Bali: A Holiday for Two

Date: 22nd June 2024

Location: BeingSattvaa Retreat, Ubud, Bali

Well, this post is very different from the previous one. Not one mention of boatie issues (except to say the missing sail has now turned up - unfortunately on our friends' boat M2 which has just arrived 1,500 miles away in Fiji!)

Well, how amazing is this? We think this is the first time since Crete in 1976 that we have been on holiday together just the two of us (we don't count life on the boat as a holiday)! It's also our first visit to Indonesia.

Crete: 1974

I used to do a "first impressions" of a country. A bit late but here is Bali's.

Off to Denpasar, Bali early on a Sunday morning.

Bali: peace, traffic, temples, rice fields, offerings, tourism, jungle, yoga, coconuts, mopeds, ceremonies, vegetarianism, monkeys, massage, cheap, laid back, calm, delicious fresh food, bamboo, spirituality, more temples, wood carvings, kites.

We love it. It's up there with our most favourite countries and just what we needed.

Wood carvings EVERYWHERE. Who buys them?

In the towns - Traffic EVERYWHERE.

Kite building on the main road.

The place we're staying is in the middle of the rain forest. Yoga each morning, outdoor bathroom, you know just like the brochures show you. And it's warm again. How we've missed the tropics.

We've learned a bit about Bali Hinduism too. There are temples everywhere. Each family house has its own temple, then each village has one and then there are big public ones too. The public ones are open to everyone including the tourists.

We got talking to the Indian guy who built this hotel and he asked us if we would like to visit his village temple for a purification ceremony. It's a big deal. You are trying to empty your mind and body of everything. Open your seven chakras and cleanse your mind and body of everything. Early the next morning the two of us together with a translator went to the ancient temple. Down a hundred (very large) steps we wore properly tied sarongs (different for men and women). Once in the open air temple the priest took us to a raised area where we knelt and planted incense sticks in the paving as we took each of the offerings from our bamboo square and the priest intoned prayers and rang his little bell. Then it was down to the eleven fountain spouts where we stripped naked and began to cleanse our minds and bodies in the first spout, moving to the next when we were ready. At each spout we let the water fall over our entire bodies and over our hair before taking a mouthful and spitting it out and a further mouthful which we swallowed. Twenty minutes or so later and re-robed we were back with the priest for a final blessing with holy water and grains of rice on our foreheads and at our throats. It really was an amazing, beautiful experience.

Much of the time though we are just chilling out but one day we were recommended to walk the 4k to two hidden waterfalls. On the way we passed through the village decorated with religious statues and flags, white on the east and yellow on the west side. We learned this was for a village ceremony held every 50 years. There was to be dancing and prayers. At the waterfall we were asked to pay 50,000 rupiah each (£2.50) rather than the normal 20,000 to help fund the occasion. As this was more than we had been led to believe we would pay we (read Gill) were a bit suspicious we were being scammed but we paid anyway. In return we were given a voucher for money off local KFC equivalent meals! Weird or what. Anyway off to waterfall #1. Nice wander through the jungle, nice waterfall. Off to waterfall #2. As we sat on a step to eat our peanuts and unidentified dried peas the guy who had granted us entry came sloshing up the stream with the extra 60,000 rupiah we had paid. He had found out that our voucher didn't apply until August when we would be gone so we should take our money back. We thanked him and told him to keep it anyway. Cool dude and fair play to him. We finished the walk and chilled out with a shared coconut with two straws.

Yesterday though was 'tourist day'. We hired a driver to take us up into the mountains. There are really four types of holiday in Bali - forest (us), town and nightlife, beach and mountain. So this was a taste of the mountains.

Recent eruption (black lava)

Bali is part of a long volcanic chain formed when one continental mass was forced under another. It's a bit like the Caribbean islands both in climate and topography but whereas the Caribbean islands have generally not made the most of their rich volcanic soils, in Bali there is barely a square metre of uncultivated ground. It's the first time we've seen rice fields. Everything is done manually though we were told tractors or 'Japanese cows' as they are known here are now used for ploughing. We saw no tractors until our driver pointed one out - a rotavator! No family is allowed to open more than two hectares (5 acres) of land and they can grow almost everything here. With coast, rich volcanic soils and highlands we saw everything from potatoes and strawberries to coconuts and papaya growing, along with the ubiquitous rice.

