28 — Centralian Advocate, Friday, February 7, 2014

TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE

It’s Bali but not as we know itJennifer Ennion

A beach at Seminyak. Picture: Jasonparis, Flickr

IT’S been 12 years since I’vetravelled to Bali, and thatwas as a schoolie. Pool cock-tails at 6am and getting yourhair plaited was de rigueur.

This was pre-Bali bomb-ing and Kuta was the hap-pening place. It was whereall the bars, nightclubs, rest-aurants, markets andboutiques were.

Day trips exploring Kuta’ssurrounds were spent walk-ing quiet streets lined withhumble abodes and small,cheap art shops. So it is withslight trepidation that I re-turned on Jetstar’s newDreamliner flight from Mel-bourne to Denpasar.

Tourism to this little In-donesian island is boomingand the introduction of theDreamliner service is justone step in a long line tocash in on it all.

As soon as I disembark,I’m faced with the firstof many changes in Bali— t h e a i r p o r t ’ s n e winternational terminal.

The old domestic terminalis now used for cargo trans-port, while domestic travelhas been moved into the oldinternational hall.

According to The BaliTimes, Australia is thebiggest tourist market forthe island, making up abouta quarter of tourist arrivalsbetween January and Julyin 2013.

As I leave the airport, Ilook out at a busy streetfrom an airconditionedmini-van. Cars and motor-

bikes honk at each other,just like they always haveand like they often do incities across Asia.

The quiet only comeswhen we leave the busy roadand arrive at the four-starSemara Resort and Spa.

We’re in the heart ofSeminyak’s shopping anddining district and, as thesouthern suburb was barelya dot on the map during mylast visit, I’m perfectlyplaced to see just how muchhas changed.

My travel companions areecstatic to find we’re stayingnext door to Potato HeadBeach Club. The club has a

bar, three restaurants andbeachfront pool , andwouldn’t be out of place onthe Gold Coast, with pricesrumoured to match.

Seminyak is unrecognis-able compared with a dec-ade ago and I have mixedfeelings. Quiksilver and RipCurl have opened largestores in and aroundSeminyak and are sellingclothing out-of-reach of theBalinese who work there.

A pair of boardies will setyou back anywhere from490,000 Indonesian rupiah($45) upwards.

To get a Bali bargainthese days, you have to head

to the surf brand factoryoutlets at the back of Kutaor wander the windingstreets of markets in Kutaand neighbouring Legian.

Disheartened by theWesternisation of Seminyak,I grab a taxi into Legian tofind it’s no different.

It’s referred to as the ‘‘newKuta’’ and you’ll find rowsof market-like stores withrip-off Nixon tees for about$6 and cotton maxis haggleddown to $7.50, along withmore boutiques and hotels.

There are also more re-sorts being built. Justdown from Semara Resortand Spa, a massive develop-

ment is under way calledAlila Seminyak.

It’s a luxury retreat witha website that proudlyadvertises its location‘‘on the last remaining un-developed beachfront sitein Seminyak’’.

It’s just another exampleof how much has changed.

Southern Bali is for trav-ellers who like the comfortsof home transported to anew setting; the area is stillundoubtedly Balinese butno longer traditional.

Grime will coat your feetwhen you walk in thongsand the humidity will leaveyou dripping with sweat.

The locals continue tosmile and, if you can find atraditional warung, you’llstill dine on deliciousBalinese food.

Many major airlines flyfrom Australia to Den-pasar, including Jetstar,Qantas, Virgin Australia,Air Asia, Garuda Indonesia,Malaysia Airlines andSingapore Airlines.

Jetstar recently launcheddirect Dreamliner flightsfrom Melbourne to NgurahRai International Airport(also referred to as DenpasarInternational Airport).

The Dreamliner will alsofly between Brisbane andBali from April.

Semara Resort and Spa inSeminyak is about 10kmfrom Ngurah Rai Internat-ional Airport at Denpasar.

It has a pool, an invitingday spa, a kids’ club and freeWi-Fi. Room prices start at$US250 ($A281) for a stan-dard room twin-share dur-ing low season (between Jan6-Dec 25, 2014).

The resort offers a goodexchange rate, so it’s worthchanging money there in-stead of using ATMs.

Australians visiting Balineed to pay $US25 (in USdollars) for a visa on arrivalat the airport. Bali’s wetseason is from October-April and its dry seasonfrom May-September.

n The writer travelled as a

guest of Jetstar and Semara

Resort and Spa.

Scented beauty rich in loreTO establish a drought-hardy tropical garden, startwith some frangipani.

They are tough, wonder-ful plants bringing colour,perfume and an element ofthe exotic to the garden.

Nothing evokes that trop-ical feeling quite like thefrangipani. Their sweetscent and colourful beautymake them universallyloved and the blooms looksensational.

