Erin's first impression was: At long
last we are here, it is awesome! Ruth's first impression
was: really good, very nice, excellent! Jeff's first
impression was: nice place, nice people! Doreen's first
impression was: this is wonderful and very beautiful!
Pauline was laughing and giggling and gave it the big
thumbs up! Helen's first impression was: lovely, great,
I need a swim and a drink!
We got part unpacked and we all hit the pool. We swam
for a while before we changed for dinner and headed
out to the Golden Beach restaurant for dinner. We had
fresh Tuna Steaks, Curried Prawns and Nasi Goreng which
is a rice dish with vegetables and satay sticks. The
meals were fantastic. We were all pretty tired after
our meal and after a short time chatting with others
at the restaurant and the Balinese waiters and waitresses
we all headed off to bed. We were all asleep in record
time!
Sunday 5th September 2004
We were all awake fairly early and we headed out to
breakfast at the Golden Beach again. The restaurant
is right beside the beach in the resort and is surrounded
by the pool area and the beach. We had a buffet breakfast
with cereal, toast, eggs, bacon, baked beans, tomato,
bacon, nasi goreng and fruit. It was delicious. We all
ate a very hearty breakfast.
Dewa picked us up from the resort and we headed off
to the Anika Spa for massages, nails, hair braiding
and a day of being a bit spoilt. Erin had long hair
extensions put in, so did Belinda. Ruth had her nails
painted and some nail art done to her nails. Pauline
also had her nails painted and decorated. Jeff had a
massage, Doreen had her nails done also. Dewa took Doreen,
Jeff, Pauline and Ruth to do some shopping while Erin
and Belinda's hair was finished. Doreen was measured
up for a leather coat which she wanted to get made for
her. Jeff bought some DVD's and a shirt and they all
went out for lunch.
When we arrived back at the resort we all got changed
and headed for the pool. It was very refreshing. We
got changed and headed back to the Golden Beach for
dinner where we had a welcome Bar-b-que with all the
other guests. It was very nice and the people were very
friendly. We were made very welcome by a Balinese man
called "Sunny" who was working there. We all
crashed about 9pm and slept like logs again.
Monday 6th September 2004
We were up and at it fairly early on Monday as we had
a very full day ahead of us.
Dewa and his brother picked us up and we headed off
to the Bali Zoo. It was fantastic. We had photos taken
with a Balinese lady and Doreen and Jeff had the photo
put onto a plate and also into a key ring. Ruth and
Pauline also got their photo taken and put onto a key
ring too. We saw many animals and birds. We patted monkeys
and orangutans, held reticulated pythons and iguanas,
held and patted guinea pigs, smooched with palm cockatoos
and hornbills. We saw a man who hand paints eggs and
we bought some to bring home. They were very beautiful
eggs. He paints eggs from ducks (takes 2 days to paint),
Goose eggs ( 1 week to paint) and Cassowary eggs which
take 2 weeks to paint. We were at the zoo for 2 and
a half hours. When we left we went to a silver shop
where we were shown the process of making silver jewellery.
Helen bought some silver pieces for her family. We then
headed off for lunch at a restaurant in the mountains
to a place called Ubud. Here there were many artists
and woodcarvers. We had lunch and then headed of to
the Ubud markets where we shopped till we dropped! There
were so many things to see and buy that it was very
hard to make any decisions about what to buy. We were
lucky to have Dewa as he would do most of the bartering
and get us the best price possible. It was great fun
but very hectic.
Erin bought a bag and some wrap around pants, Doreen
bought a bag, some sarongs, Ruth and Pauline bought
themselves some sunglasses. Ruth, Erin, Jeff, Doreen
and Helen all bought some great kites. We were all exhausted
and headed back to the resort. When we got back we headed
down to dinner where we had cocktails and another fantastic
dinner. Again we were all in bed by 8.30pm.
Tuesday 7th September 2004
Today we had an early start again. We were picked up
at the resort at 7.45am on the dot. We were off on a
boat trip to Lombogan Island about 25kms from Bali.
We had a great trip over to the Island on a huge yellow
catamaran cruiser called Smiles Ahead, Bounty Cruises.
Dewa met us at the boat and made sure we were all settled
and had the best service for the day. We had a group
photo taken with 2 Balinese ladies in traditional dress
before we got on the boat. We were seated on the middle
deck and then served a very nice light breakfast of
pastries and croissants with tea, coffee and juices.
