Along the way we picked up Nahoko, the Porters' Japanese daughter, and her friend Miko - and then we were 11!!
After about 2 hours in the car we made it to Gianyar, a small village only 30km away from where we are staying - why it took so long can be explained by the terrible traffic, but it was a lovely ride along the coast with the blue sea on one side and the green rice fields on the other.
When we arrived at Made's family home, we were greeted by all his family of brothers, sisters, (and their partners), mums, dads, and uncle and aunties - and then of course all the kids!!! All in all there were about 30 of them, so with the 11 of us it was a real party!Made and his wife Niluh had gone to a lot of effort to make the day special for everyone - they spent the day yesterday shopping at the markets for food, and then today preparing the feast of traditional foods.
In the 2 years we've been travelling there have been only a few occasions where we have had the honour to join in with a real local family and see how life really goes on outside of the tourist towns.Liv's parents along with Kim and Russell have been supporting Made's family for about 10 years now, and it's truly rewarding to see how the family has benefited. Although the money isn't much, and Made and Niluh both work extremely hard, the little bit extra guarantees an education for the 2 girls, and helps out with the house and farm. One of the special parts of the day was looking into Made's mum's eyes, a lady who speaks no English, and seeing the pure gratitude, hidden behind tears she was too proud to shed.
After a few gifts (including a bag full of second hand clothes from NZ) were given to the family, Made surprised us all with gifts made in the local woodcarving village where we works. We enjoyed cold drinks before being led on a group excursion into the rice fields to see the 3 cows the family owns. 
Along the way we really saw how Made's eldest daughter had grown - taking care of her younger sister Gemma Olivia. 
After wandering the palm-shaded fields, where farmers buzzed about their work, and learning all about looking after cows, we returned to the Bali-NZ compound for the feast and an afternoon of fun. 
The meat-eaters had the privilege of trying Niluh's ceremonial chicken - a rare treat!! But everyone's taste-buds were on overdrive as flavours from all the meals made a dish at a restaurant look like a microwave meal!!We jumped in the cars for a visit to the wood gallery where Made works, where we got to see the artists outside creating their masterpieces.
It wasn't until 5pm that we started heading home - and we got amazing views of one of Bali's volcanoes surrounded by a halo of cloud.
The journey home resulted in a tiki-tour of Kuta, as we lost each other, but we eventually made it back to the JK for some well deserved beers (or "refreshing ales" as the men like to say!).
Much later in the evening we went out for a light meal - still stuffed from the family feast, and in doing so appreciated Niluh's food 10 times over.
Adlibing the Bali-NZ family.
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