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Read on to find out about our exciting adventures with dangerous oversized animals at the Ulun Danu Beratan Temple at Lake Beratan. We get drenched by a massive tropical thunderstorm, and are amused/delighted/revolted by some hot beverages. Finally we end up having a meal at a great little place on the coast.

Mom leads the kids off to the Ulun Danu Beratan Temple!

Found it!

But it's guarded by lions... hungry lions... Careful M!

Look out, LR!

We'll ride the magic giant fish off to safety!

The sign said, "Beware of Giant Eagles", but did they listen? Oh nooooooo.... "No giant eagles around here," they said. Here's your freaken giant eagle, buddy.

"Spin us, Uncle Paul! As fast as you can!!!" ... The kids learned a valuable lesson that day.

Mom and P take M and RJ on a WILD ride on the swing.

On the way back down the mountain, we ran into our first tropical thunderstorm.

Rice paddies and farms on the side of the mountain.

On the way back to the villa, we stopped by this nice little coffee shack and tried their various coffees and teas, as well as the infamous, "Poo Coffee."

Poppa is awfully suspicious. In the background, you can see a big poster describing the process of feeding coffee berries to the lewaks, collecting their valuable coffee-bean-caffinated turds, and the washing that takes place before roasting and grinding the beans. They did mention washing the beans, didn't they? Lots and lots of washing?

No RJ! Don't eat that bit!!! Ha ha... Actually, the hot chocolate made from their own cocao beans was really fantastic.

Mom refused to try the crappy coffee, but did give the lemon tea a go... and it was actually great stuff. The kids loved it too.

After a long day, we went to the Potato Head Club to relax and have a great dinner. The place was extravagant, decadent and completely over the top... and we loved it. Aunty Bron, Uncle Troy and Poppa enjoy a drink while trying to get Shazam working on their phones.

Aunty Carrie, Grammy and Uncle Paul sit down for a cup of tea... Hang on a second, that's not tea in that pot!

Mom watched whle the kids had a brilliant time swimming and jumping around in the pool.

We even enjoyed a tiny, 2 minute sunset. There was so much cloud that the sky didn't really light up.

The kids kept swimming and playing into the night while our dinner was prepared.

Sophie checks out the menu... Yep, just about everything on there looks delicious.

Uncle Paul waits for Auntie Carrie at the bar... The place felt like a scene from a movie.

After dinner, LR and the other kids danced on the grass to the loud, thumping music, while Dad cheered them on.

PA. prepares to launch her sky-shooting glowie -- a tiny light on a pair of wings.

Bali is absolutely packed to the brim with three things: motorbikes, temples and souvenir shops, often mixed in a kind of a petro-spiritual-capitalist melange. The markets and hawkers serve as a tense, bustling, confrontational entree, sitting in stark contrast to the quiet zen-like peace of the temples…

One of the temples we explored was Tanah Lot. Like most of the temples, it was calm and quiet… except for outside the cave containing the Holy Snake (a revered, venomous guardian of the Temple at Tanah Lot). That place was nuts.

We also visited Ubud, a market district renowned for its artists and crafts… and markets and temples.

Finally, we had a great time on the (heavily chlorinated) water slides and rides at the Waterbom water park.

PA and RL stand at one of the entrances to Tanah Lot!

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Our trip was filled with new experiences with a lot of things that we’d never get the chance to do back in Perth. We stopped by a lodge where they take retired elephants and spoil them by feeding them melons all day (in exchange for carrying tourists on short walks through jungle and rice paddies). They had a couple of young orangutans who we were allowed to play with, as well as an albino python that RJ thought would make a terrific pet. Finally, we had a fantastic meal at a great, but confusing restaurant motorcycle shop skate shop place called, “Deus Ex Machina”.

Hungry elephants LOVE to eat melons. If you're not careful, they'll even stop along the track to stomp on a jackfruit and eat that too!

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In April of 2011, we embarked on a terrific adventure to the island of Bali, in Indonesia. It is actually closer to Perth than the other capital cities within Australia, so it’s a popular holiday destination for Western Australians… which is one of the reasons we’ve been hesitant to go.

After a tiny 3 hour flight, we met Poppa, Grammy, the cousins (P. and M., Auntie Bron and Uncle Troy), our aunt and uncle from the US (Carrie and Paul), and finally, our second cousin Sophie and spent a week there staying at an incredible, luxurious villa (Puri Angsa, in Canggu, Bali) together.

It really was like staying in paradise, with each family having their own cottage or series of rooms, most of them directly overlooking the pool. The villa even had their own pet monkeys, which conveniently avoided any potential ‘Enchanted Monkey Forest‘ disasters that we had worried about.

We arrived at our gate with plenty of time to spare and some amazing colours in the sky.

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March came to a close and it was a big month for the kids. LR competed in a diving competition, where she was the youngest, as well as the only kid representing her school. RJ also stepped into his first trampolining competition and took third place! Congratulations kids! We also had a few dinners at the beach and the river in the evening, and spent lots more time outside enjoying the cooler weather.

… and Mom looked ridiculous.

LR steps up as her name and school are read out.

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On the weekend, we all drove up to Gingin to help with the second stage of winemaking. The first stage, picking the grapes and first pressing, was already done a couple of weeks ago; it was time for the second pressing and getting the wine into vats for fermentation. We also spent time working on LR’s latest project, “The Museum of the Universes of Science” — a showcase for all the amazing animals, bones, plants and rocks that we discover up there.

Obviously, winemaking is a very serious business!

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(LR is wandering around with a surface thermometer in hand)

LR: Your turn, Dad. (click) 33 degrees… So…  Grammy, Dad and Mum were all 33 degrees.

LR: (checks herself) 34.5 degrees! Hmmm…

LR: (checks another part of her head) 35 degrees. Arrgh!

Dad: Why are you so worried about your temperature?

LR: Well… …. How hot do you have to be to have a fever?

Dad: I’d say three degrees more than normal means you’re pretty sick. Less than that isn’t such a big deal.

LR: I want to get my temperature up just a little bit more… (grinning) Because if I’m sick and have a fever, then I get to lay down on the couch and watch TV all afternoon!

(the cousins have been visiting)

Grammy: Ladybugs are great! They help us up at Gingin by eating the pests that eat our plants.

Mi: Like fruit bats?

We survived our massive annual Halloween ordeal party. Last year’s party was talked about at school for the whole year, so this year’s was heavily anticipated. From apple bobbing, to treasure hunts, a nigh-invulnerable piñata, to a wet and soggy caveman, we had all the major attractions.

This year, however, we decided not to do the haunted garage. Too many kids came out of that one completely freaked out and crying… Next year, however… MWAAAAHAAHAAAAHAAA… Look out kids!!!!

It was a dark and stormy... err... bright and spooky afternoon in the park that day. Jim decided to hang out at the slide; his diet had been a huge success!

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Every night for the past six weeks, RJ has been telling us about his upcoming art gallery. We could tell it was a big deal, but we had no idea of the actual scale of the thing.

Rather than being five or six paintings that the kids had done, the gallery consisted of about 20 pieces for each child. Each piece focused on a different artistic style, technique or influence by a famous significant artist. Every inch of wall space was covered and several extra partitions were required to accommodate everything. Even the neighbouring classroom was annexed to become the food / wine / snack room!

RJ was excited to have all the important people there… Mum, Dad, LR, Grammy and even Heather and her mum came down. Poppa couldn’t make it because he was overseas.

Thanks so much to RJ’s teachers for all the effort and energy they put into this. It really was quite overwhelming and far beyond anything we expected – a fantastic job all around!

Welcome to RJ's Art Gallery!

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