Bali airport is a very pleasant space, especially away from the visa and security area. There is a trap for first timers, two traps actually. The visa on arrival fee is published as $50, but on arrival I found that it was actually $54. I had carefully packed a crisp 50 spotter, thinking I was crossing all the ts, and breathed a sigh of relief knowing that I had also packed a crisp $5 note. Whew. And I got the change in rupiah…all 10 000 of them.

The next trial was the customs declaration. I had downloaded an app to produce a QR code, but the first page was in Indonesian, so I thought I’d wing it. Nah. So I joined the queues at the computers, filled out the forms online, which were now in english, got my code and I sailed through.

The reason I’m here is that my splendid sister Jennifer, in order to celebrate her 70th birthday took her three children, spouses and offspring, and me, for a week of fun at a splendid resort called the Bali Gardens. It’s right on the beach looking west, and is the most stunning place. Here are some of the gardens enclosed by the place…

Pretty luxurious rooms, with a bed in mine that you would need a GPS if you strayed from the edge. The staff were super polite, friendly and helpful.

The beach was pretty nice to look at, but I didn’t venture in, partly because of the state of my knees.

On the Saturday night we had the big dinner on the waterfront while the sun went down, and the gentle breeze wafted.

It was a super evening, and some fireworks across the bay joined in

The levels of boganism in the street didn’t seem all that great, but perhaps they come out of the woodwork at the clubs and bars. There are the occasional wrecks of humanity stomping the streets in shorts and t shirts, but I suspect that more often than not it was my reflection in the shop windows

One excursion we all went on was to the zoo, headlined by the ‘breakfast with the orang utans’. And that’s what it was…we all fed our faces from an extensive smorgasbord of stuff while they, untethered, sat on platforms a couple of metres off the ground and nibbled at some leafy stems.

All of them seemed to show a healthy indifference to their evolutionary cousins.

There were elephants up close too

It was a great trip, with lions, tigers, gibbons, assorted ungulants and others. The gardens were laid out interestingly, with the jungle shading the walking tracks, and most of the enclosures being fairly humane.

I had some very delicious meals, particularly at a place nearby the resort. This seared tuna and salad bowl was excellent…

During the zoo trip a sore throat, cough, fever that had started earlier became steadily worse, so I checked to see if the worst had happened…

Bugger.

So here I am in a hospital’s isolation room, filled with more drugs than I care to remember, attached to a drip whose cannula has come out a couple of times, necessitating more reinsertions in different veins than I want to recall. I’m on the antiviral drug which has two doses 5 days apart, so it means I get out on the Monday, 3 days after the intended departure for Australia day. I was pretty dehydrated, and the pneumonia initiated by the covid infection (words of the doctor) was fairly severe. The heavy bouts of coughing resulted in protesting abs and back muscles, but fortunately the coughing has lessened bigly since the miracles of modern medicine have done their dirty work.

The nurses are excellent and cheery, and constantly apologise for causing pain. On one occasion, in the quest to get some arterial blood, for whatever secret rite, from my wrist area, the poor dear had to probe around with the needle, trying to nail down the slippery artery. It took four goes before the mother lode was struck. I had expected some mighty bruises the next day, but none eventuated. I suppose if no blood vessels are broken then no bruises happen.

There is a long path, called the boardwalk, running along the edge of the beach. It’s great to walk along, interacting with locals who are willing. There are some huge statues along the way…

There are some areas where the surfers congregate, and seem to be doing a fair amount of sitting…

And the odd sign to lighten the day…

So what’s the plan? They will let me out when I’ve had the second dose and am covid negative, one of which will occur on Sunday; both of which I hope. I’ve rerouted my return to Tuesday, flying direct to Melbourne.

This holiday could be seen as a series of disasters, but there is something to gain from everything, and the good times have been great.