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.