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2025 Bali and Perth
  • Jane-Maree O'Neill
February 2025

2025 Bali and Perth

A 20-day adventure by Jane-Maree Read more
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  • Trip start
    February 5, 2025
    Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Sydney to Denpasar (Legian)

    February 5 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    An early morning start on a warm, humid, sticky Sydney morning. We slept with the air con on in our bedroom last night which was definitely the right thing to do to get some sleep. Even when we woke up I proceeded to lock all the doors and windows and put the aircon on in the living area. As usual we had everything down to a T, and me checking off all the last minute things to do on my myriad of lists. Andy would understand this critical (and very satisfying) component of travel.

    An uber to Sutherland station and then a very quick train to Wolli Creek which also wasn’t very crowded. It was a very pretty sunrise with clouds on the horizon so golds, pinks and silvers. I’m sure it’s going to be a very hot day in Sydney.

    Changed at Wolli Creek where I refused to get into the second lift with old pongo. Some old fart with his mangy wife going to the airport. He stunk. Whether it was his body or filthy jeans I don’t know but he absolutely stank.

    The plan was to meet Jackie and Steve at the business class Sky Lounge but they were actually on the same train as us so we ran into them on the platform which was a bit of fun. Jackie was wearing a multi-coloured top with lovely sparkly beading – very business class.

    Check-in, customs and screening was all very quick. When I did the online check-in the other day I looked up our seat numbers and we had already been allocated seats in row 21 which, on the seating plan were the bassinet seats!!!!! Of course these have plenty of leg room and no dickheads to recline their seats back onto you. However, I wasn’t ready to praise the plane-gods yet. But at check-in I checked tickets – yep, still row 21, and thankfully yes, we maintained our seats. YAAAY. The flight is also less than half full so that’s good too. Plus the seat next to me is vacant so I can lift up the arm rest and share it with the lady on the end.

    Jackie and Steve kindly sponsored us to go into the Sky Lounge with them so we partook of free food and drinks for an hour before departure which was very comfortable and cheap to boot!!! I had two sparkling wines and a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs, although there was a good assortment of breakfast stuff: coffee, pastries, fruits, alcohol and even Asian soup (yum I shoulda had that).

    Of course Jackie and Steve got priority boarding so were nicely seatedin business class with a glass of fizz when we came through. I did explain to Steve, while looking at my boarding pass and his seat allocation: Excuse me sir, but I think you’re in my seat? Gotta laugh 😊

    Just impatiently waiting now for the drinks cart…..

    So lunch arrived and it was very tasty. Mick’s gluten free meal was thoughtful and didn’t look like it had been banged together from dregs (think: congee). I had a barley salad with beans and carrots and a chicken nasi goreng. It came with cake which I had a mouthful of which was nice but I didn’t need to eat it. Shovelled down three white wines with lunch and while doing my crossword so I’d better slow down now (crossword getting messier as I progress down the page). Food and service was very nice. Oh! And we got water and kept getting water unlike Singapore Airlines premium economy.

    The flight is deliciously quiet so I have been noticing a lot of the click-shush-fizz sound of many cans of Bintang beer being opened around the cabin. Luckily, wine is the silent achiever #winning. 😊 But people are behaving themselves.

    The rest of the flight was very comfortable and the cabin crew very friendly and attentive. We were very, very quick through customs because we had all our documentation pre-done from the internet and were able to go to the over 60s lane. But then we had a 30 minute or so wait for our bags.

    Then Wombat the driver was there, looking a little bit older but still the same smile bless him. We got him to stop off at the Bintang Supermarket which was looking pretty new after a fire they had there after covid. We picked up cask wine, soft drinks to go with our duty free, nuts, chippies and limes.

    Then to the villas which although still lovely are looking a little bit ‘tropically challenged’. So a little bit more moldy, some bits a bit used, the wardrobes smelling a bit funky, the baskets in the bathroom definitely need to be replaced!!! (Edit: sitting here now the next morning writing my penguins, it really is very beautiful here in the villa 😊). Anyway the pool was warm and the company was good.

    We walked down to the beach to suss out the sunset. Very sadly the beach was pretty dirty, filthy actually. And the sleepy little beach cafes with a few scattered beanbags and rickety stools of the past have now been replaced with mile after mile of hundreds of beanbags, loud bands and too many tourists. Defs a bit yuk.

    Most of the restaurants along the beach cater for tourists so multi-cuisine menus. But they all have an Indonesian selection so I had Balinese laksa which was really a very fragrant, lemongrass and curry flavoured broth, deliciously yellow with turmeric and a hint of coconut milk with chicken, carrots, beans, cauliflower, broccoli and choko. The restaurant came complete with two fat rats in the fountain. So, so bloody hot even my eyelids were sweating. Got back to the villas and jumped in the pool. Drinking again.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Legian

    February 6 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    After a glorious shower last night I drifted off to sleep in crisp white sheets on a plump pillow in a four poster bed with muslin curtains, listening to the chirp and deep click of numerous geckoes. On that note, last night Steve made a little friend. A small curious gecko leapt from pillow to pillow and landed on his arm. Stayed there for a few minutes before hopping back into the lush garden.

    Anyway, an OK sleep last night but I was up early to hear the beautiful birds in the surrounding trees. I took myself out into the garden and am now sitting here with a coffee and a little sugar banana snack from the copious fruit bowl. There’s the occasional whirl of a motor bike drifting through the playlist of haunting Indian music that Mick is playing. Madae the maid arrives at 8.30 so I am looking forward to a cooked brekky. Feeling very blessed at the moment.

    Fabulous breakfast cooked by Madae, such a lovely lady. Scrambled eggs, bacon, tomatoes and toast and a platter of fruit: red dragon fruit, sugar bananas, mangosteen, watermelon and limes.

    Walk to Seminyak, and the traditional breakfast Bintangs at The Haven, people and traffic watching which is fave holiday pastime. Stopped in a few shops to look at a few things: most shops are very similar with not much changing since last time we were here. Less homewares shops which is disappointing.

    Lunch at Made’s Warung – never fails to disappoint!!!!! A local restaurant at local prices. Balinese yellow curry, beef rendang, pork satay, nasi goreng, gado gado. six beers for the price of five: AUD 15 per head!

    We walked further into Seminyak Central but swung back to walk south back to Andari. Walked and walked and walked and walked and walked. Like, Mick and I have done it before in the past but it was So. Hot. So. Hot.
    Massive storm clouds were building up in the north with huge cracks of thunder. But we all just soldiered on and made our route toward the beach and then back up Arjuna Double 6 to the villas.

    Stripped off and went straight into the shower then dried off and cooled off on the bed in the aircon before going for swim. The pool is sooooo warm. Then our massage ladies trooped in at 4.30 for our massages. Softly spoken and softly smiling they filed in through our beautiful gate to set up their batik covers on the lounges around the pool. I gave them chilled water with a juicy slice of lime before they started their task on this hot day. We were all gently massaged to the sound of the bridies, geckoes and gurgling pool filter. I almost whimpered when my lady massaged my arms and hands. Perfect.

    Afterwards was a very necessary afternoon drinkie period before deciding on a quick entrée-type meal at a very recommended Greek restaurant close by. Before we went to the restaurant the clouds were gathering and the palm trees were shimmering in the dropping barometric pressure. Lots of thunder and circling birds; things getting darker and darker but no rain.

    Dinner was Greek salad, spanakopita, zucchini fritters with tzatziki washed down with a bottle of white. It was just perfect after a big food and energetic day. A beautiful evening, slightly cooler than last night. Jackie and I couldn’t resist the pool. It was just so warm!! Bloody beautiful.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Legian

    February 7 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    I love the quiet, early mornings here. I wash up and dry the previous night's glasses - Madae would do this but it's nice for her to have a clean kitchen to start breakfast in. I do this while the jug boils whick takes ages and then make a plunger coffee, find myself a spot to relax on and then start my penguins for the day and read a bit. The villa has an exchange library of about 50 books maybe? I found myself a Phillipa Gregory - historical novellist - The Lady of the Rivers. It's starting off with Joan of Arc, and somehow I don't think that's gonna end well for her - it never does - just like Mary, Queen of Scots.

