Wednesday 30th - This time the ocean looks totally flat, and we also have the larger boat, so should be a good crossing. The swell is a bit deceptive but all in all the crossing is calm and quick. Once home we head out to Discovery to pick up prescription glasses, a batik iPad bag I hadn't found anywhere else, then down to Benesari to pick up some dog and cat beds we had ordered - with embroidered names so the animals know which one is theirs! The bean bag place also sells quilt covers he makes himself, so bought a couple of them too. He makes large and small cushions and bolsters to mix and match with the quilts and the bottom closure is a full zip.
Friday 1st - Friends have been completing a diving course at Tulamben and are coming to stay the night, expecting to arrive about 12.30pm (there is an extra pull down bed in main bedroom). Its been about 15 years since they were in Bali and then they stayed at the Dynasty so have no idea of the area we are staying, plus things have changed a bit since then! Luckily our villa owner has photocopies of street maps so I circle a few landmarks that they may remember and hope they will be okay. We leave Saturday morning and they are leaving Sunday morning so have a day to themselves. After our dinner at Pearl last week I had emailed and suggested we go again with them (this time we will have many millions with us!) Again a lovely meal with maybe a few surprises, the men had ordered something with the word crepe in it but when it arrives there were no crepes anywhere to be found. The chef came around as he does, and recognised us from the week before. Starters were lobster bisque, scallops and something asparagus that came out like a soup, which also wasn't how expected but was still nice. Mains were the two 'crepe' dishes, beef fillet, barramundi and lamb shank. Daughter and I decided to share a tasting dessert as we hadn't had starters. After eating it I'm now sure we could both have managed to fit a full dessert, they were all so yummy. The problem would be which one to choose, especially now we have tasted four. Five beers, five juices and a cocktail and the total bill this time was only 1.8mill. We didn't see the rabbit this time but we did use the restroom. That was different!
Saturday 2nd - Home to Perth. The driver picks us up at 9am as we have to get through that roundabout, but the trip is only half an hour. He drops us at the new set down point, there are heaps of trolleys and even though it is a bit of a trek compared to before, the walkway is very level and wide and also covered so even in bad weather should be okay. We are early so no waiting to check in. We have had breakfast so stroll through the airport and then settle into a café for coffees and a huge brownie that my daughter and I share. When we go into the departure lounge (they have already called and boarded most people and there is still about 30 minutes to go) I made a point of checking the duty free stories about Jetstar. There is a collection counter inside with the DFS logo on it, there was a man serving and I could see he had bags to be picked up. I am not sure if you can only buy from them and as it appeared we were late I didn't ask him. We had taxied and were ready to take off by 11.45 which was our scheduled departure time. Arrived back in Perth early at 3.00 as our due time was 3.20. Immigration had about 6 people attending, as we were early a Singapore arrival was still clearing customs. We had tea bags, Kopiko lollies, some wood and some coffee lewak so I had filled in all our forms with a yes to food. We told the guy what we had - tea, coffee, lollies, wood - is it our fault he didn't ask what sort of coffee and didn't bother to look for himself? As it has been roasted and ground and we only intend drinking it, not trying to plant it or infect any animals with it, and as you can buy it here I don't see the problem. However we told our friends we would let them know how we got on, so they also bought some but they had theirs confiscated. They didn't have anything else at all to declare and were first in the queue so maybe that made the difference, though we were not trying to hide ours in any way. The thing that has made us all mad though was the lady told them that as they weren't sure about the rules they were just taking it off people.
Anyway, that was most of our holiday in Bali, as usual it went way too fast, but we also didn't feel like we were rushing around all the time so came home fairly relaxed. Did the usual shopping at Ketuts and DVD shops, though nowhere near as much as previous trips. Massages, facials, pedicures at Inner Glow; lots of food, not as much Bintang as normal; lots of reading and walking and swimming.
This was my first attempt at a JBR after having read hundreds of them, I'm afraid it isn't funny like lots of them are, but hopefully not too boring for you all.