We flew Pacific Blue to Bali from Christchurch via Brisbane (Australia). It was a 12 hour journey which went very smoothly apart from the transfer security in Brisbane where they gave Justin a hard time about an Atwood tool… he got to keep it minus the screw driver bit.

Landing in the moody afternoon.

Having never been in a tropical place or in Southeast Asia, I had a bunch of apprehensions. Will I feel the suffocating humid heat? Will the customs line be excruciatingly long? Will the airport be crowded, hot and smelly? Will our driver never show up? As per the usual, none of these concerns turned out to be true. It was hot but not unbearable, there were next to no lines for visas or customs, the airport was air-conditioned and quite empty, we found our driver within 30 seconds we stepped outside and he drove us in a nice air-conditioned SUV to our hotel.

The drive was about 20 minutes long on the main “highway” of South Bali. Traffic is on the left side, which is perfect since we got so used to it in NZ that watching a movie where someone drives on the right side of the road looks totally wrong. Intersections were decorated with giant (and I mean, giant!) sculptures of Hindu heroes and historical scenes. There were gazillions of scooters and motorcycles slaloming between cars. Some didn’t wear helmets and several had the whole family on there, including a super cute 18 months old baby standing on the seat in between Mommy and Daddy with its head sticking in the wind like a little puppy. I didn’t take any photos of them but that image is forever engraved in my memory. Incredible.

Justin, flashing some Rupiahs on our hotel room porch.

Our hotel is just outside of Sanur, which is a chiller spot than say Kuta (surfer central) set on a side street in a beautiful tropical garden with a small pool. You can also have a peek here to know more about garden . We got there just as the rain started pouring, giving us the friendly reminder that we are indeed visiting Bali during its wet season. With the 5 hours time difference, we managed to stay awake until 8pm and then crashed, with the strange realization… we are in Bali!