The nearly two hour boat trip back to Bali was pretty rough. Myself, Becci and Beth all felt sea sick for the whole journey. Chris very rarely feels sea sick but we both ended up sleeping for most of the journey.
Once back at Padang Bai, we found our way onto a minibus which would take us as far as Kuta. There was a lot of faffing around with trying to squeeze too many people versus seats, as well as a surfboard! It basically wasn't going to happen, so one couple were moved to another minibus, we were given a seat each, and the guy with the surfboard sat in the back with his board resting down the side of the minibus and on Becci's shoulder!
Two hours later, we were dropped at the side of a main road, just outside Kuta, and waved down a taxi to take us the remainder of our journey to Uluwatu.
Fortunately for us, the accommodation we had booked for Uluwatu had contacted us a couple of weeks ago saying they had overbooked and did we mind moving to some different accommodation. This turned out to be a two bedroom suite in a four star hotel, with two swimming pools, free yoga classes, and buffet breakfast. Of course we didn't mind!
Our suite was incredible with an abundance of space! The two bedrooms were huge with spacious bathrooms, and even a bath! There was a kitchen, dining area, and open sitting room with a 42" plasma TV - we could have just stayed in the room the whole time!
Beth wasn't feeling great so decided to cozy up on the sofa in front of the TV. Which also worked in my favour, as we had hired a couple of mopeds, and it was myself and Chris who would be riding them! So Becci rode pillion to Chris, allowing me to have some practice time at riding a moped again! It had been a while.
A rocky start but I soon got the hang of it again as we rode along the quiet roads through the complex. We found a roadside cafe, which turned out to be cheap and serving decent sized portions. Spying a few shops, we had a mooch around and bagged ourselves some free organic dark chocolate from the owner of a surf shop as it was nearly Becci's birthday. This chocolate was beyond delicious! Some of the best dark chocolate I have ever had, and I knew we would have to return for more to test the different types.
Since it was late afternoon, we rode back to check on Beth, who was feeling a little better, enough to join us at the poolside for a sunset swim and browse around the hotel complex.
Not being able to resist the bath tubs we all soaked our travelled bodies in warm soapy water, before wrapping ourselves up in the fluffy snug dressing gowns and curling up on the sofa. Set for the night we decided to order a takeaway from the cafe we had eaten lunch at. It went down very well along side a couple of rum and cokes, which within an hour or so had us all falling asleep on the sofa in front of the TV!

