{w:600;h:300} Balian west coast of Bali, below Medewi

We left the crazy coastal tourist mecca of Kuta on the 31st of May - thank heavens….. there were parts of Kuta we enjoyed!!!! The hotel Lusa with it’s friendly staff and the lovely people we met and made friends with there. Tehya’s new friends Taylor and Sonny…. she had the best time swimming in the hotel pool and playing with the kid’s. The hotel was great, clean and cheap. It cost us 135.000Rp a night with breakfast. Gavin surfed the breaks at Kuta, Legian and even went to Changu with Zach, Sonny’s dad. We were happy to pick up our hire car the Suzuki Jimmy….(yeah we know not the classiest of vehicle’s ever) and head off to wilder and much quieter places.

We headed off into the sunset…. literally as we were heading west!!!! We got so lost on the way, with almost no road signs and if you have ever driven in Indonesia you will know the drivers are crazy…. so that was eventful and a little stressful… Gavin as ever kept his cool and maintained his impeccable driving skills and brought us safely if a little late to our surfing destination…. Balian Segara. We met Mr Oble and his staff Idi and Dan, they are really lovely people full of Balinese hospitality, friendly and welcoming. The accommodation is amazing, the rooms are small and compact but have every thing we need like a private bathroom and small balcony area outside our door, there is also a small front garden for Tehya to play and dry our washing - the beds are clean, fresh and very comfortable.

We are right in front of the surf break which means when Gavin gets up at 6:00am for his first surf he just walks out of our door and down across the beach to paddle out. What more can we ask for… not much really…… the sunsets are magnificent…. the beach is beautiful and stretches for about half a mile in each direction. The sand is black which is kind of strange at first but even that is so smooth and soft to the touch….. we have six places to eat, they all make cheap local food and can cater for western dishes too so Tehya is eating baked potatoes one of her favourites. We have been up the coast and explored other surf breaks and found two small hotels that will allow Tehya to swim for a small fee.

Today we found a small resort and spa that we can access internet for 20.000RP about a pound for an hour. What more to say…. not much really except we feel like we have found a little piece of paradise and will probably stay here until we need to decide what to do about extending our visa or moving on to another destination!!!! To everyone who has been in touch… as ever many thanks for your kind words and interest in our travels. Please keep adding your comments and keeping in touch and we will continue to write as and when we can.

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