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.

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

The entrance to Tanah Lot is filled with souvenir shops and markets. On the way through we spotted a fish massage where we stopped and each dipped our hand in for a moment. It's extremely unnerving having hundreds of fish attacking your skin and chewing away at it.

Uncle Paul had a lot in common with this guy.

Mom digs deep, waaaay deep, and channels her spiritual side.

That's the main temple, built on an island. It's one of seven sea temples built in a chain along the coast.

RJ, Mom and LR sit down for a quick break in the heat with the temple behind them.

RJ hangs out with his big stone buddy.

The temple floors were kept incredibly clean and shiny. The kids had great fun dancing and spinning around.

Silhouettes at one of the temples at Tanah Lot.

Looking further down the coast from Tanah Lot.

Ubud is a district full of markets, artists and artisans. We stopped in to this small shop that was packed to the rafters with colourful fabrics and quilts.

Mom spotted this quilt stitched with golden threads for our bed back home. It's light enough to use during the Australian summer.

The traffic is pretty crazy in Bali, with scooters and motorbikes taking up every spare inch of road that isn't full of cars and trucks. Grammy decided it was safer to stay where she was and Sophie kept her company.

Poppa stopped to get himself a hat, and probably paid way to much money for it. Bule's are terrible at haggling.

Dad actually trusted a random stranger to take a picture with his camera... Luckily nothing was broken!

Mom stops to admire one of the really detailed statues in the palace gardens in Ubud.

One of the statues in the palace gardens in Ubud.

PA. and LR LOVED the waterslides.

Uncle Troy and MS get ready for their wild ride.

Aunty Bron and PA come shooting out of the waterslide.

One of the brief moments when Dad was only getting attacked by a single child.

Mom and RJ get splashed at the base of the pyramid.

Cousin Sophie strikes a pose with the girls.

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.

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

Once we had arrived, the first thing to do was to explore the villa! Off you go guys!

A diving platform over the pool??? Not yet kids! You still have your clothes on! We knew this was going to see a LOT of use.

The kids discovered lots of great places to hide and hang out together.

RJ made friends with all the local wildlife. Uncle Paul even taught him how to catch toads, and how to avoid getting peed on when you pick them up!

Coco was a small, very friendly monkey with a surprisingly happy grin. He loved it when we brought him young bamboo shoots to eat.

This male monkey had surprisingly long arms, perfect for grabbing onto the pony tails of little girls!

Oh Coco, what have they trained you to do? You poor (creepy), furry (creepy), little (creepy) person (creepy).

Safe under his mosquito net, RJ enjoys some early-morning entertainment before Mom and Dad wake up.

Somehow, we ended up at a villa with high-speed internet connectivity. Poppa, did you have something to do with that?

Each morning, we all got up and enjoyed coffee and conversation while we waited for our breakfast to be cooked. We were so incredibly spoiled -- it was wonderful!

Auntie Bron helps get Auntie Carrie's hair up. Carrie! Stop moving around!

The ladies at the villa took such amazing care of us. Every morning they laid out a fantastic spread of food with many of the ingredients bought fresh from the markets that morning.

Most of our meals at the villa were Balinese/Indonesian/South-East Asian recipes with lots of spices and bright, fresh flavours.

Grammy puts her feet up and enjoys a book for a few minutes, before we all head out for the day.

The tropical atmosphere suited Mom just fine... aside from the threat of mosquito and water borne diseases, that is.

Uncle Paul shows off some of his latest lets-feed-the-crazy-monkey pictures.

M. shows RJ how to cut the rope and win the game.

Sophie sits back and relaxes, being very good natured about the incessant click-click-clicking from her cousin with a camera.

Time for lunch! Auntie Carrie and Uncle Paul had problems with their flights from the US, so they weren't around for the first couple of days.

Auntie Bron and Uncle Troy chillaxxing by the pool with some awesome drinks made by Wasi and the ladies at Puri Angsa.

RJ and Mum hang out in the kitchen, making plans for the day. Most of the huts and rooms were open to the outdoors.

In one of the side gardens, they grow chilli peppers and once ripe, they leave them outside to dry on bamboo matts.

The main bedroom of one of the houses in the villa looks out onto the pool area from one floor up.

Most of the rooms and huts in the villa had traditional Balinese showers as well as modern fixtures.

This beautiful boardwalk actually covers a stream that runs across the middle of the property.

The warm sunshine by the side of the pool is much appreciated by Auntie Bron and Mum... The splashes from the people jumping in - not so much.

Preparing for a dive? Stretching? Dancing? ... Nah, probably just LR mucking around again.

Tee-Eye-Ohhh! Go LR, go!

P. and LR practiced all sorts of dives off the platform, including a bunch of tandem jumps.

Uncle Troy takes a giant leap from the diving platform! Look out below, this splash is going to be HUGE!

Poppa is under attack from RJ and M.!

The chessboard was a great way to pass the time between jumps in the pool. P. and LR had a truly epic battle!

Dad and RJ's turn to make a move! You're going down, P.!

The amount of delicious fresh tropical fruit that we got to eat was amazing. We were also lucky enough to make it over there for durian season!

Poppa has a big bite of tasty, tasty durian. Hey, that's a pretty weird expression you've got there, Poppa!

Auntie Carrie and Uncle Paul brought presents for RJ's birthday from America... as well as the best birthday card in the entire world. It was full of great ideas.

The view from our room in the evenings was just spectacular.

At night, the wildlife showed up and made itself at home: frogs, birds, giant geckos and some kind of weird mammal all wandered through the villa at various times.

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

LR prepares to perform her first dive.

SPLASH! A fantastic dive, LR!

Grammy and Poppa came to watch the diving and RJ was there to keep them out of trouble.

RJ took third place in his trampolining competition! Unfortunately, they didn't award extra points for enthusiasm.

We took a trip down to the river for dinner. It's a beautiful spot. The kids spend most of their time there catching jellyfish.

LR took this great photo of a black swan in front of the city skyline.

Now that the weather has cooled down a bit, we can spend more time bike riding and playing in the street.

LOOK OUT!!!

Mum had a graduation to go to, so she had to wear her PhD robes, complete with ridiculous hat. Somehow she still manages to make it look good.

One of the last pictures of LR with all her upper teeth... One of her front incisors came out the next day!

RJ prepares to lower his balloon into the ominous, bubbling green concoction, OF SCIENCE!

LR observes the size of the balloon before and after dunking it in the yellow, bubbling, potion OF SCIENCE!

It can feel pretty cold when you've been swimming for half-an-hour in the olympic pool, so we're always quick to put on some warm, dry clothes afterwards. RJ has been wearing lots of different hats lately.

Mom had a singing concert! RJ, Dad and LR wait outside Winthrop Hall where Mom will be performing!

Sing it Mom!

RJ takes a break on the beach blanket after a big meal of fish and chips.

Poppa also needed a bit of a rest after a long hard day at work.

Mom and Dad went to a crazy Bollywood birthday party for our friends.

Dad, LR and RJ stopped by Great Grandpa Maurie and Great Grandma Dot's place to play some games.

RJ experimented with some different costumes -- this one apparently inspired by Devo.

LR, RJ and Ta. dressed up for the school barbeque picnic and disco... or Barbedisco as they called it. Each kid had to bring their favorite stuffed animal.

RJ on the dance floor!

LR listens to her coach and prepares to dive.

It's a good one!

LR performs her first pin-drop from the 3m (10ft) board.

RJ is working his way through swimming classes, with a big focus on his freestyle. (Currently on a brief hiatus because of his toe).

The next day, RJ and Bob#2 went surfing together.