We caught our bus to Lovina the next morning meeting a lone traveller, Dave from Colchester, who was grateful for some conversation after a quiet first week in Bali. We drove through stunning Bali landscapes, rice terraces, volcanoes and villages decorated for the upcoming Hindu festival. We were pleasantly surprised to find our bus ticket included free lunch on arrival and a nights free accomodation with breakfast the next day. Admittedly the room was a bit manky but little did we know we'd be too drunk later to care anyway!

We headed to the beach with Dave and Han, a girl from New York, and were disappointed to find it wasn't really one for relaxing on with a good book. It was cluttered with boats ready to take tourists on the early morning dolphin trip and every few metres we were accosted by someone trying to sell us fruit, sarongs, jewellry and shells. We were assured shells could come in very useful for the rest of our travels but the guys suggestion of tying 2 together to make a nice bikini top didn't appeal to either of us so we politely declined!

After walking a very long way to the centre of Lovina we decided to stay out and have dinner with our new friends. On Daves recommendation we tried Balis beer, Bintang, a lethal mistake which lead to 'just one' drink in the bar next door before making our way back. One glass of wine turned into many and we enjoyed a night of meeting locals and being entertained by live musicians. Much better than the singer in Sanur and as Leanna noticed much better looking, although Nikki failed to convince her it would be a good idea to get up and show Bali her singing talent and do a duet with him. Instead we had fun watching people on the dancefloor and trying to work out which women were in fact men, there seemed to be quite a few! We met a Canadian called Mario who instantly took a shine to Leanna and kindly supplied us with 2 Long Island ice t's and not so kindly 2 shots of sambuca. His heart was broken though and he looked on in jealousy as Leanna read the newspaper with the Balinese singer at the bar. We caught a Bemo (back of a motorbike) back to our hotel and, after positioning a bucket next to Leanna, fell into bed.

Next day we moved up the beach to Lovina Beach hotel where we got a room, breakfast, pool and beach view for 2 pounds each a night. The day was spent sweating out our hangovers by the pool and an early night. Wanting to take advantage of the beautiful sunshine (by the way how is the weather in England?!) Thursday was another pool day. Hanh had met some Canadians who lived here and had offered to take us to the hot springs rather than pay the 50000 rupiah taxi fare. We were grateful we hadnt forked out all that money when we got there to find something more like a public swimming pool than the idyllic volcanic springs we imagined. They were hot though so we enjoyed a dip with a hundred other Balinese people before heading back to get clean in our cold shower! On the way back we were asked to try a Dorian fruit, well known in Bali for smelling like hell but tasting like heaven. Neither of us was willing to experience heaven as the smell was enough to make us feel sick. Out to dinner with the canadians and an offer of a free ride back to Kuta in the morning.

We took the long way back to Kuta down the East coast of Bali taking in the stunning coastline, volcanoes, rice paddies and views over to Lombok. A wrong turn landed us in a small beachside town, Amed, where Chris bought drinks for the local kids and Leanna found a new love in Banana Jaffles! We arrived back in Kuta for an afternoon wandering round the shops. Had a bizarre experience when 3 Japanese women asked to have their photo taken with us, we happily obliged giving them different poses with each of them and their children too. They obviously thought we were celebrities! Next day we webt to the waterpark and spent the day trying to keep our bikinis from flying off every time we went on a waterslide. Was lots of fun and after drying off we spent the afternoon stocking up on toiletries to get us through the next 2 months in oz and nz. More tomorrow before heading off to the airport....