Breathing Underwater & Walking with a Limp

I'm mostly having fun but recently I seem mostly to have the 'flu. Oh, & I have managed to get a couple of sea-urchin spines embedded in my foot which makes walking one-sided. That's the bad out of the way so on with the good.

I have done my PADI open-water scuba course & now I can go see crazy coral & fishes all over the place. Its cool, a bit like rock-pooling & looking in the aquarium section of a pet shop & being on a trip-flying amongst so many vivid, changing colours-but so much better. Nature's mad & here its so easy to see: Cleaner shrimp & wrasse doing their thing on groupers; garden eels; angelfish; goatfish; flatfish; shellfish; stonefish; pebbledashfish; artexfish; the list is endless. Oh & one bloody big barracuda too. This is all on my first four dives!

Surfing's going ok too although I'm not as good as I was when I left here last time sadly. I got the briefest of barrels at Kuta beach & a fantastic wave that explained to me in perfect, addictive detail the meaning of a 'bowling' wave on Kuta reef. I've landed on sand, urchins & rocks, nearly drowned (OK Mum, that's an exaggeration but I did breath in a great lungful of sea which was somewhat unpleasant) & bought & sold more boards than I usually do cars in a year. I've seen a sea cow & a sea turtle while out surfing. I've surfed alone & I've surfed with what feels like half the world's population (or at least all of Australia's) vying for the same wave. I've been out on huge days & near-flat days. Its not been perfect but its been great.

Bali's just as hectic yet laid-back as ever. The place is still plagued with scooters, folk trying to sell you everything & Aussies (though mostly very nice & friendly when you get to know them).

Anna's here tomorrow. Its been hard being away from her but I know its going to be hard to adjust to traveling with her too. After a month getting used to being on my own & settling into this way of life it would be stupid to expect otherwise. But I'm seriously excited to be seeing her again; I can't wait :o) I've even splashed out on a 10 pound a night hotel complete with swimming pool to celebrate! For the next 24 hours I'm just going to concentrate on clearing this 'flu so I can be on top form when she arrives :o)

Oh, on a practical note I've swapped my UK SIM for a local one so I'm not receiving stuff to my UK phone at the mo.

Take it easy back in blighty & know that I'm missing you...


...like a hole in the head!!!

Packing & Testing

I'm off & doing it again. This time with a sturgeon & a thruster rather than a log, this time going around the whole world & this time going with company.

I'm at the stage of nearly finished packing & bored of it. Despite the fact that I'm off tomorrow & I've a bunch of things to do besides pack I'm wasting time here. A number of you (well, at least 3) asked if I was going to do a blog or summat. Here's your answer! I'm not sure that I'm going to update it terribly often but at least you now know where to look for updates.

The plan is:

Weds 19th Aug fly to HK, Singapore then finally, 19 hours of flying & I've no idea how long after I set off, Bali.
2 months in Indonesia then its..
Aus for 10 days
NZ for 5 months
Miami for a week
Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica & various others on the way to
Peru & Machu Picchu
Home

If it goes exactly like this, I'll be surprised. Now that you know the plan, if you don't mind, I'll get back to my packing. NZ clothes in main bag... Bali clothes in handluggage.. handluggage contents in bin.. hmm...