Fourteen days in Paradise
OK here we go. I'm not going to give a day by day, hour by hour report, just a few of the adventures & some observations during the 2 weeks. Flew out of Sydney on 1 September on the Garuda bird direct, none of this 'via' stuff for this little black duck. We were running a bit late & I had visions of the nightmare in June when it took 3 hours to get out of the airport. Not too bad, about an hour & I was sitting at the bar at the Indo-National sampling the first real Bintang. The 2 on the plane don't count as they were cans. The main reason for this trip was to go to a couple of birthday parties & there was already a huge crew for Kerry Turner's night in a week's time. After a couple I slung my bags across my shoulder & wandered down the street, with high 5's & 'you back ‘gen' from some local mates, to check in at Suriwathi. Ran into 'S&S No. 2', Sharon & Sharon, as they are staying at the Suri as well. Had a couple more beers at a few places, just saying hello to the usual suspects then off to bed as tomorrow was going to be a big one.
I was still on Sydney time so I was wide awake at 6:00 am. Wandered around for a while before walking up to the Indo for a Nescafe & some breakie. That having been done, I now had a mission. Sharon's party tonight has a theme, colourful clothes & a wig. I left the wig at home (no giggles from those who have met me!) so I have to go on a shopping expedition. First a colourful shirt. Found just the right thing in a shirt shop of all places. A black t-shirt with white writing, 'Harden the **** up'. Yep, I thought, that's colourful enough! Now a wig. Where the hell am I going to find a wig in Legian? Jalan-jalan, jalan-jalan. I'm thinking pink & spot one of those bike helmets with the 5 spikes on it. Yes, a mohawk in candy apple pink. OK all set for the party. Did a bit of window shopping & caught up with some more mates then had a few beers before having a nanna nap in preparation for the shindig.
I went over to Legend early to have a beer & talk to the staff before things got going. Just talking away & out of the corner of my eye I can see this table starting to fill up. People in wigs & colourful clothes. Petron & Sharon were so well disguised that I didn't recognize them, & didn't Susu look stunning in the white wig. Anyway a great night was had by all. Most of the crew was going to Hulus but my party hat decided it wanted to go somewhere else. So off we went to a few places then down to the Bounty for a sing before coming home about half past.
Gradually got into a routine. Breakfast somewhere. Then up to the Indo for a pot of Nescafe if I'd eaten somewhere else. This was to find out what the gang was doing for the day. More & more people were turning up each day for Kerry's do, many of whom I had met at Milton's 50th 3 years ago. Then I'd wander around window shopping & chatting before going back to the Suri for a swim &/or a nanny nap. Indo at happy hour to catch up with old Jeff, Mark, Tom Baker & all the gang. Then out amongst it looking for some music & a few more beers after which I'd usually find myself at the Bounty open mike for a sing. Bed whenever.
Spent a top day with some new mates up at Taro Elephant Park. When Made pulled into the car park, who should pull in behind us on his Harley but Nigel Mason, the Batman himself. I've known Nigel since the Yannies days & you should have seen his face when I walked over. Modesty forbids me writing what his greeting was. Anyway paid the freight & in we go. Really beautiful area & it is set out perfectly. You can see the animals are being very well cared for by all the staff. Blake & Roz had one elephant, Debbie & I had another. Man, was it fun riding through the jungle paths for about 40 minutes, everyone cacking themselves laughing as we all tried to get photos in sync with the elephant's gait. When we returned to the enclosure they headed for the pool & our elephant was quicker to squirt the other gang. One of the handlers grabbed the camera & took some photos for us before we hopped off. Watched the shown then headed off. They are currently building some bungalows so it would be a great experience to stay up there for the night. I'd thoroughly recommend the park to anyone, with or without kids.
I'm not sure exactly which day it was but on arvo just before Kerry & Milton came back to work at the Indo, there was a mass defection over to Bobbies for a couple of beers. It didn't last long due to the beer shortage. A couple of shouts & they ran out of Bintang all together. Only a couple of people made it back across the road before Milton came back & the look on his face was priceless. If he'd had some red cards I'm sure that they would have been handed out.
Kerry's party was a week after I'd arrived so I was now match fit. There were 263 people invited, that's right 263, travelling from Australia as well as from around Bali. I had bought a new shirt for the night as I had decided to don the jeans & shoes for the do. Damn party hat decided it wanted to go as well. Oh well a hat's gotta do what a hat's gotta do!! Arrived at the Indo & for the first time ever I had to queue up to get into a party. Soon figured out why, name tags & a stubby holder for the party. It took a while but the night eventually cranked up. Lisa & Aaron had brought over their intellectually challenged dance troupe who put on a wonderful show for the crowd especially as many of them had been sick for a few days with a virus that was doing the rounds.
