BALI AND A WEDDING

20 August 2023

I have put Truce on a mooring in Cairns.  The reason for taking a mooring is that I needed to travel to Bali for a wedding.  A mooring is a fraction of the cost of an alongside marina berth and as I won’t be onboard for a while the inconvenience of a mooring isn’t really an issue.

My initial plan was to sail to Bali for the wedding as I had told everyone that I had given up with flying.  However, due to weather delays, detours to New Caledonia and such forth the option of sailing to Bali disappeared.  So, I had to eat my words and take a flight.

Needless to say the flight to and from Bali was horrible, just reinforced why I don’t want to fly anymore.  Australian airlines are still struggling to escape the ‘Chicken or beef’ era with service and check in straight out of the Fly Low manual.  No more moaning!

Bali was as good as ever but much more crowded than I remember from previous visits.  I was very happy to be met at the airport and taken to my hotel courtesy of an Indonesian friend who I worked with back in the day.  My accommodation and transport was all taken care off, wonderful.  Of course Ngozi and her friends were there when I arrived, great to meet up again.

The wedding was for Natasha and her future husband Sam.  Natasha is the daughter of my best friend Jim Britton.  Unfortunately Jim passed away a short time ago.  The wedding was delayed time and again by covid and unforeseen events.  Jim did pick out the wedding dress, he did a good job. 

Natasha was concerned about walking down the aisle alone and after some thought it was agreed between us that I would stand in.  Natasha was happy and I was very honoured to walk her down the aisle or in this case across the sand.  The wedding was excellent, great atmosphere by the beach, excellent food and an endless fountain of drink – true Britton style.

All too soon my time in Bali came to an end, I had to return to Cairns.  Truce is waiting and I need to continue moving north.