we have done it, our first Bali Adventure.
Left Perth with Jetstar 1050 am, arrived at Bali with about 4 other flights at 2.45pm, had decided not to do Vip Voa, bad move, it took us 1.5 hrs to get through the airport (did hear longer times from other arriving about the same time on other days)we are a family of 6 and to my surprise the 4 kids were fairly good in the slow hot line.
Arrived at the Febris to find that our side by side rooms had a stair well separating us and our sixith bed was not to be seen, the bed was fixed, but we could not get our kids any closer, this gave me a sleepless first night, but by the second night I was feeling much safer about it and not so hassled by it.
We were meeting friends from the East Coast of Australia in Bali and and did alot together in the two weeks, but we where not catching up with them until the Third day,so we spent time looking around close to the Febris, broke the guidelines and ended up going into a shop and being pushed into a purchase for way to much (i know did I not read not to barter until feeling confidant, tis, tis)for throngs. Did find the constant invites for things abit much and may not have been as nice as I could have been on some occasions(my bad).
Met our friends who were staying off poppies and the women headed of and left the boys bintang sitting, I mean child minding (7 in total). we head out down Poppies mostly window shopping, we eventually made it to Ketut's fixed price shop, where I got some clothes for the kids and then we headed back to meet more friends for a lovely dinner at Poppies. 16 of us descended and we had all 10 kids on one table and the adults had a civilized time on our own.
Waterbom park was hit, the private gazebo was a great base it meant we could all go exploring and know where to come back to, the added bonus was not having to cue for lunch it came right to us. My daughter who is nervous of many things was an effort to get on a slide, but after about 20 mins of coaching she to found she could have a ball (if it was on only one big slide).
Two of my boys ended up with a bit of heat stroke (could not get them to slow down to drink)and one I think may have picked up Bali Belly as he was off for about 2 days and not right for about 4 after that.
Barry thank you for all your help in preparing for the trip, your advice was invaluable ( if not always put into practice). We met the fabulous, amazing Ketut on Friday and he took us to Uluwatu to see the temple and the Kecak fire dance, fantastic. we went to Jimbaran on the way home and had dinner on the beach. A lesson learned, my husband was in heaven and ordered WAY to much seafood, it was lovely he said (I don't eat the stuff) but his eye where definitely bigger then his belly, we gave Ketut the left overs.
Barry had shared months earlier about Kadeck and her work with 31 children at an orphanage in Amlapura, so with Ketut's help we paid them a visit and it was lovely to see all these beautiful kids and Kadeck and her husband. The language barrier seemed huge, but I went for a walk with Kadeck and she showed me around the orphanage, showing the bed clothes that had been recently given by another Aussie, she was over the moon and the beds looked great. Because they have had a few visitors of late, Kadeck was not in any real need for anything, but did ask if we would give the kids some pocket money, we were thrilled so we did the math and went to bank armed to give them some thing to do with as they liked. We actually had to leave son number three back at the hotel this day as he was to unwell to travel and it was the only day we could do the trip. Next time will take clothes over with us, when we booked we had only booked through one bag.
Did another day trip with Ketut taking in Sahadwa Barong and Kris dance, a silver workshop, we went to a community Co-op instead of the big stores, a cooperation for tourist stuff and a short stop in Ubud.
We where dropped off at the Safari park as we where staying there for the night. On the whole we where a little dissappointed, the room was great, it was a three bedroom self contained bungalow, the space was great. We had a one night two package and I knew things on general admission where not included, but when you get there it really sucks. The food at the restaurant was O.k, the eating with the lions was a great experience, seeing them get their evening meal was entertaining. The park was o.k it was a nice day, but could prove expansive with 4 kids if we did extra stuff, the kids loved the water park. One thing that really made us mad was we wanted a family photo with animals on our camera, but it was going to cost us 30000 rupiah each, so we ended up paying 80000 rupiah to get a park shot and lots on our Camera thanks to Ketut. Ketut and his son had come early to spend some time together and look around the park (he parked at the hotel and could just enter the park for nicks, he also got them into the water park for nothing as well as he would be able to promote it better to his clients with first hand experience, did not help us though we still had to pay, so just the kids went in.
part two and some general stuff to follow, thanks for reading my babbling's :-).
Kerryn