Leaving World Heritage Penang for Phuket Thailand 26 June - Maverick scribed by Toni

Squwark - What was that noise. It's 4:30 am surely not time to wake up.  It is not even light yet!  The sound is a muezzin calling the moslems to prayer.  Apparently it is Ramadan.  A special time in the Islamic calendar where the prophet Mohammed fasted for 40 days.  A time of introspection and special time where no food is taken in daylight.

The morning is spent packing and organising our checkout.  Organisation is not the same as Singapore and everything takes time, there is confusion with the locals about who does what and where things should be paid.  This experience has been wonderful and un-contrived though how many people truly seek authenticity when it goes with a great deal of noise, sandflys etc.?  I wouldn't have missed this for the world, though part of me yearns for the efficiency of Singapore, the beautiful gardens and the ease of walking and being on the ground - after all Kakapos do not fly so cool temperatures and freedom to walk without tripping is a treat.  Penang is truly sensational with the senses being constantly bombarded by smells and sights, street art and curios.  You need to be on red alert for holes in the road, lack of footpaths, cars and bikes and motor bikes everywhere.  Around every corner there is something to make you think. Like Singapore, Penangs history as trading route and prior colonisation has left a hotch potch of buildings, a mix or religions and an ethnic mix comprising of Indian, Chinese and Expat British.  Unlike Singapore they have many natural resources  and were world leaders in tin, rubber and palm oil as well as having significant iron ore.  Malaysia was a rich country that eventually gained independence from British Colonial rule on 31 August 1963.  Singapore obtained independence from Malaysia in 1965 giving Lee Kuan Yew a free hand to build the Singapore of today.

He spent 6 weeks in isolation considering his new nation and the possible problems it faced.  He knew he would need strong policies to build the Singapore of today.  The policies included population policies where nothing was forced, though societal growth policies were encouraged such as an initial 'Stop at 2' policy.  When population started declining and there were unmarried graduate wives Lee then started encouraging Singapore men to marry graduate wives and have more children. Looking at what was best for the society as a whole.

Treating the society as a whole Lee Kuan Yew made English the first language though through schooling made a second language an imperative to ensure the mother-tongues of this multi-cultural society were kept alive.

Anti-corruption policies were put in place with political ministers paid the rates of those at the top of the private sector to ensure ministers were the best talent and to ensure a corruption free government.

With no natural resources economically Lee Kuan Yew focused on manufacturing, banking and the ports.  He focused on creating First world infrastructure to attract foreign investment and cleared the way for the new Singapore.

Singapore relied on Malaysia for water and this left it open to Malaysia using water as political leverage with fluctuating prices and control of supply.  Singapore is the first nation to use desalinated water as it's prime drinking water supply with two desalination plants as well as some natural resources and recycling of grey water.

Singapore showed me what a firm leader that looks at society as their family, administering 'tough love', can do for a nation.  Today Singapore is a united, safe, crime-free and prospering society where cultural diversity is celebrated by all.  We have the most to learn from Singapore.

Enough of the politics - we are on the road:-

With the driver arriving early and no time to visit the Clan Jetties we headed for the airport at 11:30 a.m. and spent the last of our ringitts on lunch for the kids before boarding our 2 pm flight for Phuket. Today we were board a small ATR plane with an airline called Firefly.  There was a kerfuffle at the gate with the announcer calling - could Mr John Glover come to the gate.  It turned out there was a strange noise coming from the checked in luggage.  Damn - I thought I didn't have to travel with that damned chicken any more.  The chicken had to travel in hand luggage so everyone knew what it was making the strange racket.  Ridiculous noisy bird!

Arriving in Phuket there seemed to be no-one here.  No-one at the airport (5 minutes through), no-one on the road - where's all the traffic and no-one on the beach - though that is another story.  We arrived at our apartment with a fantastic pool and for me - lots of trees in the garden.  Where are all the people?  That is another story to do with the military government, the drop of the ruble and a singular tourism policy.  Ahhh for a good nights sleep after a delicious meal.  Toni finally found lots of veges to pop into the children's mouths and I found some exciting new bugs to eat.  Good night from Phuket.  Tomorrow to explore and for the kids time fo

The last and one of the best days in Singapore 23 June - Maverick scribed by Lucy

The last and one of the best days in Singapore
Squark! It's me again the amazing, flying, Maverick the kakapo! Today we started off with the worlds biggest breakfast! Sorry, buffet. Though, it was a very big buffet so there was lots and lots of yummy food, though, I had to stick to fruit. There were many variations of food including: pastries, toasts, cereals, juices, cooked breakfast, fruits, nuts, Japanese breakfast and probably a whole lot more! But enough about fruits and buffets and Japanese breakfasts, Lucy had a plan to eat a little bit of everything, she tried fruits, cereals and pastries.  Everyone else had a similar feast. After they  ate themselves silly they had a short break, then, as planned, they caught a train to the Singapore gardens.