We headed off from the dock about 9am to Lombogan Island.
The trip over was great but it did get a bit roley poley
at times with the swell from the ocean but it was not
bad where we were sitting. Out on the deck it was a
bit too rough for us. When we got to the Island we got
off onto a huge pontoon which had changing rooms, waterslides
and deck areas. We then transferred onto smaller boats
to go on to the Island itself. Dewa had introduced us
to a lovely man called Depak who helped us constantly
with transfers and fussed over us. When we landed on
the Island we were escorted up to the resting area which
was lovely. We were given drinks and had a rest before
we headed out to have a tour of the seaweed farming
areas and go canoeing in the mangroves. We all got into
a Bimo - an open van with bench seats down each side
- and headed off on the 3km trek to the seaweed farming
area. We could have ridden pushbikes but we decided
this would be too hard for us all as the roads were
very rough and bumpy and we are not pushbike riders.
It was very interesting to see the plots of seaweed
farms and we were shown the 3 different types of seaweed
that the Lombogan's farmed. The seaweed is exported
to America and Japan for health foods, cosmetics and
"Ice cream". The seaweed farming is the only
form of income for the Islanders apart from the tourists
and they have to farm 4kgs of seaweed to buy 1kg of
rice for their families. Everything on the Island is
imported from Bali even their water. After we saw the
seaweed farming we headed over to the mangroves and
we all loaded into a couple of canoes and headed off.
We had a local Loboganese on each canoe who used a long
piece of bamboo to push the canoe along. Pauline, Helen
and Belinda all went in one canoe and Belinda screamed
a lot as they were not very well balanced and the canoe
came close to tipping them out quite a few times. It
was a very funny experience. When we got back to the
resting area we were served a magnificent seafood bar-b-que
and salads with fresh fruits and cold drinks and then
Ruth, Erin and Belinda headed off to go snorkelling
and Helen, Pauline, Jeff and Doreen went in the glass
bottom boat to see the coral and the tropical fish.
The glass bottom boat was great but the coral was not
as colourful as they expected but the fish were very
colourful. When we were snorkelling the fish were fantastic
but the water was a lot colder than we thought it would
be. It was too cold for Ruth but Erin and Belinda spent
20min snorkelling around the reef and Ruth watched through
the glass bottom of the boat. When we were talking to
Depak about the coral he said that the colour of the
coral is dependant on the amount of sunlight in the
area at the time, the more sun the more colour. The
size and shape of the coral was fantastic to see. After
the snorkelling and boating we again gathered for light
refreshments before boarding back onto the boats for
transfer back to the ship then back to Bali. Again we
were fed on the cruiser with light refreshments on the
return trip. We arrived back on Bali around 4pm then
headed back to the resort for showers and dinner. Tonight
we went to the Sports Bar for dinner where we arrived
in time for Happy Hour and indulged ourselves with cocktails
and another wonderful meal. We were again in bed around
8.30pm as a day on the water and cocktails tired us
out completely.
Wednesday 8th September 2004
Today was a bit of a rest day. Pauline, Ruth, Helen
and Doreen all decided that they wanted their hair braided
as well so off they headed to Anika Spa to have their
hair done and their nails touched up. They were gone
all day. Jeff, Erin and Belinda had a bit of a quiet
one and lay around the pool for an hour and a half before
heading off to the sports bar for lunch. We then went
for a wander down the street where we got our films
developed and Erin bought a sarong and Belinda a pair
of wrap around pants. We then headed back to the resort
as Erin and Jeff were both booked in for a massage in
the resort pool gardens by the beach. We had to wait
for the others to get back and then we headed out to
dinner again! After dinner Helen and Doreen had a massage
too. Again all crashed early as we have another big
day tomorrow.
Thursday 9th September 2004
Today we were up and at it early as we were booked to
go Elephant riding. We had a good hearty breakfast by
the beach and Dewa and Kadek picked us all up about
9am and we headed off to Bakur. We travelled through
some great countryside where we saw the Balinese families
tending to their paddy fields. They do all the work
by hand and all the family help to harvest the rice
and then beat the rice grains out of the stalks. They
work very hard to feed themselves. When we arrived at
Bakur, we were greeted by the sight of jungle and Elephants
with their mahouts waiting to take us exploring. The
Elephants were very large but also very gentle. We each
had our own Elephant to ride and we had to climb on
them from a platform. We sat in seats on the back of
the Elephants and we had to wear seat belts for safety.