Happy 30th birthday Becci!! We greeted her early morning by throwing and covering her with balloons. But we were up early for a reason...free yoga! So by 8am we were at the poolside and ready to start.
The class was us four and another two people, and led by a friendly Indonesian man. He took us through some stretches, then some yoga poses and a routine to work our heart rate up. We ended the class with some relaxation. I'm surprised that we all made it through the class without breaking out into hysterics! The instructor had some extremely funny phrases and was very tonal and extensive with certain words; 'up your bottom' and 'pwease weelaxxx'. However as soon as the class had finished and we all reflected on the class to each other, we realised how much we were all trying to keep our laughter in!
Set for the day, we waisted no time at getting stuck into the buffet breakfast; Indonesian food, typical English fry up choices, fruits, cereal, breads, cakes and pastries. As you can imagine, we definitely made the most of it! We even had to spend a little time back at the room to allow our food to digest. Especially as our next port of call was to find somewhere for a surf lesson.
With Beth bravely riding pillion to me, we made our way along the small windy roads to Balangan beach. Unfortunately we had arrived too late in the morning for the best surf for beginners, so we decided to enjoy the beach and soak up some sun. We found a cheap warung on the beach front serving up Nasi Goreng (Indonesian fried rice) and Mei Goreng (Indonesian fried noodles), and shared a couple of fresh cold coconuts. Then we jumped back on the mopeds and found our way along the coast to the neighbouring beach, Dreamland.
With a beach club, Dreamland was more commercial than Balangan but luckily for us had some good sized waves. Chris hired a surfboard, whilst Becci and I hired a body board to take in turns. Unfortunately Beth was still not feeling herself, so she found some shade and was on valuables duty.
Chris headed straight out on his board to the bigger waves. Meanwhile Becci strapped the body board leash on, I grabbed the GoPro, and we headed to the sea. It was only when Becci jumped on the board to catch the wave in, that she turned to me and said how short the leash was, showing me that when she was laying on the board it didn't allow her to extend her leg fully.....I couldn't contain my laughter as I corrected Becci in exactly where the leash for a body board should be worn, i.e not around her ankle!!
To add to the laughter, I had to tell Bec to pull her bikini top up as she stood up after catching another wave! But to be fair, the waves were incredibly powerful and both my bikini top and bottoms continuously fell down! I'm sure someone was having a field day watching us both!
We swapped over for me to have a go on the body board, then all of sudden an enormous wave crashed right over us and completely took us down. Unlucky for Becci, who managed to get thrown around on top of some rocks, appeared to the surface with a nice big cut on her hip bone. We battled the waves back to shore and reviewed the injured soldier's wounds. Her hip had quite a decent cut on it, and from her ribs to her shin she was covered in scrapes.
I took the body board out to find Chris to inform him and we paddle back in together. After checking Becci was ok, and happy to keep Beth company, we both paddle back out to where the waves were. We took it in turns catching the waves on the surfboard, but the waves were too big for me to stand up, so I just rode them in to shore on my belly! Chris managed to stand up on a few, but he's more experienced!
We had a quick turn around in order to reach Uluwatu temple for sunset. Unfortunately it was further than we anticipated and we arrived at the temple just after the sun disappeared behind the horizon. However the temple was still such a beautiful setting; a Hindu temple perched on the cliff edge. Of course you had to look beyond the crowds of tourists and hoards of monkeys who have inhabited the temple!
Since it was Becci's birthday she had choice of where to go for dinner, and after some research online she found 'OM burger', specialising in creating your own burger. Even choosing the type of bun was challenging enough, from coconut to green tea, there was an option for everyone. Between us we covered a wide variety; green tea, rice flour, wheat, and coconut buns. Then we covered both beef and chicken, along with guacamole, homemade pesto and spicy sauce. The burgers were delicious, full of flavour with high quality succulent meat.
We made our way back to the suite for rum and cokes to end the day.

Today was a national holiday for Indonesia, similar to our Christmas, with large family celebrations and most restaurants/cafes/shops closed for the day. We had also been informed that due to the national holiday there would be no free yoga, much to our disappointment. So when we went down for breakfast and noticed there was a yoga class taking place, we were not too pleased! We took our annoyance out by overindulging at breakfast!
We had woken up early again to try and catch the best surf for a lesson. We headed straight over to Dreamland where we had pre-arranged a surf lesson with a local teacher. Unfortunately there was no surf, so we wound our way along the coastal roads to Pedang Pedang beach, one of the more famous beaches for surfing. As we peered over the cliff edge we could not see any surfers. So plan C was to go to Labuan Sait beach, where much to our delight was some surf. It didn't take us long to be approached by a local offering surf lessons. With two instructors it allowed Becci and Beth to be taken through the basics, me to have help with catching the waves, and for Chris to be given a few pointers on how to improve on his skills.
We were out for an hour and a half, and by the end were all exhausted. It's a very tiring sport, especially when you are new to it, using different muscle groups as well as testing our cardio! But it was a lot of fun and a great rush of adrenaline when you stand up and ride a wave.
We returned to the roadside cafe for a cheap Indonesian lunch and a scrumptious avocado shake. Then not being able to resist the incredible organic dark chocolate, we purchased two new flavours to share between us. Not quite as delicious as the coconut bar we tried yesterday, but still amazing.
Since we had the luxury of a swimming pool it was only right to enjoy it, so we headed back for an afternoon by the pool. Becci and Beth soaked up the sun, whilst Chris and I played a game of pool, had a little snooze on the poolside cushioned beds, then took a moped out to hunt for accommodation for the next couple of nights.
Seeing that it was Becci's last night we wanted to eat somewhere nice and a little bit special. Chris managed to find a highly rated restaurant on TripAdvisor which was a few kilometres down the road. It was nice to dress up and put some makeup on, but no point in doing our hair as the helmets would soon ruin that!
'Fat Chows' was set on top of a hill overlooking the Jimbaran area. With no booking and being a popular place it seemed, we had to take a table outside. It was difficult to choose from the incredible sounding menu but between the four of us we managed to select some of our top choices. Chris ordered a fancy chicken and rice, served in small metal pots on a wooden board. Presentation was clearly a high priority at Fat Chows. Everything on Chris' board was absolutely delicious, and the soup broth was packed full of flavour. Beth ordered Nasi Campur, served in small boxes, and again each box was a small mouthful of heaven. I ordered a noodle soup type dish, where I was in control of the broth and level of spice. Becci opted for the chicken and cashew nut dish which was extremely tasty, a very delectable dinner all around.

