Our Balinese Adventure

by Ina Hellemann (Australia)

I didn't expect to find Indonesia

Our Balinese Adventure. We arrived at Denpasar airport in the middle of a humid May day. With the wet season over the heat rolled in. It had already started getting brisk in Perth so the heat and humidity were stifling here. We were on a family trip for our mum's 60th birthday. We made our way to Ubud in a long and windy taxi ride, watching the lush greenery go by. Even though the taxi was airconditioned, the humidity got to us through the vents and my sister's open window as she hung her head out to conquer her car sickness. We arrived in our quaint little Villa amongst the rice paddies and settled in. It was a still afternoon, we were in the countryside, away from the cheap bustling shopping precincts that tourists seemed to love. I was thrilled that we had our own private pool. My mum decided that for her birthday she wanted us all to go white water rafting with The Bali Adventure Rafting team, so that is what we did on the very next day. Down the steep hill of steps, we went. The view was amazing as we headed down to the water, we were surrounded by dense, lush rainforest, green as far as the eye could see. I could hear unfamiliar birds all around us and the smell of rain and wet earth was present, as if the Wet Season was still with us. The rafts were bobbing below in unison in the very calm river. I didn't know it yet, but these rafts had stories, history imprinted on them, from all the rivers bends and rapids from many other trips. We got into our raft and got briefed about rapids and when we had to paddle and when we had to lean left or right and all sorts of other instructions that I was sure I would forget and may possibly fall out of the raft because of. At first the river was very still and quiet. A green blue reflecting from the sky and rainforest above. There were no rapids in sight, so there was time to marvel at our surroundings. But soon the rivers stillness changed, we were moving faster. There were a lot of smooth boulders to navigate around and when situated close to each other, white bubbles would form, rapids were emerging. Our tour guide sat up the front and paddled the most, but when we approached a rapid, instructions were yelled out and we had better remember what we were taught so we could stay afloat. Oh. My. God. What a thrill it was. My mum, sister and I were screaming and laughing all the way. We got drenched, we slipped and slid inside the raft. At times I was grasping so tightly to the side and my feet were tensely trying to grip the floor of the raft through my wet socks and shoes. We never capsized, I remembered most of the instructions and we made it back in one piece. When we got back on land my legs were like jelly, I had to sit down. But not for very long. Our instructors said it was time to go and that's when the next adventure began for me. We had to walk back up the mountain. I could not do it. My legs and feet just weren't working. All the adrenalin that had been pumping through my body throughout that adventure had now turned into lactic acid in my legs. One of the lovely tour guides grabbed my arm and hauled me over his shoulder and pretty much walked me up that mountain. I tried so desperately to engage my legs, but it was like he was dragging me. We tried to communicate but the language barrier was ever present so we both just smiled and laughed a lot. After all that fun and excitement, I just wanted to get back to our peaceful Balinese Villa and immerse myself in the cool pool water. When we got back the poolside was otherwise occupied. There was a Taipan, jaws unhinged, devouring its dinner, a frog, beside the pool. I was done, time for bed.