We have been back a week and I wasn't going to write a JBr but feel I'd better.
We went for 14 days out of Port Hedland, WA. 9-23rd December.
School finished Friday and we were off the next day. We haven't been since October last year so we were all super keen to get there.
It was a quick 2hrs hour flight and we were there in no time. I love to say this as it makes everyone jealous that we are so close. We did have a 2hr drive beforehand though.
We went straight to Amed from the airport, arriving at 6.00pm. There were temple festivals on and lots of traffic on the main road and so the driver took some interesting back roads. This is the third time we have stayed at Amed as we love the relaxed feel of the place. I laze around more here as I'm not distracted by all the shopping. We stayed in the 2 roomed villa at Anda Amed. The kids (10 and 12)had one room and we had another. Beautiful views, beautiful rooms, great food We relaxed for 4 days here. One day we got enough energy together and went and snorkelled over the Japanese shipwreck just a few kms down the coast. You just step into the water and swim about 20m and you're at the wreck. The kids loved it. A bit like 'a little mermaid'.
After 4 days and becoming totally relaxed we returned to Legian and stayed at Rama Garden before going off to the Hai tide huts for 3 days. We had to go back to Legian to buy some clothes and get a few supplies plus a quick trip to the beach to see friends.
Hai Tide huts were great. We had a girls hut and a boys hut. The kids swam, banana boat rode, wave skied and kayaked through the next few days. We relaxed, swam, drank and ate and not much else. The second day I dragged everyone out of the Bali Hai compound and went for a walk through the village areas nearby.
We went back to Legian and Rama Garden for the last week. This was busy, waterbom park , beach and shopping and more shopping. Did everyone's xmas shopping, every male in the family got DVD's. First day back we went to one of the DVD shops and told the kids to pick today as we were only shopping for DVD's once. An hour and ½ later they had DVDs, PS2 games, CD's and a few computer games. The young assistant had to go and change 5Au$ for me so I could pay the bill.
We did the usual trip to Makro where a few big jars of lollies got put in the trolley. I went to AWA and got 3 sandalwood blinds made up for the bathroom etc as we are renovating. I thought the price was excellent and didn't bargain and got told very nicely, by one of our regular drivers I should have bargained. We shopped around Melasti Markets lots, a quick trip to Centro and Matahari and didn't venture to Denpasar for shopping. I thought best to give it a miss as in October 04 there was an earth tremour when we were in Ramayana and in Dec o4 we were there when the tsunami happened. Didn't really want to try again. We went to the Quicksilver and Roxy outlet and the kids picked a few bargains.
It was rather quite the 2 weeks before xmas and we told this many times, when asked more they said it was quieter than the previous weeks had been, but there were still reasonable numbers of people walking around at different times and absolutely none at others. We went shopping one evening between 5.30 and 6.30 at Melasti markets and didn't see another tourist. We ate at the restaurants around the nearby area. Dolphins, Uncle Norms and Wayan and Friends were again our most popular. The kids love Dolphins as they serve a big meal of Sate on the little ‘pigs' with some glowing coconut husks still in there. They give 8 juicy sticks of sate and serve it with a really delicious peanut sauce. Just the best spot we reckon for Sate in Legian. There other food is good too.
When we got back we decided to book again for April school holidays. This time my sister and her 3 teenage kids are going to join us for 10 pretty busy days. We decided it would be great to share Bali with them as they have never been and have heard our stories for 20 years and received Bali pressies since they were babies. We haven't told her kids yet and will surprise them on Monday when we arrive back in NSW. They should be totally surprised as they will not be expecting it. My sister has been a single mum for years and has only graduated from uni in the last year and got a job. I'm looking forward to their reaction as much as the next trip. They will fly out with Jetstar from Melbourne and we will again leave from Hedland. Already planning, rafting, bike riding and 2 day tickets to waterbom and after more exciting ideas