Bali, first impressions

An old statue by the side of the road

Finally, adjusted to Bali time and the humidity. Yesterday I gave some data to a survey conducted by students in the street. In the evening I got a call from a lady, saying I had won a prize to stay at a hotel and we would be picked up from our hotel this morning so we could receive that prize. Jo and I both think this is simply a novel way to recruit time-share customers, but since they are offering free transport to Nusa Dua and return to our hotel and also include a free breakfast, we feel we have nothing to lose.

Jo at the local Market

Right on time we are picked up by a driver with a young lady who asks lots of questions on the half hour trip to Nusa Dua, the driver depositing us on the doorstep of the hotel where we are greeted by yet another young lady. She asks me to fill in yet another form but seems to not like that my nationality is German and not Australian, a few minutes later informs us that we are not eligible to take part in a guided tour through the hotel but we should proceed to another desk where I will receive my supposed prize. I thank her and point out that we were given to understand, a breakfast would be given and therefore we had not had any back at our hotel. A little grudgingly she writes out a voucher and directs us to the hotel bar where we indeed receive a free breakfast, then collect our "prize", the fine print informing us that we are actually outside the age group targeted and not entitled. The driver is called and together with another young woman, called Susie we are driven back and I ask if we may be dropped off at the Matahari in Kuta instead, to which she happily agrees.


Street displays at Legian, Bali

Susie tells us she is from Java. She is quite funny and we get to laugh all the way to Kuta. The driver also tells us he lives in Ubud, only coming to Kuta to fulfill his job as driver. Jo and I say good bye and walk into the Matahari, a local Department Store looking at various items on display, comparing prices etc. After about half an hour I realise that I have left my camera in the car that brought us back to Kuta. What now?

What are my chances of ever seeing that camera again, given that

- I have no telephone number of the hotel we just visited
- I do not know the name of the driver
- I do not know the registration of the car we were brought back in
- I do not know the full name of Susie
- I do not even know the name of the organisation involved apart from the name of the hotel

I call my Hotel and ask for them to obtain the phone number of the hotel in question. When I call that number repeatedly I cannot get through and decide to leave the matter untlil we return to our hotel. As we walk out from Matahari, a young woman and a young man are trying to get our attention for yet another sceme.

Exploring some of the posh places at Sayan

Jo apologises saying we just left a camera in a car and relates the story to them both. Now this is where it gets very interesting. The young man tells us that the hotel we have just returned from, have an office just around the corner and takes us to their front door. Yes, there is an office inside but not a single letter or inscription identifying the organisation.

We walk in and talk to a young woman at the desk, explaining our situation. Yes, she says, Susie was just here and she will try to track the driver, walks out the front door talking on her Mobile and crossing the road where she disappears. Jo and I sit down in the foyer and wait. A few minutes later she returns, pointing across the road to about five young men, asking us to identify our driver, cross the road and there he is holding out my camera.

The lesson? Well, firstly, never leave your belongings in strange cars, but also, never underestimate the balinese network, everybody seemingly knowing everyone else and last, but not least, that extra lot of good fortune. Thank you!

Dunsborough, Yallingup, Margaret River

West Australian Christmas Bush by the roadside

The colours of the westcoast are to be seen to be believed. Yes, at Osprey Bay at Cape Range National Park I was already very impressed with the clearness of the ocean, the abundance of creatures in the water and now I am even more impressed with the variety of shades of turquoise and blues that are reflected from the beaches and the white sands on the local beaches along this fabulous coastline around Dunsborough and Yallingup that we drove down to from the current campground.

Jo and I with Geographe Bay as a backdrop

"Meelup Beach" does stand out with vivid water colours and even though its Christmas Holidays time, not really crowded either.


Views from Meelup Beach

The biggest town in the area is obviously Busselton with around 35 000 people living there. There is a large industrial area and all the big stores like Woollies and Coles the most obvious ones with their large parking lots.
Dunsborough, about 25km further along the coast, by comparison is much smaller, but also spacious and well laid out, lots of flowers on the round abouts, everything ship shape and clean. Both towns are at the southern most end of "Geographe Bay" (named by french explorers) and because of this, are facing north rather than west and are therefore protected from the prevailing south-westerly winds by the headland that stretches further west to "Cape Naturaliste". The waters in that part of the bay are unusually calm due to this. Once I drive on from Cape Naturaliste, after visiting the Lighthouse that was completed in 1903, the bays facing west again, it becomes apparent that there is quite a bit of surf running.