No uncultivated square metre.

There are two active volcanoes on Bali the most recently active has black lava flowing down its side. Lower down every inch is covered with vegetables, fruit trees and small roadside stalls.

We visited Ulun Danu Beratan Temple beside a lake under a mountain, Mount Bratan. An amazing mix of religion and tourism. A large temple, out of bounds for us, but also other religions statues and monuments, perfectly set against the mountains and lake. As well as 'have your photo taken holding a large fruit bat, or python, or owl', ice cream parlours and cafes.

With our guide and driver.

This was the first time we had seen rice paddy fields.

Rice terraces.

Ready to cut.

Drying in the street.

Chaff left to rot.

Other things we've discovered here.

1. Womens' clothes here really suits Gill (shame she forgot her debit and credit cards on her second visit into town).

2. Bali Hinduism is different from elsewhere. Nature seems to play a greater part. 5% are Muslim, the rest mostly Hindu in Bali.

3. Bali is one of 27 islands that make up Indonesia. The capital is Djakarta on Java. Most of the other islands are predominantly Muslim.

4. There is only one god in Bali Hinduism. All the others are manifestations to various aspects of the god like water, fire, ether, lakes, the ocean etc.

5. 70% of Balinese people are engaged on tourism in one form or another. COVID shut everything down for over a year.

6. Things are ridiculously cheap here. An hour's massage in town cost 120,000 or less than £6. A main meal is around 70,000 (£3.50). Gills beautiful Batik trousers were 100,000 (£5).

7. SO many temples. As each house has one and they are usually bigger than the houses themselves they appear to be everywhere.

8. For Balinese people their religion is part of daily life. They make offerings when they open their shops, at every crossroads, around each banyan tree and when they make their first sale of the day.

Pavement offering.

9. Balinese life is on a very personal level.

Shiny wheelbarrows. Eat your heart out Harley.

Street woodcarver...

...and his delicate work.

Takeaway lunch.

If you've never been here and it is a long way from Europe or N America but if you can stand a long haul flight I can thoroughly recommend Bali as a destination.

Resilience

Date: 7th June 2024

Location: Scarborough Marina, north of Brisbane, Australia

If you want to hear about amazing places and salty seadog tales this episode is not going to satisfy you one iota. I'm as sorry as you.

Resilience? It's been a hard two months here as we effectively carry out a refit of Mehalah after five hard years of sailing from the UK.

So, here's an example of what I mean. Yesterday's story. We are finally ready to put our sails back on. They have been washed and stored for us. David the sailman met us in the carpark. In the back of his pickup (or ute to us Aussies) were two sails, one sailbag and a stack pack. Both sails are ours. However we had given him three sails. He showed me pictures of just the two sails he said he had. I told him to look at his records. Ah, three sails. I don't know where the other one is! Maybe I gave it to your friends Meraki 2 by accident. Unfortunately they are currently in heavy weather on the way to Fiji and it is too rough for them to check their sail locker (it does seem very unlikely though). Maybe they are in the sail loft then or with the repair man. Dave said he would check. We've heard nothing yet. So, not a good start to the day.

A month ago a refrigeration engineer said he would come to re-gas our fridge which you might remember stopped working a couple of days out of Panama last year. He never turned up. So we contacted a Serbian guy who came yesterday. Bad news. It's not a gas leak it's a failed compressor. Marine replacements are VERY expensive. We discussed options and he's going to send us some quotes. There is one on eBay but who knows if it's in working condition.

Finally yesterday our repaired outboard motors arrived. Both now start. Yippee! But our favourite, the 9.8hp 2 stroke Tohatsu will no longer steer in any direction other than a straight line. The steering unit has seized through lack of use (because it wouldn't start!). The expensive mechanic said it would be very expensive to strip it down to see if it could be repaired. We decided to see if we could strip it down ourselves. Richard the amazing marina manager said we could work in his workshop. So that's where we spent the afternoon. With workshop manual in hand and YouTube videos replaying we removed the power head, lower casing, gear box and drive shaft housing. Off to the mechanic to see if he can press the steering shaft out of its casing. Ah, he's not here. That's a job that will have to wait. Instead today we've started work on the new stantion bases. Yup, you guessed it. They don't fit.