The Singapore gardens! They were beautiful! (In my opinion anyway, SOME people *cough * sam*cough*cough didn't enjoy them to their full extent and were more worried about who got to hold me) it wasn't only one garden but a whole bunch of them! (We only had time to go to the cloud forest and we spent something crazy like two whole hours there!) Even walking around on the pathways was beautiful, there were lots of sculptures there and to name a few, there was an ants on a log sculpture, a red ants on a log sculpture and lots and lots of woodcarvings of lions!

After wandering around aimlessly, (aka trying to find the cloud forest) we finally found the cloud forest. If  everything else was beautiful, this was spectacular! It looked just like a real cloud forest. Wait, you don't know what a cloud forest is? A cloud forest is a big forest high up in the mountains at just the right temperature and altitude for incredibly rare species of plants and animals to grow and thrive. As much as my dear friend the kea would love it here, unfortunately, there are no cloud forests in New Zealand as my home country is too flat. They are mainly found in between the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere. Sadly, these cloud forests are getting cleared out for farmland and rice fields. So, being in a realistic artificial cloud forest was as close as we can get with out going to America or Australia.

We explored the cloud forest and found many carnivorous plants, one type of plant they didn't have, though they did have awesome lego sculptures representing the actual plant. Onewas a rafflesia, (search it up). We saw Venus fly traps, honey dew plants, and many, many plants. After  two interesting hours of looking and learning about plants, we decided to wander on back to the train station. While walking back we saw one of the gardens main attractions: The giant flowers. These flowers were made of long beams of metal and looked like they were at least 500 metres tall! After wondering at how tall the flowers were, my family and I wandered back to the train station.

In the train, which was pretty much empty, apart from the occasional person. We took the train to the airport and had to skedaddle at 12 o'clock for an early afternoon flight. Unfortunately for the convenience of air travel, we found a massive chocolate shop. Yup, Daim bars, Kit Kats, Tobletone, and M'n'Ms. The Kit Kat bars were instantly opened.

Wow, time goes by when you shop for chocolate, or anything. It was time to board the plane. It was only a short hop to Penang, not like that silly six flight we had. I spent the time, eating, drinking and wondering how they still conjuncture up these weird untastful meals. When we got to Penang we relaxed for the rest of the day then went exploring.

Around dinner time, we were looking at maps at the area. Lucy spotted a cat cafe not far from their house. Squaark! I'll stay here thank you! At home Poodle wasn't interested in me, a good yet sometimes annoying cat at heart. But I hate other cats. They will try to rip off my wings and eat all my young. Having eight cats in one room pretty much spells disaster. In the end I went to have food with the family at Mish Mash, a restaurant.  Because, the cat cafe only had desert they had dinner elsewhere. Squaark, Squaark and double Squaak! That place was like the heaven on all cat lovers, and a nightmare for me. The cats were contained in a room and you can bet I stayed outside that room. After that torture, the family walked home and went to bed

I guess that these hours are my peace hours and that's all for my blog, so Squaark or goodbye.

Universal Studios Singapore 22 June - Maverick scribed by Sam

Maverick the kakapo gets up in the morning to walk to the train station. On the train with James, Lucy,Sam,John and Toni on the long train ride Marina Bay. Finally we get there but we still have to go on the monorail. We are not bored because we are going to the amazing "UNIVERSAL STUDIOS SINGAPORE". We are all exited to go on all the rides there are. As we enter the gate we  start of in the Hollywood section. We move past the strait Hollywood section into the New York section there was a "Fast And Furious 7" car. But we moved strait past that to the transformer ride.

The transformer ride was cool as we put on our battle glasses (3D glasses)  I sat next to Sam as
we left I was terrified as I charged into battle a weird dog thing jumped up to me as much as I hate
normal dogs this was a terrifying robot dog. As we back up into a hallway Megatron suddenly drops
in front of you you back up and suddenly get sucked int a vortex and almost killed it was scary and
realistic. After escaping again you get sucked up in another vortex but you don't escape you go in

one end and come out the other end. You drive around for a bit then you get hooked on by a cable
and thrown about onto a building and you chase Megatron and kill him. And you fall and the ride is

 So I head on through sci-fi city. I go to the battle star galactic with sam Lucy and John while James
goes on a tea cup ride. It was scary waiting and I could tell sam was scared but Lucy was encouraging him. And finally we are at the devastating start of the ride as you put on the harness it is already scary and you take off thank the gods it was a short ride it was so fast I don't blame sam.

