Lazy day (Tuesday, 3 February 2009)

I've finally seen a live gecko. I woke up at 4:30 to what sounded like water pouring down the wall, but turned out to be a gecko that had fallen into a drink on the bedside table -- the noise was him trying to get out of the glass. I tipped the glass enough so that it could jump out. I made a comment to Juliette, and just like that the gecko had disappeared.

Today was a day we spent doing as little as possible. We got up for a family breakfast at 9.

Our plans were then to just lounge around the resort, but the weather had other ideas. While we were getting changed into our swimsuits, a torrential downpour arrived and kept going. We went to lunch, and the rainstorm only got worse. At one point, we had to move tables because we were starting to get soaked.

By about 1, the rain started to slack off so Juliette and I finally got into the pool (swimming in the rain is surprisingly relaxing). Richard and Maiko arrived for a brief visit, so it was good to see them again.

Juliette's aunts and uncles were leaving today, but also wanted to go shopping (they weren't getting picked up until 9:30pm), so we offered our room for them to stash their bags. They got back from their shopping trip about 5pm (Carol and Anne had found Juliette a frangipani hairclip that she had really wanted), and we had a pleasant time with all of us sitting around chatting, before we all went to dinner at 7.

After dinner, we helped get their bags to the reception where taxis were collecting them to take them to the airport. We said our goodbyes, then after they had gone went back to our room for bed.

The Wedding

Monday, 2 February 2009

Today was the big day, the whole reason we were in Bali: Richard and Maiko's wedding. After breakfast and a dip in the pool and lunch, we started getting ready for the ceremony. Juliette's Uncles Robert and Ross, and their wives Carol and Anne arrived about lunchtime, and by 4pm we were all in the foyer waiting for the transport to the wedding resort.

After a half-hour trip through Bali's chaotic traffic (including a truck containing a load of rocks and dirt that had rolled), we arrived at the resort. It had spectacular views from the top of a cliff facing the Indian Ocean. Pools of water surrounded the buildings, and the chapel had a glass end to provide unimpeded views of the sea.

We met Maiko's parents, one of her sisters, and her mother's sisters. Very nice people, and Takahashi-san's English is a lot better than he will admit!

After introductions, and a heavily-flavoured cinnamon drink, we got our first look at the beautiful couple while the photographer took photos. Richard looked very smart in his suit, and Maiko looked absolutely stunning. Once the photographer had finished taking the pre-wedding photos we were taken to the chapel. The altar was covered with flowers - frangipani and another tropical one I don't know the name of. The service was beautiful: simple, short, and very moving; it was conducted in both English and Japanese, with girls in traditional Balinese outfits as attendants, and a four-person choir. In the background was the Indian Ocean, with the setting sun streaming through the gathering clouds. We couldn't take photos or videos during the service, unfortunately, but I think no-one will easily forget it (and there'll always be the official photos).

After the ceremony we all got taken outside and given handfuls of rose petals to throw over the happy couple as they left the chapel...everyone had fun throwing those over them. While the photographer took some final photos of the now married couple --- including family and group photos and photos of the cake (sponge cake with cream and strawberries in the centre) being cut --- we had a few drinks. Then we went and sat down for the wedding feast. The servings were small, but there were lots of courses, every one delicious (even the seafood dishes). Ross, Anne, and I went through a bottle of Chilean pinot noir -- darker, more robust than a Kiwi pinot noir, but still very drinkable.

Everything started to wind up about 10:30. Everyone (except Richard and Maiko) piled into the shuttles and were brought back to the Keraton.

Sunday, 1 February 2009
On Sunday, we both woke up with headaches, probably the heat, so we took some painkillers and went back to bed until 9:30 when we went for breakfast. The food here is very good -- especially the freshly-made omelets.

Most of the day was spent just relaxing. Another hour in the pool, a couple of cocktails. Lunch in the restaurant, then back to the room for an afternoon siesta. At 7, we all gathered in the foyer and caught taxis to the resort where Richard and Maiko -- Juliette's brother and his fiancee, whose wedding was the following day -- were staying (the Four Seasons). We met them at the restaurant there, which had open sides so we had an ocean breeze to keep us cool. Out west of the Indian Ocean, a thunderstorm provided a light show. The food was great (as you'd expect given the cost!), and Andrew introduced me to Bintang beers (really just rebranded Heineken Pilsners).



When we got back to the hotel, we were once again exhausted so straight to bed.

