Big Silver bird to Bali - 17th June

The next leg of our trip finds us in the Bali Patra Holiday Resort just outside of Kuta (our holiday within a holiday!).

See photo - Birds are ready to fly.

We left the racetrack and headed for the Airport to check in, found our way to the duty free and got pole position to board the aircraft. On board Aiden sat with his nose stuck to the window while Riley sat by the isle across from Dad for our 2 1/2 hour flight, eyes glued to the laptop for all but the take-off and landing ( which he loved ). Aiden spent the entire time looking out the window which made for good conversations about everything from clouds, us being above them to the flight controls and what they did! When leaving Darwin via passport control Aiden & Riley decided to inform the passport officer of his full name including his middle name and how old they were, where they were going, etc etc etc ........hehehehe!

We finally arrived in Bali and the boys needed the little boys room so off to the toilet with Bell they went, inside they quizzed her as to why some of the toilets are holes n the ground!! they also thought the other toilet had a shower in it! The lady in the cubical next to us laughed, I had no idea how to explain except all I could say is don't touch anything !!...don't touch anything !!.... I must have sounded like a neurotic mother but Bali Belly on the first day wouldn't have been a holiday!

See photo - Boys on a main road in Kuta.

Our first morning found us overwhelmed by the range of food available at the buffet breakfast (caravan brekkie is Wheat Bix.......and nothing else!) , but the one thing the boys had their eye on from across the room was the Chocolate milk! We caught the shuttle into Kuta at 10am and walked a little until we found good old Matahari's Shopping Centre, this was the better way to shop with the kids, when the locals approached us with the kids, the boys were interested in what they had to say which as you can imagine made it hard to .....escape.... After we let the boys choose a toy for the holiday, bought them a few clothes and some refreshments we headed back to the hotel to relax by the pool..... as you do in Bali!

We then went out for a lovely dinner at the Green Garden restaurant around the corner, while we were there the manager spied the boys and their blond hair.......she was around in a flash to say hello and just couldn't stop touching Aden's hair and giving him a kiss on his blond hair when she left. Just after dusk we  sat on the beach and watched the aircraft take=off and land from the nearby airport.   Next day, after an 8am start and a swim in the pool (it was Sunday after all), the boys decided they wanted to go into the Kids Club so we thought we would make the most of this by walking into Kuta to do some shopping. It was pretty successful, except when we picked up the kids the boys said they did not do half of what was on the program and were a bit disappointed, but they did make some new friends which made them happy. We then spent the rest of the afternoon by ...yes....the pool relaxing as our two little blond fish swam for the entire afternoon.....BLISS!

The hotel is pretty good, just the usual maintenance requests for broken door, door handle and toilet, but apart from that the boys thought it was pretty cool how the room boy tidy’s up their beds even better than they do.....  puts the teddy’s on the bed and even lines up all their cars on the bed side tables.

One of the many things to
do at Water Bomb Park 

 Today (Monday ) we went to Water Bomb park. A huge day and the boys just kept on going, thank goodness there was some slides they could go on without us and we could just sit and watch them for a bit. Chris went on the Climax, which drops you straight down a chute free falling for about 2 meters and then spiral to the end 50 meters later! We managed to spend the entire day there and on the way home stopped for dinner and drinks just outside the hotel. Even with some late nights for the boys, they seem to be OK … Aiden slept in until 8am this morning!


The boys are just loving the walks along the beach footpath to head out for dinner, we are meeting so many lovely people including a couple from Byron Bay, who have offered us to come and park up on their property, they are great value and we hope to do so on their 30+ acres just off the coast!. The boys are really good at their two words of Indonesian ‘terima kasih’ (Thank you) & ‘suma suma’ (your welcome), they do it really well and the locals love it.

See photo - Bali Bird Park - Family photo.

Tuesday we went to the Bali Bird and Reptile Park, and yes you guessed it another place they loved!. The boys got to hold Parrots,  Macaws and even an Iguana for something different. Bell managed to get picked out from the crowd to feed some Hawks from her head, yes head!, (they put food in her hair and they would fly past and pick it off her mid flight!

See photo - Eagle Owl with Riley.

Wednesday we managed to do some shopping today as the boys wanted to go into Kids club again! with a new friend they have met, so we made the most of it by going into town. I bought 6 pairs of shoes for $65, really nice ones from Mataharis and I can’t believe they all fit me so nice, I was a bit overwhelmed (so many to choose from) the other day when we went into town with the boys looking around, but soon got into it today. I also have bought two pairs of bathers for $18 each and a couple dresses. I think if I was here for another week I could really get into shopping, but you know me I hate shopping at home! and we don't have any more room in the caravan!

See photo - View on way home.

Thursday the boys and Bell headed to the Safari Park to feed the elephants. Chris is having a man day as he's not fussed about another tour and also it is so expensive to do all the tour places as a family ( children under 5 are not free here like at home!! ) Safari park was great, Bell and the boys boarded the bus at the Dynasty Resort and made way to the park a long drive (with even a longer one home as we got stuck in traffic). It was a brilliant place once you eventually got in, even though we left at 9am, we did not actually get in until 11.20am! But at least we got to catch the elephant education show at 11.30am which the boys then got to touch an elephant and have a photo after. With so many things to do you will see by the photos how many exciting up close views and encounters with animals they had. The excitement of the Safari drive was brilliant as one animal after another just looked at us with no care in the world of our presence. The highlights included feeding elephants, a cuddle with a baby Orangatang, the water log ride and of course just having so much to see .... as you will see the boys fell asleep in the bus (we were jammed in the front).

With Friday being our last full day,  we nipped into town to pick up some canvas prints we have ordered, get some shoes for the boys then go back to the hotel and relax by the pool until 4pm before we need to head to the airport (this late flight will be fun as we don’t get in until 11pm.)

The flight home found us leaving at dinner time, so we headed to a nice restaurant (Chris didn't have anything as he was still recovering from the last day or so with the dreaded 'Bali Belly'). Avatar was on the big screen TV and we had fun trying to explain it to the boys, in the end I took them for a walk and left Chris to relax as it just got to hard (thank goodness there was no sound!)

See photo - Last sunset at Bali for the Somers.

Of course once again the boys were excited about going on the plane, we got settled on a half full flight (yay!) and enjoyed the lights of Bali as we took to the sky. After a light snack and a drop of phenergan to help relax the boys, the little  angles were both fast asleep. As we landed the boys half woke up crying, and all they wanted was to go back to sleep and stop their ears from hurting. We eventually got of the plane through customs we collected our car that Uncle Glenn had driven to the airport for us and got home at midnight! The boys could not be happier than  to climb into their beds and go to sleep...... neither could we!

 

See photo - Pool at Patra Bali.

We spent Saturday and Sunday relaxing with family, catching up with some food shopping, home cook meals at Tracey's and Aunt Robins, and of course the kids being spoilt by Aunt Robin ) . It was a lovely way to get back into "Travel around Australia" mode for our next adventure across the top of end of Australia to Cairns.

 

As for Bali, it was a great experience for the boys to realise just what a beautiful clean country we live in................on that note here is our latest video!