    Breakfast today was Madae’s delicious nasi goreng with little cubes of delicious chicken, green veg and shards of cabbage, all topped with a fried egg each. With a squirt of chilli sauce and kecap manis, wow, I could eat that for every breakfast for the next 10 years. Along with Asian noodle soup of course. We organised with Madae a car to go to Padang Padang, the Uluwatu monkey temple and a few other places tomorrow. And also a Balinese dinner-in feast on Sunday night that Madae will cook for us. So watch this space.

    Steve had a hankering to go to Kuta Beach to at least say he had been there which was fine with us. On leaving our villa we saw that next door’s door was open so asked if we could take a look inside Oh. My. God!!!! The owners had done up the three room villa and it was like something out of a movie. It was insanely beautiful with caramel wooden furniture, new rattan wardrobes, a new kitchen, a lot of the doors sanded and whitewashed, crazy beautiful big rattan light fittings and cream and white bed linen. I said to the maid that Suoni needed to do the same thing. But that’s the thing, everything is the same price for a 2BR or 3BR place. I personally think if they are charging a good dollar that those owners who don’t give a fuck should charge accordingly. But I suspect it’s like a body corporate thing where they all have to agree. Also popped into another 3BR villa which was the same as Suoni still. And being here this afternoon (see photos) I am grateful 😊 (Hmm, Mick just made a very valid comment and ties in with the unusual smell in our room which BTW we have gotten used to. The rooves have been re-thatched which even here with the cheaper labour, or even if it’s from China, would cost a bomb.

    So we piled into a Bluebird taxi to Kuta beach, winding though the narrow streets packed with traffic. Arrived at Kuta Beach and looked out at the big expanse of beach with the heavy surf and Kuta reef out to the south. Huge waves but the beautiful blue sky made the waves look less menacing but they were really big and breaking far out on the horizon. Naturally a few surf schools were running, the poor instructors swimming and paddling their arses off. Well, we stopped for a beer as you do!!! In front row seats watching and commenting on the waves, Jackie and I waving away the uninsistent Balinese ladies trying to sell us sarongs and trinkets. There were so many of these little bars along the promenade and the owners always politely asking us if we wanted a drink or a seat. They are such lovely, lovely, polite and respectful people. There must be horrible ones but I for one in my six times here have never come across one (Point: coming back to the villa Jackie and Steve’s turn to pay for the taxi, Jackie mistakenly gave him 500,000 for a 50,000 fare – 100,000 and 10,000 notes are the same colour so an easy mistake to make; He was horrified and yelled no, no, no it’s too much, wrong lady, wrong, give me a blue one!!!). Steve also wanted to see the Bali bombing memorial so we made our way there stopping for a very light lunch. Great pick again: little spring rolls, fresh spring rolls, prawns wrapped in vermicelli and heaven on earth, fiery pork. Everything was made fresh and absolutely delicious and the firey pork was insanely tasty. All washed down with a very refreshing Aperol spritz. Taxi back to the villa for an afternoon reading, swimming, drinking and relaxing by the pool.

    The Balinese are very spiritual, being Hindus. Hindu shrines small and large are everywhere. Outside of every shop, business and home there is always a little offering, every day. The shrines are maintained and adorned with robes and flowers and incense and the ubiquitous umbrellas.

    Dinner was back at the Greek restaurant. Too much food. Far too much food. Ugh.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Legian

    February 8 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Woke up to a windy, overcast morning. Mick did a 20 minute swim while I made coffee and started some prep for breakfast. We're off to Uluwatu today with Wombat the driver picking us up at 9.00 (rockin' his lime green flouro sunglasses). So we cooked our own breakfast: bacon, scrambled eggs and toast.

    On the road now...
    - In the rush hour traffic in Kuta
    - Lots of trucks and motorbikes.

    Today is an auspicious day of prayer for the Hindu goddess Sarasvati who reigns over knowledge. It's also doubly auspiciously because it's a full moon. We're therefore expecting a lot of activity there at the Pura Luhur Uluwatu, aka the monkey 🐵 temple.

    - Lots of dogs looking like they were all bred from the same parents
    - Just saw six cows in the forest
    - A man selling knives from a handcart
    - Two little boys on a motorbike with their mum all dressed up in traditional clothing!
    - Small and large shrines everywhere in black lavastone twith offerings and swathed in black and white checked fabric, sometimes with a matching Balinese umbrella
    - Morning market, colourful fruit and vegetables
    - Going through the local streets of Jimbaran: fan shops, mattress shops, warungs, cane shops, motorbike shops, laundries, cheap clothing.

    Arrived at the Garuda Vishnu Park – home of the world’s fourth highest statue. It was ticket hell. We just wanted to see the exterior of the monument, and not all the gazillion configurations of the park, as well as the shuttle to and from the base of the monument. Anyway, some were via QR code; some were cash; some were out of an ATM type machine. We had so many freaking pieces of paper to show people. Anyway, the statue was very impressive. A limestone Vishnu atop a massive Garuda and a golden brass face of Vishnu.

    Off again in the car
    - Single lane of bumper to bumper traffic, motorbikes zipping past
    - Mini trucks with horns that sound like a barking dog
    - Two stupid whities on a motorbike with a one year old baby on the front. No helmets!
    - Flock off sparrows all hopping up a hill together
    - Lumber shops
    - A fat golden puppy scoffing into the offerings at a roadside shrine.

    Bloody hell. Pura Luhur Uluwatu. Monkey hell! This was my fourth visit to this stunning but very peaceful Hindu temple. It’s always a joke to watch out for your belongings because the monkeys like to grab people’s belongings – hats and sunglasses and such. The monkeys are very cheeky but today were downright cunning and viscious. No sooner than we had walked down through the beautiful forest to the temple proper when a person’s sunglasses had been taken and that’s just the beginning. Wombat joined us (unusual) and we realised later he was acting as monkey lookout for us while we wandered around. The little fuckers are a dirty rat colour and naturally quiet and before you know it they’re at your feet or behind you or hanging above you. OMG they loved Jackie! Whether it was he billowy skirt or what but they came for her. She braved to turn and growl at one and it went for her so Wombat hit it with a stick (funny; not funny 😊😊). But then, a little girl – maybe seven years old? – with a young Indian couple, well they attacked her little slip-on rubber sandals (they had a shark face on them so maybe they were just protecting their territory). The family ran of course from the narrow pathway of the attack and grouped with us for protection at a bigger clearing while her Dad went to try and see if the fucker had dropped the said shoes. Poor girl was traumatised. Dad came back emptyhanded and Wombat went to look too and found a shoe with a big bite taken out of it. While we were all examining the shoe and nodding at it like fucking David Attenborough another fucker ran for Jackie so Wombat threw the shoe at it which the fucker grabbed and happily started eating it. (Note; writing this I’m lauging so much I’m crying). We also saw a woman in a Chinese tour group dressed in a cream chiffon dress with pompoms on it get attacked, It was literally a tug of war with a fucker with her hand bag. Also a few other episodes as well – a hat, more sunglasses and a phone. Time to go.

    We did see some guards with sticks and shanghais and walki talkies to try and retrieve monkey-stolen goods. Can you imagine the walkie talkie communications: Monkeymergency at tree 15 - sunglasses gone down: Monkeymergency at the southwest pond, handbag gone down, tourist traumatised. Jackie gets attacked by mosquitos all the time, they are giving her grief here so now we are calling her mossie-monkey woman. I reckon with that initial growl Jackie made to one of them the little shits set out the tomtoms warning of a woman in a billowing skirt. Either that or she might have strong monkey pheromones. Ian 'He Who Smiles At Monkeys' would have been in his element.