Baking in Bali (2 February, 11pm)

Sorry for the long delay in updating the blog, but Bali isn't exactly the tech centre of the world. There's no wifi available (and I mean no wifi) -- the only internet access we have is via two computers in the resort's "internet lounge", which costs Rp50,000 (about NZ$10) per hour.


Anyhoo, here's what's happened to date...

Saturday, 31 January 2009
The shuttle arrived about 3:45am to take us to Wellington airport, stopping in Tawa to pick up Sheryl, Michael, and Felicity (Juliette's mum, dad, and youngest sister). We got to the airport about 4:15, got checked in. The flight wasn't scheduled to leave for Sydney until 6:30, so we had a bit of a wander around the concourse before heading into international departures. (A word of warning: some bright spark has decided that it would be a really good idea to have a wall covered in a huge sign, illuminated with flourescent tubes and coloured bright green. It hurt my eyes looking at it, and Juliette felt sick. Wear sunglasses.)

Flight to Sydney was nice: good weather with little turbulence, and gentle headwinds meant we made good time, arriving in Sydney about 15 minutes early. The A320 we were on has been upgraded with the latest in-flight entertainment system: touch-screens, controllers that retract into the seat in front (not your armrest), and headphone jacks on the ends of the armrests (not the sides). Watched City of Ember which was quite cool -- one for the DVD collection me thinks.

Anyway, we got to Sydney about 8am local time, and went to the transfer desk (as directed by the flight attendants on the plane). We spent upwards of 30 minutes waiting in the queue. Two flights (British Airways and United Airlines) had arrived late, meaning lots of people had missed their connecting flights, so the staff at the transfer desk were hurriedly trying to get them on alternate flights, but were being hampered by computer problems. Eventually we got to the head of the queue, only to find that we had to be at a transfer desk in a different part of the airport! Fortunately, there is a shuttle service running between terminals, so the staff took us down and ten minutes later we were in the right queue. Twenty minutes after that, and we had been booked onto our Garuda Indonesia flight.

We had two hours to wait after that, so we had a brief look around the terminal before sitting down to wait. They had wifi at the terminal, but it's only free if you're a Qantas passenger, so I read my book (Robert Fisk's The Great War for Civilisation -- just a little light reading!).
The Garuda flight left on time. Our plane was an Airbus A330, but the in-flight entertainment was neolithic compared to the gear on the Air NZ planes, so for most of the 6 hour flight I either read Fisk or slept. Fortunately, the plane was a little over half full, so even before we'd taken off, Juliette grabbed a row of four seats to herself, and once the seatbelt sign went off, lay across the seats and went to sleep.

Again, we arrived early at Denpasar -- about 30 minutes early, at 2pm local -- so we joined the queue of people from an earlier flight at the immigration desks. We got our visitors visas (US$10 for 7 days), got a little shocked at the "death penalty for drug smugglers!" signs, grabbed our bags, shunned the porters (who'd expect payment), got through customs (who just waved us through -- guess we didn't look like drug smugglers!) and got outside to find our shuttle waiting for us.

Traffic in Bali is chaotic. Road markings seem to be universally ignored, and most people on the road are riding bikes and scooters. It's not unusual to see a whole family crammed onto one bike (and only mum and dad are wearing helmets, if at all), people riding sidesaddle on the pillion seat, or even one bloke who was texting while riding! At traffic lights, there would be a swarm of 20-30 bikes and scooters waiting for the green light.

The Keraton Resort is off a "main road", though it's barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other. After the shuttle turned off the main road, it went past what looks like a cemetary and a shrine before stopping at a barrier arm (so the security guards can check the underneath of the shuttle for bombs!). There are a lot of swastikas adorning buildings and shrines here -- but, of course, it was a Hindu good luck symbol long before it was appropriated by the Nazis.

We got settled into our room -- very nice, large, with air conditioning, TV and a large bed, and several buildings away from every body else in our party -- before heading back out to the main road to get some supplies. The road was chaotic -- standard for Bali -- and getting across to the nearby mini-mart involves taking your life into your hands. There are no pedestrian crossings (at least none near the Keraton), and the foot paths are about a foot higher than the road: so you wait for a gap in the traffic, scurry across the road, and climb onto the footpath on the other side.
The mini-mart's quite nice, run by a local family who all play their part in serving you. We grabbed some Coke, bottled water (you don't drink tap water in Bali), and snacks before repeating our death-defying dash across the road. After stashing the drinks in the fridge, we got changed into our swimsuits and headed for the pool.

The pool here is good: its depth ranges between 1.4m and 1.9m, so it's perfect for me (because I'm not a strong swimmer). Also important is the swim-up bar, complete with barstools sitting just below the surface!