 We find James and Toni waiting for us. Lucy and Toni went to the terrifying torture again while me
Sam and James go on the tea cup ride unfortunately it wasn't very fast and the wait time for it
wasn't worth it. While I was waiting for Toni and Lucy James went on the "Revenge Of The Mummy"finally after what felt like forever Toni and Lucy come back from their torture but it was
I head on with the rest of the Glovers at least the chicken isn't here but I can predict the future and
it will strike again. Anyway we head on to "The Revenge Of The Mummy" (whoooo) in the Egypt
section. There was a very very very very very very very very long line but it wasn't filled with people
thankfully. We were meant to find the book of life but there was a scary mummy thing trying to take
our souls. All he said was "Your souls are mine" and ate you. He is weird he tried to eat you twice.

A Day in Penang 24 June - Maverick scribed by John

Skwark! Here we are in our world heritage accommodation. I think the last time I stayed in a world heritage area was on the Milford Track which is way colder than here and pretty close to where us Kakapos came from. Humans scrub clothes in the shower and sink, explain to the kids that they dry better if you wring them out, and hang them over whatever they can find in the indoor / outdoor courtyard typical of a shop house. Thankfully I get to keep my perch in this large airy home with steep woodenstairs, creaky floorboards and antique furniture.

Breakfast at an arts centre cafe that has the most amazing set of cakes I've ever seen on offer and which will doubtless require a return visit by the family.  We set off to wander around the town. Head to the waterfront where the fort doesn't inspire a visit but the swings in the park naturally attract the kids then off to a camera museum for the boys. Made John feel pretty old as he can remember using a fair amount of the stuff on display! Lunch and then highlight of the day for me, a tour round the famous blue mansion - the wonderfully well restored residence of the last Chinese Mandarin. Our guide was very animated and a great storyteller.

Back to our shop house for respite from the heat, beer (for the grown ups) and blogging before heading out to a very bustling Chinese restaurant for dinner that turned tables quicker than McDonalds, had a queue stretching into the street and had portable round table tops to make the tables bigger for larger groups. Great idea!

Checking in to World Heritage in Penang 25 June Maverick scribed by James

Hi it's Maverick reporting from Penang at a world heritage sight Staying in Straits Collection number 95.   The shrilling chicken strikes again!  that thing is making me feel like a bomb ready to explodee and he's wrecking my holiday. My poor kakapo ears can't cope with such an uneducated common bird.

We're staying in a world heritage sight and the kids are bored as they haven't had a swim in three days. They always had a swim in the pool at Singapore and
Bali but not here. We tried a hotel to see if we could splash there but they said "No". We walked around saw the rocky shores although, we did make a video about where we are staying which the shrilling chicken interrupted and completely wrecked the video. What I say is needed to be done is to send him off to a dog with sharp teeth.

We all went out to lunch and ate which was pretty good, then we made a discovery of a weird food that sounds impossible to make.  This was deep fried ice cream and it was yummy. Everyone loved the ice cream and gave it the thumbs up. .

After lunch we watched a movie onToni's computer which is called the Imitation Game. We all watched the movie for two hours.  The movie was plotted back in 1940 during world war 2.  I can't remember that time I wasn't even around. but I do know that there were more kakapos
then than there are today.

We had cake thick cake light cake tasty cake and yummy cake. James's favourite cake was the
one he chose the chocolate pavlova cake it was delicious and johns favourite was the really light
lemon and passion fruit sponge cake which was lightest cake he had ever tried.

My opinion is that in Penang if you're' a flightless bird and don't cope with the heat you'regoing to over heat and get sticky feathers. There's another problem they've got something worse than sand flies they've got Mosquitos that leave an even bigger red spot an your skin and they are everywhere and they bite multiple times it's not fun. Don't try ice kecung it will leave your feathers in a sweet and sticky mess with corns and beans.

Maverick heads for the hills 19 June - Jimbarin to Ubud - Mavercik scribed by John

Time for the kids to scrape their things off the floor aka packing, a sad farewell to the pool and amazingly light traffic sees us by Ubud dropping off our bags at next villa at 10.30 am. It's a couple of kms out of town located in what was obviously until fairly recently a rice paddy field. Villas, it would seem, are a higher yielding crop than rice and I have a fleeting moment of discomfort at the tourism inspired loss of the beautiful terraced landscape until I remember the paddy fields had replaced the native bush in the first place. Wonder what will come after villas?

Back in town for the most overpriced meal to date in a place with a lillypond and Balinese version of Nouveau Cusine. Walk along a long street of tourist shops and taksi  drivers before reaching solitude of Tjamphung hotel set on terraced ravine above a river where you can pay to use its spa which nestles in a gargoyle encrusted rock overhang by the river.

