Day 7, Tue 22nd Nov
For those unfamiliar with my family, we are:
Me/Dad/Pete (42)
Mum/Wife/Julie (36)
Jamie (9...boy)
Ky (5...boy)
Tara (5...girl) yes, twins.
This was our first real trip to Bali.
My photos are now uploaded; you can view them at:
http://community.web shots.com/user/bigpete3941
just remove the gap between ‘web' and ‘shots'.
Today the kids all had a massive sleep-in... till 6:30 am! LOL
As usual, Julie headed to the gym, and the kids played and watched the ‘Spongebob Squarepants' movie until Mum came back at 7:30 am.
Got ourselves ready, amid the usual arguments and carry on (it would be so different holidaying without kids! Maybe not better or worse, but SOOOO different!), and got to the breakfast buffet by 8:10 am. We needed to be quick this morning, because a day or two ago, we booked an Elephant park visit to Taro today (through the people at the Dynasty...family ticket was 1,800,000 rp - about $250 AUS. This price included all hotel transfers, elephant ride for all of us, buffet lunch and a show. May seem expensive, and was in fact the most costly thing we did on our trip, but we'd do it again; it was well worth it.)
Had our brekky done by 8:45 am, when the minibus arrived to pick us up. Altogerther there were 11 of us going on the trip; only us from the Dynasty, but others from Bali Hai and (I think) Bali Gardens.
We were all very excited, I was especially interested in seeing another part of Bali, apart from the Tuban-Kuta strip (don't think the kids cared so much about that.)
It was quite a long, windy trip, and I was surprised how long the ‘suburbs' continued. Seemed to be endless. In Melbourne, if we'd driven thaty long, most times we'd be out in the rural areas. But I guess it's such a small island, even the ‘rural' areas are quite heavily populated. Ky got a little car sick, and had a lie down on Julie's lap (no seat belt issues here!); a few lollypops helped the last 20 mins pass a bit quicker.
When we arrived, we got through the gates pretty quickly, and we were taken straight for our ride. Julie got on first, with Ky and Tara, and I hopped on the next elephant with Jamie. They also loaded on a giant golf-type umbrella; it wasn't raining, but I guess they knew something we didn't!
We really enjoyed the ride. It is not something you can do every day, especially here in Australia, which is why we were prepared to spend the big bucks on it. We were surprised (I don't know why... it makes sense really!) about how bumpy the ride was. I was a bit disappointed that our elephant ‘pilot' didn't have great English; I tried to ask him a few questions along the way, and he was friendly enough, but rally struggled to keep a conversation. So after a whie, we sort of gave up, and I just chatted to Jamie.
About ½ way along, they stop for a photo shoot. They take your cameras and get photos for you, and they lined up our two beasts with us on top so we could get some shots of all of us together. Very accommodating. The ride continued, along made tracks, and past some roads, villages and markets. All up, the ride was about 45 mins, and yes, it did start raining about half way along. It got quite heavy, and we were happy to have the umbrellas.
The last part of the ride involves going into a wading pol, where you can get more photos. No, you don't get wet, but you do go in quite deep. The kids absolutely had a ball. After the ride, we hopped off and went around to feed and pat the elephants. They had giant barrels of ??? Sugar cane? Bamboo? Should have asked, but didn't. Looked like bamboo-ey kind of stuff. Whatever it was, the elephants loved it, They very gently took it out of your hand with their trunks, and crunched it up happily. They also put a lei (spelling?) around our necks with their trunks. Neat party trick! And made for some good pics.
We were just about to head into the restaurant for lunch, when they announced that the show was about to start. It begins with a little explanation about the park and the elephants, followed by the elephants doing their ‘thang'... balancing on the pole, carrying one of the guys in their trunks, slam-dunking a basketball. All the usual things they would be doing in the wild. (...) The show lasted about 15 mins, concluding with a lovely spray of water from one of the elephants' trunks, pretty much all over Ky (and the video camera! Yes, it was rolling!). He laughed, which was a better reaction than the bursting into tears which could have happened.
We were ready for lunch, which was a lovely buffet, with many western and Indonesian choices. The ambience of the place was spectacular; an open-air restaurant overlooking the wading pond and feeding area. The only thing we had to pay for was our drinks; we had 2 x diet coke cans (13,000 each), 1 x small bintang (15,000) 1 bottle of fanta (10,000) and one bottle of water (8,000) all up, 59,000 rp (about $8 AUS) Yes, I do have the bill in front of me!
After our lunch, we had a chance to look in the gift shop, the museum (interesting) and around the grounds. We left when all of us were ready, so didn't feel rushed at all.
The trip back felt longer than the trip up, (isn't that always the way?) but finally arrived ‘home' at about 3:30, exactly the time they said they'd have us back. A very professional outfit, and can't speak highly enough of the day. Well worth the huge amount it costs. I can't speak for the other two elephant parks in Bali, but this one was sensational, and it was something the kids (and us grownups) will remember fondly for many many years.
Once we got back, we sat in our room for half an hour or so, then headed to the pool. (about 4 pm... grrrr.. not happy hour yet!! Ummm ,, to wait, or to pay the huge prices??? Toughest decision of the holiday!!) Swam with the kids, and treid to sort out a ‘dispute' over pool rings. We discovered you could go much faster down the water slide if you went on an inflatable ring. Trouble was.. one ring, three kids. We tried to explain that you have a trun each, then pass it on. You would think that was simple enough. Parents out there know what I am talking about. 'I slipped off so it doesn't count!' ' He had two turns ion a row!' 'It's not fair!!!' SOMEONE GET ME THAT BINTANG !!!!
After all this fun, we got ready and went back to Febris for dinner again. Again it was lovely, and for those interested, I have a breakdown of the bill:
1 bintang (large) 18,000
1 mixed juice 9,000
2 strawb juice 20,000
1 strawb shake 18,000
1 diet coke 8,000
2 choc shakes 36,000
1 fish and chips 24,000
1 fettucini napoli 20,000
1 chicken satay 28,000
1 fried rice 18,000
3 icecreams 24,000
total 247,000
tax 24,700
‘grand' total 271,700
You can see from this breakdown that (without adding it up),we spend about as much on drinks as on food. Also, it is easy to see how it all adds up to such a ‘large' total. Really, though, the overall cost is about $36 AUS, and as I've mentioned before, we couldn't eat out in Melbourne like this for anywhere near this price.
After dinner, it was straight back home for bad for the kids, by 8:00 pm. (It had been a busy day, and they were wiped.)
Julie and I went out to ‘mosquito heaven' for 20 mins, then inside for a quick shower, and watched rubbish on TV until we fell asleep at 10:30 pm (another raging night in the bigpete household!! We're such party pigs!)
Tomorrow: Kids club, shopping, more fun at the money changers and Bubba Gumps for dinner
By the way, for those wondering; it was an 11 day trip; so there a still a few more to go.
Thanks for reading!
Cheers!