    Time for lunch so Wombat dropped us to one of the magnificent cliffside hotels where all of the beautiful people stay. We were in a small, groovy restaurant literally hanging off a clifftop looking over a very powerful surf. The surf was huge because the wind was blowing a gale. And though we opted to sit inside the little café ‘out of the wind’, as the doors were open we were in the wind. It was insane!!! Our hair was blowing everywhere and we had to hang onto our brinks (Bintangs all round and a beautiful white wine sangria with orange and a quill of cinnamon). The food was very reasonably priced and we all pretty much had salads; mine was a Vietnamese grilled chicken salad with rice noodles – delicious! We were laughing so much at the wind that we thought we’d play one on the young waiter. I asked him if he could turn on the fans above us and the initial look was, yeah do what the customer says, but as he walked towards the fan OMG the look on his face!!! I was like, WTF? Are you all mad when your hair is sideways and you have to eat your salads with your heads one inch form the bowl? Then we all laughed and he realised we were taking the piss. It was sooo funny. And BTW, I have never lifted a forkful of salad then looked down to see it had been swept away over to someone else’s table and bits flying over a cliff into the wild blue Java Sea. As Jackie is fond of saying it was Ooh La La, more like Ul Waa Waa :)

    On the road again:
    - Huge amounts of building being done by the Russians whilst the road stays narrow and winding with no footpaths at all
    - Advised Wombat to learn Russian
    - Too windy to swim at Padang Padang but looking down to the beach it looked beautiful
    -Very lush and foresty growing right on the road
    - Lots of surfshops and surfboard shops
    - A bird shop; ugh, pigeons
    - Traffic, traffic traffic
    - Mini trucks straining to get up the hill on the other side of the road to get to the builds; convoys of bags of cement, water and stone
    - Soooo long in the car
    - Little one in a motorbike bike with a furry bear hat
    - I wonder if the Muslim women here with the veils ever think: I'm so fucking hot I'm going to rip my fucking head off my shoulders.

    Stopped at the Bintang Supermarket for more drinks and I decided to walk back as I'd been sitting too long. Found a dusty batik place where I bought three cotton sarongs to use as tablecloths $20 the lot.

    Dinner was pizza.

    Footnote: The locals at the Uluwatu Temple were beautiful in their sarongs and the women in white, long sleeved but tight lacy tops and sashes. Hair and makeup done beautifully. Very graceful walkers are the Balinese temple-goers.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Legian

    February 9 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌧 26 °C

    -Very rainy topical day today. Lots of rainy squalls and downpours so we were dodging it all day. But it is cooler.
    -Made our way up to Seminyak
    -Stopped at the Bintang Supermarket to look at the upstairs kitchen section which was really like a mini kmart
    -Pouring when we went to leave so had Bintangs in the next door coffee shop
    - Made our way intermittently to Seminyak between showers
    - Had small lunch in a lovely raj/colonial looking restaurant called Batik: chicken in pandan leaves, mini Vietnamese pancakes, calamari, Indonesian veg spring rolls, fresh ricepaper rolls, cocktails, beer and wine
    -Mick picked up his Deus Ex Machina groovy tshirts
    -Taxi back to the villa
    - Massage
    -Madae’s Indonesian feast dinner (see attached photo of the menu, plus we also had a lovely fragrant pork soup and fruit salad - strawberries, grapes, watermelon, mint and avocado of all things - with vanilla ice cream for dessert)
    -Raining Raining Raining.

    That’s it!! 😊    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Legian

    February 10 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌧 26 °C

    Holy moley!! What a crazy night!! Heavy showers and thunderstorms all through the night with the wind howling and hammering and rattling our doors. Before I went to bed I had to grab some beach towels to put on the floor or the bathroom because it was wet everywhere, so a slip hazard. At least the new thatch held up and didn't leak.

    - Both Mick and Steve have woken up with tummy issues
    - Torrential downpours
    - I am sometimes deceived when the sky lightens that the rain will stop but, the sky darkens and it comes again, the wind blowing spatters of rain into the living area
    - Fingers crossed the weather reports are incorrect, I think I can only do this for a day
    - It's obvious all this area was once rice paddy fields: flat and flooding
    - Walked to the closest mini marts to get some rice crackers or rice cakes for Mick, nothing 😑 So walked slowly to the Bintang Supermarket because the path was so slippery. They had a good selection of gluten free crackers
    - Back at the villa and its pouring again
    - Painted my nails.

    Jackie and I decided we needed to get out as I also needed to suss out some pool beanbags for Josie at a shop that Amanda had bought hers from. So we donned our raincoats, put on shorts, grabbed our brollies and shopping bags and beaded out. Rather than going left to Seminyak we turned right to Legian. Again a slow and steady walk, rain varying from sprinkling to pouring. Lots of water on the roads in big sheets but the traffic was slow as a courtesy not to spray water on either people or shops. We walked past a school that had the most beautiful deep, hot pink frangipanis, large and lush and surprisingly perfumed! So we grabbed one each for our ears and took a selfie. It’s still crazy how there are so many shops selling the same thing. So when you see a shop that looks a little different, like a different colour, a few different colours or items you’re in. But they are very few and far between. Found a place where Jackie bought these gorgeous (and cheap!) glass pineapple tealight holders and I bought two beaded trinket boxes.

    Made our way down to Melasti and had lunch at Fat Chow, and the same food the other day in Kuta (different location) and a divine cocktail of white and dark rum, pineapple juice and passionfruit juice with dried pineapple and little pieces of jelly in the base.

    - Went to the beanbag place. Too bulky and too heavy, sorry Josie
    - Taxi back to the villa and now sitting here in the rain
    - Sat around reading in the afternoon
    - Steve is feeling a bit better and we thought maybe a share pizza down the corner (only the three of us: Mick not 100%) but we ended up having toast, tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs cooked in the villa.

    I introduced Jackie to the concept of show and tell. Whenever I go away with my mum’s group friends, particularly to Bali, we have an afternoon ritual to go around our circle and show everyone the shit we’ve bought and why. So we do that now. I think she likes it. Fucking killing time now til bed. Looooooooong day.

    Bless them. The Balinese are letting off the nightly fireworks down the beach. Who would be down there? Is it: Resilience? Stupidity? Karmic existence? Customer service? Care? Respect for the people who assist with a livelihood? Kudos to them.

    Now. Another thing, There’s been a lot of reporting and researching in the last few years on wellness and gratitude. Example: daily diary and gratitude practice – probs work for most people, some not. Anyway. It came to me while here, that every day you see fresh, pretty offerings at every shrine: flowers, incense, sweets, cigarettes, herbs. And several times we’ve seen Balinese people making their offerings to the shrine, or here at the villas, Madae offering to the stove, doorway and pool. We’ve seen young women, old women, young groovy guys, older guys – everyone. It’s beautiful as they carry out a tray of flowers and lay it down and then light incense and say a prayer. Is that a form of gratitude that an everyday Balinese practices? To say thank you the gods, house gods, house spirits or whatever? Does it contribute to their calm (generalising here) nature? It seems they are practising gratitude for what they have rather than what they want. An ancient message there. Despite the rain, I’m grateful I’m having this holiday.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Legian

    February 11 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌧 27 °C

    It rained all through the night. It thundered down relentlessly. The wind and rain swirled ghoulishly around the villa, and at one stage I became quite concerned thinking: this must be what it’s like to be in a cyclone. All the grounds were flooded well above yesterday’s levels and the pool broke its banks yet again. This morning the living area’s floor was covered in water and our bathroom – well it look like a bomb had hit it. And without being too dramatic, we spoke to one of the owners of another villa who’d been coming to Bali for 15 years who said he’d never seen anything like it. So yes. It was pretty spectacular.

