Tuesday 13 June 2017
Highlights: Tanah Lot Temple, Quad Bike Adventure
Photos & Videos

The last full day in Bali and it felt like it had gone way too fast.  First up was the final breakfast as a whole group.  As I was going out across the province during the day and given Kara and Erin were on the 6pm flight home it was time to say our goodbyes.

Tanah Lot Temple

For today’s Bali drive around the island the adventurous Darby joined me while everyone else stayed back at the Resort.

Today it was raining or drizzling for most of the morning.  In some ways it added to the charm seeing different weather conditions but in other ways it turned out to be hair raising at the same time.   The main visit of the day was to Tanah Lot Temple which was about an hour from our Resort.

Tanah Lot Temple – Rough Weather

Tanah Lot Temple, or Pura Tanah Lot, was established during the 15th or 16th century on the North of the island.  It is a Hindu temple that the Japanese Government helped save from erosion due to the sea constantly smashing up against it.  The harsher weather made the waves hitting the shore must more spectacular than on a calm day.

Darby and me hiked around the area for a while and watched a cultural offering to the Gods.  Unfortunately for the ducks that were released didn’t survive the harsh waves for very long.  Apparently during low tide you can walk across the the Temple but at high tide that would be way too dangerous.

Darby and me on the Quad Bike

The adventurous Darby then selected our next activity, ATV or Quad Bike in the terrain around Pertiwi.  What we probably hadn’t considered was the rain during the day making the path a bit more dangerous, we almost tipped over at one early point as I was getting used to the bike.  We rode as tandem so Darby was my instructor, the most heard instruction from Darby was “let’s go faster”.  Having signed a waiver for Darby and myself I was most concerned that my sister Lana would kill me if Darby returned injured.

Darby the Adventurer

At some points the water almost went up to our knees, luckily they give you gum boots and plastic bags for your feet to keep a little dry.  About half way though the ride you stop at a local house which Darby took as a signal to find local wildlife.

Near the end I did get a little more adventurous taking one incline at speed (one of the rare ones that didn’t have a sharp turn immediately after it).  We also got on some flat ground at one stage which allowed for a little more speed.  I’m sure our guide was wondering early on how I even had a license but semi automatic quad bikes are not in my driving wheel house!

For the rest of the day Darby wanted to see some wood craving and jewellery makers. Surprisingly Darby didn’t actually want to buy anything.  I’ll have to take Darby out on more trips 🙂

Local Carpenter

We got back to the Resort around 5.30 pm and I quickly found Lana and Harry who had been relaxing during the day.  Lana had booked us in at H2O restaurants Aussie BBQ night buffet which was a nice way to finish the trip.  We then walked outside and visited a local Mart to use up most of our remaining Indonesian Ruppees.  Harry ended up with bucket loads of candy, I mean really crazy amounts.

We had a booked transfer from the Resort so we retrieved our stored bags, I got changed and off to the airport we went.  This only turned out to be a 10 minute trip which was very quick.  As it turned out this was a good thing as it takes a while to checkin and clear security.  They have security scans of your bags to get to the checkin area, at the checkin line they check your bags for explosives and drugs (I’m guessing).

Time to Leave

You then have to go through Immigration and at the Gate they again check you bags. We were also allocated Gate 9B which is a long way from Immigration so it took a while to get there.  I barely had a chance to even visit the Premier Lounge (Review Here) by myself before we had to leave and board our flight leaving at 10.20 pm.

Deck Chairs at the airport!