Harvest or gather freshlyfallen blooms and floatthem in on a pond or in abowl of water on the patiotable and it’s easy to feelyou’re relaxing in a fabuloustropical setting.

Frangipanis are bestclassified as small trees,growing to about 5-6m inheight, although there are

dwarf varieties growing only2.5m to 3m.

They can be pruned quitehard every 2-3 years to man-age their size.

It’s best not to prune themannually as the year afterpruning their flowering canbe quite limited.

Frangipanis have a ‘‘well-behaved’’ root system notlikely to cause problemswhen grown in the groundand they thrive in pots thatare broader rather than tall.Frangipanis can become topheavy as they gain size andcan topple and smash thetall pot.

Frangipanis are great sur-vivors, coping with drought,heat, neglect and insect andpest attack.

They are also deciduousallowing maximum wintersun while providing shade insummer.

F r a n g i p a n i f l o w e r sappear in clusters, also atthe end of the branches, andare distinctively scented.The most common frangi-pani has white flowers witha yellow centre, but thereare many varieties comingin loads of tropical and sun-set colours with more than300 hybrid varieties avail-able from the original 7-8frangipani species.

Frangipani or Plumeriaflowers are most fragrant atnight in order to lure sphinxmoths to pollinate them.

The flowers have no nec-tar, and simply dupe theirpollinators. The moths inad-vertently pollinate them bytransferring pollen fromflower to flower in theirfruitless search for nectar.

Frangipanis are sur-rounded by rich folk loreand have vastly differingrelationships and stories.

They can provide shelterfor ghosts and demons, havebeen associated with vam-pires in Malaya, are associ-ated with temples in Hinduand Buddhist cultures andin Polynesian culture theflower can be worn bywomen to indicate their re-lationship status – over theright ear if seeking a re-lationship, and over the leftif not.

The white stuff to beat heatDeepika Mathur

PEOPLE often say theirhouse became cooler afterthe roof was painted white.Considering white reflectsheat, this seems logical.

To test this, we at ALEC(Arid Lands EnvironmentCentre) started a researchproject along with Alice So-lar City in 2012, with fundingfrom the NT GovernmentClimate Change Grant.

The aim was to monitortemperature before andafter painting roofs white.Fifteen roofs were painted,while another five re-mained unpainted as thecontrol group.

We asked households tovolunteer for the study andgot a wonderful response.Alice Solar City offered to

pay half of the painting costas an incentive.

Over a year, the tempera-tures were monitored on theunderside of the roof sheet,in the attic space, the roomsand the outside veranda.

The analysis showed thatthe temperature decrease inthe underside of the roofsheets was up to 25C afterpainting the roofs white.

However, the internalroom temperature changesvaried enormously.

In particular, old houses

with little or no insulationshowed a considerable de-crease in the internal tem-peratures, with one ownerremarking: ‘‘On days whenthe temperature was notover 35C or 36C, the insidetemperature was remark-ably cooler and we did notneed to turn on theairconditioner. But on thedays when the temperaturewent higher than that, thewhite paint did not help.’’

Several others perceived achange in afternoon and

evening temperatures afterpainting the roof.

Others were not sure ifthe painting made any dif-ference at all.

Many factors affect thetemperature of a house, in-cluding construction ofwalls and roofs, insulation,glazing, orientation of thehouse, shading of the roof,and most importantly theoccupant’s behaviour.

These factors differ fromhouse to house so the insidetemperatures also varieddespite the roofs beingpainted white.

Our study suggests whiteroofs are best for houseswith no or low levels of roofinsulation, houses withdarker coloured roofs, andhouses where the atticspaces are often accessed.

There are two different types of

ownership where more than one

person or entity owns an asset

or property. They are known as

joint tenancies, and tenancies

in common.

There are some salient differences

in these two types of ownership.

The main characteristics of

a joint tenancy is that a certain

number of people own the

property in equal shares, and

one owner cannot dispose

or deal with it without the

knowledge or consent of the others. Another characteristic

of a joint tenancy is that sole ownership of the property

vests in the surviving owner when the others die. The last

surviving owner can then dispose of the property in their will,

as it will become part of their estate. For this reason, owning

a property as joint tenants is popular among married and de

facto couples, and family members.

Conversely, tenancies in common are characterised by each

owner of the property holding their share separately and

distinctly from the other owners. A key factor in this type

of ownership is that the property can be held in unequal

shares, and each owner may deal with their share without the

consent of the other owners. Also, each owner’s share of the

property may be left in their will, and therefore will form part

of their estate. This is a popular type of ownership among

people who buy property in shares with friends, businesses

and other entities, so that they may assign their interest in

their wills, or sell their share of the property separately from

the other owners.

If you are looking at purchasing a property with another

person or entity and are unsure of your options, we suggest

you obtain legal advice on what type of ownership would be

best suited to you.

JOINT TENANCIES V

TENANCIES IN COMMON

POVEY STIRK