Having checked the Ridge Walk off our to-do list in Ubud, we headed back to the Okawati to get packed up and meet our driver to head on to our last destination in Bali near a place called Lovina Beach on the north coast, where we were looking forward to seeing our kids for the first time (other than Face Time) in almost a year.
The drive there actually was pretty epic as we drove north across the island and through the mountains and even (at times) through the clouds.
As we were descending some particularly winding stretches of road down to the northern coast, I had a growing suspicion regarding the small white car we were following (maybe it was the driving) and, after a couple of texts, confirmed that it in fact contained our two daughters, one of whom had arrived a couple of days earlier and had picked up the other at the Denpasar airport that morning. As we neared the coastal highway (and I use the term loosely) they turned one way and we went another and, thanks to some utility work along our route, they arrived slightly ahead of us at our home for the next week, the Mango Tree Villa.
The Mango Tree Villa was one of the first stays we booked for this trip, over a year ago. It became one of the “hard stops” in our itinerary as we and our kids had agreed to meet there to celebrate Christmas together. The Mango Tree Villa was located on Bali’s north coast far removed from the hustle and bustle of the south coast and Ubud, a four-bedroom beachfront villa with a nice pool as well as a cook, housekeeper, and overnight security guard. We spent a fair amount of time just lazing about by the pool, but we did take a couple of excursions and it actually turned out to be a pretty active week.
We took one day trip back up into the mountains to see the Lemukih waterfalls which involved a long drive followed by a hike into a valley and across a small river and then back up again. A pretty demanding trek, but well worth it. We also took a day cruise on an outrigger where we saw what seemed like hundreds of dolphins for which Lovina Beach is known.
For Christmas Eve we visited a local attraction know as Krisna Funtastic Land, an amusement park of sorts with rides and a midway (think county fair rather than Disneyland). Krisna Funtastic Land also featured a very large shopping center and vast quantities of just about any sort of tourist nick-nack you could imagine.
To add a little fun to the holiday, we had agreed to do a Pollyanna (sometimes known as a “Yankee Swap”) and each of us was allowed to spend up to 100,000 Indonesian Rupiah (about $6.50 USD) on gifts. It was actually pretty amazing how much junk you could buy for 100,000 rupiah and great fun playing the game on Christmas morning. As is often the case with a Pollyanna, most people ended up with their own gifts, but it was great fun and almost everyone was happy with the gift they finished with. We finished celebrating the holiday by going out for Christmas dinner to a nice restaurant called the 10th Table where we had some great cocktails as well as a very nice dinner.
The Breaking of the Fellowship
We spent our last couple of days just lazing about and enjoying each other’s company and, on our last night, our chef and her assistant prepared us a wonderful Balinese dinner and even did the dishes after! (We were definitely not used to being served like that!) Unfortunately, all good things do come to an end and before we knew it, the 28th dawned and we had to send our son and his partner off early to make the drive back to Denpasar to catch an earlier flight to Bangkok, where they would be celebrating New Year’s. It was very sad to start going our separate ways after having been together so much for the last week.
Fortunately (or not?) for our daughters, the rest of us had late flights so Colleen and I rode back to Denpasar with them. (We were just able to squeeze our luggage into the small gaps left by their enormous suitcases!) As our flights were quite late, we stopped at eco park in the mountains called the Secret Garden where we took a tour of their exhibition labs and learned how local plants are used to create various cosmetics. We had a nice lunch and toured the grounds which offer some nice views of the surrounding rice paddies and (of course) visited their gift shop.
When we got to Denpasar Airport, we grabbed a quick bite and then walked the girls to their respective gates as ours was the latest flights. We drug it out as long as we could, but eventually had to send them on their respective ways – one to go home to start celebrate New Year’s at home in NYC (before returning to work on American Horror Story) and the other off to Sydney Australia to be the first in the family to bring in the new year. As for us, we were off to revisit a place I had visited 22 years prior – Perth, Western Australia.
Our week with our children had been the biggest milestone on our itinerary and something we had looked forward to, literally, every day of our travels. Now that it had come and gone, and with our one year on-the-road anniversary approaching, it felt like we were beginning the downhill side of our journey and the inevitability of finally returning home started to feel more real.
But, we still have at least a few months left in the tank, so stay with us as we begin a long journey around the amazing continent/country of Australia. See you there!
Burning the Inheritance 
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