We had nearly a week in Lombok. Lombok, we gather, is how Bali was 20-30 years ago. Tourism is happening, but they haven’t quite got it together. Off the north west coast of Lombok are the Gilli Islands; they are supposed to be quite lovely. We didn’t have time to get there, so will go on our return from Bali.

Then it was off to Bali. The rally fleet normally stops down the south of Bali – near Kuta and all the action – but with the number of yachts this year, there just wasn’t room so we were all up north at Lovina Beach. Lovina has a much slower pace than down Kuta. We went to the markets in the nearby city of Singaraja – lots of fresh fruit and veggies, and chickens ready to purchase.

Not quite packaged like Tegel do it, but at least you could see what you were buying! Note Fido hoping to find something of interest below the chicken stand! We had earlier in the trip, bought two chickens at the Bima market. They were quite tasty, and we lived to tell the tale!

At each venue we have been to, the local Regency (government) hosts a ‘gala dinner’, and Bali was no exception. Usually the gala dinners take the format of speeches, dinner, and then entertainment from the locals. Most have been great, but sometimes the dancing gets a little monotonous and goes on a little long.

Lovina was no exception – as far as the format of the gala dinner went – but the dancing was spectacular, as were the costumes. The dancers performed on the beachfront. They were the national champions, and had performed most recently prior to us, to the President. Describing the dancing on the blog would not do it justice, but hopefully this photo of some of the younger dancers gives you an indication of what a spectacle it was. It was like they were straight out of a Cirque de Soleil show.

The following night we were treated to another spectacle on the beachfront. There was a parade of the villagers, taking their offerings to the temple for the full-moon celebrations.

On their heads, the women each had a basket, especially stacked with fruits and other food to take to the temple. The parade was impressive to watch, as was the later dancing and celebrations at the temple.

We did a tour while in Lovina, of the northern part of Bali. There are lots of terraced rice paddies, and beautiful waterfalls. We also visited the processing plant for ‘Bali coffee’, and saw cloves being picked, dried and processed for export around the world. We saw a beautiful temple on the lake, and went to the local produce and clothes market. The locals are still doing it hard tourism-wise after the Bali bombings, and were almost pleading with us to buy their wares.

Lovina was a great stop, there was enough there to keep us busy, and we found a great spot to watch the All Blacks vs Scotland game at the Rugby World Cup. One of the Kiwi yeachties met up with a keen rugby supporter, who owns a resort in Lovina. He invited us around to watch the game, so we sat in the bar at the resort until start time, then 20 of us piled in to one of the villas – as he didn’t want us making a racket in the bar and disturbing all his paying guests! It was a good night, with a good win to the Abs.

After Lovina it was time for us to say farewell to the rally and head south to Serangan (near Kuta) to leave the boat while we went to Europe. We did the trip south in a two day hop. We set off on day two for the last 40 miles of the trip at about 6 a.m. in the morning.

For 180 degrees, right around us on the horizon, all we could see were these small fishing trimarans, most with brightly coloured sails. They had been out fishing overnight, and were returning to their villages on the east coast of Bali. There would have been hundreds of these small boats, and just when you thought they had nearly all passed by, another rush appeared from off the horizon. There are thousands and thousands of these boats around Indo; seeing the locals in them makes you appreciate what a hardy race of people they are.

So after five days in Serangan – surfing, drinking, eating great food, shopping, and inhaling lots of smoke and grit that comes with thousands and thousands of motorbikes being on the road – we are leaving the boat for a month, and flying off to Europe, to hopefully see the All Blacks achieve what they haven’t managed for 20 years…… victory at the World Cup. Paris will certainly be a contrast to Indonesia, but we are both looking forward to it; a change of climate and culture, and to catch up with Shane’s brothers.