The Year Can Only Get Better

The family orientated New Years eve celebration I attended with the locals provided one great benefit, I was not suffering from a hangover on New Years day. I was up and about at a reasonable hour texting and emailing best wishes and happy new years to family, but it was not to be the best start to a new year.

I received a text that my mother was receiving palliative care and would pass away in the coming days. I made an instant decision to fly back to Australia, packed my bike and rode South to Legian for a flight to Australia.

In Australia my mother passed away peacefully and together with family I attended her funeral.

As I travel, you travel with me in my thoughts, rest in peace Mum, love always.

After ten (10) days in Australia I caught a flight back to Bali to continue my motorcycle adventure.

Finding the motivation to get on my motorcycle and move on was a little difficult, I was not feeling keen at all. Luckily Michael, the Mini driver whom I'd travelled with from Flores to Bali, had not returned to Australia for the Christmas and New Year period as planned, he had stayed in Bali. Michael's girlfriend Jona, Michael's mate Russell, along with Russell's mate Stefan had arrived from the Philippine's, Melbourne and Jakarta respectively for a little rest and relaxation. (My thanks go to Michael, with contacts in Bali he was able to quickly arranged safe storage of my motorcycle in Legian while I returned to Australia).

Having Michael, Jona, Russell and Stefan in Legian provided the distraction I needed to spark up again. We ate, drank and partied a little to hard at times thanks to Russell and Stefan, though we all still found time for a great day white water rafting near Ubud. Russell, Stefan and I also had a mad day's mountain bike ride from near Kintamani to Ubud, followed up by the celebration of Michael and Jona's engagement.

Holiday mode had to end though and with the departure of new friend's it was now time to further investigate an opportunity to undertake a major travel route change to my adventure. Luke, a fellow Australian living in Singapore had contacted me through Horizons Unlimited with a plan that sounded too good to pass up. So, I boarded a plane to Singapore for a long weekend with Luke and Yvonne, site seeing, eating great food, including an Australia Day BBQ and discussing route change destinations, visa's and the like, for a mid 2014 adventure (more on that adventure destination if and when I get there).

After a longer than anticipated stay in Bali it was time to move on to my next Indonesian destination, the island of Java.