We woke up early and went and had breakfast in the restaurant, instead of by the pool upstairs. Our breakfast came faster than it did when we had room service, which was good as we were on a tight schedule - we skipped the fruit selection and just had our two eggs any style, as usual, with two chocolate croissants.

We were collected by a short man in a red shirt promptly at 8 AM and were whisked off to two other hotels to collect two other couples, before we set off on our one hour journey to the starting point. One of the couples that we collected was from Melbourne, so we had a delightful discussion with them about the city and the things there were to do. The other couple didn't really speak to us much, so the journey to the starting point was done in virtual silence. Edd sat in the front seat with the driver, while I sat on the right-hand side behind him; taking advantage of my position, I had a small nap against the window en route.

We were dropped off on the side of the road and had to walk down 3 flights of stairs through what looked well co-ordinated jungle; we were offered free tea and coffee in the reception area, but Edd just wanted water, which apparently was not available. This was funny considering the fact that we were going to be spending the next three hours on a river. A different bus had arrived after us with more participants and one of them asked the same question; suddenly water was available further down in the reception area at 20,000 rupiah per bottle, so Edd went to buy a bottle for our trip. This was the first time we've gone anywhere and not actually taken water with; it was just as well he had gone back to only collect extra money from our room just in case we needed to buy something.

He bought a small bottle of water for us to share and paid for everything at the reception desk - this trip was cheaper than other options we'd looked at, but in our experience we found more expensive options didn't mean a better experience, it just meant that it was more expensive. After paying, we were taken down to the lifejacket area and I was fitted with a jacket that was far too big for me - I asked if there were any smaller sizes available, but apparently it was one size fits all; this was not the case as this one size did not fit me. The helmet was the right size though, so at least it wasn't a complete loss.

We were then taken down a small walkway towards where the boats were being inflated - we'd been coupled up with a German couple which had travelled down with us; they were the ones that hadn't spoken to anyone in the minivan, but it turned out they were bit younger than we were, but also travelling through Australia and Southeast Asia for an extended period of time. We hit it off with them immediately and were glad we been coupled with them for our three hour white whitewater rafting adventure.

We were told that two people were to sit up in the front of the boat and two people had to sit in the middle, with the guide right at the back steering for us - the boys sat upfront while us girls sat in the middle - if we hit any rocks, the German girl and I wanted to be sure that we weren't the first to brace the impact! We were given a safety briefing but struggled to follow the guides instructions, as his English left a lot to be desired. I suppose I also struggled to follow what he was saying as I found his rotten teeth quite distracting; he must use one of those soft toothbrushes that basically only polish your teeth instead a decent one to scrub them. He seemed sweet though and manage push all four of us into the river single-handedly.

We had only travelled about 2km down the river when we all had to climb out - there was a massive drop in the river where a dam had been build and we had to walk around it and down 2 flights of stairs, while the guide let the raft drop down the river on its own and collected it at the bottom - it had to do this down 2 dam walls and we met him at the bottom where we all climbed back in.

It turned out we were the dud group, as we managed to get our raft stuck on every rock possible. Even if there was only 1 potential rock in the entire stretch of river, we got lodged on top and stayed there; the poor guide spent most of his time outside of the boat dislodging us. An hour later, we got off the raft and joined other groups of people at a beautiful waterfall; locals were around selling overpriced drinks to a captive audience. Edd decided to refill our water bottle with freshwater straight from the waterfall instead.

After a 20 minute break, we all climbed back into our raft and set off on the next two hours of whitewater rafting fun. The river took us down past more waterfalls that we manage to get completely soaked under as we made away to the bottom of the course. The German couple we were in a raft with had attached their GoPro type camera to the guys helmet - unfortunately due to the humidity, the inside of the camera kept fogging up - this meant that footage was relied on the camera that Edd and I had taken with and our camera was just as dodgy as we'd abused it far too much over the last three months.

At one point we got lodged on a rock that turned it into a massive water traffic jam, with 5 rafts on top of each other trying to get through a narrow passage! We all had to move to the front of the raft and jump to try and get it off; these parts of the adventure were very entertaining as everyone stuck in the jam was bouncing on their raft at different points to try and get through, it would have made for an entertaining photo; pity we were all too busy being stuck!

We got near to the end of the course and our guide stopped our raft again; he took all our oars and placed them at the back of the raft where he was sitting and instructed us to lie flat on the bottom: the boys scrunched up in the front and us girls in the middle with a bit more space. Our lifejackets stuck up by our ears as they were seriously too big for both of us and we both looked hysterical. At this point Edd too the camera off me, attached to his life jacket and proceeded to take video footage of our four meter drop down a dam wall. This was definitely the highlight of the entire white water rafting course!

The last half an hour took longer than any of us had anticipated - we were all low on sugar and energy and were in desperate need of some lunch and a sugar injection. The guide kept having to remind us all to paddle down the bits that needed an extra nudge as we were all spacing out.
We finally got to the end of the course and were pulled over to the left-hand side of the river where we got out. We walked up a gradual slope and lift our oars, lifejackets and helmets at the top next to the road. There was a restaurant in the left hand side that everybody walked to; we were handed towels, offered hot showers and a western bathroom with toilet paper.

Edd and I skipped the shower, just changing into dry clothes and went in search of food; he bought a fizzy drink first to increase our sugar levels and we got stuck into the buffet lunch that was on offer. The chicken nuggets were quite disgusting as they hadn't deboned the chicken before they covered in batter and deep-fried it, which mean that, infrequently, you got a mouthful of bones. Everything else was delicious and we ate up with our new German friends.

After everyone from our minivan was finished lunch, we all climbed back into the mini van and started off on the one hour journey back to our hotels; this was done in complete silence, but for very different reason: everyone was absolutely exhausted! Edd got himself comfy on my lap and had a nap for most of the journey, snoring quietly at the back of the van.

Edd and I were dropped off last at exactly 3.05PM and went to change into more comfortable clothing, as we had a massage booked for 3.30pm. It was a hard life.

Walked down to the spa area at 3:20pm and were taken into the spa rooms where the ladies started off with a foot wash. The massage was designed for Edd and I to be massaged in the same room, so after our feet were nicely scrubbed, we were given netted underwear to put on and then instructed to climb onto the beds. We got to choose from one of four different types of aromatherapy oils and one hour later, we came out feeling relaxed, well oiled and smelling delicious.

We'd asked to borrow two of the gowns as we did not want to take a shower and wash all the oils off; we preferred instead to go back to our rooms and let it carry on soaking into our skin, but did not want to get our clothes oily. We then lay on the bed for half an hour while we waited for Edd's folks arrive back from their day excursion.

They appeared at our door at 5pm, after being to see a number of temples in the north of Bali; they were both apparently very glad that Edd and I had not gone with, as the day had been long and the driving excessive, even though the temples they had seen were beautiful. They went to relax upstairs, while Edd and I had our last bath in the monstrosity in the floor; we were leaving the next day, so it was the last time we'd be able to have a soak.

We joined Edd's folks on their balcony at 6pm and ordered our usual gin and tonic's. The hotel had set up a area for other guests to watch the traditional Balinese dancing downstairs; our balcony were situated as such that we could watch the dancing as well while we were eating - it was perfect. After our dinner, however, nobody had arrived downstairs and the dancing had not commenced, so we all went to bed feeling well past our sell by dates. Apparently the dancing started at 9pm - Edd and I had not heard the music - we'd had a lovely day on the river and were fast asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows!