---

---

We arrived in Lima at 7am Friday 25th July. Pretty tired, but very excited. Our adventures could finally begin and we’d have no more mishaps. Right?

Wrong.

About 5 minutes after taking the above picture in Miraflores, Elijah realised he’d left his phone on the bus from the airport. Luckily (?), we had to wait a little while before we could leave our bags at our apartment, so we sat in the park with some local delicacies and spent some time ringing the bus company and making plans to get the phone back. Ah, teenagers.

---

The first things we tried were “Chicha Morada” and “Cachanga”. Chicha morada is a drink made from purple corn – quite sweet, but with hints of spices too. Cachanga is a type of flatbread with various fillings (we tried olive, cheese and chocolate – not together!) and toasted. Delicious!

Once we’d finished our snacks and Operation Phone Retrieval was in place, we made our way to our apartment to dump our bags. With some questionable Spanish and lots of hand gesturing (including negotiating with a maintenance man doing a fire alarm check in our apartment), we were in!

Next on the list was a bit of a swim in the rooftop pool (for the girls) and a stroll through Lima to pick up the phone (for the boys).

---

---

The pool wasn’t heated, so it was very “invigorating”! Kate and Donna managed a solid 30 seconds, but the younger ones were in until their faces turned blue.

Once we were all showered and fresh again, we headed out to visit some local markets and sample some more local delicacies – the best one being “pecorinos”, which are doughnut-like sweet treats made from sweet potatoes and covered in syrup. Yum.

---

---

---

After watching the sunset over the bay, we were starting to flag, so headed to a restaurant for supper. The food was delicious, and we were even given free starters (octopus ceviche, a shot of spicy “soup” and some kind of potato ball), accompanied by a Pisco Sour shot. By the end we weren’t just flagging…. jet lag/travel exhaustion was well and truly kicking in and the kids were falling asleep in their food.

---

---

We were all in bed and asleep by 8:15pm… ready for our 3:45am alarm! New adventures begin tomorrow!

---

Oh my goodness, as I write this onboard a local bus from the airport to Lima city centre, my main thought is ‘phew’!! There was a point in time last night where we thought we’d still be in New York, stuck at JFK Airport.

Flashback to us sprinting through Frankfurt Airport for our connection to Singapore, only to miss the plane anyway and end up stranded in Frankfurt for days spring to mind! Thankfully, this story has a happier ending.

Our flight from Heathrow to JFK was great; delicious food, in-flight entertainment (it’s scientific fact that we cry more on airplanes right??) and we landed on time. Perfect. We had 2.5 hours to get our luggage and get onto our next flight… easy peasy.

Enter: US immigration. Despite the fact that we were only in transit, and not spending any time in New York, we still had to apply (and pay for!) for an ESTA visa. We had already done that before we left, so assumed getting through wouldn’t be a problem. And it wasn’t… but we still had to queue for what felt like forever… and even though we asked about our connecting flight – when we explained what time the flight left, we were told we had enough time.

Once we were finally through immigration, we grabbed our rucksacks and headed to the LATAM check in desk for our next flight… only to find it completely empty!

After trying to use the scan-it-yourself booths for a while, without any luck, we asked two women why we couldn’t check our bags in. That was when we were told, “Oh, check in is closed. You’ll have to arrange another flight, you’ve missed this one.”

…

Sorry, what? We still had an hour before the scheduled time of departure!

Cue the following sequence of events:

• Initial panic and swearing
• Discussion with a “manager” of the security section which went nowhere
• Time check and more swearing
• New plan: Kate and Dave try to get through security and run to the gate to find someone (anyone!) from LATAM to speak to
• Martin, Donna and kids stay behind with all the baggage and hope
• Kate and Dave push their way through the security queue to get to the front, get through and run like hell. Arrive at Gate B28, out of breath and sweating!
• With A LOT of persuasion, one of the ladies at the LATAM desk at Gate B28 finally agreed to ring her colleagues and send someone to check our bags
• Martin, Donna and kids find said colleague and rush the bags through check in
• Martin rings Kate: “bags checked in, on our way”
• Conveyor belt moving bags through to get onto plane breaks.
• Martin rings Kate: “I take it back, bags are stuck, we can’t leave yet”
• More panic, swearing and clock watching
• LATAM personnel finally manage to get conveyor belt to start moving again
• Gate B28 lady tells Kate and Dave their families have 15 minutes to get to gate
• Martin, Donna and kids frantically throw water away and push their way through to the front of the security queue
• Various items confiscated: Ffion’s new hair gel from NY and Kate’s new water bottle (it got missed in the water-chucking frenzy)
• Dave tells Kate they have 5 minutes left
• The gang comes sprinting round the corner to Gate B28 with one minute to spare
• Onto the plane, hot, sweating and full of adrenaline

---

---

I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to order a glass of champagne on a flight more! But we made it, and the Coyle family connection flight curse was broken.

