Hi all,
Sorry all, I advised you of the wrong day and date. The de-brief is Thursday 1st at 3.45.
My apologies.
Mrs Wilson
De-brief Meeting For Indonesian Tour Wednesday 31st July
Dear Bali Tour Team,
I have had a chance to speak briefly to some of you and I have heard nothing but great things about the recent tour. We would like to have one final meeting next Wednesday 31st July after school to de-brief and obtain your feedback. This is valuable in planning for 2025’s tour and for years to come.
Please meet in the Community Room at 3.40. Looking forward to seeing you then.
Kind regards
Bali
Welcome home
Welcome home to all of the staff and students. It would have been cold stepping off the plane last night but you will soon acclimatise again.
A huge thank you to the staff that accompanied the tour and helping to make it a wonderful experience for all. A shout out has to go to our man on the ground in Bali Michael G who works for Five Pillar Experiences and who gave up his spare time when I was unable to attend the tour at late notice and joined the group on many occasions and acted as a liaison.
Thank you to the parents for supporting your children to achieve their goals, and lastly, thank you to the students. You are the first group of St Stephen’s students to participate in the resumption of our Service Tours. I sincerely hope that it was an enriching and enjoyable experience for you.
I will shortly be sharing a survey with the students and it would be greatly appreciated if you could take some time to complete it so that we may improve if necessary and also for the school to evaluate how successful such tours are.
You will have one last meeting as a group to de-brief and evaluate the tour. We will set a date for that after the holidays. In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday and ‘well done’.
Bali Day 7
We enjoyed a very relaxing and touristy day in Bali today, which was a nice contrast. We began our day with a much needed sleep in and later start. We visited a local turtle sanctuary where we were fortunate enough to take a closer look at some very cute baby turtles. A lot of us decided to ‘adopt’ a baby turtle and had the opportunity to release them into the wild, which was very cool to experience. Later on, we enjoyed a local lunch and walked around the Kuta markets where many of us developed a new found skill of shopping in Bali (and the art of bantering). Overall a very chill, enjoyable and insightful day in Bali and we’re looking forward to the rest of the trip.
– Tahnee
Bali Day 6
Today, was an eventful and fun day! First, we went to Suwung Community Center and had fun playing games such as ‘bang’, play-dough, a paper airplane competition and some reading activities with the smaller and older kids. It was very eye opening experience to see kids with so little and they are still so cheerful and we take so many things for granted and we don’t appreciate the small things. After, we had lunch at Geomeret cafe. The food was amazing, but after a while we all went back to the hotel, too relax. Then we made our way to the ‘Bali life foundation children’s home were we met some of the kids from the community and some of the other schools in Australia doing the service tour. We performed our amazing performance of the nut bush. After we were all full from the amazing dinner and treats they provided, we ended the wonderful night, with some upbeat singing and dancing and performances.
– Kaia
Bali 5
Today our journey took us to the Bali Life Foundation where they help to provide young children with schooling that are unable to attend regular schools and underprivileged mothers. We began with education activities where we engaged in maths and English. We got a tour of the school and learning areas by the amazing staff, where we saw children and mothers learning new skills. After getting a refreshing lunch at a local restaurant, we came back to Bali Life and played some Australian and Indonesian games with the children. Towards the end, the children showed us some of their favourite dance moves and we all interacted with them by dancing along. Then after a long day, some of us bought some handmade gifts made by the Mothers attending bali life and we drove back to our hotel. Later, some of us went to the stores to buy some materials to put together care packages tomorrow, and we finished off the day with a relaxing dinner locally.
Bali 5
Today we went to a very impressive mangrove restoration project and farm. This involved planting mangrove trees and learning how to cook and create products from the mangrove fruit, which was great fun.
Afterwards we spent some time in the hotel pool including playing an extended game of Marco Polo and then left for dinner at a Thai restaurant in which many antics occurred such as Mr Johnstone being left in tears after a particularly potent chilli despite his initial confidence.
– Daniel
Bali Day 4
This morning we woke up to the beautiful Bali weather we all know and love. After we all got ready, we went to the Hidden Valley Canyon, which was amazing! We traversed our way through streams and rapids to uncover some beautiful scenery. Many of us channelled our inner Tarzan on the rope swing towards the end of the canyon. Although the amount of swimming was unexpected, we had an amazing time, and an experience to remember!
After we finished our amazing hike/ swim in the gorge, we had a very tasty lunch at the gorge’s cafe.
Once we finished all of our gorge activities, we all piled into our buses to head down to our second hotel, Maxone in Jimbaran. Once we checked in and had quick showers, we headed for Kuta.
Once we arrived in Kuta, we had a quick dinner. We then headed to the foreshore to do our second activity of the day, Kuta street walk. We went around the beach and surrounding streets and gave our care packs to the parents and kids on the streets. Many of us helped the children with some colouring in tried to talk with them in Indonesian.
After we walked around and gave out all the care packs, we jumped back in the bus to head back to the hotel for a well deserved rest!
– Ruby, Kaia and Zach
Bali Day 3
Today, we woke up to a bit of a rainy morning with warm weather. After a nice breakfast in the hotel buffet, we made our way to Mai Organic farm and started with a tour of the facility. We had great fun planting some papaya tree’s and most of us got a bit muddy!
After our tour, we visited some of the pet goats kept by the farm and began to learn how to cook some traditional dishes for lunch. We first made a traditional balinese spice mix which we combined with tuna to make satays. We enjoyed some homemade spring rolls, corn fritters, soup and much more. It was delicious!
After we left Mai Organic farm, we drove to Tegenungan waterfall and enjoyed the amazing views. It was too dangerous to swim because of the rain, but it didn’t take away from the great experience.
We then headed home and relaxed before finishing the night off by eating dinner locally.
-Mahli and Lucy
Update from Bali
Hello all, Until the IT issue for those in Bali is sorted I will post what is sent through to me via text. Please see below. Photos to follow.
Our trip is off the an excellent start and we have had a wonderful first two days in Bali!
Yesterday after arriving, we made the drive through to Ubud, stopping for lunch at a local restaurant. On arrival, Michael from Five Pillars gave us a Bali orientation. We learned about the culture, the do’s and don’ts and some common language phrases to use during our trip.
Our hotel in Ubud is beautiful, set up in a villa style with a pool and buffet breakfast. As we are right in the middle of the monkey forest, we some monkey friends that visit the hotel, which is very cute!
For dinner, we went to a restaurant in Ubud. Night 1 was an early night after the big day of travel and most of us were very keen for bed.
Today, we drove out to the Happy Hearts Community. This is a community of people living with a disability. The residents participate in classes, make and sell crafts and grow and cook their own vegetables. After an introduction from the founder and a community tour, we watched a wheelchair dancing performance. The residents then gave us a turn at wheelchair dancing, with some of us brave enough to perform!
We then started on our service task of repainting the foyer area in one of the main buildings. We sanded back the damp damaged walls and recoated with fresh paint. It was certainly a learning experience for some who had never painted before. We finished off the project by leaving our painted hand prints along the wall.
After Happy Hearts, we drove to Telungulung Rice Terrace and were amazed by the incredible views! There was many a selfie and photograph taken and it was definitely a view to remember.
For dinner, we once again ate locally in Ubud, with most of us trying local cuisines such as Nasi Goreng or Mi Goreng.
It has been a wonderful start to the trip and we can’t wait for day 3 tomorrow!