BALI... A little belated on the blog front but finally worked out how to logon again... 

So just got back from Bali on Wednesday night. We went for 5 days and 5 nights with Jo Skipworth (Dougal may remember Jo... :)), her housemate Claire, and two of their Kalgoorlie school friends Kristy and Tonille.  We stayed in "the Residence" in Seminyak (red circle on map), which is an amazing 4 bedroom villa with our own pool and breakfast cooks to boot! It cost us $600 for return flights and accom, so pretty good i thought! It is about a 2km walk to Kuta where we went out on one of the nights, and were about the oldest people at the club we went to!

The weather was perfect, hot too humid, enough sun to work up a bit of a tan but then enough cloud to not over-do it! Our villa was about 5 minutes walk from the main street and lots of shops, then a 15 minute walk to the beach.  Very westernised area though, there were almost TOO many Aussie-like 'contemporary' restaurants, which had prices very similar to Perth, because =Seminyak is a bit more upmarket I suppose. Very little street stalls etc, but as you go further out (eg on the way to Ubud) it changes dramatically and you can get a great Indo feed for under $1.

One of the nights we headed down near Jimbaran Beach (south of Seminyak) and went to this amazing resort bar called "ROCK BAR".  where you line up for ages and then go down this 6 person lift to the bottom of a cliff where there is an amazing bar set on the rocks amongst the crashing waves. By the time we were ready to go down in the lift it was almost dark.. - 1.5 hours of waiting>! But oh so worth it – basically the resort is perched up on big limestone cliffs with amazing views of the ocean. 

Afterward our driver (Wayan, became our best buddie!) took us to Jimbaran beach,  lined with gorgeous al-fresco beach dining. The only catch was that a seafood dish was about $40 a pop! Wow talk about overpriced! It was extremely tasty though… We had a few more beers/cocktails here and even enjoyed our own private karaoke session thanks to the 4 wandering showmen that had amazing outfits and some cool banjo/guitars! We sang along to Brown Eyed Girl, Bryan Adams Summer of 69 then some Jakc Johson which no one really knew (including the lead singer) so we all just mumbled this one.

Other than that, lots of realxing by the pool, eating, cocktails, walking, shopping (lots of amazing leather), and topped it off with a cooking class in Ubud. 

Until next time...

Renovations at Bonnie Brae

Well we have finally got around to tackling the big bedroom, or should I say, we have got Chris onto the job.

He was complaining about the smell - quite justified we discovered!

And you thought the house smelt before Hils - it was putrid!

But "we" battled on - still not quite finished, but the painting is virtually done - a huge thanks to Chris for the excellent quality paint job! Note the cream strip in the ceiling.

I think we have decided to stick with the same carpet that's in the back bedroom - as you can see above.
 Will be putting in a new hearth, so will keep you posted.

Tough Mudder

While most of you were enjoying a relaxed Sunday morning, Tim and I opted for the less relaxed version - A 20km obstacle course designed by British Special Ops.  Our team consisted of Laura, Cale and Ashley (Tim's mates), Tim and myself.  We (by we, I mean I!) had done about 2 weeks of training to prepare for 'proably the toughest event on the planet'.. Needless to say we were feeling fit and confident!

 The 'race' was in Phillip Island, and we jumped in with the 9.20 start group.  After taking a knee, we recited the Tough Mudder Pledge.

I understand that Tough Mudder is not a race but a challenge.

I put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time.

I do not whine, kids whine.

I help my fellow Mudders complete the course.

I overcome all fears.

With some Eye of the Tiger to get the blood pumping, we set off onto the Grand Prix track

The 25 obstacles were scattered over the 20km, with some challenging you mentally..

Ice bath. I'm pretty sure my face looked something like this too!

And physically..

2m high Berlin Wall

There were 3 Berlin Walls, with the first one being 2m high and getting consectivuley higher.  Laura and I were very lucky we had the boys.. They proved invaluable in pusing/pulling us up!  I feel this is were I sustained majority of my brusises (stay tuned...)

It wasn't called Tough Mudder for no reason - Soon enough we were tramping through mud knee deep (or in the boys case wrestling in it, then getting very stuck!).  Laura had the ingenous idea of rolling rahter than crawling and it quickly caught on.

Next up was a huge slippery dip ending in a muddy pool.. Didn't help wash the mud off though!

What was your regular, grassy hill on the Saturday had become one of hte most difficult obstacles of the day - A very steep, slippery and muddy hill which required the help of your fellow Mudders.  Teeshirts seemed to be the most effective method of pulling each other up the hill...

The monkey bars proved to be one of the more challenging obstacles of the day with Laura and I not even making it to the third bar.. The boys fared a bit better though!  By this stage you didn't even blink at jumping into a muddy/freezing pool..

 It wasn't all cold water and mud - Walking through a straw bale inferno was a welcome change, despite the smoke blurring your vision so badly you couldn't tell which way was out!

Towards the end of the course they were nice enough to include a few muddy pits filled with festering smelly mud to ensure we all went across the finish line as filthy and smelly as possible.  Not before we scaled some nets though...

The second last obstacle of the day proved to be the most challenging, with a roughly 4m high quarter half-pipe being just a little too high for Laura and myself.  We gave it a red hot go, running as fast as we could (which wasn't very fast after already running 20km!) at the wall and hoping the boys up the top would catch us.  They managed to catch us, but our futile attempts to push ourselves up proved to challenging on the slippery rubber surface.  It just wasn't meant to be..

Last but not least.. Electroshock therapy!  As the name suggests, the suspended wires have enough volts flowing through them to knock you out.   We went for the 'sprint though as fast as you can' approach, which semi worked, as we all managed to get at least a few shocks (Laura and Cale got shocked in the leg which knocked them down) but managed to get through, despite them spraying water on us the entire time!