    It was still squalling this morning after breakfast, but I had to get out so thought a stroll down the beach to check out the wildness was in order. We all decided to go and had to cross from path to path to avoid the huge amounts of water on the roads. It was easily two feet deep at the end of Double 6 Arjuna. In typical fashion the stoical Balinese were riding their bikes through the water in their ponchos or holding brollies, setting up their shops for the day, and hawking for customers at restaurants and beauty spas.

    The beach was wild, the wind and waves even moreso. Big, gnarly, churning waves that were brown and foamy. Not a soul in the water which was an indication of how dangerous it was. Nor were the beach bars and coffee shops open for business, their tables, beanbags and boards safely stowed under cover. However it wasn’t raining (yet) so we thought we’d walk. The beach, littered and dirty at the best of times, was elevated to another level with so much garbage washed in from the sea, and out from the land. We saw three cleaners with a sad looking wooden trolley trying to clear one section, raking up pathetic piles of crap all over the place. Really, they’d need a Mount Newman sized excavator to clean up the place. But, they were doing it, and the bar and coffee shop owners were waiting expectantly for the weather to break. A group of Balinese men were trying desperately to restore a tree that had fallen over in the winds.

    A fair few walkers out, including us. It was very muggy. They’ve built a concrete promenade now all the way from Kuta to Seminyak so the walking is easier now than what it used to be. Despite the non picture-postcard look there was still a lot of interesting things to take photos of. We came across a beautiful shore temple complex, the courtyard which was about two feet deep in water. But it looked beautiful because there were several sculptures of sea serpents, their tiled tails rising and falling along the ground so looked quite at home in the water. Very interesting stupa-like statues, one of which had a gold swastika free-standing carving in it. We found out later that this temple is built purposely low to flood because it's a sea serpent temple! What lovely logic!

    Walking along they have now bridged over the creeks which were now full and rushing into the ocean. We made our way further towards Seminyak, past another temple that they were preparing for a celebration and stumbled onto – Ku De Ta – another place of the morning drinking tradition. We were very happy to get out of the wind and it had started to spit so time for selfies, sangria and a facebook check-in.

    It was nice there for the hour or so we were there but then all the lunchtime patrons started wandering in, what I call: the beachclub beautiful people. Time to go.
    We walked back through Seminyak and made our way to Made’s Warung again as we only wanted something light. Satays, nasi goreng and two beers each later I was full-as, so much for a snack.

    Mootched around a bit and back at the villas now. The pool is out of balance and a fair bit cooler because of all the rain but there’s sun!!!!! We might even be able to catch the sunset tonight 😊. But we didn't catch the sunset. Mick and I also didn't go to dinner because we were still so full from lunch. So we just sat around drinking and talking. It was nice.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Legian

    February 12 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌧 26 °C

    Wakey, wakey, rise and shine, surprise, surprise!!!!! It's raining again!!
    Struggling to find things to do in this weather. Going on a drive to see another ‘named’ beach seems silly when it’s just more of the same. Sanur would be good on the other side of the island but I doubt we would have been able to see the volcanoes in the distance because of the rainclouds. Canguu, a big name here at the moment is the same. Tanah Lot is known for its temples on a rocky island outcrop at sunset, but in the rain and through the day it would probably be too grey. I would have liked to see the Bali Museum in Denpasar but there weren’t any takers and a taxi may have been a bit unpredictable in the rain and traffic.
    So after Madae rustled up a Nasi Goreng and eggs for us (hmmm there’s an angry story there) we decided to walk the promenade south this time, then cut through Jalan Melasti to the Lemongrass restaurant that the mum's group girls had recommended.

    Well it started off OK, it really did! Overcast, very grey, no rain. We cut through the Kamala Pantai hotel to the beach and it started to spit. It was very windy on the promenade, not many people around. The beach bars were mainly all closed up but their staff there. I must admit the beach to the south and the accompanying bars looked much nicer and neater than those at the end of our road and going to the north where we walked yesterday.

    Rain got rainier, wind got windier, but at least it was warm. The rain was heating us so we dropped into a beachside bar for a beer – naturally – for some shelter. We had to move tables when the rain started falling in from a tree-hole in the rattan roof. It was OK for a while – very blowy – but then the weather went crazy! Mick stayed at the table with his umbrella up and Steve, Jackie and I took shelter with the two waiter girls in the cashier section. We were there for about 40 minutes maybe? The girls were sweet, one of whose birthday it was and they offered us party doughnuts. I chatted to them for most of the time.

    (Bloody sitting here now back at the villa by the pool – I can’t fucking believe I’ve only been in it a handful of times – sucks big time ☹).

    Anyway we decided to just push on and walk to the restaurant. Which we did and it was extremely uncomfortable. We looked like a drowned rats when we got there an were pretty wet. My umbrella was basically no more. But the silver lining was a delicious Thai lunch of grilled pork skewers, spring rolls, curry puffs, lemongrass and pork vermicelli salad, green chicken curry and seafood pad thai. Walked back to the villas along a road I’ve never walked through before and I’m glad. Very bogan-y; lots of pubs and bars and noisy too. Today is a religious celebration day so the streets are full of colourful offerings, brightly glinting on wet pavements.

    I’m pretty tired now actually after all that buffeting in the wind and rain.
    The plan was to go to the sunset – as the song goes: heavy cloud, no rain, so we didn’t think it would be anything spectacular, so just chatted.
    I was desperate for a non-rice meal so Mick and I grabbed a pizza and a big salad.
    Our car to Ubud was organised for 10.30 tomorrow morning , so gotta pack then – too tired tonight. We can’t get wifi in the villa though the security guard said just now it’s been restored. Hmm, luxury villas? Fails again, especially as the other villas show up on available networks but I can’t be bothered asking what the other villas’ password are ☹. Add to end: and the TV doesn't work. Mick just wanted to watch a bit of the cricket # luxurynotluxury.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Legian to Ubud

    February 13 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    So it’s about 10.00pm here in Ubud and we’ve had an adventurous day but now not enough time to really write all that I’d like to.

    - Travel day
    - Waiting, waiting
    - First morning in days it wasn't raining
    - Then it started
    - Wishfully, wistfully looking at the pool
    - Holiday Bali hair: I like it!
    - Trying to stay in the moment as I'm drifting into all I need to do when I get home: appointments, work (ugh), das Germans
    - Sun's out and shining!!! And we'll be in a car!! Ahh the irony
    - But glad to be on the move again
    - Packed pretty quickly and had breakfast (no milk – there’s a story there) and Mick and I had last night's leftovers from the Italian restaurant. For me it was 2 small slices of ciabatta - delish
    - Said goodbye to the lovely staff and we set off on a gorgeous sunny, clear day
    - Drove through heavy traffic to Denpasar. A very pretty, small city with immaculate tropical gardens and street plantings everywhere
    - Beautiful and well cared-for temples, majestic Balinese architecture governmental and organisational buildings that were large but not tall. Our driver said the maximum height for a building here is 4 storeys because of earthquakes and also because of the Hindu religion – your structures can’t push into the realm of the gods.
    - Stopped at a batik factory and it was lovely to see how it was made. Lots of gorgeous batiks and some very, very expensive because they were all hand drawn and dyed and rightly so.
    We stopped at a luwak coffee place which was actually very interesting in the tasting paddle they gave us for free with 14 different types of coffees and herbal teas. We had to pay for the lewak coffee, though I’ve had it a few times here before and I’m not a fan but when in Bali… Poor lewaks. I believe a conservation effort is in progress to prevent the industry where the lewaks eat the coffee beans and, after digesting, poo out the beans which are then cleaned, roasted and made into coffee. I don’t like contributing to the problem but it happened.

    Then to the bloody silver factory. I reckon they thought caching!! when they saw me rock in with my armful of hilltribe bracelets but nup. But we saw a guy making a very intricate bangle using a number of different drills, so I reckon his second job is a dentist.

