Like a lot of Australians I have just spent 2 weeks in Bali with family and friends and thought I should share some of this trips experiences be they good or bad, most were pretty good.
We live in Darwin which makes it a quick 2 hour 15min trip from runway to runway, when I read about melbournians and people from adelaide etc and their 6-8hr and longer trips I really feel for you. I posted some reports same time last year and we went basically with the same group of people, my wife(fiona) and 2 teenagers 16 & 18yr but took along the daughters boyfriend(Gav,19yr )for his first overseas trip. Our friends Harry and Lee also came with their 2 sons same ages as our 2 and another friend and another mate Doug brought his teenage son (13yrs) and also some other friends where there with 2 teenage girls and also 1 boyfriend. We all arrived over a period of 3-4 days Between 7th & 11th of Jan, most flying with Garuda and Myself and family flew Airnorth. A few people have asked about the airnorth service, it was pretty good, it is a brand new 76 seater jet, the meal was great and we where in Bali as I said in 2hr 15mins.
We got through Voa and customs pretty quick after arrival (8.30pm)and at the Melasti BR by 9.30pm. We had 2 adjoining rooms in the older huge big suites(4th time we had stayed in them). Unfortunately the the wife and my room had some electrical problems and kept blowing a fuse so we were put into another room for the night and got back into the original room by late arvo next day and no further problems with the room.
We ducked out for a quick snack at the small LaMonde near the MBR and it was ok without being a good as we remembered, but it was great to be back in Bali and enjoying a cold Bintang.
Breakfast at the Melasti seems to invoke a lot of comment ranging from really bad to quite good, it is probably somewhere in the midlle for me, an egg is an egg as the wife commented many a time and the bacon is always what it is, so eat something else. The fruit etc is always pretty good and once I found the vegemite after about a week of missing out I was quite happy to eat at the Melasti for breakfast.
The days were filled with wandering along the beach, shopping and just looking around and enjoying being in Bali. We had taken up a bundle of clothes and stuff, which Fiona distributed to some of our beach friends out front and the bulk of it went to be sent off to an orphanage. The kids did plenty of body surfing etc and hung around the pool a bit. The beaches were unfortunately getting a hammering from the strong breezes and there was mountains of logs, branches coconuts and seaweed being washed up every day, the locals were trying their best to clean it up as best they could but were fighting a losing battle most days. The whole beach from Seminyak down to Kuta and Tuban was a mess for most of the 2 weeks we were there but in the last few days the wind eased and the cleanups had some effect and I managed to get in the surf myself a few times, though the amount of plastic in the water is still a source of amazement to me and I'm not sure what they can do about it.
Most nights we had dinner as group with numbers varying between 10 to 16 people on some nights. We ate at and in no particular order the following; The big La Monde upstairs, Breeze, the Flying Piano, Yutz, the Corner bar near Melasti, and the place across the road the Nyonakan? and generally the were few complaints from anyone. We did try Sheppys which is owned/run by an aussie on recommendation but unfortunately it wasn't the best but they were trying hard, they ran out of rice fairly early in the night, not sure how that happens in Bali, so a few of the girls who really wanted Curries etc couldn't have them, but there was a supermarket across the road, the boss ducked out about an hour later on his motorbike and came back with a bag but it was a bit late, but not to worry.
On one saturday night we tried the Indo National but the place was absolutely chockers so decided to go to Drops as I had read some very good reports about it on the forum of late and it was a very good decision, there was only 6 of us that night but it was the best feed we had for the whole trip, the Thai spring rolls were to die for, it was a little exccy by Bali standards after the 21% tax and service was added on but worth every rupiah. Another place Fiona and I went to a couple of times after we discovered it a few years back was Warung Asia, it serves mainly Thai food and it is cheap and the food beautiful it is up near jalan 66 and well worth a vist for lunch or dinner, their satees and rice are the best I've tasted.
Another subject of great discussion and has been reported of late in some other JBR's I have been reading is the pools at the Melasti, the main pool was closed twice for 2-3 days at time during our 2 weeks after turning a very bright green, I think the 2nd pool around the side of reception suffered the same fate at least for a few days. It would seem to be a ongoing state of affairs at the Melasti and has been happening for years and I fully I agree what some others have said of late on the forum that the owners need to let the purse strings loose and spend some money to make some money, the place was full and seems to be hard to get into so they must be making a profit, so why not fix a few things up and help the guests enjoy their stay. The pool didn't worry me as being from the top end we have swimming weather 365 days a year but I'm sure some of the families with heaps of little kids from south were not too impressed to miss out on their days in the pool. I must admit we will probably not go back to the MBR until they spend some money on sprucing the place up. The kids had other friends up there staying at the Mandira and the Jayartka and the Padma etc and they are keen to try them out remarking that their pools seem to be always a sparkling clean blue colour!!, yes they cost a bit more but I would rather pay than put up with substandard facilities. Most of the staff at the Melasti are very friendly and helpful but the place is getting rundown.
The kids did Waterbom park and said it was fun and we sent them off to Whitewater rafting by themselves, Fiona and I were a bit hesitant after both managing to fall out of the raft last year, so we did the Wildlife safari park instead. In hindsight we now wish we had taken the kids with us to the safari park as it was excellent. Quite a few have made comment on it of late and most seem to have had the same experience where it was quite empty but it is a great day out. The animals are many and varied and the 2 oranguatangs are worth the entry price themselves($25us) after sitting with them and playing with them it was a great experience they certainly didn't seem to be drugged as some have suggested, the white tigers are beautiful and the elephant show though all explained in Indonesian was good fun. The safari in the trucks is excellent and we had lunch in the restaurant overlooking the lions etc and it was a great experience. Families with smaller kids should go along as the waterpark and rides etc look like good fun and like some have said there were only 3-4 people using it when we passed by for a look. hopefully the place will take off in a big way as it is great day out.
We all went over to the watersports but only the kids did the rides, I'm not sure which company it was but they are situated right around in the main channel into Benoa harbour, it was quite interesting sitting there with your kids up on the flying fish etc with big fishing boats etc going in and out, but it all seems to work out ok and they had a good time. I managed to get talked into a massage and ended up with 3 women rubbing various legs and arms, it was not so relaxing but provided plenty of laughs for the wife and gathered others.
Anyway more to come another day.