15 January 2010 Today was one of our slow days making the majority of it less than interesting to read about. Truthfully, I think that we were enjoying the homeliness of Jeff’s pad which (together with Chris’) made such a delightful change to the various low rent accommodations that we have slept in over the last five months that we felt no real need for entertainment over and above that which it provided. Jeff lives a ten minute walk from the beach and Gregg was keen to get his board out so, sometime in the afternoon, decided to take Angus (Jeff’s dog) out for a walk in order to give him some exercise and also to check on the surf. A little later he disappeared out of the front door, board in hand, saying I ... read more

11 January 2011 You cannot have lived through today anywhere near a TV or radio without having noticed that, this morning, something big started to happen in Brisbane. Last night as we were looking at the coverage of events in Toowoomba, conversation drifted towards how, or if, the flooding up stream was likely to impact on Brisbane. Chris thought it unlikely that we would end up stranded in Brisbane but said that he thought that if would be interesting to see how the damn built after the 1974 floods would be utilised/cope under the pressure of the waters further upstream. In truth, I wasn't really taking much notice as it was impossible to imagine that the scenes that we were watching online could possibly arrive in a suburb near us and, in any event, we ... read more

7 January 2011 Having lasted much longer last evening than either of us anticipated, we were awoken by our alarm this morning after nearly 12 hours welcome sleep. Not wanting to break from tradition, we engaged in a leisurely morning routine whilst consulting the local bus timetable and eventually made it out of the front door. The sun was making an effort at poking through the clouds as we wondered towards Greenslopes Bus Terminus. I was expecting to emerge into a shabby bus station akin to both those reminiscent of both the UK and across Asia but this was something entirely dfferent. We were greeted with a bus station in the style of a very clean train station, complete with overpass. Not only was the station spotless but, the dual carriageway that it straddles was ... read more

The Pink View We have spent the last 5 days on and off wondering whether Bali needs rounding up. In many ways it doesn't - we didn't actually see that much after all. For all of that, there is much to be said of Bali but I just don't quite know where to start. Gregg and I agree, I think, that much of our time in Bali falls into the stag category - 'what happens on the stag, stays on the stag' but not because we spent a month in alcoholic oblivion. Quite the opposite. Our memory of those thirty days puts us next door to paradise and round the corner from Eden. Sure, as with every other South-East Asian Country that we have visited, there were annoyances, cultural misunderstandings and copious amounts of bottled ... read more

New Years Day 2011 After a brilliant night last night, we both slept in until nine without and problem, arising in time to go to our morning Yoga class. There were no hangovers in sight, but that didn’t stop the Balinese continuing the party with further fireworks as we arrived a Desa Seni (as Lou has all ready told you) however I did start to wonder if they had indeed stopped at all, or if we just slept through them all night as they continued? One of the mysteries that will never be solved I suppose, like the tree falling over in the woods. Anyway we both felt rather virtuous being one of only a few to make it to the 10:15am morning Yoga, the first session of the New Year. The class was not ... read more