#863 Saturday 16 March

After the plane landed last night the terminal was amazingly busy.  I think there were at least three planes all landing at the same time.  When I got to VOA purchase there were lloooonnnngggg queues for all counters and .... at the rate the lines were moving ..... I could see that it was going to take at least an hour or more just to get to passports ... let alone going home!

Abort .... abort  .... yes I'll have express VOA thankyou!  ...... Zoom through passports and out to baggage. (wave to all the people waiting in the queues!)   Sanggar was already collecting the bags and we were soon out the door! Phew!

Sanggar and I arrived at the villa at 12:30am to find that we had been locked out! The front door has a bolt in addition to the deadlock .... and Zoe had bolted the door. Fortunately I have more than one way to enter and I foiled her attempt to give us an uncomfortable night .... Bad Zoe!!! :-)

7:30am  It's raining.  Made told me that there were big rains for 4 hours yesterday so it looks like this is a wet March. Apart from being a bit cooler, it feels like January.

Night:  The day had been full of maintenance and villa business matters .... so late afternoon we all went out to celebrate Zoe's birthday.  We went over to Uluatu to see a Kecak dance.  This is performed in an open theater approached along  spectacular cliffs. I did a rough estimate of the audience .... well over 1,000 I think.

Zoe and Sanggar







The dance is performed without any instrumental background .... instead 60 men were chanting!

Listen .....

[video to be added]

The dance has a long story but it was well played ..... and had some very funny parts! The actors used a lot of audience participation.  I couldn't help wondering what Kaylia would have made of it all.








Bali added to the show with a beautiful sunset.




After the dance we stopped at a spot that Made chose ... Mak Jo .... a seafood warung.  It was very good.  We had a special "candle" so we could sing happy birthday for Zoe.

#862 Friday 15 March

At 2:00am ..... while she's still fast asleep .... she calls out "HOLIDAY!"
 Bali is never far from her mind .... and she has clearly picked up the vibes that I'm about to go. Poor thing. I'd love to take her too but I checked the price of a ticket .... $700!! So it's not possible.

Midday
We've infected Brynn with the "Ebay bug"  .....  it's amazing how many interests she shares with us.  We're looking forward to a highly enjoyable time while Brynn is with us.

Airport
It's fortunate I came to the airport early. My luggage (2 baby seats and 2 bed rails) was unusual and the airline didn't like it. I had negotiate hard and to pay an extra $90 to do it.

While waiting at the gate we were treated to a spekky sunset!  (Once again, the best camera is the one in your hand .... I only had moments to get this shot and then it was gone.)

#861 Thursday 14 March

The transition blues .... it's the same song each time we're "changing the guard"! .... and each time we've forgotten the past and we fail to keep a close enough eye on her while she's having a shower session ...... and the contents of another 2 or 3 bottles of shampoo go down the drain .... literally!!!

Brynn and Kaylia are getting on really well ... it's a delight to see.

Later:
A serious thunderstorm! Lightning and thunder and lots of rain.

Kaylia and I did the Mundaring Weir to Kalamunda circuit before tea .... an hour drive through beautiful country with some fabulous scenery of the thunderstorm over the city.

At the moment I'm planning how I can escape to the airport tomorrow without Kaylia realising. She gets upset if she knows I'm going without her.

#860 Tuesday 12 March

Wow ..... what a good night! For some reason Kaylia decided last night that she would sleep in her own bed in her own room ..... the first time in ages! ..... and so we had a very good sleep ourselves.
Hopefully this might continue.

Today Brynn is being very brave and she's going to do the school run herself! Brave .... because this is a new place and she has had only a short time to become acclimatised to driving on the left! Hats off!

#859 Monday 11 March

Woo hooo! Wot a night! She's been up and running at full noise level since 4am.

Yesterday Zoe and Brynn took her to the beach and by 7:30pm she was ready to sleep... but it meant that she woke very early. At 4:30 she was wanting to go for a swim! It's going to be a long day.

On the way to school we stopped at the playground.

#858 Sunday 10 March

Well! ..... we had a bit of drama last night ..... with Teddy.

Over the past day or so he's been showing signs of pain in his hindquarters .... and yesterday afternoon it got quite bad.  The poor thing was shaking and unable to walk easily.   We found a vet that was open on a Saturday night and off we went.  All checked OK except for his knee-caps!  It seems that this breed of dogs often have an easily dislocated knee-cap and this is what was causing him pain.  There was a loud pop while the vet was feeling his leg .... and he seems much better now.  He has to have rest and anti-inflammatories for a week or so.  Hopefully he will be OK after that.

Kaylia of course was oblivious to all the drama .... or was she?  I wonder .... while Naomi and I were taking Teddy to the vet, Zoe took Kaylia to bed ... where she complained of pain!  I wonder if it was her way of wanting some attention for herself.

This morning Zoe and Brynn have taken Kaylia off to the beach.  Yesterday they went to Fremantle beach and while there, Kaylia tested Brynn's resolve!  She was clearly checking to see if she could get away with ignoring Brynn's instruction!  Cheeky little thing.  Quite normal for a 9 year old ... but it seems coming odd from Kaylia.