After about an hour in the pool, we got changed and went for dinner. We're still getting used to the prices (NZ$1 = ~Rp5,000), but the food is delicious. Given it's an island nation, the menu features a lot of seafood, which I don't normally like, but there's enough variety on the menu to keep me happy. Juliette, of course, loves seafood, so she's happy.

After dinner, it was back to the room to collapse. We'd done a lot of travelling, so we were naturally exhausted.

The Tor, Broadway Tower and Warwick Castle....with a little shopping thrown in! (Wed 19/11 at 9pm)

Juliette: Well I think this entry will be a combined one written by myself and Crispin...we are writing the blogs for each day even when we can't access the internet somewhere so that when we do we can still give an accurate update for you to read and us to keep as a record.

Today we started out early and went for a walk from our Caravan Park to "The Tor" - this is supposedly where Merlin is buried (no, not Merlin the golden retriever monster, Merlin the magician!). By the way, our Caravan Park (The Old Oaks) was awesome - great facilities and so nice and quiet. Anywho, back to the walk...we walked up the so called "footpath" (which in my opinion should have been called a MUDpath as it was just a muddy track) and stopped at the old oak trees (Gog and Magog) which are supposed to be remnants from an old druid path. After that we headed to The Tor, managed to take a wrong turn, then got on the right track but ran out of time so decided just to head back for the park 'cos we didn't really want to walk up the big hill to The Tor anyway. We trecked across some fields (again labelled as footpaths), scared a few of the resident cows and finally got back to the Caravan Park.

Crispin: After a quick shower and breakfast, we headed for the campground's shop/reception, to use the internet. Unfortunately, they didn't have any USB connections, otherwise we would have uploaded some photos and updated the blog. Juliette checked her emails, checked the bank accounts, and we had a look for directions to Broadway Tower, Shakespeare's birthplace, and Warwick Castle.

Juliette: Looks like it will be me finishing this off as Crispin has retired to bed - it's only about 9pm here but we have been up since 7am and driving does make you tired. Crispin has been doing a wonderful job with the driving, it's taken him a while to get used to the clutch but that is normal when you are driving a new vehicle and apart from the incident with the rear light (which could have happened to anyone) we haven't had any accidents. I certainly would not have the confidence to drive a vehicle like this so I am very proud of him!

Right, now where were we up to....oh yes, my favourite part - shopping!! We left the Caravan Park and headed back to Shepton Mallet to Tesco's as Crispin really needed a new jacket and some shoes. So, three quarters of an hour later we left with 2 new jackets for Crispin (one rain and one leather), a new pair of shoes for him and a pair of slippers (Mr Grumpy slippers lol!!). He also got a remote controlled Supreme Dalek - no, not the two foot high one from yesterday - a much smaller and cheaper version!

After all that shopping we headed off to Broadway Tower which Crispin had found on Wikipedia. It was a lovely day today so we got a great view over several counties and got a few souvenirs. Broadway Tower was a folly built by a very weathly man who it seems didn't have anything better to do with his money.

From Broadway Tower we headed to Warwick Castle, which was not originally on our itinerary but Crispin's aunt and uncle had recommended it and it was on the way. We got to the castle right on 4pm and just made it in - the castle is open until 5pm but they do not allow any new entries past 4. It was a little stressful getting there as Betty confused us and we went round the block a couple of times but we got there in the end and we were glad we did! An hour was just long enough to have a good walk around but you could easily spend 2-3 hours there. We did the walk up through the towers and along the castle walls which gave you a great view and was not too hazardous even with the very narrow spiral staircases which were not well lit. We then went inside the castle and saw some very realistic figures acting out some of the parts from long ago. It certainly was very impressive and I'd have to say my favourite part was being able to walk up the towers and along the castle walls. More souveneirs from the gift shop and then we headed to the camp site - Hollyfast Caravan Park - for the night.

We did miss Stratford-upon-Avon today but are intending to head off a little earlier than planned tomorrow morning so that we can have a quick look around the city centre and Shakespeare's birthplace before heading to Liverpool.

I still can't get over the fact that it starts to get dark here at 4pm and by 5/5.30pm it's pitch black!

Well I am starting to fall asleep myself now so off to bed with me as we have to be up around 7am tomorrow morning.

Stonehenge and Bath (Tue 18/11, 8pm)

We arrived at Stonehenge, and could still hear the Army firing off artillery on the plains. Then again, we were only 5 miles from the campsite.

