Animal Adventures to Zip Lining, with a lot of white water in between.

Adventuring is not the common view of a Bali holiday – but if you can tear yourself away from the black and white sand beaches and cool pools, there’s a lot of mountain and river adventures to be had on this tiny isle.

Often called the Island of Temples, active visitors have renamed it “Adventure Island.”  That said, you can’t have an adventure in Bali without a temple nearby for offerings before and after your journey – be it climbing, biking , rafting or whitewater kayaking!

After a disappointing search for a sea kayak operator for a peaceful time on the water and paddling out to the reef (we only found crap paddle boats for use in the bay), our group found a river kayaking trip. Called the Kayak Attack, it offers 33 challenging rapids on a 9 km stretch of the Agung River. We started far upstream, and ran the distance non-stop in under two hours. The only pit stops were for a thundering waterfall shower and a stone carving photo opp (with monkeys and snakes no extra charge). Then we had lunch, picked up our videos and snapshots taken by the guides, and were whisked back to civilisation. The whole trip was a world apart yet only 20 minutes from Ubud.

Take two retired rafting guides and put them on Bali’s premier white water (Agung River) in a rubber kayak, and they’re bound to have fun on their holiday on the Adventure Island. Scotty had the thrill of paddling solo, while Dee rode with an expert guide with half of the work and more of the wet in the front seat.