We hope. Got a few more flights to take this trip, so we’ll keep you posted!

---

We can’t quite believe it’s been two years since our “big adventure” and here we are, preparing to do it again!

A bit older, a bit taller (perhaps not all of us!), and hopefully a bit wiser. We are heading to South America and we can’t wait! Our plan is to spend 2 weeks in Peru and then a week in both Argentina and Brazil, with a ferry ride over to Uruguay if we can squeeze it in.

For the Peruvian bit of the adventure, it won’t be just the four of us. We are teaming up with our friends the Grants – Dave and Martin have been friends since primary school. Kate and Donna became closer than just “my husband’s school friends’ partner close” after Kate threw a ball of confetti into Donna’s eye on her wedding day in 2007… 🤣 Their two girls, Alys and Ffion, are the same age as Elijah and Sylvie.

After the phone-left-in-the-car incident, we hoped the rest of our 28 hour journey would go smoothly.

Flight number 1 from Bali to Singapore went off without a hitch, but we knew that in Singapore we only had a few hours to fit in changing terminals, going through immigration, collecting our bags that we’d left weeks before, visiting the indoor waterfall (again!) and getting to the right departure gate.

Luckily for us, it all went perfectly and we felt like extremely experienced travellers as we made our way around confidently. And for those of you desperately wondering if we made it to see the waterfall on our third try – we did! Success at last!

It felt strange to be reunited with our two big bags we’d left two and a half weeks prior, the kids had completely forgotten what one of them looked like as we’d also left it full of summer clothes in Auckland when we were travelling around New Zealand.

We fitted in a pit-stop at the airport for some dinner as our Singapore-Frankfurt flight wasn’t leaving until gone 11pm and we weren’t sure when we’d get fed (plus we were being moaned at by hangry children!).

Once we were on board and we’d worked out how to operate the individual televisions, we settled down ready for the 12 hour flight. Something wasn’t right though, as we didn’t leave the airport for quite some time… over an hour later we received an update from the cabin crew – a lady wasn’t well and had decided to get off the flight and remain in Singapore to receive medical attention. Thankfully she was going to be fine, but it did mean that several of us on the flight now had to worry about getting to our connecting flights on time.

Was Frankfurt forever going to be labelled as the airport where we miss connections??

Nothing we could do about it though, and it wasn’t too much longer before our flight took off, phew! The extra delay did mean we felt like we’d been stuck in those little seats for far too long, but everyone got a couple of hours sleep at least, which was good.

Thankfully we made it to Frankfurt in time to hurry through the airport, catch a transit bus to the right gate and board our flight to Bristol… now we just had to hope our luggage had made the same speedy journey!

The pilot told us it was raining in Bristol… sounds about right for the end of August and our welcome home! But in all honestly, we don’t care – we are excited to see our family and friends and Maggie the dog!

Hey guys these are my last videos from Indonesia. Enjoy

So for the last 4 days of our adventures, we returned to Bali and headed to Ubud, aiming for a bit of relaxation time before the long journey home. Don’t think we’re ready to end our travels but we will make the most of our last few days!

---

As a treat for both Martin’s birthday and to end our adventure with a bang, Kate booked a jungle bamboo house overlooking the Ayung river in Ubud.

We couldn’t believe it when we were being shown all the rooms and facilities by our host – the house was massive! There were enough beds for 8 people to sleep, and everything was so spacious and beautifully designed. The houses are made from 90% bamboo – just incredible.

We already knew we were having our first day here as a relax, unpack and unwind kind of day – so did nothing but that! The kids had a swim in the pool, and we ordered food for both lunch and supper. Martin and Kate planned out the next couple of days – both with adventuring things as well as massages and down time.

Everything can be done in-house here – you can order your food/massages/day trips all via WhatsApp, and whatever drinks or food you order is brought to your room by 2 or 3 members of staff. Housekeeping also arrive in the evening to “turn down the beds” and prepare everything for a good nights sleep. Such a treat for us after a long time on the road organising everything ourselves.