    Went to a beautiful temple that I’ve been to several times before. It’s very lovely and serene and big enough for it to be interesting but not small either, Gods, goddesses, flags, offerings, flowers, fish, gilded wood, incense, manicured gardens and the elegant Balinese thatched rooves (one of which was being re-thatched OMG what a hot and hard job, also because the boys had to be in temple sarongs to do it too!!). Mick and I looked cute in our sarongs and Mick had a jaunty headband as well 😊.

    Off to a waterfall. Hmmm very pretty in a deep gorge but it was dotted with resorts and restaurants so a lot of the beauty was lost. I decided to stay at the top and have a small soft-drink (not go down the stairs) in a soul destroying lookout packed with Indians, Philippinos and Russians with their cigarettes, drones, noisy fucking kids, flouro shorts and vampire complexions and psycho-coloured eyes. Ugh.

    Then the loooong traffic snarl into Ubud:
    - A gazillion motorbikes, even a pink one
    - Beautiful birdcages with their tops made out of gold-stapmed batik - pink, blue, green, brown, red and yellow
    - Life-sized anmials made out of twisted wooden branches
    - Big, heavy, dusty furniture made out of massive trees still in their original form
    - A cubic metre of live chickes, caramel and black, ready to be made into sate ayam I reckon
    - Small shops of fruits and baskets for temple offereings
    - Temples, temples and more temples, oh, and silver shops
    - Hugely tall and graceful bamboo dragons haning over the road - easily 10 metres in height - adorned with coloured ribbons, sashes and beads
    - Pandan and rice paddies
    - Shops selling large stone carvings: monkeys, buddhas, standing Hindu gods and godesses
    - Traffic getting heavier as we crawl closer to Ubud
    - A woman in the back seat of a car wering and intricate gold headdress of flowers, vines and leaves - very beautiful - she must have been at a ceremony
    - Glimpses of white-clad Balinese men and women sitting inside temples and praying.

    Got to the “resort” where they told us we needed to get on a motor bike because a car couldn’t get to the resort. Well, Wasn’t. That. A. Suprise!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had a moment where I thought yes I could do that – fang it on the back of a motor bike but then common sense took over: no helmet, no travel insurance for motor bikes, skirt would have been up to my crotch. Nah we walked.

    By way of a summary:
    - Walked about 500 m to the resort
    - There’s no denying it, we are in the middle of working rice paddies: ducks, herons, birds, people working
    - Villa nice but very lean on the design elements
    - All got in the pool and it started to rain
    - Went to dinner and oh my, there were fireflies in the rice paddies, dancing and flickering and sparkling in the deep dark!!!!!
    - Songs of frogs, crickets and bugs, punctuating the silence
    - Shared the restaurant with dozens of geckoes.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Ubud

    February 14 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    A bit of an up and down night as Mick has developed a nasty rash on his arm which he has had before on different parts of his body. We’re not sure whether it was sunburn, or an insect bite or a brush with a plant or a grub or being run down from diarrhoea a few days ago and now it’s red and blistered all over his forearm. He brought his meds from a previous outbreak but it might mean a visit to a doctor in Perth. Its kinda stabilised but not regressing though with oral and topical steroids and antibiotics. Jackie has been advising as much as she can so it seems we're doing everything but he keeps fucking scratching it. Like a fucking dog with fleas. Of course if I say anything I'm the worst but being concerned is in my DNA - cant help it

    So I slept but not very well and so saw the light starting to blink through the curtains and woke up to the unspectacular but lovely sunrise over the rice paddies. We’d been blessed to sleep and doze through the night to the sounds of so many frogs and crickets and insects. If the snails and fish could have sung I would have welcomed it. So this morning I woke up and opened all the curtains which gave be an almost 360 degree panorama of the rice fields: the mist, the birds, the sound of the roosters, the sounds of silence!

    It was very early so I pottered around. Breakfast was at 9.00 but when we went downstairs Steve advised Jackie had been sick all night. So we headed to breakfast and a lot lost in translation. I was going to kill for a coffee, so got that and just toast.

    Naturally, Steve was going to stay with Jackie so Mick and I decided just to go into town and try and find a sports bar for tomorrow’s pre-season game between the Rabbitohs and Manly. Wandered through the rice paddy trail, past so many small shrines, especially of Ganesh. The elephant god was represented in so many ways – tiny dark shrines, larger colourful ones adorned with marigolds, some covered in moss and ferns, one that was very detailed and adorned with gold painted symbols and patterns, and all usually swathed in a checked sarong.

     We are on a narrow motorbike trail (see yesterday's entry) but its very busy with Balinese motoring to and from the villas that ribbon the rice paddies. So we saw kids going to school behind mum, big bags of laundry, long orange reo rods, sacks of cement, gloriously groomed Balinese women with tight sarongs and flowers in their sleek-chignoned hair, chunky slabs of stone destined for a build, fruit and vegies. A mirrocosm of everyday life on the rice paddies.

    We went to look at the Ubud Palace which was beautiful but basically a temple. We wandered down one of the main streets. It was very hot too so we stopped in a place which was crazily half tiny restaurant and half temple courtyard. We had a few beers and Mick had a pork satay plate and I had vegetarian felafel (with Jackie’s demise I’m going to try and stick to vegetarian and Indo food).

    Ubud has a vey different feel to the coast. It’s a lot less frenetic but more upmarket maybe? That is no surprise because it’s always been like that, and definitely the calibre of day trippers are more Japanese and Chinese and Koreans.

    We got some wine and visited an ikat shop when it started to pour like you wouldn’t believe. So we sat on the bench out the front for maybe 30 minutes while it bucketed down and just watched the rain, the gutters, the traffic and the Balinese still going about their daily business. It was quite relaxing really as it was warm and taking in the light and clouds changing.
    We walked back the few kilometres to the villa through winding stalls, all with their stalls covered in plastic for the rain. And then onto the rice paddies where we made our way home. A few farmers were taking advantage of the rainfall and extra water to drag out their noisy ploughs to churn up their fields, cloaked in petrol fumes and thick blue smoke.
    A swim, drinks and then up here in the living area with all the curtains opened watching the light changing and all the beautiful rice paddy birds seeking out their dinners. We’ve seen kingfishers, water hens, egrets and a fat wader bird with a brown and pink head and neck with black wings.

    Dinner tonight was without Jackie at the next rice paddy 'resort', Far out, too much food though I ordered simple noodles. I'm feeling sick after every meal sadly. We think they may cook with coconut oil? Hopefully the red wine I bought today will degrease me. Lots of frogs and crickets singing their night songs now. Plus the sparkly, flickering fireflies. Too good.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Ubud

    February 15 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Well, I’m writing here now in the afternoon and although the rice paddies are so serene with lots of animal noises I’m a bit annoyed as I spent a relaxing 30 minutes this morning writing in my penguins aaaaaaand…. I lost it! It saved, but didn’t save. So let me try and replicate what I wrote.

    Woke up this morning to a beautiful and serene morning over the rice paddies. We woke up and took photos, as usual, and took in the animal sounds: chirping frogs, birdsong, rooster sensurround and ducks. We saw a line of ducks moving along in a pack, maybe 30 of them, and then they all jumped into a rice paddy, no doubt searching for breakfast.

    Though it's a humid and misty morning, it’s shaping up to be a hot, sunny day – perhaps with a tropical thunderstorm this afternoon. It was nice to finally take our time, walking to breakfast, to take notice of the lovely garden. So many colours, textures, shapes and flowers, all flowing into each other through steps, pathways, low fences and the villas. The lusciousness of it is definitely a wonderful smorgasbord for all the bugs, insects and birds. We even saw what we think was a pitcher plant, luring in unsuspecting insects to its smelly depths, never to emerge. Maybe it’s more a smorgasbord for the plants then?

    So we arrived at breakfast. For the first time here, the clouds and mist cleared so we could see one of Bali’s three active volcanoes, Mt Agung. This is the troublemaker volcano which stops planes and people, and often the Balinese. It’s crazy to think this beast was causing trouble just three months ago. Being on the first floor of the villa we have a beautiful view over the rice paddies. On one side is red man, on the other is purple man. We’ve said hi to red man as he walks close to the villa, checking out…well… his rice paddy. They have been out this morning, using manual tools to scythe the green plants. Purple man had an egret with him for ages, no doubt gobbling up any insects or snails while he was doing his work. Such hard work.

