Well we are back, how quickly does it seem like you haven't even been away. Arrived at Tullamarine from Darwin at 2.15pm Friday, thought to ourselves great we will be just ahead of peak traffic. Think again, we crawled the first few Klm's due to an accident, arrived in Frankston at 4.45pm. Welcome home!
We flew to Bali from Melbourne via Darwin did a nights stop over in Darwin both ways. Left Melbourne on 31st January, arrived home 27th February. We were beginning to wonder if we were not meant to take this trip. We had booked and had to cancel due to family illness, rebooked to take our adult son with us. He cancelled out mid January due to change in circumstances, too late for us to change some of our flights & accommodation.
Three weeks before we were due to leave my darling mum went into a coma, we traveled the three hours that it takes to get to her thinking we wouldn't make it. We spent the night with her, in the early hours of the morning she seemed to be resting easier. We returned to Melbourne due to urgent work commitments & returned to her early the next morning. At midday the next day she opened her eyes, we believe she knew we were all there, at 12.20pm the exact time that I was born my beautiful mum slipped away as I held her hand. It had been just over seven years since her first big stroke & she had fought back each time she had another one, I am sure she fought to stay with her nine children & 67 grand & great grand children.
The next three weeks are still a bit of a blur. I seriously considered canceling Bali, friends & relatives advised us to go. So with aching hearts & weariness we packed a few clothes. We dressed Joe in his Bintang Tshirt & bathers & put Flo's bikini on her. Joe & Flo went into their first class seats in our hand luggage & off we went. We stayed at the new Mantra at Tullamarine the first night, they have a good opening special. The room was really good & we bought a voucher for a 3 course dinner & breakfast for 2. This was good value at about the price of dinner for two, the dinner was great, the breakfast was not that good, very little on the buffet & only precooked scrambled eggs.
The flight to Darwin from Melbourne with Jetstar the next day was ok, we had the one extra seat next to us that should have been son's. We had attempted to do a name & date change on this seat but the cost was not worth it as the original price of the ticket was really cheap. The girl I spoke to at Jetstar told me the other option was not to do anything & we would have an empty seat next to us.
The four hour flight went really fast & before we knew it we were landing in Darwin. We spent the night in a privately owned apartment at The Peninsula Hotel in Darwin, basic but clean & in a good location. The next day we were able to stay here until 5pm in the afternoon, we were only charged for 1.5 nights which was great value & so convenient. We went off to the Casino for dinner & had the worst meal ever in the Bistro, all you can eat buffet & carvery. The roast beef was cut about two inches thick & was so tough it was totally inedible, so we filled up on desert which wasn't too bad & left to get an early night.
We arrived back at the hotel to find that Joe & Flo had gone out. I had heard Joe say earlier that he had wanted to go ride a big Croc, he had heard that they have some big one's up there. I said to H, I hope Flo talks him into going to some nice quiet nightclub instead.
When we left the next morning to go to the Banyan Tree for breakfast there they were, stretched out on the single bed next to us, all in one piece. I was sure that Flo would tell us later how they spent their night in Darwin. Breakfast at the Banyan Tree was great as usual. We wandered around the city area for a while & then headed back to the hotel.
When we got back to the room Flo was awake, Joe was snoring. Flo told us that they had grabbed a ride on the bumper bar of a bus & gone to Crocadylus Park. Joe had told her that they could get free rides on a Croc after hours. Flo had told him that there was no way she was going to ride but if he was silly enough to try she knew she couldn't talk him out of it. She told him he would finish up as a pile of wet wadding in a Crocs belly and would never get to see Bali again. Joe just puffed out his chest & told her he knew what he was doing, he'd been practising for this. The gates were locked when they got there, Joe tried to climb the fence,three times he was chased off by the security guards who told him "no bears are allowed". Joe finally gave up in disgust when they threatened to cage him & Flo for the night. They spent the night at a local nightclub, Joe discovered Darwin Stubbies & in the early hours of the morning Flo had to talk a couple of friendly locals into giving them a lift back to the hotel, Joe was having trouble walking. Looks like Joe is off to a good start, "Look out Bali" here comes Joe in holiday mode.
Next Part 2 - Air North Flights transferred to Jetstar so Jetstar to Bali. Arriving in Bali