New Norcia

Couple of weeks back we went to see our friends Bomber and Lisa. They live out south of New Norcia - it was lovely to see them - especially as Lisa is due with their baby next month....

Bomber took us for a little drive around the property which took about an hour an a half. The boys did typical farmer stuff, and talked typical farmer talk....

I took pictures and enjoyed the scenery.

After we left them for our long trip home we spotted these cool ruins. So instead of driving past them and saying "next time we should stop and have a look at those" like we usually do ..... WE STOPPED!!!I am so glad we did - the day was perfect and the ruins really stood out well against the backdrop of green paddock and blue skies!

Daves Birthday

Its October.... Its Birthday season!

I seem to know a lot of great people who are born in October... amongst the greats are My Mum, two of my best friends, and then

my lovely husband!

For the first time in our nearly six years together we finally had a party for him... Our guests sitting down to dinner
We had lots of friends come along, which made it a fantastic night. But we were also very lucky to have one of Daves good mates from Perth, Mitch, come along also. I think this is also the first time I have ever organised a cake for him... now thats not because I am a mean wife, its just that he gets a fruitcake from Mum every year and that is a much anticipated and appreciated gift... (he loves fruitcake - he made our wedding cake last til about a week before his Birthday)
Ooops 63?? What happened there??? heheh
The party pretty much went on til about 4.30pm (I didn't) I got out of bed then and started kicking them all out, so 5.00am the Birthday boy got to bed, then got up at 7.00am for a game of golf which he apparently did quite well in.

When I got up later, there were still 2 party guests sitting around the fire... guess who one of them was? cough *Mitch* cough He was keeping Marko company (allegedly).

But it was a great party and now a week later we have nearly recovered from it.


Nearly.

Bali's "Kuta Karnival"

We were lucky enough to be in Bali during their 5th annual "Kuta Karnival" a celebration of life, an event that arose after the Bali bombings

Kuta Beach was the place to be, conveniently located opposite our lovely hotel. It was a really busy place, as there were so many activities happening through the week - day and night! Kite competitions, judging size, decoration, and flight height etc.

There were bands playing in concert throughout the whole celebration nonstop (it was a bit full on) they had a big skate ramp set up for anyone with a board to have a go... As you can see in the following clip, there was a definite combination of cultures (or clash)

They were the Hare Krisna's and one of the many many many hardcore bands.

As I said it was the place to be - virtually everyone we saw, were local people.

This team of guys playing - were among several teams playing soccer along the beach. It was pretty cool!

Another day we were trying to find somewhere for lunch, we noticed that they were about to start a parade through Kuta. This photo below is of some of the funky scooters and bikes that started the parade off...

This was one heck of a parade... it lasted all afternoon!!! Through it all, we had lunch, stood and watched a bit of the parade, went and got a massage, watched the parade again for another hour or so, walked home and it was still going!! (It sure beats the Sunshine festival parade we have in Geraldton!)
(nice photo Dave!)

it seemed everyone joined in the fun.

FLOWERS OF BALI

Every single day this big 'ol' wooden bowl would be used to make the most spectacular display of floating flower petals! I was actually around at just the right time to catch this happening.... I never managed to do it again! What a fluke.
Voila! The finished result!
I tried to catch as many of the different designs as I could - but I definitely missed quite a few!

Needless to say they weren't the only gorgeous flowers to be seen!

and finally a petal of another sort......

the BALI holiday at last!

I know I promised to do some updates while we were still actually in Bali, but the Internet connection speeds were just rediculously sloooowww... that, and relaxing took up so much of my time!

Sooo...... here are some shots of our fabulous hotel, the Alam Kulkul. We were very pleasantly surprised by this hotel. The tropical gardens and flowers all along this winding path, pictured, led all the way to our room. As you look across the pool - you can just make out our room there!
This photo is taken at the front door of our room looking back to where the last photo was taken.
This balcony/patio area was so private, that you could lay down and read a book and no-one would know that you were there unless they spotted your feet poking out
More of the private patio surrounded by lush tropical garden..... blisssss
Well this is our room, I forgot to take a photo the moment we arrived - it had been a loooonnggg day and I was tired! (Plane delay of 6 hours!) So consequently the room looks a little lived in... yup shopping bags everywhere.

Everyday we had flowers on the bed, I had mentioned how much I liked the pink/yellow frangipanis (flowers) to the housekeeping guys (yes they were all male house keepers - a good precendent!) and from that time on I had extra flowers on the bed and in the ashtray outside... (I used it as a floating bowl)

Aren't they beautiful?? I was spoilt!... I will devote a whole post to the flower display in the lobby, I won't say too much now - but it was brilliant!

We met this guy on our first night - while we were having tea.... he is the size of my forearm or slightly smaller... in the world of gecko Lizards ... he's huge!!

Our first day out adventuring - we didn't really get very far - but wound up here for a nice lunch... The legian beach hotel, just down the road from ours.

Well thats it for now.... I have a bit of editing to do to the rest of the photos. So I will add a few more when I get organised.

There are a just couple.... hundred!