Hot pool, cold pool sauna and steam rooms. Then a traditional
 1 hr massage for John which was incredibly painful to the point that maybe the therapist was taking the pi**. Wouldn't blame him, can't be much fun rubbing down fat tourists all day.

Escape to next door macrobiotic veggie restaurant. You leave your shoes at the door and they give you a number. Perhaps a gang of footwear thieves operate in the neighbourhood? Anyway, Toni vvvv happy as she drinks some green sludge. John has fresh juice and organic wrap as he is still in too much shock from massage to read menu properly.

Walk back to town centre, taksi back to villa and all decide we are too tired to watch traditional dance show. Best seen on U Tube and you can fast forward through the boring bits. Early night.

Mavericks first beach Experience 16 June - Maverick scribed by Toni

The morning ambles starting with a family breakfast and then excited preparations by the children and John for their first trip to the beach.  They are headed for Jimbaran bay and apparently I have to go, now that I have been fortified by fruit.  I have been lead to understand that Kakapos don't really 'do' beaches.  It messes with our claws, with sand getting between our toes, not to mention salt and sand through my plumage.  

After yesterday, we all know it is not a quiet amble down small lanes to the beach.  Instead we take the taxi through the throngs of traffic.  Toni says she visited Jimbaran 20 years ago when the Four Seasons was first being built and remembers a quiet laid back beach side resort.  Just like my bush home, life is being taken over by people and machines.  35,000 IDR gets us to the beach.  This seems a ridiculous amount of money though apparently when you take 1 NZD, you can exchange this for 9131 IDR or Indonesian Rupees. So our taxi to the beach is less than 4 NZD.  I think I still would have preferred a slow amble along coconut lined lanes.

Bali really does have traffic problems and the government is doing it's best to overcome this by introducing buses, though the cost for a local to go on the bus each week for work etc. by far exceeds the cost of paying off and running a motorbike.  Consequently the traffic situation is only destined to get worse.

Arriving at the beach, the kids are ecstatic to find waves and Toni and John carry me to the Southern end of the beach where there are people sweeping up the litter that bubbles in the surf and gets dumped on the beach.  After a bit of sunbathing it was time to have lunch and Toni susses out the use of the Olympic size pool at the Four Seasons hotel and the price of lunch.  The kids meals are a veritible feast - I didn't get a look in!  The kids were so hungry they had more than one meal each.  After lots of Indonesian food they enjoyed pizza and burgers.  Toni and John ordered the Indonesian menus (150,000 IDR) this cost about 16 NZD each.  Toni enjoyed Sashimi and Snapper.  I nibbled on a little of her Salad and enjoyed a feast of home baked breads with Dukkah that was bought along for our enjoyment.

The kids swam lengths and thoroughly exhausted themselves whilst Toni, John and I people watched the very wealthy people residing at the Four Seasons.  All sandy, salty and satiated we headed back to the villa through the traffic.  Toni made everyone eat lots of veges at the local restaurant and we all retired from another day.

Maverick Goes Biking in Ubud 20 June - Maverick scribed by James

It's Maverick reporting from Jaren villa in Ubud, Bali. I've got myself a new companion metal bird he's very tall and I sat on his back for the whole night and he just stood there all day. 

Today we went on a tour and the guide picked us up late. The first part I enjoyed sitting about seeing how coffee was made.  I discovered new plants that they don't have in my forest. There was a special type of coffee which makes no sense to my bird brain. People drink POO coffee - it blew me away. They also sell it commercially. It's crazy, they call it Luwak coffee. They actually feed a nocturnal, possum-like animal coffee beans.  It eats the beans and processes it -uuggghhh and then the workers clean, then dry the processed bean,. they then grind it up and turn it into coffee. They say it's a strong brew.
We got to sample different coffee's. James's favourite coffee was the vanilla.

After the coffee we go on a bike tour - no walking, no driving -  this was great..My jaw dropped when I saw the bikes that we were to use - they were awful with bent pedals, rough chain, serious clicking noises and the ungrateful cracking that happened once in a while. The track was great: the first part was uphill but I didn't mind.the hills  I was in the shoulder bag that Toni was holding. There were lots of beautiful scenes as well as smelly drains. Here was an dirt track with lots of bumps and pot holes which shook me in my stabilised shock proof hand bag. In the end we stopped at a cafe with a buffet with super food with feather rustling spices. After lunch we had a ride to the villa and I got to hang out with metal bird.  The kids splashed in the pool and the adults chilled out but the rest of the day.  At 7:30 pm it was time to leave for the airport.  I said my goodbyes to metal bird and he just sat there.  10 minutes into the ride Sam was saying. "Are we there yet"  An hour later we arrived at the airport to find another long wait and a delayed flight with changing gates.  Funnily enough we saw someone else from Glenorchy - gidday Tammy Wright!

