Greg and Mandy's Travels

Spent the day picking up our purchases, and visited the service at Hillsong, Bali around teatime.

Checked out at took the midnight flight back to Darwin.…

Took the bus to Jimbaran for lunch then on to Nusa Dua.…

Spent some time on the beach, and wandering along the foreshore and through the markets.…

After a final walk for coffee, we bid farewell to Hars and his tree house, and had our Ubud Driver take us back in to Legian.…

Walked in to town, and checked out the palace.
Late in the afternoon Hars gave Mandy a cooking lesson.…

Visited the rice terraces in Ubud before breakfast. arrived a bit after sunrise before the crowds arrived, but found a whole inductry of ‘glamour photographers’ taking professional pictures of girls in g-strings – I guess for their boyfriends.

Very picturesque and quiet.

Spent a short time at the local market on the way home.…

Spend the day walking into Ubud (4km) and wandering around the shops and market.…

Took the midnight flight from Darwin to Bali on Jetstar. Stayed at the Swiss-Belinn Legian, and the hotel organised an arport pickup which went very smoothly.

In the morning after a walk around Legian, a massage and a swim, we took a half day tour with our driver on the way to our accommodation in Ubud.

Visited the Struggle Monument (Bajra Sandhi) depicting the history of the struggle against imperialism, mainly Dutch and Japanese, culminating in Indonesian independence.

Then the Tegenungan Waterfall in full flight at the end of the wet season, before an eco-coffee and tea plantation where we sampled about 18 different teas and coffees, before buying some tea and chocolate.…

Don’t know how to describe Territory Day really. Perhaps ‘Australia Day On Steroids’, or perhaps ‘Lets Blow Darwin Up Day’. Kind of like Guy Fawkes night where anything goes.

For the five hours between 6:00pm and 11:00pm, people are given almost free rein to set off as many fireworks as they like. It’s all in celebration of becoming a self governing state on July 1st, 1978 – 29 years ago.

To give you some figures:
– There are about 200 tonnes of fireworks sold
– Fireworks sell for between $200 and $400 per box
– Most families spend about $1000, and lots spend much more
– About 20,000 go to Mindil Beach for the market, concert and official fireworks, but people can let them off anywhere (and do) – anywhere on any beach, in the middle of their street, in the park, in their driveway, in the grounds of the school
– 24 people had injuries serious enough to go to hospital
– At 8:30pm there were 60 fires burning in Darwin and Palmerston

So imagine, if you can, thousands of fireworks sites all going simultaneously everywhere you can see for 5 hours continuously.…

The local Friday evening market is back in full swing for the dry season.

Had tea there with Jan on Friday night.…