---

Martin’s birthday began with a well-deserved slow morning, our body clocks woke us around 6:30am but we enjoyed just sitting and listening to the river in the valley below us. We had a complimentary breakfast booked as it was our first morning, which was up in the “warung” (small eatery) where we’d had tea when we first arrived. Scrambled eggs on toast, pancakes with honey, and piles of fresh fruit was very much welcomed – gobbled too quickly for a photo!

For the adventurous part of the day, we’d planned a route north of where we were staying and hired a driver for the day.

First stop: rice paddy viewing. This area of Bali is well known for its rice paddies and they can be seen from the side of any country roads. We saw a variety – some ready for harvesting, some freshly sown and some in between. All of them had little offering areas, which are filled with flowers and incense every morning as an offering to the rice gods, praying for a good harvest.

Next stop: Sangeh Monkey Temple. Here long tailed macaques roam free, enjoying peanuts and other delights from ‘wardens’ of the temple. Some local faith communities believe that the monkeys are a reincarnation of a Warrior Princess, so they are considered a blessing to the community and a sacred animal.

The temple is set amongst 13 hectares of forest, mostly made up of nutmeg trees. There are a number of stories around why the trees and monkeys are here. One legend says the daughter of a God from Mount Agung wanted to move to Mengwi. On her way there she was conveniently accompanied by a nutmeg forest. Suddenly someone spotted this phenomenon and the nutmeg forest stopped where it was. The area was later named Sangeh. Some Balinese believe the monkeys are the princess’s soldiers guarding the forest.

The monkeys are incredibly tame; used to humans due to the rather touristy way the wardens feed them and encourage some to jump onto people’s shoulders or laps. Martin got an unexpected birthday cuddle from one monkey before we’d even made our way inside!

We also enjoyed a wander through the forest, marvelling at how tall the trees were and enjoying the shade.

Third stop: Pengempu Waterfall. A quick 15 minutes further north from the monkey temple lies this gorgeous, little-known spot in the middle of the jungle. We chose this because it’s not as popular as some bigger waterfalls in this area, hoping to have the place to ourselves.

To get to it, we asked our driver to park on the side of the road, and walked from there. We followed a well-layed path down through the jungle, enjoying the views along the way…

When we got there we realised we had the place to ourselves, jackpot!!

The midday sun was hot and humid, but the water felt cool and refreshing and it didn’t take us long to get into our cozzies. We clambered over the rocks and sank into the water.

We did end up having to share our little spot with a few others, but not for long as they only stayed for around 20 minutes. The only other people we saw were three young lads who arrived just as we were drying off and changing back into our clothes – we think they may have got a flash of the birthday boy’s bum!

After we’d made our way back up the valley, we asked to stop for some lunch at one of the many roadside eateries. We found a gorgeous little spot called Titi Garden (Martin enjoyed the name far too much!) and had fun ordering a variety of food and drinks from their Balinese-Western menu. We had two or three dishes and two drinks each, and our bill came to less than £14! Some dishes were winners (Sylvie’s new favourite being bao buns) and some were less so (Elijah and Kate shared some incredibly spicy noodles!) but we enjoyed it all with a glorious view of the valley below us.

Our last stop of the day was to a local supermarket and fruit stall to get a few bits for our house – including dragon fruit, the new favourite!

That was it for the adventuring side of the day… we got back to the house and didn’t have long to wait for the relaxation side… a Balinese massage!

Fully oiled and zen, we had a delicious birthday dinner then read books in the fading light of the day.

---

Day 3 dawned and Martin headed off for his Bali run, the last one for this adventure. Unfortunately due to some stray dogs barking and chasing him he cut it short! He did find a picturesque bridge across the river we overlook from the house though.

We’d decided to spend the morning chilling and enjoying the house, so that meant mostly reading books and splashing about in the pool (oh, and gobbling dragonfruit!).

At midday we hopped into a car (again driven by our new pal Lala!) and set off for our afternoon. We’d planned out a route that would take us up north again, with different things to see.

Our first point of interest was Kayu Putih – also known as Bayan ancient tree (Bayan is the name of the local area). This giant tree found in central Bali is believed to be one of the countries oldest. The name Kayu Putih means ‘white wood’, so named after the colour of its enormous trunk. It is thought to be over 700 years old, but the exact age is unknown.

