***SORRY IT’S BEEN SO LONG GUYS, WEB ACCESS HAS BEEN A SLIGHT ISSUE!!!***

Right, well I know this is a little late...but here is what we got up to for my birthday and the last day or so in Bali!!

I think we left off after our trip to the water park, which left us a little tired out the next day and in need of a day of relaxing by the pool, but then the day after it was time for our surfing lesson! After a very brief explanation of what to do on dry land, we were handed our boards and into the sea...I struggled to even carry my board as they were huuuge! Apparently the better you are the smaller board you use...so clearly as complete beginners we had what seemed to be the size of small boats! The aim of the game seemed simple enough; lie on the board, wait for the wave, then when it picked us up quickly lift ourselves up onto our feet and don’t lose balance!!

The next couple of hours were a lot of fun but completely exhausting! We kept trying again and again, sometimes more successful than others, and we fell in a LOT. In fact, I am pretty sure that I fell in face first every time, even when I caught the wave and managed to get stood up! I would get up, look around excitedly to see if Nick was watching, shout ‘look at me I’m doing it!!’ then promptly tumble head first into the wave...d’oh! On the whole I am going to claim to be slightly better at surfing than Nick, as I got stood up and balanced quite a few times, whereas Nicholas would get stood up but keep both his feet at the back of the board and hence, not stay on very long!!

It was loads of fun despite the copious amounts of salt water we both consumed, and the next day we ached in all sorts of places...I would definitely have another go and feel that maybe next time we will at least have the basics covered a bit...maybe!

A couple of days later it was the day we had all been waiting for – my birthday!! Nick had been very secretive about what he was planning so I was very excited on the morning to be finally let in on the big secret. You may not all be completely surprised but I was delighted to be told we were going scuba diving, yey! I was also given my ace presents; a new handbag (clever Nicholas!!), a dry bag to use for diving, a tres cute ‘I love Bali’ vest top, a little purse and a couple of wooden elephants – small ones! I was very pleased with my haul and after excitedly looking through it all quickly we were picked up and taken across to another part of the island for our dive trip.

It was a bit different to diving we have done before as we were going on a speedboat, much smaller than the big dive boats we are used to. It made getting kitted up a bit more of an effort but rolling backwards off the side was quite fun! Bit different to jumping off the side of a big boat! Our first dive was to Manta Point where, surprise surprise, we were on the lookout for Manta Rays. We weren’t disappointed, and after a short swim to the place the rays are usually seen we saw a huge one gliding past in the distance, it was so big! Even from a little distance you could see how bit it was, and so graceful, they look like they are just flying smoothly along. A bit later into the dive Nick was running low on air so headed up with a Dive Master while I carried on with our instructor, and a minute or so later another ray went right past us! It was a bit smaller than the first one but really close, I managed to swim really close to it which was fab!

The next dive was also something new for us, a drift dive where there is quite a strong current and you just let it take you along. It was very strange and it felt like we were going really quickly! Nick wasn’t so keen on the feeling as you are not allowed to kick at all as it will take you too far ahead, you just have to drift on the current and he felt like he was going too near the coral a lot of the time, especially as things seem so much nearer in the water. I liked it though, and felt like I was flying as we whizzed along with no effort! Towards the end the group had split up into 3 little groups, each with a guide or instructor. Nick had ended his dive already (as he goes through his air way quicker than me!!) and I was with the instructor and another woman. We were going pretty quick, about 3-4 knots apparently, and then when we headed up there was a down current which felt really strange! Normally when you ascend you just gently kick and you go up easily, but this time we were kicking and not getting anywhere, it was very strange! Anyway eventually we were all back on board and headed home after a great day.

But I still had another surprise to come that evening! Nick wouldn’t say where we were heading but just told me to be ready at 7pm, and then marched us off down the road before jumping in a cab and telling him where to take us before I managed to hear it! A few minutes later we turned up at a very nice Indian restaurant where we had some tasty curry and then I was brought out a chocolate brownie with a candle in and all the staff sang me Happy Birthday! It was great, although sad to be away from family and friends on my birthday we had a really good day and I suppose not everyone can say they have celebrated their birthday in Bali!!

The next day we did a bit of last minute shopping (!) before we headed to Australia, picked up a jumper each (anticipating chillier climes!) and a few more souvenirs...we now have sooo much more luggage than we did at the start of this trip! Ah well...
We have had an amazing four months in Asia; we have seen and done so much, from riding camels in the Indian desert, to shopping in Singapore, drinking tea in Malaysian highlands, reliving history in Vietnam, diving and riding elephants in Thailand and surfing in Bali!! It is an incredible continent, it opens your eyes to how things are in other parts of the world, and it could barely be more different to home! For now though...onto somewhere we expect to be slightly more ‘home-like’ although who knows?? Australia....hmmmm.....?!?!!?!?

Love and another blog straight away.

Katie and Nick xxx