Facing west, just south of Yallingup

There are more than 100 wineries in this part of WA all the way down to Margaret River and beyond. The wines produced here are all excellent, probably also to do with the large deposits of limestone in the ground. There are also over 300 caves in the area, many open for visitors. We check out Ngilgi Cave, quite a large and very deep cave which has been an attraction since the early 1900s. It has electric lighting throughout, the visitors are not led by a guide, instead we can wander at our own pace into the depth and around the various sights.

We drive on down to Margaret River and visit the Leeuwin Estate winery for a nice lunch and a glas of their Semillon. A nice treat on a beautiful day to be in such nice surroundings.

Today is Christmas Day, a good opportunity to just rest and enjoy the day. A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU!

Heading south along the coast

I follow the Highway south, the weather much cooler now, clear blue sky, such a great day to be driving along. Quite a lot of traffic on this road. Rockingham turns out to be a very nice township and we spend the night in a parking lot on the beach, but sheltered behind some trees as quite a gusty wind is blowing in from the ocean. The island, just off shore is called Penguin Island but does not provide any noticeable protection from the gusty wind.


Jo, helping to stow my awning

The following day, further south, along the coast to Mandurah, another popular township with lots of developments, new housing estates with many houses for sale. So far, most of the townships have a really good feel to them, like it was great to be living there. Further south, Bunbury and Busselton are also great townships with many friendly people and superb locations. Busselton also has a brand new housing estate with waterways at the door of many of the houses. If boating or fisshing is your pleasure, this is a great place to make it a reality. Unfortunately, prices are much on the high side and so only a very select number of families could afford to live there.

The night before I spent at a resting area by the highway, but last night at the Kookaburra campground at Busselton was most welcome, the bag full of washing needed attention and a good hot shower much in need.

Today, Saturday, 20 December, Jo has organised for both of us to stay at a campground by the Ocean, just south of Busselton, located on the so-called "Holy Mile" where we will stay to escape some of the Christmas rush that is bound to happen during the weeks to come. (They call it the "Holy Mile" as many of the campgrounds along this stretch of Highway are run by various church organisations.) After sunny days and blue skies its much cooler today, even some rain and so, its back to Jeans and long sleeved shirt until the weather will improve again tomorrow.

Back in the West again

My camping spot at the Advent Park in Perth

Good to be back! Also time to bring my blog up-to-date again with new happenings. Today, 20 December, already 16 days back, having spent the first ten, just relaxing and taking it easy at a campsite at Maida Vale near Perth Airport. I must say, the trip back to the past has been rather more stressful than I had initially anticipated, so now after settling down and re-adjusting to the way of life on the road, I feel so much better.

I have met up with my friend Jo and we have taken up together, where I have left off seven weeks ago, now slowly travelling south along the coast of Western Australia. Yesterday we spent the day stopping alongside Luck Bay, a large bay, formed by the Swan River, watching wind surfers barrelling along across the water. What a great place to see. We spent part of the afternoon and much enjoying a long ride on our bikes, most of the way around Lucky Bay.

Tonight we are camping wild in a carpark along the beach, just north of Coogee Beach WA. We are having a pretty warm day, with temperatures in the high 30s. This morning we spent exploring some parts of Fremantle and the local market. A lot of the old infrastructure of Fremantle seems to date back to the days of the Gold Rush, with many a grand building in the centre of town. The sun in these parts stands high, so often it feels like I am being pushed into the ground by the intensely bright and hot sun, a good time to keep in the shade if you can. So after the excursion around Fremantle we decide to head a little further south and have now made camp at a place called "C.Y. O'Connor Beach", named after the man who designed and built that pipeline all the way to Kalgoorlie. He committed suicide right on this very beach, as he must have started to believe the water would after all, never get there. Anyway, only two hours after his death the water did arrive and has been flowing there since.

It’s a great beach, clean water, absolute balm after a hot and sticky day in the Australian sun. A swim in the clear waters of the bay fells wonderful on such a hot and sticky day.

A quick update

In another ten days I will be returning to Perth, pick up my van to continue my tour-of-discovery. I am almost at the end of the things I needed to do overhere in Sydney, visited many of my friends and reported on my progress on the big venture.

I have also taken some time to post some of my photos in larger format on the internet. Some of you have asked me to see some of those images in a more realistic view than is possible to post in the blog. So now, you can check out about 250 pictures I have uploaded so far. There are lots more that I intend to upload, so, if you want to check and see what is there, I suggest that you copy the link below into your "Favorites" folder for future use. For now, simply click onto the link to go there. Yes, it would b e helpful if you have a broadband connection for this exercise.


Looking north from Coogee


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