Early disassembly.

Ready for pressing out.

Anyway those jobs are minor. Most of the time since we returned we've been running two parallel streams of work; termites and other things.

Luckily we've seen no evidence of termites but they had left a lot of damage which had to be stripped out of the back of the boat and rebuilt. This entailed a combination of woodwork (John) and fibreglassing (Gill). Kevin from Meraki 2 has been amazing working with Gill and all that work is now just about complete.

Termite...

...damage.

Work in progress.

In the small space that is the lazarette.

Mixing another batch of epoxy.

The finished lazarette.

Our finished cabin.

At the same time we've been tackling the normal jobs. Again we've had help from James on Carina with hatch leak repairs, a stuck windlass, installation of a new AIS instrument, reefing line issues. The list goes on!

So tomorrow we are taking our first day off in ten weeks. We're off in our hire car to the Glasshouse Mountains around an hour away.

And then, next week, we are having our first romantic twosome holiday for many years. We have to leave Australia as a visa requirement so we are having eight days in a really nice hotel in Bali, Indonesia. We'll let you know how that turns out but we are REALLY ready for a break from incessant boat jobs.

UPDATE:

We had a great day in the Glasshouse Mountains today. Climbed one, encircled one - a good walk at last.

Amazing rhyolite plugs.

Summit of Ngungun Peak.

Fresh as a daisy after a long day.

Glasshouse mountains from our marina.

Oh yes. The boat compass is broken and the generator won't start. Hey ho!

And finally..... The Bee Gees came from Redcliffe, the next town along the coast.

Us with the Bee Gees. It's a mite chilly here in the winter.

Flying east into tomorrow

Dawn breaks as we fly east towards tomorrow and Australia.

Date: 20th April 2024

Location: Scarborough Marina, Queensland

Yes, were back. Here's what happened while we were in the UK.....

1. We buried my mum's ashes which was a nice occasion because we missed her funeral last September - we were in Fiji then.

2. We celebrated my 70th birthday in our friends Dave and MC's house in Eskdale, the English Lake District. This is where lived for 30 years and is still our spiritual home. Many friends arrived. I chose stew and dumplings for my birthday meal. Yumsters. The weather was excellent. Thank you all.

Sorry Dave and MC - I don't think we took pictures of you but thanks for the loan of Kirkbank.

3. We spent time in Zaragoza, Spain with first daughter Jenny and in Folkestone, England with second daughter, Emma. Gill's sisters and my brother were all in fine form too.

With Emma in Folkestone.

With Jenny and Marcus in Zaragoza.

4. I discovered just how inefficient and non communicative British lawyers are whilst attempting, so far magnificently unsuccessfully, to complete mum's probate process.

5. Canal restoration continued and we raised £200 for them from a talk about our travels.

6. I've decided that before I die I would like to plant a wood to leave something behind for future generations. (Word is out now so it has to happen!)

7. We purchased many items for Mehalah and packed them in our cases ready for installation back here in Brisbane.

8. As usual the last three weeks pre-departure were manic. Everyone seemed to want to see us before we left, I was fighting with mum's probate solicitor and we had a talk about our travels to give to the canal volunteers and other good friends from in and around Stroud.

Ten days before we were due to fly I had another PSA test. Down a bit again to 2.6. Dr Duncan pleased but still wary of a future rise. "Make hay while the sun shines" is his opt repeated mantra. In November he had asked for photos of Fiji and Tonga, some of his favourite islands. I also gave him a thank you photo showing me in 2017 (very chemo faced) compared with 2023 (very healthy). I think he liked it.

And then even closer to departure day I received a letter from the Crown Courts calling me for jury service the following month. As by then I was over 70 I was able to apply to be excused. Apply yes, but turned out that didn't mean it would be granted. It wasn't. What to do? Seems I can defer for up to a year. So I will definitely be back in the UK for 14th April 2025. Keep that date.

