You don't know how lucky you are...

We dreamed for 5 years that we could bugger off to a tropical island and live in a hut on a beach (preferably with fresh running water but not necessarily hot) teaching people to dive. You are not going to believe it but that is exactly what we have been doing for the last three months - it's just we couldn't tell you - until now........ and we have been busting to tell you, worse than the trip to a picnic (are we nearly there), smelling the lamb shanks cooking all day, christmas & birthday presents all rolled in to one.

When we left England we had no job, no home and no expectation, just the hope that this time it would be our turn. We were prepared to stay destitute for possibly 6 months, and even then maybe only one of us would find work or we'd be in different places. Whatever. But we were in a Catch22 situation. We arrived on tourist / social visas. You can't work with out a work permit and you can't get a work permit without a job - aaaggghhhh. It is an extreeeeeeemly serious offence to violate and we just could't afford to jeopardise our dream of living in Bali or anywhere else in Indonesia for that matter.

BUT... It's official. We came back from 2 days in Singapore with our passports stamped for the next 12 months.  Not only that but we are now in possession of a blue book each - the coveted KITAS - and it's not easy. You have to have a sponsor and be fingerprinted and spend hours at the immigration office seeing three different desk clerks and provide 36 6x4 colour glossy photos with a paragraph on the back of each one saying who you are (for your old Arlo Guthrie fans) etc etc etc.... Just one more small hurdle of being fingerprinted (again) in the police station at the other end of the island for the red book (think that's some ID thingy) and we're done - hooray!!

Do any of you remember "The Barren North" where we introduced you to Pemuteran, Storm Beer and a nice Ozzie Chap call Chris Brown at Reef Seen Aquatics. We left our CVs with him (as well as a load of other places) to continue our holiday in Bali with "the glimmer of work in November"

We slap & pinch ourselves every morning to check that it's real - but literally one day after we moved in to our condo in Sanur, Mr Brown rang and said "Come now, give it a go, you never know you might like it..."

And here we are, sitting on our doorstep, 50m from a wonderful sandy beach, with fresh running water (not exactly hot) teaching people to dive on some of the most stunning healthy reefs in Bali only another few 100m away!!!! We are kind of runnning the dive centre. Not that Chris thought he needed 2 instructors but he is seeing the benefits.    We have joined a happy crew of 11 boys, 8 girls and 2 dogs who collectively make everything happen from boat driving & fruit juice blending, through tank filling & chambermaiding to leaf sweeping and rat catching.

Check out the website www.reefseenbali.com

PS:  Yes we even have the internet (but not as you know it, Jim)