Bali Arrivals

Monday morning the 18th and despite the all day Brunch the day before, we were all up surprisingly early. The kids were in the pool having a swim when Ron, Lee and I took off to the gym for our next power plate session. I haven't mentioned that Ron & Lee have brought a car and Ron drives over here. He's very good at it despite the odd, as Jack puts it, "white knuckle moment."

The trip to the gym was quicker than usual, the traffic was very light for a Monday morning - another thing about Bali is that you can just never predict the traffic because the rules are, "there are NO rules," so you could easily get caught in a traffic jam simply because a truck decided to park on the side of a narrow road and no one can pass... that said, Monday was a good run.

When we got to the gym it was straight into it... I felt grateful for only drinking water the day before
and was even more grateful for the water, when my fitness instructor decided he'd turn the vibrations up and make the session a tough one.
I walked out feeling like a snow dome after being shaken around for an hour but again it was a great work out.
Ron on the other hand looked like he could have done without the session.
Ron & Lee then dropped me off to have a massage but not before a white knuckle moment when a scooter pulled out in front of us. How we didn't hit him is one of life's miracles... anyway, needless to say I was ready for that massage.

An hour with Putu, the masseuse/healer and I was back to normal. Putu was highly recommended by Aunty Betty who had been to Bali a month earlier and had been to visit him.
Before I went to Putu I had a terrible bout of vertigo... After my first session with him I felt better and after the third massage, I felt like a new woman... 21 again!!! Not about to turn 40 (haha - I wish)

From Putu, I met Richard the kids, Ron, Lee, Uncle Barry and Aunty Jac at Naughty Nuri's. They have the best pork ribs and margarita's in town. Jack felt very comfortable with his nut allergy when the waitress took him under her wing and walked him through the kitchen to show him how his meal would be cooked separately....everyone happy - we ate until we could eat no more.

After rolling out of Naughty Nuri's I made a comment to Aunty Jacqui that she should get on the scooter with Richard, it was a joke!! She had earlier declared she would never get on one... but she agreed and well the verdict, she was hooked!

A not so sure Aunty Jac on the bike with Richard

Off they go

We met Richard and Auncty Jac at the Canggu Club, a Club for ex-pats, and had a couple of espresso martini's while the kids had a swim then it was straight to Potato Head to catch up with our good friend Springer.
Many of you may know Springer, he was our personal trainer when we lived in Perth and saved Ron's life once by rushing him to the hospital when he had a heart attack... he's a lovely fella and it was nice to catch up with him and to finally meet his new girlfriend Melanie.

Sonia, Melanie & Springer

We had to leave Potato Head by 7 because we'd promised the kids we'd get them home to watch the final of The Voice by 7:30 and Springer was meeting people out for dinner.
So after a couple hours of catching up we left and headed back to Villa Hai... much to the kids disappointment they couldn't see the Voice on line but the first word I heard the next morning was Karise... they had googled it the minute they woke up.

Tuesday morning the 19th of June, we packed up and Ron took us to Blue Karma Villas in Seminyak, where we will be staying for the next 9 days... we were shown into our Villa Coconut and it blew us away... it is so beautiful.

The beautiful welcoming staff at Blue Karma

Nina dances with excitement when she sees her bedroom

One of the lounge rooms

Our private pool

Welcome drinks

Richard and I with welcome drinks

The kids have their own room and Richard and I our own storey, it's a long way from the caravan... I am wondering how I'll be able to go back.
We settled in and then went to the airport to welcome our friends from Victoria The Cheney's.
You may recall we spent lots of time with Shayne, Megan and the girls at their beach house in Metung. Well, on one of the nights around the campfire... they decided they would come to Bali too. Being their first trip out of the country we thought we should be there to meet and greet them and to try to buffer the culture shock... the kids were excited to be seeing the Cheney girls again and Nina of course brought along her welcome to Bali sign.

The kids wait for The Cheney's to arrive

Big hugs for the Cheney chicks

The kids cool down in the Blue Karma pool

After settling the Cheney's into their beautiful Villa, not far from us, we then went back to Blue Karma where before long Leon (my brother) and his boys Phillip and Alessandro and my cousin Melissa arrived.

Leon and Melissa with their welcome drinks

Hugs for my nephews Phillip & Alessandro

So nice to see my beautiful Meliss

It was late by then and we were meeting everyone out for dinner at Cocoon, on the beach, so we literally said our hello's put bags in rooms and off we went for dinner.
It was a lovely night - but before long the weary travellers were all fading, so by 10pm everyone was tucked up in bed.