I wasn't really ready for Stonehenge. I was expecting a bunch of rocks in the middle of an English field, but once we were there, and came out from the subway passage to see them for the first time... it took my breath away.

Unfortunately, you can't get up close to the stones. There's a pathway marked out around the henge: at its closest, it was about 20 yards. (There was one of those 'new Druid' loons who had set up a protest outside the entrance, demanding the fences be taken down around his sacred site. There looked to be half-a-dozen of Wiltshire's finest keeping an eye on him.) But even then, the sense of age emanating from the place... you couldn't help but be awestruck both by its age and the engineering that was involved in moving the stones hundreds of miles, then assembling the massive jigsaw puzzle with mathematical precision.

We stopped by the gift shop, and picked up a few souvenirs (the first ones of our trip, apart from photos). Grabbed a bite to eat from the Stonehenge Cafe, and headed for the van.

The next stop was Bath. The Lonely Planet guide warned of Bath's horrific traffic problems, and its notorious one-way system. Fortunately, our AA map showed the locations of several Park + Rides (places where you can park your car for free, and catch a bus to the city). When we found the P+R to the south of Bath (at a place called Odd Down), the entrances were all protected with barriers preventing vehicles over 2.2m from entering. Unfortunately, the van is 3m tall. We ended up parking in a suburban street (creating a bit of a traffic bottleneck), and walking back to the P+R.

We sat on the top deck of the P+R double-decker, and had a good view of the city as we approached it. The bus dropped us in the middle of the city (and I'm really glad we didn't try to drive in!). While trying to find the Roman Baths, we stumbled across a pet shop... so now the dogs, the cats, and the fish all have pressies from the UK.

As a tourist centre, Bath's pretty well sign-posted, and we fairly quickly found our way to the Roman Baths. Our Great British Heritage passes were handy again, as they gave us free entry into the baths (and into Stonehenge, too). The baths also have a 'route' through the building. Along the walls were plaques with numbers: you punch the number into the audio wand you pick up at the entrance, and you can listen to a description of the history and meaning behind what you're looking at. You go in across a gallery overlooking the Great Bath. There were several statues of famous Romans, and I'd already photographed Julius Caesar and Claudius before I saw the plaque telling how the statues only date back to the late 19th century.

After a lap around the gallery, you descend into the museum. Through windows, you catch glimpses of both the Great Bath and the hot spring, in amongst the displays of the various artifacts that they found when excavating the site. As you'd expect of a geothermal site, the smell was pungent and the temperature was on the warm side. We were only ambling around, and I'd started sweating by the end.

Like Stonehenge, the Baths amazed me not only with the antiquity -- no 2000-year-old Roman baths in New Zealand! -- but the fact that the drains still worked, despite being buried around the 7th century CE by rampaging Christians. Without any human intervention, the springs had happily filled the baths, and the overflow taken away to the Avon River.

Another trip to another gift shop, and more souvenirs collected, and we were off to find a shoe shop -- Duo Boots -- that Juliette wanted to have a look at. Fortunately, the woman in the gift shop was able to give us good directions (unlike the woman in the pet shop who thought we meant Boots pharmacy!) Juliette found a pair of the right size, and of a style she liked, and voila! 110 pounds later, and a large box to squeeze into the luggage.

After that we ambled back to the bus stop for the ride back to Odd Down P+R. The bus arrived as we got around the corner, and on the trip back, we amused ourselves by reading the rubbish in a tabloid paper we found on the top deck. Finally, we got back to the van (all secure, no problems) and set the GPS for the village of Wick (near Glastonbury) where we were spending the night.

The trip wasn't too much of a problem -- no more bits broken! -- although we were worried about finding a place to do some food shopping. Apart from a small pork pie and a scotch egg that we'd bought in Abingdon, there wasn't anything aboard. Fortunately, Tesco's annouce their presence with all the subtlety of, well, me and halfway to Wick we pulled into their carpark (taking up two bays). We found all we needed, including a bubble bath in a Dalek shaped bottle (which I was rather proud off, even when the people behind us at the checkout plonked a two-foot high remote controlled Supreme Dalek toy onto the conveyor belt).

On the road again -- Betty (my nickname for the female-voiced GPS, after "Bitchin' Betty", the voice warning system in American military aircraft) didn't even complain too much about the detour -- and we found the campsite (the Old Oaks Touring Park) with only one mishap (turning right about 150 yards too early, and ending up in some farm's driveway).

We're settled in now. The food's stowed away, and the van is starting to feel more homey, though we're really missing the pets at the moment.

Time for bed, methinks...