Well another great nights sleep in our king size bed....gonna be hard to go back to the caravan bed l can tell you!
After our smorgasbord breaky (unbelievable), Marty and l decided to put the kids in the Lil Rock kids club for the day. Figured we could go for a big walk round Kuta and that the kids would probably enjoy hanging with other kids than walking. So after dropping the girls off to Suma, the kids club lady who is so great, Marty and l headed out.
We made our way down Poppies Lane 2, our first stop was Ground Zero to pay our respects to the tragic loss of all those that died in the 2002 Bali Bombing, with 88 Australians having lost their lives amongst the many. It was a great huge memorial plaque surrounded by colorful plants, a credit to the Balinese for the tribute they have built to remembers those lives lost and the devastation that captured Bali at the time. I had goose bumps and was quite taken with the aery ness the place felt. After having our moment of silence and reflection we headed down the streets to where all the hagglers were waiting for us. Pity for them we were on mission to get to the surf outlet shops down the Bypass Ngurah Rai road. Simone from Darwin had given us a heads up about this area before we left, so knew there were bargains to be had. Along our 2km walk there on uneven footpaths, we took in the scenery of the ancient Balinese buildings, the small scooter workshops where they sold petrol in old vodka bottles! The traffic was unbelievable! So many scooters and cars. Struggled to cross the road, took us a bit of waiting to get a break in-between vehicles to cross. We came across some roadwork people, labor ing in the middle of the road with shovels and no helmets or vests. No such thing as work safety over here that's for sure! As we were walking, Marty was taking photos on his phone of the hospital when he nearly fell into this huge hole in the ground, one that l had dodged a minute beforehand seeing the one orange witches hat to warn me. No fence, just one witches hat! Marty got the fright of his life, reckon his heart skipped a beat. We finally arrived at the surd outlets and after two hours we had picked up heaps of bargains! Think we spent about $150 and came back with loads. Love these Bali bargains. finally we had had enough and were a bit tired so headed back towards Poppies Lane 1 where we had a delicious lunch at 'Swell' restaurant. I'm loving this Indonesian cuisine over here, think l will be putting on a few kilos that's for sure. After lunch we went and found a shop in the markets that could exchange money. The shop had a good rate advertised of 10200 rupiah per $1 AUS, so we made our way to the back of the shop to make the deal. The blokes were ok and l was on guard to spot some dodgy doings. We exchanges $500 AUS for 5.2 million rupiah. They counted then l double counted, then they gave it to us and all was happy. We headed back to Hard Rock and started unpacking all our bargains. Then l heard Marty cursing. Turned around to see our money wasn't all there. They had short changed us bloody 1.8 million rupiah for gods sack. After we both finished cursing we reckon the b******s had pushed some off the counter when they were putting them out of piles into bundles. Bloody sneaky l tell you. Marty was fuming to say the least. He grabbed the money and headed back to the dealer. I was pretty mad and worried to what Marty would do. He's a pretty honest guy so this just angers him when people rip him off. After 20 mins he returned with our full 5.2 million rupiah. He said he walked in and loudly demanded the rest of his money, the guy immediately it knew and apparently answered "yes boss, no worries". After counting and recounting, all was correct and just before Marty was to leave the mongrel had the nerve to ask for commission! Marty told him to jan it us his ass and stormed out. Thank god we got our money in full back. Lesson now learned, count twice before leaving. Once we calmed down, we Borg had a drink in the room to settle our nerves then headed down to pick the girls up. Made our way to the pool for an arvo swim. They were having pillow fingers in the pool thru the kids activities, so Boo signed up and had a go. She was brilliant, knocked a boy off in one hit. Next go she got knocked off by a girl but gave it a good go. Great family fun! Marty and l then went over to 'the shack', which is the pool bar, and had a couple of drinks. Met a guy, Dave, from Japan. Had some laughs, nice bloke. We were getting pretty happy with the happy hour margaritas and the kids had made it to Thr pool having a great swim. Was turning dusk when all these birds were swooping around, hundreds of birds. We got told by Dave that they come in to eat the mozzies. Looked amazing!!
Marty and l were in no state to walk far for tea, so instead we opted for dinner at Hard Rock at the Splash restaurant. Was a bit pricey but the girls eat free due to the kids club, so for the convenience, it was ok. Not the best meal we've had in Bali though which is a shame. After dinner we all crashed early, it was another big day in Bali, but another great day!!!

Bell Xxx