    Part of the villa package was a massage so earlier I sat in the villas’s yellow, brown and red batik dressing gown, waiting for our massage ladies. Well the massage was the best we’ve had here so far. A fragrant oil, on the bed….very nice.

    After massages we made our way through the rice paddies, seeking out a sport’s bar to watch the first preliminary season game between Souths and Manly. Anyway our narrow pathway, in the sun, was dappled green, lush and busy with motorbikes, locals and a few tourists. A local council group – I assume – was doing maintenance on the pathway, chopping down bamboo, scything overhangs and one guy with a massive bamboo pole, cutting down coconuts ready to drop and kill people.

    Found said sport’s bar and set up for a few hours. Souths lost. But some pesky monkeys started to come into the bar. I wasn’t into protecting Jackie, but I got a picture 😊

    It’s not a ridiculous walk back to the villa, but a good hump-a-long.
    Now sitting here after a lovely swim in our pool. The frogs are starting their chorus. There’s a chit chit chit, gok gok gok, zzzzht zzzzht zzzzht, bop bop bop, cluck cluck cluck, tk tk tk, wop wop wop, kt kt kt. It’s lovely!!!    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Ubud to Denpasar

    February 16 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Heading back to Australia tomorrow. Not home, but the place where my home is.

    I’m sitting in the Novotel Denpasar Airport Hotel, eating their complementary snacks and having a glaas of wine. We had some beef floss savoury biscuits, a small chocolate biscuit and then Mick offered me something called lumpia, a little tube of something. Well it was fucking dried shrimp floss. Mick showed his love to me, holding out his hand so I could spit the said shrimp floss lumpia into at. That really is true love.

    Anyway this morning we had coffee and some small brekky stuff in the villa, then the plan was to take a walk around the rice paddies. I had woken up early and saw a pink cloud sunrise – last day in the rice paddies. After a bit of drama where Mick slipped on one of the moss-covered stepping stones around the side of the villa and face planted in the garden (not funny: very scary for a few seconds) we shakily headed out.

    We had rain last night so we had to be so careful on anything, also because there’s a gazillion different footpath materials – bitumen, dirt, pebbles, concrete pavers, motor bike speed humps. We turned right at the end of our villa and took the path to the very end – not far – until we came to a little viewing platform that looked out over the beautiful green paddies. We saw several farmers hand-scything their fields, and also a younger woman heading out with a scythe over her shoulder. Such hard work. It was sunny, steamy and stifling. When the path terminated we walked back, past our villas and did a random right turn that took us along another pathway.. Very much the same, but not, with the different directions, light and heat. Always different sounds as really the only thing you could hear were occasional motorbikes, insects and soft Balinese chat when you walked past a stall or warung. Saw a large flock of ducks nuzzling for snails in a rice paddy. They looked so cute when they pooped up their heads and then went back down again. What was also interesting was there were lookout ducks – poor buggers, looking out for random strangers wandering by with daypacks and mobile phones when the real danger was in their own backyard (rice paddy farmer = duck dinner).

    We could have circled around I think but we backtracked as it was time to think about packing for tomorrow’s flight. We did that pretty quickly and then went downstairs to have a breakfast beer with Jackie and Steve. We headed off just before 12 noon to the Sweet Orange warung where we had beers and some bloody delicious lunch. Mick had juicy, meaty, saucy pork ribs and I had red rice and a slightly tangy salad of charcoaled chicken, lemongrass, chillies, makrut, garlic, eschalots and lime juice. It could have been a bit spicier for me but it was light, fresh and delicious.

    We walked back to the villas, advising the manager we were going to be leaving at 1.45pm and walk to our transfer in the Ubud carpark – a 10 to 15 minute walk along rice paddies, then down a very steep hill, sharp right at the school, up a bit of a hill to the beginning of the art market, then left up the smelly alleyway. Easy right??? Nope. A small sprinkle of rain turned into an absolute deluge. Squalls and rain and thunder just seemed to circle around and around and around the rice paddies and villas. Water was water-falling off the roof. All our used towels and pool towels we had to use to mop up the water flooding in under one set of doors. It was insane. Like, we couldn’t even get down the stairs to Jackie and Steve’s to at least have a chat while the storm raged. And it lasted for an hour. And by the time we were able to leave it was just a very quick goodbye to Jackie and Steve before we stepped very tentatively through the squelchy garden into a pathway that was halfway up our calves (well, mine anyway) water rushing like stream. Some of the villa’s pathways were OK, but sheets of water cascading over them and a few detours to avoid a foot of water. Thank god we walked to the carpark without incident. I recon I’m gonna be sore tomorrow because of clenched butt cheeks and I was also carrying my precious cargo of the great green plate purchase of 2025. Big fucker.

    After a snail’s crawl drive from Ubud to the airport hotel with Mr Have-a-chat driver. Typically anonymous Novotel. I don’t have a problem with that.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Denpasar to Perth (Fremantle)

    February 17 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Last night we just packed and reconfigured our stuff. I was able to get the large green platter into my hand luggage by stripping back all the paper it had been wrapped in. I put bubble wrap round the edge, then a few sheets of paper, then a dress. Carrying the platter wont be a problem when we fly from Perth to Sydney with Qantas because we can take a bit of extra cabin baggage. Woe the problems of the home décor traveller.

    We shared a small pizza for dinner then back up to the room for a blessed shower. We stank after our wet, rainy, humid day. Thank god for Novotel rain showers. But sleeping proved a bit difficult. We were so tired but all of a sudden there was this thumping and banging, seemingly above us. It was regularly intermittent if that made sense. I rang to complain and asked if there was a fourth floor (thinking it might be a construction or housekeeping thing). No, no fourth floor. So we tried to settle with the bumping an crashing but right!!!! I grabbed the key and went onto the corridor in my pyjamas, hair out, retainers in aaaaaand, the noise was coming from next door. Banged the crap on the door – twice - and I told the Japanese woman it was too noisy, to stop the banging, it was inappropriate, people had to sleep, we had an early flight. I didn’t yell but she could see I was not accepting of her two stupid kids doing that at 10.30 at night. It was nodding: hai; sorry. They shut up after that.

    Shower, final packing, breakfast. A very, very good selection but I didn’t eat much. So cute – there was an Asian lady there breakfasting by herself who only visited the kids’ station. She had 2 doughnuts from the doughnut tree – and added sprinkles; then had a huge bowl of soft serve ice-cream, again with sprinkles and nuts. She was very slender so a nice treat I’d say. Mick had to leave his brolly here. Poor brolly that he bought at Cullodden Moor in Scotland all those years ago and that he named 'Braveheart' finally gave up the ghost (all that fucking Bali wind!). It's been on every holiday with us since then and has ended its days in Indonesia. Stoic but sad.

    Checked, out, 1 minute walk to departures; screening #1, check in, screening #2, passport control, duty free browsing, morning alcoholic beverages, screening #3. Waiting…..

    - Flight is going to be CHOKKERS
    - Aaaaand we have the aircraft's token toddler in front of us 🤦‍♀️ Name's Cruz, says it all
    - Aaaaaand passengers in wrong seats ffs. Can't they read?
    - Fucking everyone coughing
    - But flight went quickly, I had a red wine and had to get a snack which I wouldn’t do on principle.
    - Cowboy landing and hot hot hot in Perth!!!! No humidity
    - Got through arrivals very very quickly
    - Grabbed and uber to the apartment
    - Everything is BIG – roads, trees, parks and houses
    - Big swathes of beautiful gums from the airport to Fremantle
    - Patches of scrubby stuff
    - All the grass was dead – hot summer
    - Lovely family homes all complementing each other. 1960s, 70s 80s and modern all somehow looking as if they were all meant to be there – not like the dog’s breakfast that’s Sydney suburban comstruction now
    - Apartment Ok – a bit dated but very clean and OK
    - Bloody no oven though. But of the joy of a washing machine!

