Hi Everyone!
I (20) just recently got back from my 2nd trip to Bali with my parents and thought I'd write up a JBR as everyone else's were very helpful when we were planning our trip. We come from Townsville but flew out of Cairns to Darwin on Jet* on the 16th July. Our holiday didn't get off to a good start when we arrived at the Domestic Terminal to discover that our plane was being boarded at the International Terminal and check-in was closing in 5 mins - cue mad sprint across the airport. We made it in time thankfully, but this is something to remember for other passengers. Our flight from Darwin to Denpasar got into Bali at 9:05pm, and we were extremely lucky to be the only plane that landed during this time. We got through in about 15 mins to meet out driver, Sukra.
Sukra was organised for us by the owner of our apartment. His English was fantastic and his car was always impeccably clean. We hired him for a half-day trip during our stay and would recommend his services. If you would like his details please let me know.
We stayed at the Jayakarta Apartments. Although the apartment was fairly old it was perfect for us: 1 bedroom, DVD Player and drinking water dispenser that was always full. A tip though if you are staying in the Apartments - some of the private apartments do not have spare keys, which we found out on our 2nd day when we locked the key in our room!
RESTAURANTS
We mostly tried the restaurants near our apartment (JL Padma Utara) and recommend the following:
Corner Bar: good sized meals that were just beautiful
Poco Loco: the lovely lady here made our night by showing us all of her ‘magic tricks'. She was very entertaining and the meals were great too.
Warung Patrick which is in the little lane opposite Rendezvous: the best! The people there are friendly and Mella speaks excellent English. We went here for dinner then went back for all our breakfasts. The American Breakfast was amazing every time and costs 35,000rp. And my parents loved having a real coffee every morning: expresso, latte, etc.
Wareong Tropical is on the left when you exit the main security gate: once again the people were friendly and the food magnificent. Our photo is on the wall here: look out for Hayley, Jan and Greg.
Biancos is straight ahead when JL Padma Utara ends: the food was great and for footy fans, the screens here are HUGE!
For a good beach bar, when you walk out of the hotel onto the beach, turn left and 2 bars down will be Neuman. He doesn't get many customers as everyone seems to go to Frank's, but his beer is cold and he is very pleasant. My parents visited him every day as he was great company and spoke very good English.
You can't go to Bali without visiting The Legend Restaurant on JL Sahadewa. We went to their Christmas in July concert which was a great night out. The staff are extremely friendly, getting people up to dance and making sure they have a good night.
Finally, we became very good friends with the lovely boys at the Coffee Shop on JL Padma Utara, which is at the entrance to the Beach Melati Apartments. One of the guys, Agus, took us for a look through the apartments - they are huge and very modern. I am definitely thinking about staying there next time. But back to the Coffee Shop, the coffee, the cocktails and the food were fantastic. It is owned by a lovely Australian couple who are living in Bali. And if you want a tattoo, the boys at Ibud Tattoo next door were very friendly - I told them I would come back next year and get one!
SHOPPING
Fixed prices shops are the best! We didn't go to them last time but we will be going back to them from now on. We visited Dianne's Shop (opposite Green Garden) and Miss Debby and Yanthi's shop on JL Sahadewa. You will have to ask for them at the lane where Jurassic Leather is.
My mum and I got our leather jackets made at Jurassic Leather in JL Sahadewa: perfect and $140 AU each.
We also went to Silverberry on JL Legian (turn left out of JL Padma and after a bit of a walk it is on the right) to get a Pandora Bracelet each. We got 12 beads each and the bracelet for about $85 AU each.
For all of your spa needs, head to Luna Spa opposite the Coffee Shop. It is modern, very clean and very affordable.
We gathered a lot of information from the Forum before our holiday so thank you everyone for all of your helpful posts. I fell in love with Bali during this trip and am going to start saving now for another trip next year.