Bali - Paradise By The Pool Side Light

Hello There Reader (if there are any of you left!),
There is still some stories to be told from the UK but for those of you who aren't aware, I'm currently on a 10 day holiday in Bali whilst on my 6 week break between the UK & USA Tours. I have finally become a millionaire thanks to the Indonesian Rupeha - $1 AUS = 8,180 something!!

It's been a realy hectic time since arriving back in Melb - a mate's Buck's Night, my best mate Adam's Buck's - where I have the honour of being Best Man @ the actual ceremony, Adam's wedding and then another mate's wedding - Ange & Ray. In between all of that I worked a chunk at the Arts Centre as a Casual - the way I started way back in early 1998! It was GOLD to head back to the old stomping ground but basically having no 'responsibility', especially after the UK Tango Tour. All I had to do was get given a gig and when it was done, report for more work! Didn't have to worry about everyone else, that there was a show to do, no calling of cues etc! Heaven! I also had the opportunity to light the Nick Cave Exhibition in the George Adams Gallery - which was a great experience & actually meeting & chatting with Nick was quite cool.

Anyhoo, enough of that boring stuff...! After all that ended & before kicking back into work I had 4 days down in Portsea (that also covered Ange & Ray's wedding - thanks Rel for organising a mini holiday with the guys & girls) & from Portsea drove to Melb Airport & went down to Tassie to catch up with Dad & Kerry for 4 days before heading here to Bali, just out of Depensar in Kuta. I'm forever in debt to one of my best mates Suzie for the opportunity. She herself has recently come off an Australian Tour & one of the guys on that, Todd, has a wealthy friend in Bali who has a spare house on his block of land - as you do! I'd met Todd a couple of times whilst Suze was on tour as I'd drive down to catch up with her whilst she was close to Melb. He said to Suze that it was cool to invite me, which she did, & I accepted!!

The place is GOLD! It's nothing too flash but it is prob of the 4-5 star quality if it was classified as a Hotel! Staff come in each day & clean etc., we can get massages & there is prob the best pool I have ever seen. It has a narrow channel (for use of a better word) that links the two houses but otherwise you'd have no idea there was even anyone else on the property!! Between the two houses there is this great wall of palms, plants, flowers, trees etc & you have complete privacy. Laurie & Raphael (Raph) who live here permanently pop on over every now & then & they are both fantastic guys. We've had many laughs and devoured many bottles of vodka/wine/beer & other assorted Duty Free things...!

Raph is a great cook & we have been treated to a couple of dinners that he just creates! Absolutely fantastic! Todd's really cool too. We knew each other as we'd met briefly before but it really only took us a day to cerment a friendship of our own! The clincher was when I provided instant back-up & support for him when he was attempting to add chilli flakes to Suzie's food....! He made a play & I just did what came natural as if it was Adam, Bernie, Ric or even Suze herself & ran with it!! He was the 'Tainter' & I was the 'Eyes'! After the first two 'taintings' didn't work, we went for OVERDOSE... still nothing, so we eventually fessed up...! We had visions of Suze jumping into the pool and errupting into a cloud of steam but to no avail! A lovely bonding moment after drinkng "Caniptions" - basically we all took it in turn to make beverages out of what was in the kitchen....

It's been SO relaxing to actually finally stop. It has been SO long since I've had a holiday of this calibre. First few days were literally spent lounging around the pool. We have ventured out to the beach - the water is so warm - and shopped a little. Last night, Wed 5th Dec, we all went bowling. Was a hilirious night out. In the cab ride there we were all from Norway - thanks to Todd speaking first.... Todd could speak English & myself & Suze couldn't - the translations & converstaions that went on were hiliarious. At bowling we met a few people & told them that we'd just come off a tour of Cats in North Korea....! I have never told such stories before & had backed it all up from knowledge of North Korea that I'd absorbed during a Forreign Correspondance report on the ABC!! Kinda wrong but they were people we were never going to see again & it did make us mingle! If you're shaking your heads (or maybe even laughing) we did buy them a couple of rounds of drinks - one it backed up our story & two, it helps them believe the stupid stories we were telling!!

On the way home, for some reason we decided to go on a "Slingshot" Ride - basically you get strapped into a steel framed ball between two REALLY tall posts, with a bunge type cable (stretched) attached about half way down back to the ball.... You get titled back, so your looking at the sky & then they release you.... Oh my God....! For about 5 sec's you have no idea where it is you actually are, just that you're not on the ground and getting thrown around alot!! Apparently you travel at 5G's...? Don't know if that's true but it was definately a rush. I went on it first with Todd & we paid to have it videoed & copied onto a DVD - the camera is mounted in the ball and basically records your faces as you yell, scream & contort!! As we were being lowered you can hear us on the DVD discussing how we're going to convince Suze to do it... It actually wasn't that hard & Todd got off & I stayed strapped in for a 2nd run! 2nd time, especially striaght after becasue it had only just happened and my body memory was still fresh, I basically kept my eyes open for the whole thang. Man you move fast & have no idea where the ground actually is! Poor Suze - as we were tilted back I started talking to her & said that the man counts down from three before you're released. As he started counting down from 3, Suze turned to me & said "What happens when...." GONE! We were off!

After we got off another couple got on & we stayed to watch them and I have to admit, watching it from on the ground it seems as if the ball stops bouncing severely after 10-15secs. In the actual ball, feels SO much longer - prob something to do with the brain processing everything as it's happening quicker than you could possibly compute!

I haven't downloaded any of my Bali photos yet but will endeavour to do so as well as finish off the UK leg of the tour. Anyway, nobody's probably reading this by now as my last post was over a month ago!

If you are still checking in once & awhile & especially if you've returned knowing that I should be in the US and might be writing again & even more so if you've backtracked to make sure you haven't missed anything, then I thank you. Take care friend & standby for more posts where I'm sure you'll hear the question asked whilst in New York - "Why do I shave my head when it's below freezing...?"