    We were desperate for a home cooked dinner so went to the IGA. Oh it’s disgraceful how expensive things were. Fruit and veg ridiculous. Bananas $8 kg, red capsicum $20 kg, broccoli $8 kg, plain tomatoes $10 kg, 500 gms chicken breast $17!!!!. I’m pretty sure most of the young people in the store were holiday makers and they weren’t looking very happy about the cost, they looked quite bewildered actually, picking things up and putting them down. Absolutely disgraceful we fucking grow all this stuff. Give fucking Gina Reinhart a budget to cook dinner and see how she goes. Anyway we got a BBQ chicken instead – cheaper. Too tired to even look around Fremantle this afternoon and my foot’s sore again ☹.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Fremantle

    February 18 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    - Thank god, our brekky was sour dough with butter and vegemite and plunger coffee
    - Phone chat with Mick’s mate from Sig Elec, Ian Wilcock, who moved here a few years ago – we are arranging to meet up with him here, he’s a really, really nice guy
    - Booked Rottnest Island for tomorrow
    - A lot cooler here today and overcast unfortunately
    - Walked around town and to the beaches – the water is flat and turquoise and with limestone sand – so white! So beautiful
    - Walked south through Bathers Beach and South Beach – two or three kilometres
    - One of them was a dog beach so gave lots of pooches scratches. One dog, Taffy, a black kinda collie-sheepdog cross loved me and snuggled up and sat on me feet
    - Found a local Woolies, OMG so much cheaper than where we are staying so we stocked up on fruit, veg and wine at Dan Murphies
    - Got an Uber back to the unit. What did we do before Ubers!!!!!!!
    - Beer and lunch at the Little Creatures Brewery close to us. One of the original and great indi brewing stories in Australia. Had some shared plates there which were OK.

    Took a walk around town and found:
    - A beautiful old-fashioned yarn and craft shop and ended up talking to the owner for a fair while and felt heartened that she said a lot of young people are now taking up yarn-work, especially crocheting – she says it always seems to skip a generation. I showed her photos of the shawls I made for the babies
    - A breathtaking retro second hand shop, large but very carefully curated and had a great conversation with the young woman, Leah, about Poole pottery, genie bottles, my sisters’ bridesmaid dresses, lava glazed bowls and Parker furniture
    - Went to the town hall to pick up a historic walking map of town
    - Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful buildings
    - A MASSIVE salad tonight with nectarines and last night’s BBQ chicken.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Fremantle

    February 19 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    - Early start for our day on Rottnest Island. I was supposed to go there in the 1980s when I was on a uni camping trip but the weather was too bad and they cancelled the ferries
    - Nice, cool morning walk to the dock
    - Boat is packed with day trippers. Sooo many tourists but mainly backpackers seemingly from Britain and South America, but a few Asians too
    - Ian warned us it can get rocky so I have barf bags with me that I'm hoping not to use, but a great habit carrying these from Bridget's travel sickness days
    - Everyone's very excited, it sounds like I'm in a chicken coop
    - Pretty fast boat, really carving up the sea with massive splash/ spray; fuck she's rolling a bit now. Bridget would be green.

    Got off the ferry after a very quick trip – no spewing was had. We walked from the jetty over beautiful turquoise water, thinking ‘this is lovely’ only for it to get better, and better. We went straight to the Visitor Centre here where some lovely volunteers briefed us on 1) quokkas 2) places to see 3) places to swim 4) the hop on hop off bus.

    So our first activity was a free guided quokka tour. I must admit I did think they would be hopping everywhere but there weren’t that many around because they are nocturnal. But they are small, cute things with sweet faces and strong, leathery tails like any macropod. We saw one little one with a baby – unusual for this time of year apparently. The guide, Linda, spends the first part of her shift scouting them out so visitors can see them. Linda gave me a quokka bookmark 😊.

    We left the tour a few minutes early to start with the bus. There are about 20 stops around the island so we were confused about which ones to stop at because me = I want to see ALL!! Clutching my free map we decided to stop at the middle stop of Salmon Bay on the southside of the island. It was a small cove, already quite crowded with people settling in for the day. But we found a spot up against the limestone rocks and took ourselves into the beautiful water. The colour of the water was deceiving, because the coral sand and clear water you’d think it was more on the warm side. It wasn’t cold but still a little brisk but once you were in, oh heaven! Not Bali warm but so, so, so clean. There were a fair few people in the water and lots of snorkellers as it’s a marine sanctuary. I’d love to snorkel but maybe next time. We were just going to sit in our spot until someone helped their toddler wee about one foot from our stuff. Not happy: time to find another beach!

    We hopped on the bus with a view to going to one of the island’s northern beaches when, just as we had settled into our seat, the bus swept around a few curves and there it was, one of the loveliest beaches I’ve ever seen. Bright white sand, reefs, surf breaking on outer reefs, water colour indescribable and not crowded. I said, ‘let’s get out!!!!’ and we did. Thankfully 😊.

    We walked down some stairs, then along a tiny beach and through a rocky limestone outcrop to the sweep of the beach. I can’t really describe it, but the water was like my aquamarine ring. It was gin clear, and I could see all the way down to my toenails and little bits of weed and old coral. Sublime? Breathtaking? Indescribable? Phenomenal? All of the above, yes. I can’t actually think of a better beach I’ve been on. Chinaman’s Beach and Hyam’s Beach in Jervis Bay would come close, as would the Bay of Fires in Tassie and maybe Matamanoa in Fiji? So we swam and got out and dried off and swam again and again. Had a banana and some twisties and water. As we got back on the bus we did sweep past more beautiful beaches but man, we were so fortunate we chose the one we did – or did it choose us?

    We were on the bus for another 30 minutes or so. Most of the island was vegetated but quite scrubby, with the occasional bracts of low growing gum trees. Colours of grey, grey-green, bright green, purples, blue-greens, yellow-greens, olive. Very beautiful.

    - Back at the main settlement we had a shared dip-plate with drinks
    - Ferry back to Fremantle, dozing after our beach beauty, all salty and windswept and smelling of garlic from lunch
    - A refreshing alcoholic ginger beer at the amazing Gage Roads Brewery, right on the port – very groovy.
    - Fremantle is a mighty port, I love all of the huge industrial buildings. It kinda reminds me of Hamburg though that's much larger. I think the neatness and 'proud grandeur' of their histories and value to their nations is the same
    - Back at the unit for a quick shower
    - Sunset at Bather’s Beach (went to one of the bars but it was too hot so just sat on the boardwalk)
    - Home cooked panfried pork, pears and rice for dinner with vegetables
    - An unforgettable day!    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Fremantle

    February 20 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    I (we) feel very blessed to have had a wonderful day with Mick’s mate, Ian, who he worked with for many years in Signal Trouble at Central. Ian moved over here with his family five years ago – Ingrid (who grew up here in Perth), and their kids Isaac, Kirby and Rachel, after Signal Trouble became unbearable. Sad that.

    Ian picked us up at about 9am, me sharing the back with an empty gas bottle – hilarious. We did a fair bit of driving and we talked, talked, talked and laughed, laughed, laughed. Often funny topics and reminiscing, and sometimes serious things.

    What we did:
    - Drove to Mandurah beach where they have a colourful ‘beach shack’ – and that’s it, a beach shack on a plot of about 20 other cute and colourful beach shacks a block from the beautiful beach
    - Drove to Mandura inlet to see the beautiful river
    - Then had lunch at a local pub on another river.

    We drove back to Perth and did a quick look around the top of Kings Park. Only a few flowers were out but they were stunning. Ian is crazy passionate about endemic plant life and has spent a lot of time on his property replacing non-endemic plants with those that only belong to his part of Western Australia. The view over Perth city and the Swan River was beautiful on a hot, clear, sunny day.