As the flight from the UK to Perth is shorter and we'll probably never get to go to Perth again we decided to fly there instead of direct to Brisbane. As usual we had too much luggage but by smiling nicely we were let through without additional payment. The flight was a flight, with Doha a new first for stopover. In Perth we did what you do in Perth. Ferry trip to Freemantle (Freo to us now) where we met up with Keith and Glynis. Keith was a geologist with us back in the 1980s. 42 years since we last met and conversation flowed freely both in Freemantle and on our last day in Perth when they picked us up and showed us the never ending beaches to the north of Perth. We also made the ferry trip out to Rottnest Island (Rotto to us now) to see the Quokkas, large ratlike marsupials. Unfortunately we were cycling in the heat of the day, I probably hadn't drunk enough again and we were still jet lagged. Yup, another fainting episode. Luckily we flagged down a passing tourist bus which took us back to the little port and their nursing station. ECG, urine, blood pressure, the full works. Conclusion? Dehydration. A bit concerning as we were being mindful of the possibility of another collapse. Anyway I'm all good again now. [Cue more concerned messages from medic friends. Thanks guys!]. Perth was clean and friendly with an excellent free local bus service. The other excitement of the week was the surprise appearance of DJ Fred Again who announced he would play an open air show in the park we overlooked. 30,000 tickets sold out in 4 minutes for a DJ we had never heard of. Jenny and Emma had paid for a superb seafood meal in the park that evening (thanks girls) and we watched Fred 'performing' as we made our way home. It's not often I feel old but I really have no idea what the attraction was, though he was very good at waving his arms around and 'wizzing his decks'.

The red eye flight took us the five hour journey back to Brisbane. This time instead of a nice 25kg baggage allowance we only had 23kg each. So now instead of being two kilos over we were more like six over. Heavy books in handbags, bedecked in jumpers and foul weather gear we made it through again ("I told you not to stress John"). And there we were, back in Scarborough Marina. Not daring to venture into the aft cabin we nonchalantly looked around. A few leaks, batteries nicely charged, a bit of bilge water. And then it had to be done. Gill looked in the termite infested area at the back of the boat. "Take a look", she said. "See what you think". I looked. I looked again. I looked more carefully. Yeah!!! NO TERMITE EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER!!! What a relief. We can start to plan the next year. Lots of work to take out the old wood and rebuild but once that is done we should have Mehalah back almost as good as new.

Back here everyone is preparing for the new sailing season. Lots and lots of boat work that I won't bore you with but take up day after often frustrating day. Fix the toilet, find the leaks, fix the leaks, order a new windlass motor, try to sort the reefing line stuck in the boom, fit the new AIS and wind displays. Why does everything take so long? Our little group of remaining Pacific crossers help each other, provide advice and duplicate spare parts. Salty Ginger has a car for a couple of weeks so there are trips to Costco, to IGA, and Dan Murphy the excellent off licence.

As we've been in the tropics for more than a dozen years we decided to visit the local Redcliffe Skin Cancer clinic for a checkup. What a neat service. For £70 each we had a complete body inspection. Every tiny mole or blemish considered. We each had a mark that we were mildly concerned about but luckily they are both just the result of advancing years and nothing to worry about. Gilly has also had a slowly growing benign lump on her head. In the UK an initial assessment cost £150 and the actual procedure would have been another £850. Paul, our skin cancer man, took it off for about £160. Result.

Rose and Ian who we stayed with before our return to the UK came to see us one morning and yesterday we heard out of the blue from David and Charlie of SV Audacia. David (New Zealand), in his 60s and Charlie (English, her mother lives in Bardsea) in her 40s had just become parents and wanted us to go to dinner and to meet Maggie their new baby. Caught in the middle of visa expiry Maggie ended up with a New Zealand emergency passport just before Charlie's Australian visa expired. That's going to be one much loved, well travelled young lady.

Cluck, cluck, cluck.

So we've still got a lot of work to do before we are ready to leave, probably for the Whitsundays, hopefully sometime in May. We lift out for bottom scrubbing, through hull inspection, anode replacement and possibly replacing our waterline white stripe. With a bit of luck that's all it will be. We'll see. 

Preparing for more goodbyes. Here you see from left to right some of our fellow Pacific crossers.

Shelley - Canadian - SV Carina - selling and returning to care for parents.

Shawna - Canadian - SV Meraki II - returning to Fiji, Sydney for New Year.

Julie - Canadian - SV Salty Ginger - sailing to Indonesia and on to South Africa.

Gill - English - SV Mehalah - coastal Australian sailing, Sydney for New Year.

Sealing leaks in the deck.