And finally, the finish line!  We were very happy to make it over in just under 3 hours.  We were greeting with our 'Tough Mudder' headbands (exclusibley for those who completed the course), a teeshirt, thermal foil blanket and a VB can.  

Hilary, Laura, Tim, Cale & Ashley

 Needless to say we pulled up pretty sore.. I'm not sure about the boys but Laura and I are covered in an array of bruises.  Mine especially are pretty impressive...

So... Who's up for next year?!  Dougal and I are already down!  It still hurts to laugh/cough, but totally worth it!

SYDNEY!

It has been a while, but as we promised here is a little taste of what we got up to in Sydney!  We stayed in a brand new apartment in Chinatown (Haymarket), right in the heart of the city which enabled us to walk the streets of Sydney as we tried to find the best bits.

In the first day we managed to stumble across The Rocks. What was once the underbelly of the city -full of pubs, dockworkers and crime - has now been tastefully restored and free from major development. Behind the strip of galleries and pubs is the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge - what a back drop.

Sydney's  beaches and the bay were spectacular and we were kept busy taking in the sights of Manly, Clovelly, Bronte and of course Bondi. With Sydneys beach climate and thirst for a tipple,  there is nearly a pub on every corner - sporting stunning brick work and tiled facades.  So it was without complaint that we partook in a few beverages along the way.

We just happened to be in Sydney when the 20 - 20 cricket was in full sing, so on a balmy Tuesday night we ventured to the SCG with 25,000 other Sydney siders to see the Sydney Sixers taker on the Perth Scorchers. And we weren't dissapointed with the Sydney Sixes winning on the final ball.

How could we go to Sydney and not see the Harry Potter exhibition?  We were well and truly the oldest couple there (that weren't accompaning children), but that didn't stop us.  First part of the show was the Sorting Hat!  We were a bit shy and three eager kiddies jumped in before us, but Nic is sure she would have gone to Hufflepuff and Gus is pretty certain he would have followed in Harry's foot steps! Great exhibition - if a little expensive - but fabulous to see the amazing costumes and props up close. Gus' favourites were the Quidditch outfits - so much detail! Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed and so our only photo of the exhibit is this one of the flying car that was hanging in the entrance.

It finished to be a great trip - we were both very impressed with Sydney and are already looking forward to heading back!

Rain in Meekatharra

Greetings from wet, humid Meekatharra!  The spin off from the cyclone up north dumped a whole heap of rain last Friday night - 46mm at Meekatharra Airport.  As I'd been working on the Air Core rig out at North Andy Well, Joe (one of the Geo's) and I headed out first thing Saturday morning to assess the damage.  There were about 10 water crossings on the Great Northern Highway, some pretty hairy! 

With just managed to get to the Air Core drillers camp, which was underwater and the safety officer had gotten bogged (typical) so we lent them our snatch strap and they owed us a slab of beer.  So we headed back to Meeka for a quiet day - majority of hte people on site ended up driving back to Perth as not much can be done when wet.

The Diamond Rig - They started drilling today but won't be able to move holes for quite sometime!

The Great Northern Highway

Lots of water!

Wet Wet Wet!

The AC Drillers Camp. Needless to say all their swags were soaked..

So on Sunday morning Mark (another Geo) and I headed out to assess the damage and see how wet the tracks were.  Most of the water was off the Highway, so we headed out towards where we were drilling and came across the Driller who had gotten himself bogged.  To cut a very long story short, we ended up bogging all 3 utes and the truck so there were 8 of us stuck with no way to get out but walk!  The drillers are a motley crew, a bunch of cowboys really, which means they pretty much do what they want and therefore don't listen to our suggestions of leaving the utes and getting the hell out of there!

A very stuck truck!

What three bogged utes look like!

After a long, hot (and hungover!) day, we decided to call it a day, leaving two Utes behind and a very stuck truck.  Luckily our ute was the only one that wasn't bogged, so Mark and I finally returned to town for an afternoon nap!

In a totally unrelated matter... Angus has always asked me what the pubs in Meekatharra are like.  I've been avoiding them of late (something to do with a wedding dress!!) after getting 'rained in' on Saturday, we all headed down for dinner followed by a blowout.  We have 4 drill crews in town so they were all out, along with all the locals who had Sunday off (not us!!).  But after dinner at the 'Commie' we pub crawled to The Royal Mail, where the jukebox was pumping out Lee Kernegan (not kidding) and everyone was getting stuck in the full strength beer, as due to liquor restrictions wasn't available anywhere else.  


So here are some snaps to give you a bit more of an idea of what the Meekatharra night life is all about.. Bundy, Pool, Darts and swearing.  Literally!

Think the RC boys might have had something to do with this!

Playin' some darts

The busiest I've ever seen it!

Life in Meekatharra

Greetings from sunny Meekatharra.. A pleasnant 26 degrees today!  I took some photos last swing and have been meaning to show them off for the few of the McAllisters who aren't Facebook savvy.

Meekatharra from the air.

The Meekatharra tank which welcomes all the truckies coming down the Great Northen Highway

The main drag.  Majority of the stores are empty.. apart from the three pubs of course!

Andy Well - Where all the action is.  With any luck, this time next year this will be a massive pit!

Dusty work on the RC Rig

A bungarrow that was lurking around the sumps near the RC rig

I Spy: Can you find the bush chook?

Some of the action from the Meekatharra Races, of which Doray was the main sponsor

The Doray team at the Races

That's all for now.. almost 9pm so my bedtime!  Will take some more photos around the yard etc to give you a bit more of an idea of what Paradise looks like!