The little acoustic band was playing away in the background, taking requests from all comers. After a prompt from one of the group I got up & sang Dylan's 'Knocking on Heaven's Door' which started everyone partying hard & a few others had a sing albeit from the crowd. Milton had organized the angle grinder man & the others from the Galaxy show & it was standing room only at the front of the restaurant. A shorty like me had no chance of seeing anything as the crowd flocked to the front of the place. Lucky I've seen it before. Everyone was going to go to Hulu's later but apparently this didn't happen as the last party animal didn't leave until about 3:00 am.
The party hat decided against Hulu Café & wandered around to Billy's for a while before getting a lift on a mate's bike down to the Bounty open mike. Dual purpose hat as it doubles as a helmet as well. A bit of a scream, getting up to sing with my mohawk on. If I had it on I was singing, if it was off I was talking. The band enjoyed themselves, 'One more Mr Mitch!' Eventually ran out of songs & hopped another lift home from Jimmy who used to work at Peanuts. The party hat was in its element zipping along Jalan Pantai to the cheers of the crowds. All in all, a great night.
A group of us went to lunch at Echo Beach a few days later. What a top spot, just sitting there looking out over the surf, munching on great food with a couple of Bintangs, to ease it down. The restaurant is called the Beach House & is well worth a ½ hour trip for lunch.
It was now getting close to countdown but I still had some places to go, people to see & some Bintangs to drink. First cab off the rank was the forum night at Legend that Sharon had organized. Another top night, with a real highlight being rocking Cracker & Rae's little Jimmy to sleep so they could have a feed. It was fantastic to catch up with Cracker again & get a bit of the inside info on the upcoming projects with the SCBA. Smudge was also there & had a great convo with the big man again. Cracker got up with the band & did a show-stopping version of 'Wonderful World'! He reckons he hasn't sung it for years but it sent shivers down everyone's spine. Without much prompting from Cracker, I hopped up & sang a couple of tunes much to the amusement of Pommy Col, his new wife Rosie & crew. I didn't take much rocking to get to sleep, I must tell you.
While I think of it, Linda & Tom's son Ben partied hard for a few days then had to be medi-vaced (spelling?) to Darwin with appendicitis. A lesson about travel insurance in this. The evacuation flight cost AUD$70,000, a lot of money if you don't have insurance.
Two days to go & I am awake at 6:00 am the next morning. Linda would string me up if I miss the bus to Padang Padang for her 50th birthday picnic. There is a story to that as I had missed the bus a few years back & she won't let me forget it. Anyhow there are 3 happy buses full of party fools, plenty of food & drinks doing the road trip. Once we all negotiated the cave down to the beach & set up, the beach cricket kit came out. No fielding on the beach, only in the water. Tibby, one of Kerry's son's mates gave Kiwi Daniel heaps ala 'can't bat, can't bowl, can't catch' & Bill just kept diving for catches & getting salt water in his Bintangs. Tich then decided that after lunch he was going to lead the gang in a game of extreme Frisbee. Sort of like gridiron with a Frisbee. It was too much effort for us oldies who sat back & endured another beer in the sun. Finally time to pull up stumps & yet again the steps are steeper on the way back up the cliff. Another great day with a wonderfully crazy group of people.
Went up to Un's with John, Joan, Frank, Eve & Mark for dinner that night. A top feed & the place is packed. Many more people in Bali than I have seen for years with each place having a crew of regulars & more of the bars having entertainment. A new place called Legian Pub on Jalan Padma is a good place to people watch, have a few beers & watch some sport on telly. Even Desa's place, Breeze, has a little local crowd nightly so things are looking up for all the locals. Even Tom Cruise didn't hassle people so much this time.
Last day & the blues have set in. I really didn't want to say 'sampai jumpa' to all the gang as I have seen quite a few teary goodbyes in the last few days. It has been fantastic catching up with all the mob, many of whom have become fast friends in the last few years. All the usual plans for catching up next year are made & the last few photos are taken. Finally 10:00 pm comes & Agus pulls up in his van, Ngurah Rai here I come. No problems & onto the plane on time.
The trouble starts at the airport in Sydney when Susu gives me a couple of photos at the luggage carousel. A customs officer has seen this transaction & asks me to come with her. Now this is starting to give me the s**ts as I endured this in June & had some cinnamon balls illegally taken for heat treatment which made sure that they shattered. She went through all my bags & even after seeing my Federal Court ID & cards she proceeded to take my mobile phone, 'to check if it is stolen' & to check any outstanding warrants. When I questioned the supervisor about this he said that it was standard practice. I proved this to be a fallacy by asking about 5 people as they walked past if they had had their phones checked. All this did was make them take more time. Just gets my goat that these clowns stuff up what has been a fantastic break from work. Welcome home, not!!!
Anyway that's all for now, until next time.