A Wedding in Tropical Heaven

Welcome back to Macs with Packs!

The travel bug has bitten again. This time we're off to Bali for our niece's wedding, then to Portugal where we plan to do a long hike, however John strained his Achilles a few weeks before we left so the training lead-up has been woefully inadequate. We're just going to have to see how this goes. After Portugal we go to Iceland, Greenland and parts of Eastern Europe. There's also a quick duck down to Halki, our favourite Greek island, for a week, where we will meet up with our other niece (the new bride's sister) and her husband. 

Together with the kids, we flew to Bali. Our villa was great - nothing fancy but there was plenty of room and a pool, which got well used. The heat wasn't quite as intense as I expected which was a relief.

I had forgotten how good Balinese food is. We found a great cafe near us and ate there a lot. There were enough vegan and vegetarian options for the kids and everything was yummy.

Each morning John and I were up at dawn and walked. We weren't too far from a walking track along the beach which was great but was often very busy. We saw a lovely sunrise one day.

The wedding consisted of four events across five days. The first events were the hens and bucks parties. The hens started early in the afternoon at the bride-to-be's parent's house (the bride and her sister were born in Indonesia and their father still spends a lot of time there). We all had to wear pink (try finding something light, airy and pink in Victoria in winter!!!) and the effect was amazing.

Our gorgeous nieces.

The cousin hens and the old aunty/mother chook .....

The cocktails were flowing throughout the day then, late in the afternoon, things got a little crazy. Yep - that's the bride-to-be and Courtney!

Everything went in - dresses, shoes, a phone and even the drinks which Caity tried unsuccessfully to save!

After the girls dried off there was an amazing fire dance display in the garden.

Meanwhile, the bucks had been learning to SUP. This took quite a lot of time which was probably a good idea because it kept them out of the bars for longer. 

As it was, by the time we all met up in another bar they seemed much worse for wear than we were. A good band started playing, the cocktails were icy and cold and soon things hit new highs - or lows depending on how you see things.

Clearly, there are no OH&S rules here like at home. Nobody batted an eyelid at Caity being hoisted above the crowd while on a chair and still managing to rock along to "Zombie"!

But wait - there's more! There was Caity diving off a table into our arms, there was Maddy being spun around on the dance floor on Ash's shoulder, hitting everyone with her head and feet like in a comedy movie. Doug, the groom-to-be was wearing a Where's Wally outfit and there was a bit of a water fight at one stage. Just another night in Bali!

Day 2 was a welcome dinner at a beachside restaurant. More people had arrived by now and it was strange to see so many familiar faces in unfamiliar surroundings. It was great to catch up with so many family members. Not surprisingly, a few people were under the weather and it was a fairly quiet night. 

Day 3 was a day off so we took the opportunity to get away from the touristy areas. After trying unsuccessfully to buy a new Kindle (because John lost his) we headed towards Ubud, Bali's peaceful, hippie version of Byron Bay. Much to our horror, things had changed enormously since we were last here. My memories of Ubud are that it's surrounded by green rice-paddies however, after driving through non-stop heavy traffic for about 40 minutes, Made, our driver, announced that we were in Ubud! The chaotic road here was no different to anywhere else we had been. The traffic and buildings had been non-stop the entire way.

Made worked for the guy who owns our villa and was great. He embodied the Balinese spirit and culture. When John asked him if the image dangling from his rear-view mirror was for luck, he said that nothing like that can create luck. Luck comes from inside - from your heart and from your head. Very wise words Made! I love how the Balinese see things for what they really are. They are such kind and caring people.

Made took us to a waterfall but we were disappointed to find that it was full of tourists and tourist shops lined the entrance. It was a steep slog down the waterfall and back but it was pretty.

I loved what was written on one of the signs there ....

This sign was a bit less philosophical and a lot more realistic.....

We had seen signs to a butterfly park on the way in so we thought we'd take a look. It turned out to be much better than we expected! We finally found our peace and quite in the gorgeous gardens full of orchids and amazing bonsai trees.

There was an animal section set in the garden and there were cute and strange animals there. There was a lady feeding flying foxes while they hung upside down!

There were miniature albino hedgehogs and surprisingly cute otters. There were some stunning birds. Most had ample space but one or two didn't.

Finally we entered the butterfly enclosure and there were lots of really lovely butterflies.

A big surprise was the cocoon enclosure. The most enormous moths we've ever seen were hatching from their cocoons. They have no mouth so they can't eat or drink so they only live for 5 days. In that time they have to breed. They put one on Cara's hand and it laid eggs on her!

Courtney wasn't quite so brave but they let it sit on their hat.

Cocoons were pegged to racks to hatch and some of them were the most amazing metallic colours!

All was going well and then, the night before the wedding, Courtney got covid. They couldn't attend the wedding. We were all devastated. They weren't terribly sick though so, on the day of the wedding, they got dressed up anyway.

I got my hair done and we took photos but there's not a good one amongst them!

The wedding was set in the gardens of a resort overlooking the sea. The bride and groom looked amazing and their oaths were beautiful and heartfelt. It was so perfect!

The reception was also in the gardens in the open. 

At one stage I asked how reliable the weather was, considering everything was set up under the open skies. Apparently there was an option to move inside if the weather turned. I then learned that only 5kms away, it was pouring earlier in the day! The hotel manager and the "rain-go-away-man" apparently went up a nearby mountain to perform a ceremony to make the rain go away! Clearly, it worked!

The Balinese food was absolutely delicious and the music was great. Everyone was soon up dancing. Unfortunately, I rolled my ankle but I could still dance on one leg. 

It almost seemed inevitable that John should end up throwing Maddy in the pool. 

Then a few others followed. At one point there were heaps of people getting thrown in so, together with some sisters-in-law, we gave up and jump in. There must have been 30 or 40 people in the pool with all their good wedding clothes on.  The bride knew what her family was like and had wisely changed dresses so she was in the pool as well. The pool was wonderfully cool and great for my ankle so we just stayed in there and kept dancing! This photo was taken before it got full-on.

It wasn't til the next day that the reality of my very swollen sprained ankle sunk in. We're supposed to start our long hike in 5 days! I already know that that's not going to happen for me. Oh well - we'll work something out!

The last event was a farewell catch up and we had another great afternoon and evening. The friends and family of this couple are such great people. Sadly, even though Courtney was feeling a lot better, they still had symptoms and couldn't attend.

Bali was both better and worse than I expected it to be. The biggest problem for me was the traffic. It was chaotic and it didn't seem to improve no matter where we went. The Balinese people were amazing though, our villa and pool worked well and the food was sensational.

As I write this we've just said a very sad farewell to the kids. They fly home this afternoon and we fly in the other direction four hours later. It's been a fantastic family trip together and we will miss them both dreadfully!

Til next time.

Heather and John