Day 3 - 10th November

Man, the internet connection out here is slow! We should feel lucky we have broadband at home. Turned the air conditioning off at 2 am this morning as it was so noisy; what a STUPID mistake that was! Temperature soon zipped up to 135 degrees and it´s only 5:45 am! O, so it wasn't that high but it felt like it! Up early today as we´re off on a tour to the North of the island. We are travelling with three other girls today, 2 German sisters named Una and Sabine and an English girl called Kate. We all immediately got on like a house on fire and all had a similar sense of humour. They told us that they were off to Oz in a few weeks to work just like us. The tour took us up through the countryside in the mountains, with some incredible scenery passing along the way. Motorbikes everywhere, always overtaking and fruit and drink stall owners sitting out the front of their shacks peacefully watching the world go by. Life here seems very relaxed here and there is no urgency like back in England where everyone´s constantly got an eye on the clock. First stop on the tour was to have a look at the rice paddies, which were a spectacular site, teired ribbons of rice stalks all the way down the mountain side waiting to be harvested. We felt really silly when we asked the tour guide, Sammy, if the actual rice grew underground and he laughed at us for a while and then told us the rice grows at the end of the stalk with each stalk having about 70 pieces of rice. Now we know!

Next stop was to see the wild monkeys in the mountain, now when I say wild, what I actually mean to say is that these are very lazy monkeys who sit by the side of the road waiting for gullible tourists to come along and buy bananas from the fruit stall owner and they then set about ganging up on you and tearing the fruit from your hands before you can even get a picture taken with them! Kerry still seemed to think that in some way they were quite endearing, though god knows how. After this it was back into the mini van that has no seat belts (no cars here do except for the driver) and on to the next destination which was lunch in a sea food restaurant next to the ocean, which ended up being a bit of a con as the food here was really expensive and the guide must have known that none of us could really afford much. Anyway we argued and bartared with the owner and managed to get a deal on the food in the end. Iḿ going to end up coming home and bartaring with the man from the local newsagents at this rate!

Once food was eaten we headed off to the natural hot springs in the moutains of Lovina. We got there, donned our swimming cossies and sunk into the warm bath-like water and tried to ignore the fact that it was a funny shade of orange. Apparently the colour is due to the amount of sulphur in the water as the spring is fed by water from a volcano.

Last stop was to drop us off to the hotel in Lovina where we would be staying for the next few days, the Aditya Hotel, which was absolutely stunning and situated right on the beach! Now I know we were supposed to be slumming it but this place was costing us 8 pounds each a night and was a bargain! A large swimming pool overlooking the volcanic black sands of the beach, a beautiffuly clean room with flowers on the bed and an incredibly clean and well sculpted gardens full of fruit baring palm trees. I think the other girls were sick with envy when we said our goodbyes to them but we agreed that we´d probably end up meeting again in Sydney on New Year´s eve.

Day 4: 11th November

Today we got up early and grabbed some free breakfast from the hotel, which was lovely consisting of eggs, bacon, fruit and toast! We decided that while we here we might as well eat as much as we cold for breakfast and then we only need to get dinner in the afternoon which would save us money. We got to the pool around 11 am and have been there for 7 hours now swimming and myself managing to get a nice tan colour of claret, not quite the nice colour that Kerry has gone! Feeling quite sore now, although with some aftersun cream it´s luckily gone a nicer shade of brown. The swimming pool water is so warm that it´s only just about a relief from escaping the intense sun! Met some lovely people today including a couple from Canada called Piere and Leah. They have 10 kids(!) and have been really helpful to us, leanding us books on Bali and generally giving us travelling tips which are always welcome!

The beach in Lovina is nice but with it being volcanic sand it does make your feet look dirty really quickly so we´ve decided to avoid the beach for a while and stick to the swimming pool. In the evening we ate at the hotel restaurant which was pretty cheap, 6 pounds for both of us including drinks! Lovina is a lot quieter than Kuta in the South and there are less people here trying to sell you things, which is a nice relief.

Day 5: November 12th

Today has been an INCREDIBLE day! Where to begin?...

Started the day with the usual monster brekkie, followed by a while chilling in the resort to help Darren´s sunburn a bit. In the afternoon we took a stroll into central Lovina to find an internet cafe, which is about 20 mins walk away. Evetually found somehwhere that had the slowest computers ever but at least it was something. On the way back from the internet cafe we strolled back along the beach frequently saying hello to the local people doted along the beach who were sitting there just chilling out at the back of their houses, playing guitar or watching the sea lap against the shore. Little children laugh and chase each other along the beach and they look really cute, Balinese children are all very sweet and don´t seem to cause the trouble to the parents that kids over here do. Upon arriving back at the hotel Pierre and Leah told us about the excellent snorkling that could be done just off the coast and said that we could borrow their equipment and help us get in touch with their driver who´s ´cousin´ owned a boat. 2 hours later we were boarding the boat (a rickshaw looking thing made out of wood) and being sailed out to the coral reefs 15 mins away from the coast. We donned our flippers and goggles and slowly lowered ourselves over the side of the boat, feeling a little bit nervous as this was both our first times at snorkling. Kerry was especially nervous as she doesn´t like masks that cover her face but after a few mintues of desperately clinging on to the boat side she swam away and we were both snorkling! Oh my god it was incredible, like looking at the set of little mermaid, brighlty coloured scholes of fish swimming past us and electric blue starfish sitting among the coral. The boat driver gave us some food to bring the fish closer to us and we soon found ourselves surrounded by hundreds of different coloured fish, it was an unforgettable experience and the best part of our adventure so far! We spent about an hour and a half in the water before we eventually set sail for the beach again with the sun setting low in the water behind us, a truly special experience that only cost 6 pounds for both of us!

On a high (natural of course!) we headed back into central Lovina to grab some cheap foo, ending up in an ex pat diner called Funky Monkey´s and had a burger, chips and beer, how Indonesian! Saw a live band playing on the way back from the diner and decided to stop and listen to a few songs. The band consisted of 2 guitarists a bongo player and a tambourine player, not exactly Heavy Metal but good nonetheless and in English! Slowly strolled back to the hotel and fell asleep!