Not sure any of us were expecting such an incredible sight. Nestled in a tiny village, next to a temple, this ancient tree is considered sacred… and you can see why. It’s just enormous and standing under it, near it, you can almost feel it’s energy. A very special tree.

Our next destination was a cocoa plantation and organic chocolate farm/factory called Desi Coklat. We had a rather interesting journey there. It turned out that the road leading to the small chocolate factory was under construction. After a few stops, starts and checking with locals, Lala parked up and we decided to do the final 10 mins on foot. We are sure we caused much amusement with everyone that passed us, but after a dusty hot walk we did indeed find the right place!

We weren’t really able to see the cocoa plantation, as it extended far beyond the cafe and chocolate preparation areas that we did see. We enjoyed a delicious lunch (resisted the chocolate pizza!) and paid for the children to do a “chocolate mould experience”, hoping it would be really hands on. In reality, it was nothing more than three lolly sticks, some melted chocolate in a bag and a Christmas tree mould! But the kids enjoyed eating the fruits of their labour and we all enjoyed a few tasters in the chocolate selling area too. Thankfully Lala had managed to find an alternative route there by going the long way round, so arrived with a smile ready to take us onwards.

The chocolate place took a lot longer than we’d planned and as our last stop was something we were keen not to miss, we hurried on, hoping we hadn’t missed our chance.

Lazy river Penarungan: we couldn’t find much information about it in English online, but it looked like fun and thankfully they were still operating when we arrived! Local children were playing in the water as we navigated our way down to a little ticket booth and paid for our tickets. The lady didn’t speak any English but with hand gestures and smiles we decided we’d paid correctly and could just take a dingy and go….

It turned out we needed to jump into the back of a truck and drive to the start. What proceeded was a hairy zoom through town in an open top truck. The kids were squealing with delight and nervousness. After a rapid reverse downhill manoeuvre from the driver we quickly disembarked, had the inflatables blown up for us and started the floaty ride.

We were completely unprepared clothing wise, had no cozzies with us to change into but that didn’t matter. We just hadn’t expected the rafts to fill quite so high with river water. That they did. But who cares! We had a wonderful meandering ride through rice fields and overhanging foliage. It was a super way to end the day, even if a little damp!

There was just time to stop at a street-side grocer on the way back for some fruit and we were done for the day.

That evening we enjoyed another round in the pool, made noodles and fruit salad for supper and tried to start packing, hardly able to believe we only had one day left.

---

Our last day in Bali, our last adventure day really, came around far too quickly. Sylvie had her hair braided and we enjoyed trying more of the fruit we’d bought the night before. We also spent several hours retrieving various items that had spread themselves around our extensive house.

And then all of a sudden it was a last minute scramble to squish of things into bags and a sad farewell to our bamboo home. Our flight to Singapore wasn’t until late afternoon so we enjoyed a leisurely lunch in the ‘warung’ before hopping in the car again to make our way to the airport.

We said goodbye to Lala as he dropped us at the departure gates and headed inside ready to begin our long journey home.

Our first (and hopefully only!) hiccup came while we were in the queue for check in when Sylvie realised she didn’t have her phone. It was still in Lala’s car, probably all the way back in Green Village by now. Cue frantic phone calls, much grovelling and an about turn before security… and Lala kindly turning around and coming back to meet us at the drop off zone.

“Second time lucky” we hoped as we turned around and headed into Denpasar airport again.

Friday morning dawned and we were ready for our liveaboard boat trip. After an interesting breakfast at the hotel (delicious pancakes, eggs, fruit and toast but the children had mixed success with the tray of sweet “puddings” – some were actually doughnuts, some were furry meat sweet buns masquerading as doughnuts!!), we met our guide (Yofan) and checked out.

We piled into a car with no seatbelts and were taken down to the harbour, where we were greeted by hundreds of other tourists all doing the same thing, all waiting for various boats and guides and pieces of equipment.

Thankfully we were in a shady spot, as we did wait over an hour and a half for Yofan to return and tell us the boat was ready.

After a rickety climb down the side of the wall into our little boat, we were soon on our way to the big boat and our home for 2 nights.

