Well here it goes my 1st attempt at a jbr, hope i don't bore too many people!!!
Our Bali crew consisted of 12 people, 8 adults and 4 kids (two 14yr olds, one 10 year old and one 9 year old) Most of us were onto our second visit and there were a couple of Bali virgins, who are now addicted,as we all are, and going back for more next year.
Flights -
Flew out of Melbourne with Jetstar on a Saturday night at 6.45pm no problem with the flight, kids got 2 personal dvd players for $12 each shared them around and really got alot of enjoyment and use out of them.
Our flight out of Bali left at 11.35pm and was also a good flight as we all managed to sleep for most of it. Our flight was to Sydney arriving at 7am, and then we were to catch a domestic flight to Melbourne at 9am. When booking these flights we knew we would be a little rushed however, did not expect to miss our flight by 30 mins. Customs at Sydney was extremely busy and we didn't make it, Jetstar put us onto the next available flight to Melbourne at 1pm. Sydney airport was really busy and Jetstar staff explained that because of the school holidays they were unable to put us on a earlier flight to Melbourne.
Hard Rock Hotel - This is our second stay at the HRH in Kuta and we love it. The facilities, cleaniness, food and staff are all of a high quality. the kids loved the pool and often had to be dragged out of it to go to dinner. The food at the Hard Rock is yum, and i had the best Nasi Goreng there. Centrestage is rockin every night.
Restuarants-
Absolutely love the food in Bali and ate at alot of recommended restuarants from the BTF.
Poppies in Poppies 1 - loved it. Us girls had the famous Poppies Pina Colada in the sculptered coconut....yummy. Food excellent, ambience beautiful, loved it and would highly recommend.
Nero Bali - Mediterranean Restuarant & bar in Jl. Legian kuta. Loved this place as well, ate there twice. Frozen Daquiris 36,000rp, pasta, seafood...yum.
Legends - Jl. Sahadewa, Legian. Absolutely loved this place,party atmosphere and fun, fun, fun. Went there twice, couldnt get enough. Loved the Friday night beach party with the Elvis Parsley show, Drag Queens and the Yellow band were great, even got up with the girls and did a couple of numbers, i think this was due to the 2 for 1 Bali Moon Cocktails. Happy hour for the cocktails is from 1pm-10pm, so plenty of time to work up the courage to belt out a couple of numbers with yellow band, who by the way are awesome.
Kopi Pot - nice, had a lovely mee goreng.
Indo-National-had lunch here, nice place and the food was lovely, club sandwiches and tiger prawns were great.
Made's Warung-Pantai Kuta - Always packed, but sadly not our cup of tea.
Jimbaran Bay - Langsam Cafe - The ambiance at Jb is always super, the sunset was a little cloudy, but still beautiful, food was lovely, and we had a ball dancing on the sand when we were serenaded by the roaming band. Lovely night and bali virgins loved it.
Tours
White Water Rafting - Most of the crew went to this and absolutley loved it.
Bali Baik Tour - The group loved this and had a ball. Highly recommend.
Ubud - Our driver was Little Johnny's brother Wayan, and he is absolutley lovely, such a patient guy nothing was any trouble. They also helped us out with our personalized bracelets, and they are great gifts.
Waterbom Park - kids love this place, and the new Boomerang ride is scary to look at, but fun once your on it. The Spa at Waterbom (just at waterbom entrance) is absolutely beautiful, 4 of us had the Balinese Massage for Rp 120,000 for 1 hour massage,this was the best massage i had in bali. Hubby could not get enough of the 1 hour foot massages and reflexology, a perfect way to end the day, for only Rp 50,000, loved Sole at Jl. Pantai Kuta and Legian Shiatsu on Legian Street.
Sponser child Visit - We made the 3 hour trip to Singaraja, and vistited the Helen Flavel Learning Centre, what a great place, Billy and John showed us around, unfortunately the children were on school holidays. We then headed off to the local market and bought the family, rice, spices, beans and other supplies. When we arrived at our sponsor childs home, the extended family and some friends were all there to welcome us. the children enjoyed practicing their english with us and sang us songs. The family had prepared fruit and fresh coconuts for us to eat and drink.It was by far our best day in Bali.
Shopping -
Mataharis and Discovery Plaza are my favourite haunts, and i stocked up on Revlon cosmetics and bought around 20 pairs of shoes in matahari. Fladeo shoes for women were on sale and i picked up gorgeous evening shoes for $14 a pair. also bought my son 2 pairs of school shoes. hubby got leather dress shoes for $26 a pair. unfortunatly the air conditioning in mataharis had conked out for the whole 2 weeks we were there, so it was a little uncomftable, but i still managed to shop.
Carrefour - Stocked up on the famous Martha Tillar products here, bought quite a few items from the 40's range for only $45.
Geneva Handicrafts - i loved this place, and went crazy. i bought gorgeous cushion covers for around $2.50ea, table runners, placemats, timber trays, a set of 3 rattan trays for $20, three gorgeous lamps for $10 each. one of the lamps had twigs through the middle of it, and customs gave me the option of having the twigs removed and keeping the lamp or sending it to be sprayed for $30 and having it returned to me in 3 weeks. i had the twigs removed and will replace the twigs myself.
Bali Brumby Tailors - Putu is lovely, and did a great job copying my favourite shoes, cost $38..bargain. Daughter got a gorgeous red leather jacket and boots loves them, hubby had a Hugo Boss suit made and is a perfect fit.
Ketuts shop in Jl. Sahadewa is a must, as it gives you a great idea about prices, as it is all fixed price. Ketut is a lovely lady and she gives everyone a cold bottle of water on arrival. i went there twice. i generally loved Jl. Sahadewa street and went there a few times and did quite a bit of shopping on that strip. Bought my Chanel and Guess handbags here for Rp 90,000.
Always buy my Dvd's and Cd's from the same shop in Kuta, the staff are lovely there, and went out of their way to order my stuff they didn't have in stock. Also bought Game boy advance games from Star disc at Discovery $13 a game.
Well we did not want to get on that plane and come home, and we are all in depressed mode.
Thanks to everyone on the forum for all your invaluable info, it made our second trip to Bali fantastic, and we can't wait to get back.
Happy Holidays
Lorraine