The mahouts were all very happy fellows and they took
us down through the jungle and along tracks that had
been made by the mahouts and the elephants. We saw where
the elephants slept and they told us that each elephant
eats 300 kilos of food every day. The elephants did
lots of tricks including soccer, basketball, painting,
playing harmonica and swimming. They also did some tricks
sitting and standing on drums. When we got back to the
mounting area we fed the elephants watermelon and patted
them. We patted them all over and had a lot of fun with
them. After we dragged ourselves away from them we were
presented with a delightful Balinese lunch and refreshments.
By the time we left we were all feeling pretty good.
We then headed off to Seminyak where we hit the shops!
Boy! Did we shop till we dropped. We walked all the
way to Kuta and along the way we bought lots of things.
The shopping was really good and we had to barter for
good prices. We finally stopped at Gracey's bar and
had a rest while we waited for Kadek to pick us up.
We then headed of to Jimbaran Bay where we had a wonderful
seafood feast on the beach. We had fresh king prawns,
calamari, snapper and rice and salads. We ate ourselves
silly. We then had fresh fruit salad and fruit juice.
We could hardly move after eating so much! We headed
home around 10pm. We were all exhausted when we got
home.
Friday 10th September 2004
Today we hit the road at 10am and headed into Denpasar
which is the capital of Bali. It is a very busy city.
We went to a bead shop with Belinda and then while she
was shopping for beads we all went off to lunch. We
had McDonalds for lunch. It was different from home.
Some of the McDonalds lunch had rice instead of chips.
We all had a cheeseburger hit. When Belinda picked us
up again we headed off to Uluwatu to go to see the Balinese
temple and the Monkey dance which is a traditional Balinese
dance. It was a very beautiful spot. The temple was
set on the very edge of a cliff and there were heaps
of monkeys around. Erin had her glasses pinched by a
monkey and a Balinese who tended the monkeys had to
go down the cliff face with a treat for the monkey to
get them back. It was funny to watch the monkeys scampering
around the cliffside. We walked on up to where the monkey
dance was to be held and we were all seated around the
dance platform. There was no music but the beat was
made up by the Balinese chanting. The dancers were very
interesting and it was very exciting to watch. Belinda
took photos of us with the characters from the dance.
Their costumes were very elaborate and very different
from anything we have ever seen before. The dance ended
at 7.30pm and we all went back to the seafood beach
restaurant again and tonight we have invited Dewa, Kadek
and their families to join us as they have been such
fantastic guides and have looked after us so very well.
There were 14 of us for dinner that night and we had
a fantastic night. The food was fantastic again and
Jeff was singing with the band and also playing the
guitar with them. All the people at the beach cheered
Jeff and we had a dance with him and the band. We took
lots of photos and had a great time. We again got home
late and crashed. We have a big day again tomorrow and
we have to pack ,ready to go home.
Saturday 11th September 2004
We were all a bit flat this morning. It was sad to have
to pack up and move out. We had made many friends at
the resort and we had to say our goodbyes. We had breakfast
at the beach restaurant and then finished off the packing.
We were picked up at 11am and headed out to the Bali
Bird Park for the day. The birds were wonderful. Erin
thought the bird park would be really boring but once
she got there she realised that it was very different
to other bird parks. We were able to hold and pat many
different exotic bird like Macaws, hornbills, palm cockatoos
and others. We saw heaps of different birds and walked
around all the different flight averies. Some of them
had walkways right up into the air. We had lunch at
the park and stayed there until about 3pm when we headed
back to Denpasar to the airport. We arrived at the airport
at about 4.30pm and checked in. We were a little early
so we had to wait until check in time when it was announced
that our flight had been delayed 6 hours as the flight
from Australia had been held up and not arrived in Bali
yet. We were taken up to the VIP lounge where we were
well fed and had access to the observation deck. We
had dinner and then we went down to the duty free shops
and did some more shopping!. We finally boarded our
plane at 1am and headed back to Australia. We caught
the Happy Cabbie bus back to Eagleton Ridge where we
unpacked and sorted all our stuff out and then we all
headed home. Everyone was really tired. It had been
a very busy and exciting week.
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