    Then, the drive up into the Perth Hills where Ian and his family live. While it’s only 32 kilometres from Perth CBD you could in the middle of nowhere. They have 5 acres of West Australian bush, ramshackle pathways and a beautiful home right in the middle of it. We’ve only met Ingrid once but she greeted and chatted with us like she had known us forever. Their dog, Spike, a huge labrador-mastiff cross also greeted us like he’d know us forever, sniffing and jumping all over us. Ian is so proud of his land which he is cultivating strictly towards local plants. He adores his birds and we went bird spotting, his excitement growing at a flock of red-tailed black cockatoos in their trees. He sat us down with a beer in his favourite seats to watch the little birds arriving at his strategically planted bird baths. Dinner was steak on the barbie, salad and chips – perfect, simple, humble and gracious. We then walked around the block (big) to the ‘kangaroo paddock’ to watch the sunset; saw a golden sunset but not too many kangaroos. And before we left Ian gave Mick one of the most beautiful gifts ever, two perfect red-tail black cockatoo feathers that his daughter had proudly found and given to her Dad. Now isn't that just the most wonderful token of friendship?

    After hitting a dead kangaroo (man did that make a noise – like hitting a rock), Ian dropped us off at one of the closer stations to Perth and we caught the train all the way through to Fremantle. The train was pretty quick!!! A shame it was dark because I would have liked to have seen the journey.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Fremantle

    February 21 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    A slow start this morning as we’d had a few busy days. We went to the famous Fremantle Markets which were only slightly better than Paddies Markets I think – not that I’ve been to Paddies for a long, long time. However we did grab a delicious banh mi at a stall recommended by Ian – a big crunchy Vietnamese roll filled with salad, pate, mayo, chilli and crispy pork. We bought figs and grapes as we are really enjoying the fruit here. Wandered around and had a look at a few more shops: it was very busy in town this morning. Popped back to the apartment and then went to Cage Road for a refreshing ginger beer.

    We then went next door to the Western Australian Maritime Museum ans saw a free 3D virtual presentation called ‘Josephine Bonaparte’s Garden’ which was about the voyages of the French to Australia and their collection and recording of flora and fauna from here. Also how Josephine Bonaparte was a great patron of botanic research, propagation and cultivation in France, including that from Australia, Asia and the Americas. Very interesting.

    But the best part – which we didn’t know about – was the museum held the Australia 2 – the yacht that won the Americas cup back in the 1980s. Gosh I remembered that day so well. Whilst the hull and the winged keel were relatively small, the mast and sails were HUGE. I couldn’t even get it it into a wide angle setting on my phone for a photograph. It was way cool. I never, ever touch exhibits but I though a quick pat of the fibreglass winged keel wouldn’t hurt. It was awesome #proudaustralian. Plus we’ll send over a heap of the photos to das Germans and make the jealous (on that note we’ll try and get to the Fremantle Yacht Club for a drink and that’ll impress them even more 😊).

    A quick drink and sardine tapas snacks at a very groovy bar about six doors from here and back to cook dinner in the apartment.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Fremantle

    February 22 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    - A little wander around the markets this morning
    - Swan Valley boat trip from Fremantle to Perth and return. Wine and cheese. Cool and lovely on the boat. Lots of money in Perth
    - Thousands of sailing boats both moored and sailing in the river, skipping over the chop
    - Visit to the Roundhouse, Western Australia's oldest building
    - Blowing a gale; Fremantle Doctor was is
    - Watched the Charity shield back at the apartment, Rabbitohs vs Dragons. Lost 🤦‍♀️
    - Dinner in, salad and a beef vindaloo bought at the markets
    - Getting our head around heading for home 🥰.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Fremantle

    February 23 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    So the last day of our holidays and getting into the headspace to head for home tomorrow. But it turned out to be quite a busy day. Mick used the last of the tomatoes and onion to make train smash for breakfast and we have some for tomorrow.

    We went to the Western Australian Shipwrecks Museum, a small but very impressive place that focussed on the Dutch presence in Western Australia as there were lots of shipwrecks here from their journeys to Indonesia as the Dutch East India Company. Interesting as really, they had been hanging around the west coast of Australia since the early 1600s, so we could all have still been stuck in the UK if the Dutch had made a bigger claim on New Holland before Cookie claimed it for England. There you go. A chunk of the shipwreck of the Batavia was incredible as well as the story of the way they discovered it and preserved it.
    We then walked to the Fremantle Prison which was originally a convict built and housed jail which was only decommissioned in 1991. We went on the true crime stories tour (gotta love our senior concessions cards) which ran for just over an hour and heard lots of crazy information about real life inmates and a ghost or two. I balked at going into the gallows section – I went to walk in and then said, nup – and turned back around

    A few drinks here and there, then back to the apartment for packing, and a delicious end-of-holiday dinner at an Italian restaurant.    Read more

  • Jane-Maree O'Neill2025 Bali and PerthJane-Maree O'Neill

    Perth (Fremantle) to Sydney

    February 24 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    - Travel day!! Ugh
    - Not the best night's sleep
    - We left plenty of time for breakfast and for Mick to pack
    - Took our time getting ready on a lovely dry, warm Fremantle day
    - Lots of smoke over the city though; very hazy
    - Got an uber to the airport. We thought we may have been a bit early but I'm glad we left when we did as there was lots of traffic
    - Last minute panic when 1) I got locked in the carpark 2) Which bloody terminal do we fly out of???
    - Perth. Your signage everywhere could have been a lot better
    - Lots of FIFOs in the airport, all in their PPEs and helmets. They must go straight onto shift. A fair few females too
    - Good configuration on the aircraft 2 4 2 and we are in a 2
    - Lots of business class seats
    - Older female cabin crew. Before I left Qantas they'd implemented a relaxed grooming policy for the cabin crew which was evident today. Curly or frizzy hair just needs to be ponytailed and not tortured back into a sleek bun. Wear whatever framed glasses you like. Big watches: go for it
    - Lunch I chose lamb rogan josh with rice and peas; Mick got a gluten free green chicken curry
    - Man, boy can they get away now with bamboo cutlery and not much else, throwing cardboard boxes at you? But my attitude softened with three red wines. Good times
    - Then a coconut and mango magnum icecream. Note: I'm not a big fan of ice cream but felt I deserved it even though it was a bit churn-ey when said magnum mixed with the red wine. I can handle it
    - Everyone's falling asleep in their post lunch  stupor
    - Really, can you believe if we were in Europe we'd be flying over Greece now from London and into Turkey?
    - I have to update my travel outfit, black pants looking manky
    - Pretty good flight
    - Back into the humidity, no escaping it
    - Beautiful views flying back into Sydney #noplacelikehome!

    Here's the top three for this trip!

    Quintessentially Bali:
    1) The daily offerings - incense, flowers and reverence
    2) People in their traditional, graceful garb - women and girls; men and boys
    3) Temples, temples, temples literally everywhere - big, small, grand, old, new.

    Funniest moments:
    1) Jackie's monkeymergency at Uluwatu temple
    2) Asking the waiter to put the fan on when we were getting blown to smithereens at our Uluwatu cliffside lunch
    3) Ditto above when my food literally blew off my spoon.

    Ambient moments:
    1) Getting massages at the Andari poolside
    2) Listening to the rice paddy frogs
    3) Looking at my toes through gin-clear water on Rottnest island.

    Most amazing moments:
    1) Watching the flickering fire flies
    2) That the Balinese are always so smiling and helpful
    3) The long beach on Rottnest Island.

    Best food:
    1) Made's Warung Seminyak
    2) Orange Warung Ubud
    3) Fat Chow Kuta.

    Best/coolest experiences:
    1) Staying in the middle of a rice paddy
    2) Spending the day with Ian and his family
    3) Breakfast beers - always!    Read more

    Trip end
    February 24, 2025
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