We awoke with the news that Becci's flight had been delayed from departing late evening to early the following morning. This was due to a backlog of flights being cancelled due to a volcano on Bali spewing ash. This meant however Becci would have another final evening with us.
We took our final morning at the hotel with a very leisurely pace, wanting to make the most of the luxuries. Then unfortunately the time arrived for us to move back to basics. We didn't move far, a couple of kilometres around the corner was 'Pecatu guesthouse', which actually had a small swimming pool. The rooms were basic, with only a shower curtain separating the bedroom from the bathroom, and not anticipating it would be four of us in the room, it was going to be a cozy night!
Mopeds hired again, we decided to check out a different beach, Bingin. However being the second day of the national holiday most cafes/restaurants were still closed or serving limited menus. But with patience, persistence and walking, we searched out a small eatery ran by a local couple, serving cheap Indonesian favourites, and a perfect spot for watching the surfers. We all tucked into Nasi Goreng and gazed over the talented surfers tackling the enormous waves.
As we roamed our way along the beach in search of a sunbathing spot we were distracted by the sight of a very gorgeous Golden Retriever, a yellow Labrador, and a white Labrador cross bouncy puppy. The retriever had a very cute face, incredibly photogenic and was extremely chilled and friendly. Not bothered at all by Beth smothering him with cuddles and attention! The puppy loved chewing on Chris' bracelets and being pushed around in a playful manner. She later had a scatty moment on the beach and charged towards us as we were sunbathing. Becci and Beth shot upright, which caused me to follow suit, but Chris, noticing it was the puppy continued to lay down allowing her to race straight into his side and bound all over him!
For our second final meal with Becci there wasn't a lot of choice as most restaurants were shut or full to the brim with tourists all being forced to congregate to a small number of restaurants which were open. After searching around we ended up at an Italian. We were pre-warned that it would probably be a half hour wait for our food due to the number of customers and minimal staff. This was no problem, so we took a table outside on the rooftop. It probably took half an hour to get our drinks, let alone any food. Over an hours wait and the waitress bought over some garlic bread on the house as an apology for the long wait. But it was still another hour before we actually received our two pizzas and two risottos that we had ordered. Having waited for two hours, the conversation turned to silence as we all demolished our dinner! Luckily the food was good, and as we went to pay and asked how our meal was, which of course we continued to inform them that we had to wait two hours, it happened to be the manager who had asked us, so he gave us a 20% discount. He saved himself a bad review there!

A few tears were shed as we hugged goodbye to Becci at 5am. It was back to the Travelling Trio. We returned to Labuan beach for Chris to have a surf, during which Beth and I caught some rays. He was easy to spot with a Nemo board and red swimmers! Then it was over to Bingin beach for a spot of lunch and to enjoy watching the skilled surfers.
Feeling as though we had had enough sun for the day, we sensibly sought shade at Pedang Pedang beach for the remainder of the afternoon.
Chris and I enjoyed a nice cold beer on our balcony before heading just down the road to 'Cachos', a Mexican restaurant we had spied the other day but had been closed for the holiday. Beth chose the beef nachos, whilst Chris and I both opted for the beef burrito. The beef was perfectly cooked and the burrito was stuffed full of salad, fried beans, melted cheese, salsa, guacamole, and sour cream. A real treat away from the abundance of rice and noodles we eat!

Our morning began with a very good, thick, fluffy, hearty banana pancake with honey and a nice cup of tea. We lounged by the poolside for the morning as we awaited the arrival of our transportation to Ubud...