My last blog entry saw us looking forward to our trip to Bali. Well that was a while ago now! The Bali trip and even Christmas are both well and truly over so it's time for me to recap.

We had a great time in Bali with the family and experienced four different places and accommodation, two of which we would go back to and the others, we are glad we experienced but have no need to return.

Our first stay was a lovely quiet resort on Lombok called Jeeva Klui. Beautiful room, lovely staff and great prices for beautiful food and drinks. We had two nights here before we went over to Gili Air for two nights. Again nice accommodation and I felt the sandy island had a Jamaican feel as we enjoyed our breakfasts and drinks on the beach front. Only a small island and with no cars, it's either walking, bikes or small horse and cart to get around. We also enjoyed some good snorkelling here.

Leaving here we then went back to Lombok for one night before then getting a short flight back to Bali mainland where our group split up to two different resorts. Simon, Kerry and their kids went to the Padma resort (very expensive!) while Chris and I joined John and Vicki at the Legion Village Resort which is where they always stay. I have to say that for value, we know where we preferred. Bed and breakfast was only $50 per night for both of us and the place was more than adequate.

We explored the area and enjoyed some beautiful sunsets on the beach in the company of Wyan who looked after the day beds and beanbags in that section of the beach.

While at the Legian Village resort, I met a lady called Annmarie who I thought looked a lot like my sister in law Vicki. I called out to her, thinking she was Vicki and it was only when she asked if I was talking to her that I had to look twice to realise she wasn't Vicki. They were so similar, even with the same mannerisms. Not sure if Vicki or John thought so but others from Annmarie's group did agree with me.

We eagerly awaited the arrival of Emma, Graham, Josh and Ellie who we hadn't seen for such a long time. We enjoyed a couple of days with these guys as they stayed at the same resort as us before we headed to our final accommodation and Emma and co. moved to their next resort. Our final accommodation was a private Vila that accommodated the 8 of our original party. It was a very nice house with beautiful staff, six in all and that was the bit that I didn't feel comfortable with. We had to be very organised in what we wanted to eat for the next day and there is a fine line between being discreet and not present where the staff were concerned. It was quicker to get up and get our own drinks etc. in some cases which of course we were happy to do anyway. Summing it all up, I would definitely visit Jeeva Klui again and also Legian Village where we really got the Bali experience. I should mention here that Emma and co. stayed in Bali for the whole of December, experiencing a very different Christmas. They traveled around the island and stayed at seven different places and had a wonderful time! We did manage a couple more get togethers with them before saying our goodbyes. Also some of the photos we saw of Emma's other places and accommodation would certainly be considered for our next visit to Bali.

Most of our time in Bali we experienced what was called "the Bali Haze" which means when I looked it up, is an advection fog caused by warm air and moisture from the ocean is pulled up into the atmosphere and carried over land where it cools.

Thinking about the Bali experience, I of course had to get the Bali belly just before we left and along with a touch of flu, it took me a while to feel better just before Christmas.

After returning to Australia we managed to pick up a couple of housesits and our first was over Christmas and New Year. The house was in Banora Point with a cat called Tanzi to look after and only five minutes away from Jo's.

We were up and over to Jo's early on Christmas morning as the girls were anxious to open their presents. There were not many surprises for the girls this year as they had already chosen and wrapped up most of the presents under the tree and two big bikes in the lounge was a bit of a giveaway! After the presents were opened we enjoyed a lazy morning with a beautiful brunch. A feast to behold with ham, smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, toast, croissants and all the fruits and sweet things. Lovely! As the day progressed we then went around to my brother Roger's house where we had another feast. Roger's daughter Suzanne and her family were there too. We all shared in providing yet another feast of prawns, roast meats, salads, and deserts which included Jaquie's famous Christmas pud.

After a few quiet days it was time to think about New Year's Eve and Livi's birthday celebrations. She had a couple of friends for a sleepover the night before who then left as we arrived. As Livi was disappointed with not having many surprises with her Christmas presents I decided to make a bit of a treasure hunt with her present from us. This saw her going from the fridge to the letterbox and other places in between until she had to ask grandad for his car keys to find her present on the back seat. The treasure hunt and her new roller skates were both a success.

As we left our Banora Housesit we then headed to our next sit. This one was in Currumbin Waters, looking after Everest the dog and Greg the bird. This was another enjoyable successful Housesit and again we were lucky enough to have the girls come and stay for a sleepover at both stays. Housesits work well for us, getting off the road at the most expensive times of the year (Our usual caravan park was charging $100 per night) and we get to enjoy the space of beautiful homes for free. We really appreciate the trust that the owners put in us as we take care of the homes and beloved pets. I think we do a good job and the reviews we have on our profile seem to agree. Thank you Aussie House Sitters.

After finishing our two housesits we then returned to our caravan at Chinderah Village caravan park for five nights where Chris enjoyed happy hour with the boys while I rested my foot. I managed to damaged the ligaments as I stood up not knowing that my foot had gone to sleep. It all happened so quickly but I must have put my full weight down on that foot as it was bent under. All I know is it's still painful even now with the bruising gone but still some swelling. I must be a walking disaster area as everything seems to happen to me! As always, Chris looks after me so well.

Something that has taken up many, many hours of my time since my last entry has been to do with this blog. Every now and then this blog goes off line and it's been a couple of weeks at a time before it's back up again. (It's off line now as I'm writing this in my notes!) I dread the thought of loosing all my memories and have spent a lot of time trying to back them up on a hard drive and also print off as a hard copy. It has not been easy or even a pleasure to do as I'm not that tech savvy when it comes to this. I am however quite stubborn and wouldn't let it get the better of me. It does mean though that I have reread this blog a few times and it's brought back some great memories. Here's hoping that my blog eventually comes back on line and this entry gets posted. It seems to be more down than on line nowadays which is very disappointing!

Now as I'm writing this, we are heading up to Bli Bli to spend the weekend with our friends Bob and Ellen who we met all those years ago at Seaforth, Qld when we were at the very beginning of this wonderful journey that is our life.

At last this blog is back up! (3/2/25)