H & I and Joe & Flo, those two Bali loving bears of ours that travel everywhere with us left Melbourne on Thursday 15th June first stop Perth arriving at 10.20am. This was not a planned stop. We were contacted by Qantas on the Tuesday evening and told that they were downsizing our flight and asked would we please agree to go to Bali via Perth. We were offered business class seats to Perth from Melbourne, normal economy from Perth to Bali. I initially said that we preferred to keep our booking with the direct flight and I asked if this was still confirmed, I could not get a straight answer from her, she told me would just have to get to the airport as early as possible and take our chances. Fearing that our flight may be cancelled or overbooked I decided to take the Perth offer.
We took a taxi to Perth City from the airport and then walked for a couple of hours taking in the sights. We went to Burswood Casino for a late lunch and then took a taxi back to the international terminal, we still had time to have a look around the airport shops and sit and have a drink prior to our flight leaving for Bali at 6.20pm. To those of you who live in Perth, what a lovely quiet city you have, at midday on a Thursday there was hardly any traffic and walking was easy. The parklands and lack of air pollution impressed us. Joe and Flo were not impressed, they spent the day being towed around in our hand luggage. We tried to appease Joe by buying him a new badge from Perth to go along with all the others he has from wherever we have traveled but he told us to go stick it somewhere else, I wont elaborate on that.
The flight from Perth to Bali was fairly quick but it had been a long day and we were pretty tired by the time we landed. Our trek through VOA and customs was reasonably fast as we had nothing to declare and no white crosses on the suitcases. Outside at last and I was surprised that it was nowhere near as hot as it usually is when landing in Bali. I exchanged AU$50.00 at the airport currency exchange, the rate was 6500. Our driver from Stana Puri Gopa was waiting and as it was fairly quiet on the roads we had a quick trip to Sanur. We checked in and were told that our confirmed room, room 15 was taken, what can you say, we were assured that the room we had been given was a new room also, the same as 15 so off we went to room 17. No fridge, you want refrigerator, yes please, 2 minutes later we have a fridge.
(The new rooms at Stana Puri Gopa are classed as standard rooms as they face the gardens and not the pool. Last time we stayed here I thought these were the deluxe rooms. We prefer these to what I now know are the so called Deluxe rooms that face the pool as they are older and a bit tired. Stana Puri Gopa always have some really good specials on their web site, the staff are wonderful and can't do enough for you. Due to a lack of tourists the massage room was closed this time and we missed seeing the girls who worked their.)
Did I say we were tired, I did didn't I, well H decides we need something in the fridge. I tell him it can wait till morning, he replies you will want water to brush your teeth. Yeah sure, we are in Bali again and even though it's 11pm at night he can't wait to walk the streets and of course he wants a Bintang before bed.
We set off to see if Hardy's is still open, someone on the forum said it's open 24/7, someone else said it's open till midnight. I ask, do you think it's safe walking all the way down there at this time of night, H says I'm sure it is. If anyone else is thinking of doing this don't bother they weren't open. If anyone else has walked that stretch along the front of the Hyatt in the dark you will know what I mean when I say that I stumbled over numerous small holes in the footpath and stepped on a few concrete and wooden slabs that rocked dangerously under me. This is scary enough in daylight in the dark it's asking for trouble. We found a Circle K close to Hardy's and purchased water and a few Bintangs. We had a laugh with a group off boys out the front when they offered us transport back to our hotel on the back of their motorbikes, I think they probably thought we were crazy when we told them, no we have just arrived and we wanted to walk.
We walk back slowly, it's overcast, cooler than I've known it to be in Bali but the smells are still the same, even the ones that prompt the comment, 'stop breathing'. We get back to the hotel in one piece, we remember that we haven't released Joe & Flo from their seatbelts in the hand luggage. We listen to Joe b**ch again about what fine friends we are as we find him and Flo a good place to sleep. Finally we climb into the huge Bali Bed that will be ours for the next week. The last thing I remember is the sound of the frogs croaking in the pond outside our room.