Whilst the idea of living on a boat for a few days sounds idyllic the reality of sleeping in a cramped space that heated up like an oven, rocking to and fro with the fumes of diesel is not a great way to encourage sleep. What we saw and did totally made it worth it but needless to say we were super tired by the end! (Plus we did cool off by leaping into the sea multiple times a day and Martin loved his now-favourite bucket and scoop shower).

Our first island stop of the day was Kelor Island, for a sweaty hot scramble up the hillock to see the gorgeous views and a bit of a swim/snorkel.

Second stop was Manjerite, a well known snorkelling spot further down the mainland. But before the snorkelling could commence there was a fierce amount of jumping-off-the-roof fun to be had!

The snorkelling really was fantastic, a huge array of fish and coral to see, as well as large bright blue starfish and lots of anemones. We even saw a school of fish swimming in a current – they looked like they were in a tube. The big highlight however, was seeing a big green turtle in the wild! Don’t think any of us will forget that moment.

Once back on board we headed to another island, which had a tiny fishing village on its edge, for a couple of our boat men to go ashore to sort something out. We’re not sure what they were doing but the kids had more fun jumping off the boat while we waited and Sylvie bought a miniature wooden Komodo dragon from a local boy, who had paddled up to our boat with various things to sell.

Then it was perfect timing for a beautiful sunset and our last island stop of the day, Flying Fox island (locally known as Pulau Koabe), where thousands of bats emerge out of the mangroves at dusk.

---

Kate’s birthday morning began at 4:30am when we woke up to splash our faces with water and clamber into our little boat that took us to Padar Island. This also involved lots of climbing upwards (but this time with cement and rock steps rather than bare earth) towards the summit in order to watch the sunrise.

Once we got back on the boat, we were each presented with a freshly cooked hot banana pancake with chocolate sauce, a perfect way to start the day.

Next up – Komodo Island. It took another 2 hours to make our way there, so everyone just had a bit of chill or a nap – not as easy as it seems when the boat is rocking from big waves!

Getting from our boat onto the jetty was another funny moment in the trip – our captain basically just pulled up next to another boat and we climbed along our rooftop, across theirs and onto the jetty, simple!

We had been on the island for about 5 minutes tops when we spotted a little dragon on the beach, but we didn’t have long to investigate as Yofan had organised us a guide to take us trekking through the island and he was ready.

Our Komodo guide’s name was Yono, and he was fabulous. He was born on the island, grew up there and has been a dragon guide for 12 years. As we trekked, he pointed out many things and gave us so much information it was hard to remember it all! He also spotted a dragon pretty soon into our walk…

We saw wild boar (perfect snacks for a dragon!), guinea fowl nests that take the birds years to make (dragon’s steal these for their nests!), and holes in the river bed where the dragons rest. We also ate fresh tamarind fruit – sweet and sour at the same time!

We learned that once baby Komodo dragons hatch, they immediately scramble up into the trees to avoid being eaten by their parents. They often live in the trees for 3-4 years, eating geckos, insects and anything else that comes their way until they are large enough to make their way on land.

We were lucky enough to come across one of the largest males on the island, 3.5m long. A magnificent beast.

At the end of our trek we stopped for a cold drink under the shade before making our way back to our boat. It can be quite stressful negotiating even something as simple as a drink, as all the stall holders are just desperate for your custom – you just have to make eye contact with one person only and go with it!

Once we were back on our boat, we headed to Pink beach – named after its pink coloured sand. This is caused by microscopic animals called Foraminifera that produce red pigment on the coral reefs.

Back to the boat for a spot of lunch and chilling while we travelled onwards.

Taka Makasar was our next destination – a tiny island surrounded by a beautiful patch of coral and white sand. We mostly explored this while snorkelling amongst the coral so haven’t got many pictures, but if any island we visited was Instagram-perfect it would be this one. The deep ocean below us was so clear all the larger fish swimming far below were visible and it felt like a window into another world.

The swimming and snorkelling was amazing again, such a variety of fish and sea creatures, and made even more brilliant when we spotted another turtle!

Not far from Taka Makasar is Manta Point. As the name implies, it’s where manta rays are often spotted while feeding, so is a popular place to go! Giant, playful creatures that can grow up to 4 meters wide, manta rays are relatively harmless; they swim elegantly around Manta Point and feed on tiny plankton.

Once we arrived everyone (us and all the other boats) was looking for signs. Suddenly our guide noticed the manta rays potential location. We flayed around, hopping about the deck trying to put on our flippers, mask and breathing snorkel. Not a smooth look! Once we fell / jumped in we swam to the area, alongside many other tourists. Unfortunately, after two attempts, we couldn’t see any manta ray so navigated our way back onto the little boat, accepting we may have missed them passing through.

