This drinking thing is starting to play havoc. Woke up this morning with a bloody big headache, way too many cocktails last night! Must stop doing this before our big day outs!
Big breaky and some nurofen cured most of the hangover. Bali Adventure Tours picked us up in a bus out the front foyer. All up there was nine of us all crammed into this mini bus. Two hours later we arrived at Elephant Safari Park, we were all very excited. The driver just dumped us there and we had to go back and find him to ask him pick up times, in which case he tried to screw us by leaving really early. After some time we all agreed in 2:30pm for leaving.
The Elephant Safari Park was amazing. It all went pretty quick, we arrived at around 10:30am and only has four hours to enjoy it. Boo and Meg were so amazed by these wonderful creatures. We headed over to where the girls could feed some elephants. The two girls were intoxicated with joy at being able to be so close to them. After getting way too many photos, we made our way over to the "show" arena where we watched a really cool performance put on by four amazing elephants and their trainers. The elephants played soccer, did balancing acts on beams and even did some painting. The girls were treated with getting picked to go into the arena were they held metal signs with supposed answers to a maths question on it, which the elephants grabbed out of their hands. I thought Boo and Meg were going to wet themselves they were so over the moon! At the end of the show the elephants got cheeky and sprayed the audience with water from their trunks. Really interesting and unique show, loved it.
After the show we headed into the eating area for an Indonesian buffet lunch, AMAZING!!!! Had entree, main and dessert. Was so delicious, even Marty and the girls liked it!
We had to wait till after 1pm for our elephant ride so after lunch we went and sat around where the baby elephants were. When l say baby elephants, they were three years old and they were so cute. We sat and watched while the girls stood up at the fence patting their trunks and giggling from it tickling. Finally it was our turn for an elephant ride, Boo and me went on one and Marty and Meg went on the other together. They moved so gracious and in sink with one another. Our elephant trainer was very informative and nice and said that they rode the elephants for 12 hours per day. They would start at 9am and finish at 9pm with two one hour meal breaks. He said he had a sore back all the time and got very tired, needing massages most days. He said that all elephants had a main trainer and he had been with our elephant for over seven years since it was a baby! We rode thru a beautiful forest, stopping occasionally for photos. Boo and Meg were both totally grossed out by the elephant poo piles and how big the poo was, lol. On our last leg of our brilliant, amazing ride on these huge animals we passed the only pregnant elephant in the park. She was 22 months pregnant with another two months to go!! Now thats a long time. Apparently the elephant hadn't worked for three years since they tried to get her pregnant and whilst she was in term. At least she gets a brake from the twelve hour days of taking people for a ride on her back! It sounds like it a torturous time for the elephants but the trainers really care for them and love them to bits, you can see this by the way they talk and interact with them. The last part of the ride we went into a man made lake and they frolicked around splashing water with their trunks. After the ride we had one last photo opportunity with us all sitting on an elephants knee when it knelt down. Amazing being so close with them, another tick off the bucket list. Bali is ending up being a list of firsts for us, most wonderful holiday ever for this family!
Sadly it was time to go, not before the girls brought a little colorful wooden elephant souvenir. We all piled back in the bus and took the two hour trip back to Kuta, passing through some lush villages. Thankfully the girls both slept on the way home. Once back at the resort we chilled out in the room for a few hours lazing on the bed watching some tv. We then headed out to our 'local' for dinner, The Sandbar of course. Meg was a sook at dinner which is starting to become a common occurrence around meal time and l really hate leaving heaps of food for waste, especially seeing we are in a poverty stricken country. The host of the Sandbar was infatuated with the girls to the point were l was feeling a little uncomfortable. He got way too close to Meg, giving her big cuddles and even took photos on his phone of both of them. We quickly made up an excuse to get out of there, not really knowing what his intentions were. I know Balinese people love kids, but l just felt it was a little over the top and uncomfortable. Anyway, no harm, this time anyway.
Again we retired to bed early, with our holiday slowly coming to an end. Only four more days left!!!!

Bell Xxx