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Our Bali Adventure 2011, Part 2: Elephants, Orangutans and Motorbikes, oh yeah!

Luke — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 03:07:11 +0000

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!

We had to wait a while before it was time for our ride. It seemed like a good time to compare missing teeth.

LR, Grammy and PA., moments after climbing on their elephant. That chair is more wobbly than it looks!

Riding along the track on an elephants back is surprisingly peaceful, until the elephant gets hungry and decides to stomp a jackfruit.

RJ and Daddy are on the hunt for good pictures, which is surprisingly easy to do from the back of an elephant, as you wander through villages and rice paddies.

After the long trek, the elephants wanted to have a swim to cool down, and we weren't going to argue with them.

MS and Mom hold on tight while the elephant sits down for a short break on this stump.

Mom climbed out of the chair and is now riding bareback!

As a treat, we fed the elephants a big pile of melons after we got back.

RJ shows us how the Balinese stay dry in a rainstorm using leaves from an umbrella plant!

We met this friendly little orangutan at the lodge. She was only one year old!

PA. has a turn cuddling the orangutan. Remember PA., hold her carefully, and no hats.

She's nearly as big as you, LR! Remember LR, hold her carefully, and no hats.

Mom's pretty good at holding wiggly kids. Remember Mom, hold her carefully, and no hats.

Oh no, LR! You broke the rule! You came near the orangutan, while wearing a hat!

There's no getting that hat back now. She LOVES hats and gets grumpy when you try to take them away.

Meanwhile, the others had a relaxing day playing golf.

Looking good, ladies!

We all stopped by an extremely cool motorcycle shop / garage / surf & skate shop / designer label / restaurant and got well fed and thoroughly confused.

The food was excellent: a thoughtful mix of Balinese and modern cuisine. Deciding what to order was difficult!

LR on her wheels. At only 3 million rupiah, it was a bargain... and it's been at the top of her birthday wish list ever since.

Halloween 2009

Luke — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:01:27 +0000

This year, our Halloween party was the biggest ever. Every kid from both of the Year 1 classes at LR’s school was invited, as well as all the children on our street and a bunch of RJ’s friends. It was absolutely crazy, but we did our best to keep them busy. Activities included the Haunted Garage, a “Yucky” dip, a piñata, a broom race, a treasure hunt, making disembodied hands and the grand finale, a total, all-out assault on Dad with water balloons.

LR, as Supergirl, decided the world needed rescuing.

RJ and Mum put together a great snapping turtle costume.

Follow the link to get to the rest of the pictures and see what went on!!!

Grammy came along too. We needed all the help we could get!

We recruited a couple of the dads to carve pumpkins and watermelons brought by the kids.

A couple of the kids were amazed by our American maibox. Australian letter boxes look nothing like this.

The Yucky Dip involved a huge bowl of slimy, coloured pasta of different shapes. Prizes and bugs were hidden through it and the kids had to do their best to find a prize in the revolting mess.

Mum helps one of the kids search for a prize in the "Yucky Dip".

We do the apple bobbing every year. The kids figured out pretty quickly that grabbing the apples by the steps was the easiest way to win… This year, though, only apples without stems got prizes!

RJ volunteers to be next in the apple bobbing competition.

An apple bobbing champion is born!

In previous years, we’ve made disembodied hands for each of the kids in LR and RJ’s classes. It’s a huge amount of work, but the kids love it. This year we got smarter and had the kids make them!

Everyone had fun making ghoulish popcorn hands with Am!

You have to fill them all the way to the top with popcorn!

The annual treasure hunt is always a big hit, but it’s getting harder and harder to find enough hiding places for the number of kids that show up. For the older kids this year, we hid marbles around the yard, with different prizes available for one or more marbles. The younger kids, searching our neighbour’s yard, had to find tiny pumpkin baskets containing small toys and sometimes a piece of candy.

Mum gives everyone instructions on the treasure hunt. This year they had to find marbles hidden around the front yard. It wasn't easy.

One of LR's class mates hunts for precious, precious marbles.

LR found two! Home field advantage, perhaps? She donated one to someone who wasn't as fortunate.

The younger kids had their search across the road. They had to find little plastic pumpkins and cauldrons.

This year we asked all the kids to bring a broom with them for a broom race. We ran two races and the kids did really well. We may have to rethink this one, having 15 kids running at you with long sticks is not very safe.

RJ gets his broom tuned up for the Broom Race.

Kids rush to prepare for the Broom Race.

Two serious contenders for the prize... provided no one brings kryptonite along.

RUN RUN RUN RUN!

The piñata survived through quite a few attacks before finally relinquishing its hidden treasure.

The piñata was especially popular.

T prepares to deal a mighty blow to poor old Jack.

Can I be next please?!!

SMASH! The lollies have been liberated!

To wrap things up, we had a water bombing event. The kids line up along the side of the road, heavily loaded with water balloons. A very brave, and soon to be thoroughly drenched, Dad makes several sprints past them as they hurl their watery grenades at him.

30 kids. 200 water balloons. 1 victim... at least Dad had his goggles. Dad gets the kids riled up with some serious trash-talk.

Splash! Direct hit!

Totally soaked, except for the bits under the goggles, there were still more balloons to come, as well as a bucket of water.

Finally, after almost everyone has left, we get to go trick or treating. Not everyone on the street has candy, but those who do love to see us and check out the costumes.

Trick or Treat! LR checks out the new neighbours to see if they've got treats... and maybe if they'd like to come trick or treating with us.

This... is... the... BEST THING EVER!!! FREE CANDY AND LOLLIES!!!!

Let's head home and see what we've got.

Halloween aftermath

Luke — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:05:51 +0000

We’re still recovering and attemping to clean up after our massive Halloween party. The kids at school are still buzzing about the events of the day. Pictures coming soon!

"Real" pumpkins aren't cheap here, but melons certainly are.