In one last ditch effort we motored back the way we’d come continually on the lookout. Our boat crew, and a few other boats already in the area, started shouting and pointing. This was our signal to again, in our usual undignified way, scramble to get kit on and flop back back into the sea. Immediately looking down we saw a gigantic blue-grey creature gracefully floating under us. We had found a manta ray! It’s hard to completely explain how huge he was, unlike anything we imagined.

We snorkelled with it some 20-30 feet below us, trying not to bump into other snorkelers. The large adult manta ray was then unexpectedly joined by a mother and her baby. We were so grateful to have seen these incredible creatures in the wild. Due to the slightly manic and stressful process of getting into / out of the water we opted to leave the camera behind. No photographic evidence! Shocking.

Following the Manta ray excitement, we were back on the boat to watch the sunset as we headed towards Kanawa Island.

Once there, one of our boat guys tethered us to the boat in front and we settled down for the night. The kids couldn’t imagine not having a last dip in the ocean, so it was night swimming/jumping for them.

---

And all too soon it was time for one last sunrise viewing as we made our way back to Labuan Bajo harbour and then on to the airport.

We’re heading back to Bali, this time to Ubud (an area of rainforest and traditional rice paddies), for a bit of R&R before we head home.

We had an early start to the day, to get to the airport for our 7am one-hour flight to Labuan Bajo on Flores – several islands east of Bali. We were meant to be arriving early so that we could catch our liveaboard boat at 9am, which we had arranged for 3 nights. However our plans had been adjusted a couple of months ago due to the availability of boats, and was totally out of our control. We tried changing the flights, but had no luck, so instead had to go with the early morning and head straight for a hotel rather than the boat.

After a little kerfuffle over prices of taxis (there are no Grab cars here on Flores, only Grab motorbikes – not practical with two children and lots of rucksacks!), we finally got someone to take us the 8 minute car journey to our hotel.

We were too early for check in, but were able to dump our bags and go and use the pool until our room was ready… and thankfully our rooms we’re ready by 11:30am, despite check out not being until 12. Thank you people who came before us!

We had a lovely time in and out of the pool for the morning, but when we got to our room we found the old only-three-beds issue again! It seems several places in Asia only provide a bed per adult in the room (adults are age 13 and above), rather than per person. We’re not sure if it’s down to budget hotels vs pricier ones, but it has happened to us before! Nothing we could do about it though, so we shifted two beds together and Martin won the single bed argument that time!

---

After a quiet lunch at the restaurant onsite at the hotel, we holed up in our room and enforced nap time – both kids were adamant they wouldn’t sleep… both kids were asleep in 20 minutes!

Post-nap refreshment took a while to come, but we were soon dressed and ready to catch the sunset and head out for dinner. We had chosen a place called Green Cherry, very highly rated online for its beautiful views and delicious food.

Our taxi driver suggested we stop higher up the hill rather than go straight to the restaurant, to ensure we caught the sunset, which was a good idea as it was just gorgeous (cue sunset spam!)

We then made our way down the hill for 5 minutes (followed by three curious young girls about Sylvie’s age) to the restaurant. The views there isn’t disappoint either, nor did the food. Martin (of course) was the most adventurous – choosing Ikan Bakar (Indonesian roasted fish with rice).

We were full and sleepy after the scrumptious supper, so caught a taxi back to our hotel. There was a bit of drama between us and the man we’ve arranged the liveaboard boat with – essentially over money that nobody had! We’d previously transferred a deposit over to secure the boat, and the money had left our account but he hadn’t received the money his end and had been told it wouldn’t clear until September. Cue several complicated WhatsApp conversations and attempts at cancelling funds via banking apps and all sorts. Thankfully both kids fell asleep before this went on, so they had a good nights sleep.

We hope that tomorrow all will get resolved and we’ll be off on our boat trip for a few days.

Hey everyone here are my videos from Malaysia. I didn’t do that many because I was just loving the wildlife!

That’s it! I will try and do more videos in Bali Bye 👋

There were no direct flights from Sandakan to Denpasar, so we flew via KL again which meant a day of travel. Thankfully the kids are pretty awesome at all this now so it wasn’t a tricky day. There was minimal amount of winge, and mostly a lot of helping, carrying, walking and finding out information (oh, and needing the loo at totally inappropriate times like when nearing the end of the queue for immigration!). But before we knew it, we’d arrived in Indonesia!