Bali Big Waves - Kakapo just watching 18 June. Maverick scribed by Lucy

Squaark! It's me again, Maverick, the now famous flying kakapo. Today we hung around the villa while the kids swam and Toni did some boring accounts and John just relaxed. Wait a minute I think I'm missing something, that's right! I remember. At about lunchtime the family set out to do some extreme downhill walking. They were looking for somewhere to eat lunch, which I think is a waste of time. (They could just call a taxi) and when their mission for lunch was unsuccessful, they called a taxi and went to have lunch at a cafe in Jimbaran bay. 

By the time they arrived at the cafe  the tide was at its fullest, and the waves got as tall as 1.5 metres! The kids somehow made it through these angry waves, though Lucy turned her back on the waves. Big mistake. A metre tall wave slammed her down. Imagine that someone slapped your face. That's what it feels like when a wave hits you, or so I'm told. 

After some splashing and splashing in the waves, the food finally arrived, it looked good, though, there was some suspiciously birdlike meat on a skewer that my family dipped in peanut sauce and ate.  Other than that, there was other food like: lobster, prawns, local fish and skewered squid. I'd rather stay on a diet of berries. 

After eating the food, James and Lucy went out so far, they went past the breaking point of the waves. (If you didn't know, the breaking point is where the wave turned over) They could just float 

over the massive waves. Though, I didn't go swimming, but I guess it wouldn't be any good for my

feathers.

 When the family and I called a taxi and drove back to the villa, once again, the kids went swimming.  After about 20 minutes of swimming, Lucy decided to take some pictures at all the things that she could make out of the sarong. She is planning to make a video about it though, a sarong has hundreds of uses, so this might take hundreds of years. 

Around 5 o'clock it was cocktail hour. The family was sitting together on the roof terrace, drinking beer, gin and tonic, and sprite. After cocktail hour, they walked down to a very good restaurant. 

When they finally walked home, they fell straight asleep. (I'm meant to be nocturnal but I'm usually

awake in the day.)  

Anyway, that's all that is going information today, so I'll write again soon Squaark!

Oh No! a Maverick in Singapore 21 June - Kakapo Excitement Maverick scribed by Toni

Who’s crazy idea was this leaving Bali in the middle of the night to arrive in Singapore at 2:00 a.m. in the morning.  Yes, we did enjoy a full day in Ubud and yes, we did save heaps of money on the flight…. but still@!.  My evening hours should be silent from whining children, I should have the peace of the evening in a quiet garden somewhere, not be flying - especially not on Jetstar - am I really a flying snob already?.  Kakapos really weren’t built to fly - coach class anyway-squawrk.a

So here we are catching a taxi at 2:00 am to the centre of Singapore to the Holiday Inn Park View.  Like the children, I’ve never been to a big hotel. It’s in Orchard Road so perhaps there will be lots of fruit trees.  I’ve become rather partial to Paw paw, watermelon and have like the children tried the odd bit of snake fruit, dragon fruit and star fruit..  I get some peace for a few hours, though after all the villas, a room with five people doesn’t leave much space for a Kakapo.  Thank goodness for air conditioning and sound proofed windows.  Apart from Toni and John snoring life is not too bad.  The bathroom proves a respite though is devoid of gardens unlike the bathrooms in Bali.

Not too much relaxation for me and sleep for the family as the schedule in Singapore is fairly major and it is out of the hotel for a quick breakfast in the heat then to a long route through the MTR and constant air-conditioned underground malls.  The family buy a Singapore transport pass for 20 SGD per person this gives them unlimited access to the MTR and buses for the next 3 days.  

Talking to the birds, aside from Jurong bird park they reckon eating peanuts and throwing them on the floor at Raffles is really exciting.  Toni remembers drinking Singapore slings for 12 SGD a few years ago, though no doubt things are more like 50 SGD now

The first stop on the MTR tour is Marina Sands hotel where you can pay to go to the 26th floor to view the city.  This is not the tallest in Singapore there are three buildings with over 66 floors with the most floors being 68.  Lucy is sure we are now in a frying pan.  Perhaps she is right. Maybe I have been kidnapped and taken half way round the world as a unique delicacy for some foodie tycoon who want Kakapo chop suey.  Squawk, squawk! get me out of here.  I can see the very rich people in the distance swimming in the infinity pool looking down over the eliptical edge.  Is this a pre-lunch swim.  Thank goodness they took me out of there.  Where to next.  A bum boat to Robertson Quay.  .  So what is a bum boat.  I had visions of sticking my bum in a hat shaped circular thing and paddling with a wing up the river.  A bum boat is a fast wooden boat with open sides that seats about 30.  They are really quite fast and convenient and the cool breeze is a relief after the frying pan experience.

