Day 42 - Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia

Last day in Bali. We are up early and check out then roll out the usual routine. Breakfast, pool and gym. I promise the blogs will get back to having more variety as of tomorrow! The only bit of variety today is us going to pick our laundry up from the local laundry which I know a riveting blog does not make. 

Pretty tired in the gym so we both have a quick work out. I have developed a stinking cold for some reason. Probably down to the air con. We then head to the restaurant on the beach, Satori, for dinner before we have to set off to the airport at 7.45. 

How times have changed since we last ate here on the first day. No need to build a napkin damn to protect my lap from the rain today. We have been so lucky. Not seen a drop of rain since that first day. 

In an attempt to recover from her sunburn Nat sensibly spent the day sitting under the shade... and still manages to burn again. Not too bad though. She'll be OK by tomorrow.  At least she has learnt a valuable lesson about the reflections of sun light.

One last beautifully pink sky sunset. 

So we get to the airport, very excited about moving on to Sydney. We get to the check in desk to hear those heart stopping words "where is your Australian Visa?"  WHAT AUSTRALIAN VISA? This is the first I have heard of this (although this is technically not true. Three days ago I was taking the miky out of one of the guys who works for Karl who travelled all the way from the UK to Sydney only to get turned away and now we are about to make the same mistake albeit with a shorter journey!)

So this makes me even worse than him given that we know he is a) British and b) travelled to the same place and got turned away and c) we had at least a four day warning. 

We look at each other, the two prize douchebags that we are, very worried and wondering how we can make such a school boy error. Looks like we are staying in Bali a little longer than we previously thought.....

.....find out what happened in tomorrow's blog. Cue Eastenders style

dum dum dum dum dum dum dum... (Or maybe even the 24 style beeps!). With soap style cliff hangers like this now would be a great time to switch to a paid prescription based blog! ;-)

Day 41 - Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia

Tough day today battling pythons outside of our hotel door. No match for Nat's new muscles though. Thank god for all those workouts. 

No prizes for guessing what we actually got up to today. Breakfast, pool, gym then out. 

Another lovely day but Nat had to spend it in the shade. Burn recovering but still very red. 

More pool pics. 

We decided to check out Seminyak this evening which is the uber luxury part of the island and the place to go out. 

The journey to Seminyak is the most painful and frustrating journey we have ever had. It took us 1.5 hours to travel 15km of which 8km of this was on a toll road with no traffic. We have never seen such a ridiculous road system (or lack of) and traffic lights that on the only road north are only on green for 25 seconds at time. At least eight times we do not even move an inch when they are on green.

Nice scenary on the way though. This is what happens though when I ask Nat to take a picture of that lovely mountain. 

Seminyak was completely worth the taxi journey though. What a lovely place and not what we expected. The "high street" is just a long road of the most gorgeous boutique shops and restaurants that would not look out of place in New York's Soho. 

We head to Ku De Ta (the same bar group as we went to in Singapore) but this time on the beach. This place really does specialise in the best views ever. We were worried we were going to miss sunset but luckily we set of early enough (for once!) mainly down to my absolute hatred for missing a damn good sunset. 

Apologies for the flick book of pics now that charts the sun setting this evening. What a view though. Absolutely amazing. A very strong rival to the sunset over the Mekong at Pak Beng for best sunset so far.  

(Sunset pics get better the more you scroll!)

We sit on the grassy mound leading down to the beach. I'm ok sitting on the floor as a) I have a cushion and b) a slope. Happy days. 

More contemplating Nat.

The bar is really cool. Great music. 

So amazing. It's like the sky is on fire. Such a great vibe in the bar too. It reminds me a little bit of Cafe Mambo in Ibiza but with less chavs and a better sunset! ;-) 

Love this pic. Looks like the ship kite is actually a ship on the water. Couldn't take this again if I tried!

Sun starting to disappear now and the sky gets redder and redder. 

Love this place. 

After, we walk up the street and find a gorgeous little restaurant called Cafe Bali. We really are spoilt for choice around here. In hindsight we def should have stayed here instead of Nusa Dua. Next time!

Nat being arty. 

To break up the journey on the way home (due to the ridiculous traffic again) we stop off at Hard Rock. We also experience a brief bit of Kuta on the way. It's Bali's equivalent to Pub Street and Patong (but not quite as crazy). PS this is real time update as I am so bored sitting in the traffic jam! Never known traffic like this. 

Another glass for the collection. Five down so far!

Definitely need to find a post office in Sydney! 

Another really good Hard Rock with a great live band. Asia absolutely loves rock which is great. 

Love some of the pics on the wall. 

Great night. 

Day 40 - Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia

Happy Boxing Day everyone. It's been a pretty low key one for us. Up early and it is another gorgeous day here in Bali. Not seen any rain since day one thank god. Long may it continue (or at least for the next two days!). 

Breakfast was pretty horrific. Like a school canteen and utter chaos. After breakfast we have a nice day around the pool. 

Nat in the process of burning! She has about 30 bites over her (she must have tastier blood than me as I am fine) and by the end of the day a very burnt arm after forgetting to put sun tan lotion on her left arm. Doh!!

Nusa Dua beach. This place certainly looks a lot better in the glorious sunshine. 

That evening, after another good work out, we head to a place for dinner recommended on quite a few websites called Nusa Dua Beach Grill. We are utterly misled by google maps and end up in a hotel called Nusa Dua Beach Resort. Worth a visit though. The place is amazing. The entrance feels like we are back in Angkor Wat. 

We finally get to the restaurant. It turns out to be in the compete opposite direction we had gone. It's a lovely little restaurant on the beach. The tuna steak and Greek salad was delicious. 

Doing the crab. 

Back at the hotel we try to face time friends and family. Great speaking to Cave. Sorry we missed you Lynne! No joy with the family who were all out and not picking up!