---

---

We’d arranged a driver to pick us up, so it was an easy transition to our Airbnb, which we were grateful for as it was quite late when we arrived.

We’re staying in a lovely, quiet set of homestays (think independent hotel rooms with a pool but no reception or restaurant or anything), just behind a main road on the coast of Kuta Utara.

We went straight to bed once we’d unpacked (although the kids were tempted by the pool at 10:30pm!), as we were all pretty tired from the travelling as well as all the Bornean adventuring.

---

We couldn’t ignore our hungry tummies for too long in the morning, so headed down the street in search of somewhere for brunch. We chose a place called Watercress and it was an excellent decision.

Hunger satiated, we headed further down the street to find the beach and check out the local area. The streets were manic, full of cars and scooters beeping and winding their way through the traffic – often driving on the pavement to keep moving. It was very hot and noisy, but so interesting to see how restaurants, laundrettes, temples, corner shops and all sorts mingle together in the same space. We reached the beach to find it pretty empty and most local people only just setting up their stalls ready to sell their wares. We wandered along the sand, enjoying the refreshing waves on our feet.

As we hadn’t left that morning with any of our swim/beach stuff, and we’d promised the kids a chilled morning by the pool we headed back to our room for a few hours.

The “chilled morning” finally ended at 4pm when we thought it might be time to get something done! Martin took our post-jungle clothes to a nearby launderette and booked us all a Balinese massage in our rooms.

The hour-long massages were incredible, and cost us only £10 each… might be having some more of them! Straight from the massage we headed out for dinner at a restaurant under 5 minutes walk away. It was all delicious, but Sylvie was so tired she couldn’t even manage her half of the pudding, so we didn’t linger but went straight back to bed!

---

First port of call the next morning was to get some more cash out of the ATM (far fewer contactless payments here) and get breakfast. The exchange rate from GBP to Indonesian rupees is about 1:20,000 at the moment, so we are dealing with high numbers. The kids found it amazing that they were millionaires!!

Breakfast was another winner of pancakes, smoothie bowl, feta avocado toast and a big Bali breakfast – all washed down with smoothies and fresh fruit juices.

We had discovered that the Grab app also works here in Indonesia, so we caught a Grab taxi to the Turtle Conservation and Education Centre (about 16km away on the southeasterly peninsula of Bali). This turned out to be so much more than we’d hoped for, as you can “adopt” a baby turtle and release it into the ocean!

We spoke to one of the conservationists working and learned about the way things operated there – from rescuing and rehabilitating turtles, to carefully hatching eggs and baby turtles being released back into the ocean. They also re-release the adult turtles once they’ve passed all the health checks and ensure they are in the best possible position to survive in the wild.

There are three types of turtles that inhabit the seas around Bali – Green, Olive Ridley and Hawksbill. The ones we held and released were green turtles, the same as when we were in Borneo.

After viewing some of the older turtles in their temporary holding “pens”, we were very excited to learn that we were allowed to hold tiny baby hatchlings that had just been born that morning!

We then went to arrange our turtle adoption papers. The kids were given a coconut shell bowl and allowed to chose their turtle and name them.

Once we were back at the conservation centre we couldn’t help ourselves – we had to see the babies again! We learned that the reason they keep the newborn hatchlings out of the water at first is because some of them emerge from the egg with their placenta still attached. Predators in the sea can smell this, so it makes them more vulnerable. By allowing the placenta to dry out before release, it gives the turtles a greater chance of survival.

After the wonderful turtle encounter, we grabbed a Grab to a different beach – Sanur – on the opposite side of Bali.

A dunk in the ocean and a snack-stop later, we did a bit of shopping and Kate introduced Sylvie to the art of bargaining… and of saying “no thank you” firmly!! Then it was back to our Airbnb (through rush hour traffic!), a family game of ball in the pool, showers, supper and bag repacking. No one felt like getting dressed and heading out for food, so the Grab app delivery service for a takeaway was a lifesaver – plus we got burgers that were so delicious they rivalled Fergburger in New Zealand!

So that’s it for the first bit of Bali for us – tomorrow we are heading to East Nusa (Flores), several islands east. We go in search of Komodo dragons and manta rays!