We don’t quite reach Robinson Quay and again we are on a quick march to Boomerang restaurant to meet Andrew Roche who is patiently waiting after a time glitch on Toni’s Fitbit.  Fitbits are not very good at International time zones and seem to have a time all of their own.

Toni really enjoyed catching up with Andrew.  After a short period of lawyering in Auckland Andrew hit the big time in the Far East.  His young family see good bursts of his time when he wings his way home to work in New Zealand, though he needs to be in Singapore most of the time near his customers.  Where to next  - my feet hurt and haven’t I only had a few hours rest.

The schedule continues to the Singapore Science Museum out near Jurong.  Please can I go to the bird park....  No, more education and I have to say it really was good.  Apparently John reckons you could spend a week here and even I have to admit I found the museum amazing.  We continued the theme from Sydney with more light and optical illusions that left me wondering about dimensions, virtual reality and do we really exist or are we an arranged perception of molecules and maybe I’m just a virtual reflection of times past.  Is a molecule real or perceived.  Oh dear how does a Kakapo really understand String theory or Quantum theory.  Perhaps I need to take a course in Quantum physics.

At six o’clock we were thrown out and we headed back to the hotel.  The kids head for a swim in the pool with a perfect temperature.  John happily lols about for 10 minutes until time is called!  Not more…. Oh yes, time for Chinatown!

Off we head on the MTR to Dhoby Gaut to change for Chinatown.  My feet, my poor feet.  Chinatown is alive, market stalls, food stalls and exciting smells everywhere.  We settle for the seafood restaurant where we promptly order duck leg - really - eating birds again!.  The food was delicious especially washed down with two large Tigers (beer) and Watermelon juice for the kids.  Not such a cheap meal, though fantastic flavours.  

So shopping - all kept under control until now.  Sammy sees a chicken that makes a ridiculous noise and promptly spends 3 SGD on it.  These kids have no consideration for my sensitivites!  Lucy grabs a bag for 3 SGD and some key rings for 2 SGD and everyone is then happy to finally go to sleep.  30 seconds after their heads hit the pillow life is peaceful.  The night is all mine….

A Journey to Mount Doom - 17 June - scribed by John

A journey to mount doom...

Assault on the senses. Every home and garden must have ornament for sale on the roadside from 10m high buddas to mirror tiled coffee tables to wood carvings, stone carvings, weavings, silversmiths, obscenely large and large and obscene! Small bird cousins in cages, large noisy roosters ready for fisticuffs.

As the road climbs higher we move to fruits. mandarins, melons, huge Balanise orange fruits that are so large they defy gravity and hang from wholly unsuitably small stalks.

Elephant cave temple - 1100 years old rediscovered in the 1920s a veritable Indiana Jones valley of fallen statues, natural springs, rock carvings, under ground temples and a guide to show us how new buildings keep the site as a living place of worship and meditation. A tranquil oasis.

Villages smaller, road more uneven but then a convoy of trucks laying a wide new tourist quality highway up the hill.

Traffic police vehicle check - the drivers licence with money folded inside isn't enough and cigarettes are required also. First of four more that we encounter. Month end bills must be due.

Rice paddy fields, verdant green jungle below the road then almost into the clouds and the volcanic crater rim with restaurants built way out over fresh air with the roughest looking of concrete. Flimsy enough to make any self respecting Kakapo a little nervous.

Looking out into the large crater with lake and doom like peak at the centre. A sea of black lava lies below with trucks swarming around it like ants, taking it away to build with elsewhere.

Driving back through Ubud. It's smarter than its neighbours. Has a bit of a Queenstown brashness about it. Organic coffees and traditional Italian cuisine. Hmmm. We'll see its' soul when we stay later this week.

Who's Maverick - 13 June Scribed by James

This is Maverick the kakapo

He is from the forest and has very few kakapo friends because his kind are near extinction.  Maverick wished he could fly but he was too heavy, in fact, the kakapo is the heaviest breed of parrot in the world!.

Maverick loved klimbing. He klimbed trees, kliffs, walls -  anything, because, his amazing hooked beak was ideal for klimbing. Maverick didn't need to climb all the way down , the last bit of the klimb he could drop, because he used his wings to break the fall.

One day Maverick got annoyed about the fact he kouldn't fly, so annoyed he muttered a lot of bad words to himself. He was fuming! He was like a bomb, armed and ready. Then, Maverick heard a noise, it grew louder and louder. It rumbled and grumbled and roared!

