john.robert_mcpherson
26 Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC Kartika Plaza accommodation, Left to Right; Ken (Knuckle) Ryan, Lloyd (Log) Kenny, Ken (Wolfman) Warner, Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC instructional tour, Kuta, Bali, Indonesia. September 1977
26 Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC Kartika Plaza accommodation, Left to Right; Ken (Knuckle) Ryan, Lloyd (Log) Kenny, Ken (Wolfman) Warner, Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC instructional tour, Kuta, Bali, Indonesia. September 1977.
Our accommodation in Kuta was Kartika Plaza, a collection of duplex bungalows just behind the fore dunes. This was very convenient as we could literally walk from breakfast to work in about one minute. While not 'well appointed' the room was not exactly 'spartan', boasting an indoor toilet and shower. I shared with Ken Ryan, while a short snore away were Ken Warner and Lloyd Kenny. It was all good, clean family fun. We would debrief on the veranda after a day's work, making serious inroads into our duty free spirits as we discussed the day just past and the day to come. When our licit drinks were exhausted we tried arak, a rather interesting local spirit. It had character, which was good as there was little else to recommend it.
Except the swimming pool and a waitress called -- wait for it -- Hayoo, Kartika had little to recommend it either. Hayoo was marvelous. Whenever we bellowed "Hey you!" she came running with an eager look in her eye happy to giggle and joke and serve whatever we ordered. At the end of our stay we informed Hayoo that we liked her so much that we were taking her back to Australia. She giggled and said "Husband will cry" with barely enough conviction for a seemly public declination of our invitation. I thought she was about to add in a whisper "But that's his problem and I can be packed to leave in an hour", but thankfully she did not.
We were in the habit of catching a bit of sleep after lunch. Our siesta was once interrupted by -- of all things on a volcanic island -- an earthquake. If we were thunderstruck that the earth had moved the locals barely yawned. So the earth shook a bit? Nothing fell over and no one was hurt. In fact we barely felt it. What's the problem? The earth -- that dependable, solid, predictable thing on which I live and have my being -- lurched about like a drunken sailor -- that's the problem. Well, learn to view things a little differently and you won't be so upset. Easy for you Indonesians to say that ... drought, fire, flood and tempest, these I understand ... but the earth jumping up and down? -- that's not natural.
26 Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC Kartika Plaza accommodation, Left to Right; Ken (Knuckle) Ryan, Lloyd (Log) Kenny, Ken (Wolfman) Warner, Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC instructional tour, Kuta, Bali, Indonesia. September 1977
26 Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC Kartika Plaza accommodation, Left to Right; Ken (Knuckle) Ryan, Lloyd (Log) Kenny, Ken (Wolfman) Warner, Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC instructional tour, Kuta, Bali, Indonesia. September 1977.
Our accommodation in Kuta was Kartika Plaza, a collection of duplex bungalows just behind the fore dunes. This was very convenient as we could literally walk from breakfast to work in about one minute. While not 'well appointed' the room was not exactly 'spartan', boasting an indoor toilet and shower. I shared with Ken Ryan, while a short snore away were Ken Warner and Lloyd Kenny. It was all good, clean family fun. We would debrief on the veranda after a day's work, making serious inroads into our duty free spirits as we discussed the day just past and the day to come. When our licit drinks were exhausted we tried arak, a rather interesting local spirit. It had character, which was good as there was little else to recommend it.
Except the swimming pool and a waitress called -- wait for it -- Hayoo, Kartika had little to recommend it either. Hayoo was marvelous. Whenever we bellowed "Hey you!" she came running with an eager look in her eye happy to giggle and joke and serve whatever we ordered. At the end of our stay we informed Hayoo that we liked her so much that we were taking her back to Australia. She giggled and said "Husband will cry" with barely enough conviction for a seemly public declination of our invitation. I thought she was about to add in a whisper "But that's his problem and I can be packed to leave in an hour", but thankfully she did not.
We were in the habit of catching a bit of sleep after lunch. Our siesta was once interrupted by -- of all things on a volcanic island -- an earthquake. If we were thunderstruck that the earth had moved the locals barely yawned. So the earth shook a bit? Nothing fell over and no one was hurt. In fact we barely felt it. What's the problem? The earth -- that dependable, solid, predictable thing on which I live and have my being -- lurched about like a drunken sailor -- that's the problem. Well, learn to view things a little differently and you won't be so upset. Easy for you Indonesians to say that ... drought, fire, flood and tempest, these I understand ... but the earth jumping up and down? -- that's not natural.