Maverick's curiosity took over, he looked up to see a plane climbing high into the sky. This left Maverick in a day dream watching this metal flying bird. In the end , Maverick discovered he didn't need wings to fly. Because his wings were there.

Maverick found an open bag and looked in to find food and snacks. He krept in and then snap! The bag zipped shut, and waved side to side. He was almost sick. Once the bag stopped swaying, he found himself in a great big container. It was weird! There were panels where light came through and nothing else. He, Maverick the kakapo, was in a car. It started to rumble and started to roar. Then to his surprise, it didn't go chomp and turn him into Kentucky fried kakapo, instead it started to purr then leapt as it shot off in first gear. Maverick started to tremble and started to panic,but as soon as he got out of the bag he saw featherless and coatless monkey-things. He was awe at the size of them comparing to him stowed away in the Kathmandu bag.

He learnt that these creatures were humans and they were not going to eat him.then he came to a place where there's so many creatures and then he heard a familiar noise it was the giant metal birds yet there was ten of them all lined up with different kolours and with little kars loading them up with fuel and bags. Maverick was watching and then the bag got picked up and he went under a seat and a
loud whirr and people chatting and baby's crying then whoooooosh Maverick was shaking and trembling with excitement that he was about to fly.

Kakapos in Sydney 14 June - scribed by Sammy

Maverick the kakapo continues his adventure around the world after flying for the first time. He wakes up in Bruno Bouchet's house looking forward to a day in Sydney. After breakfast he sets off to walk to the train station. At the train station we get our tickets and aboard the train (choo choo).The train was a nice fast ride underground. At the station we had to switch trains and after five minutes we were in the center of Sydney. Maverick met Bruno's sister and then Maverick  went to art museum with lots of cool lights unfortunately maverick didn't go in most of the rooms because it was to bright� . When we had finished looking at all the rooms we had hot chocolates with Bruno. We went to an old restaurant that we had gone to the first time we went to Australia. We were hoping to eat desert pizzas but they stopped making them� . But they still had normal pizzas. After that we had to wait ages for our flight to Bali when maveric encounters his second flight.

Kakapo - Kulture Shock - Bali - 15 June

Kakapo Kulture Shock 15 June - Maverick scribed by Toni

Having arrived late last night, i found my way into the garden beneath a rather strange looking tree covered in ants.  At the base of the tree was a statue swathed in cloth and adorned with flowers.  How strange.  Perhaps it is a Balinese Garden gnome.  After my second flight, very little sleep, very bad food and 6 hours in a very big plane on an airline called Jetstar  I couldn’t help but sleep despite my strange surroundings.

I woke this morning to lots of loud noises.  Are they cicadas?  No! I’m told the sound is lots of motorbikes.  What an insult to my ancient ears.  

After breakfast - lots of yummy fruit for me - Pawpaw, watermelon, star fruit etc. John said we were to go shopping!

We need food for breakfasts, veges and sandals for John and Sam as well as sunhats for James, Lucy, Sam and Dad.  OK, I thought!

Looking out the car window, there was traffic everywhere.  Thousands and thousands of motorbikes that insulted my ears as early as 5:00 a.m. lots of cars all communicating by beeping.  How does this work?  this seemed like total Khaos.  No-one shouts here, everything is peaceful, everyone lets everyone in.  So much traffic though no stresss.

Our first stop was the fish market.  Apparently Toni wanted to go here.  How can we even stop here I thought.  People everywhere! cars everywhere!  We were whistled into a parking spot by a man with a  referee’s whistle.  He was paid 2000 rupiah and then we got out.  Sammy complained loudly about the heat and this did not stop until he made it back to the swimming pool.  The children climbed out of the car and looked at their mother with disdain - what do you mean by bringing us here they were thinking.  The first stop was a vege stall, Everything was packed into plastic bags - I was truly horrified.  Where can all this plastic go?  Why not use a basket or paper bags?  I found out a few days later when Uncle Tutnik pointed out the rubbish dump.  Too many plastic bottles, too many bags all piled high on a giant heap as tall as the buildings that surround us.  What to happens to the sea when all the plastic flows in?  My worries for Bali are endless, though not for the heart of the people.

Balinese children were playing, whilst mothers shopped. They all looked happy and healthy and as Toni pointed out to Sam, they weren’t whining about the heat.  Lucy stared in shock and James wondered where he could find a RC hobby shop.  Toni told James that in Singapore they would probably find one at the Science Museum.  They certainly would not find one in the fish market.

Uncle Tutnik took the family to a big shopping centre where all their needs were attended to.  Luckilly I was able to stay in the air conditioning and sleep quietly as is my habit.  It was great to have an hour of peace from the children constantly bantering.  Uncle Tutnik met friends and talked with the other drivers.  My feathers are fizzy in the heat, my old Kakapo feet are sore from the concrete and my ears….

The family returned with their needs and Sam’s cries were finally met with a return to Jimbaran, our first Indonesian meal in the little Warung around the corner.  I munched on leaves next to the Koi pond whilst the kids sampled the delights of coconut juice and stir fried excitement of various kinds.  It is good to see them eating their vegetables.  The children returned to their favourite past time of swimming and Toni enjoyed a massage from Sumi.  The best part of my day was when a cockroach jumped from the massage table - Sumi stamped on it and I was able to crunch through the rest of the juicy fat tasty morsel.  Sammy wanted a massage so Sumi also set to work on Sammy.  This is the sort of life I think this young man would like to become accustomed.

John cooked dinner and the children begged for sleep….. Ahhh peace at last and a glorious though warm garden to relax and ponder in.

Maverick the Kakapo takes flight for the very first time - 13 June

Flight No.1, Australia -  Lucy scribing for Maverick

Squaaaawk! It's me, Maverick the kakapo reporting on the flight to Australia! I was quite thrilled I was flying for the first time, because if you have brain, you would know that kakapo are flightless birds and being one of the lucky kakapos to be able to fly is quite an ecstatic thought. We are
waiting at the Queenstown airport and there is quite a lot of time before takeoff. The family decided
to go to the cafe to eat. (I couldn't eat any of the food because I can only eat the berries of certain plants, it's quite inconvenient.) Sam, being clumsy and silly as usual, knocked his water all over James's trousers. I, and everyone else thought that James looked hilarious, though John was grumpy at Sam for spilling the water AND forgetting his phone. After having the food, they went off to look at some shops. The kids went to the remarkable sweet shop OBVIOUSLY! (They didn't
even give me some sweets.) Sam was nice enough to donate a Wham! bar to Lucy, she was looking at some other sweets when she got attacked from behind. Her best friend, (though in my opinion she is far to loud and energetic) Renee, and Lucy's other good friend Mikayla had come to pick up their Aunty and happened to be in the sweet shop. (I personally love sweet shops and have realised by now that they are kid magnets.)

After the visit to the sweet shop Lucy said goodbye to Renee and Mikayla and went back to the cafe table. Toni went with the kids and said they could get something. James got some chewy gumball things and Lucy got a bubble gum birds egg. Luckily, it was made of bubblegum and wasn't an actual birds egg. (Or even worse, a kakapo egg.) Lucy got the sour ball out of the middle of the egg and gave it to James. The effect was immediate. James's face made weird and interesting shapes. At one point his face looked like a very very old man's face and not his own face. By then it was time to go into the terminal.

After going through customs, the family did some shopping, buying everything from headphones to delicious lion bar bites. Finally, it was time to board the plane.

It seems that unfortunately, I had to stay in my bag (which I thought was inconvenient because kakapos need their space.) and couldn't have a go on those weird interactive touch-screen TVs on the back of the seats that my family were using. They were so into whatever that were doing, you could set a firework above them and they wouldn't even blink, apart from when they needed to blink. The flight service people gave everyone a choice of food: chicken salad, fish and the most preferred, beef pie. They were served in plastic containers that looked like they contained space food, but this was plane food so it wasn't far off from that. Apart from that, the food didn't look to bad, even though the mashed potato was orange and the greens were floppy and not a rich green colour like my glorious plumage. I am also intrigued by how they magically conjuncture up food from behind the curtain at the end of the plane. For a short part of the way, James had enough brains to take a time-lapse of the flight, but not to remove enough apps and photos to store it. After the main course the air flight people magicked up some tea, coffee and softdrinks. That magic must be pretty powerful because they made some really good chocolateappear. ( Or so I'm told because they didn't consider giving me some.)

After two and at half hours of sitting and pondering about how the air flight people magicked up food and how those weird TV things worked we finally landed at Sydney in Australia. I was feeling tired from the flight and it was a great comfort when Lucy cuddled me when we were driving to Bruno's house. Oh! I forgot, you don't know who Bruno is. Bruno Bouchet is an amazing writer who wrote the book "Lab Rats".  Though, I have to be a good kakapo because professor Xanax might give me ugly human arms or do something even worse! Check it out here

http://brunobouchet.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Lab-Rats-in-Space.mp3

Apart from this I quickly realised that there was another risk, Blix! Blix is a fluffy, curly, kakapo destroyer (more commonly known as a soft coated wheaten terrier or a dog), so, while I am telling Lucy this story to write down, (if you had a small brain you would know that kakapos have claws which are terrible for iPad screens.) I am hiding in my bag hoping Blix can't find me. Oh well, I guess that's all for now, so I'll see you next time you read a blog. Squawk!