Hi
This is a late JBR from a recent trip. We departed Perth evening of 17th Feb on Virgin Blue Flight. I must say a lot better service than our Feb last year trip. We had a long wait to get through VOA and as it was late this tested the patience of our 5 year old. We were staying at Febris for the 1st time for the 1st 5 nights of our trip and they collected us from the airport.
We had a family deluxe room for my husband son and I and my mum had a standard room in the back complex close to the pool which she used for late nights dips before retiring.
Our first day was spent doing a small bit of shopping and swimming.
2nd day we headed out on the Bali Baik Tour. We had arranged this form Perth and for a bike for our son but after a couple of km's decided it was going to be a lot safer and less stressful with him in the baby seat behind me. After much bribing we managed to convince him that it was a better option for everyone. (Way to many distractions for a little one and he was wandering all over the road) We visited a school on the way up to Kintami and son was able to give out pencils etc to the classes. My Mum who is early 60's and not in best of health was able to complete the majority of the trip but towards the end found that her wrists were getting sore from holding brakes on so much so she moved to the van following. We took lots of lollipops to hand out along the trip and resembled the Pied Piper on more than one occasion; children seemed to appear from no where.
Disaster struck when a couple of km's from the end I tried to dismount the bike at the bottom of a steep hill and the weight of my son in the baby seat pulled the bike backwards. I knew straight away that I had done some serious damage to my leg as felt the muscle tear. Luckily was able to softly put the bike down and avoided and lacerations to self or son. I was more worried about Mum coming around the corner and seeing bikes all over the road. Wayans's team were fantastic in helping us and stopped at every possible place until we were able to get ice.
When we returned to the family compound I was unable to put any weight on my leg or to get up the stairs for lunch and they took me through an alley way by motorbike so I could join my family. While I was too shaken and sore to eat much everyone else agreed the food was fantastic as was the tour of the family compound.
It was a great tour and I would highly recommend it to anyone. It was great to have the staff participate and interact with participants as well.
On return to Febris we decided it would be best if I ventured to BIMC to get my leg checked. I could not fault the place. We were back at Febris within 11/2 hours from leaving at a cost of $190.00 which included treatment, x-rays and medications. The diagnosis was a torn calf muscle (on return to Perth I discovered that I had also ruptured a tendon in my calf and had a 2 and 2.5cm tear in my calf so 7 weeks later I am still hobbling around - nothing like doing a good job!!!) I hired crutches and a wheelchair as we decided crutches probably not the best option in Bali. We have had many visits to St John of God Murdoch Emergency Dept with our son and BIMC was a cheaper, quicker and more pleasant experience than we have in Perth.
Day 3 was a very quiet day and husband took son to Matahari to buy leggo so I could play with him. Son spent day saying I am never doing the bike tour again and we needed to ring the man and tell him but that was only because Mum got hurt - he actually had a great time.
We ate at Febris a lot due to injury and partook in the massages and treatment. Son had one of the Little Princes packages and even fell asleep during the massage. Mum and husband had stone massages and Mum hasn't felt that good for years. She even ventured back several times .We ventured up to Il Cielo carefully one night and the food was lovely and shopped at Dianne's shop and another fixed price a little bit further on.
We took a driver and went to Gegar Beach at Nusa Dua for a few hours. I was able to use a stool to get down onto a lounge on the beach and husband and son went swimming. It is a lovely beach and worth going if you haven't been before.
We then moved on to Bali Mandira and were booked to stay there 4 nights. This ended up being 5 as it took the insurance company 4 days to arrange our flights home.
We went to Echo Beach one night for dinner. Food was lovely but dogs roaming everywhere and fornicating at the table will put us off going again!!
We ate mostly along Padma Street (Bianca, Mozzarella, Posers, Bali Bagus) and managed to walk from Mandira along the beach up Melasti Street and along Melasti to Legian and back down Padma with my husband pushing the wheel chair. We purchased some metal fish and stopped at Sita Fashion and purchased more metal work from there on the way past.
DVD's from Jimmy's were usual quality.
We ate at Parasol Restaurant and also went to the Steak Night Buffet at Celagi Restaurant t the Mandira one night for husband's birthday which was lovely. Band sang happy birthday and made him a cake. Son very impressed with this. Son did surfing lessons and kept hotel guests entertained when he would stand up and take his floaty off and twirl it around his head halfway along the pool. Luckily I was resting in room and missed this.
We never normally eat at hotel restaurants but with injury it was a little easier and all the meals were nice.
We went to Biku Tea Lounge and the meal was nice. We visited Unagi and Biarritz and I kept myself busy on the ground floor while the others wandered up to 2nd levels. We went to Matahari near Galleria and visited all the stores in the complex here. Son and husband were impressed with the hardware store. We did have difficulty getting a taxi back from here about 7.30pm at night. We eventually worked out this was because we wanted to go via the BIMC (which is just across the road) to return the wheel chair and crutches and drivers were worried about the time they would be waiting. Once we said you can leave meter on we were in business. We returned the apparatus and I had purchased a walking stick to use until we left the next day at lunch time.
We were due to come back on Friday 26th and on the Tuesday morning I rang insurance company to advise that I would need assistance on the flight home and to keep my leg elevated. I have had a DVT in the past from a similar injury in my other leg. Insurance co said fine we will arrange flight after speaking to doctor at BIMC to confirm no drugs or alcohol were involved in accident!!! This took 4 days. They then wanted me to fly on my own as only Garuda have business class (and we were booked Virgin) once I questioned who was going to assist me as I was basically unable to walk on my own, they said I could chose husband or mother to accompany me and the other stay with son and come on original flight. I wasn't really happy with either option not really Mum's responsibility to look after son. I asked whether it was possible for us all to swap to Garuda with me in Business Class and others in economy so we were at least all together and I had help and could settle son if required. Insurance company said we can request and this was granted but with the delay we had missed original flight anyway. So up side of injury was that we got to stay one extra day.
At airport on check in we asked if there were any seats available in Business Class and there was so we paid $530.00 to upgrade 3 economy to business class and had a fantastic flight back to Perth. We were put in a holding pattern over Perth for some time and had a scenic flight from Garden Island to Rottnest to Scarborough and up River to airport and over Jandakot airport a couple of times on a wonderful sunny day. Exhausted son fell asleep 2 metres from touch down!!!!
Overall we had a good trip and tried not to let the injury impede us to much. The Balinese were extremely helpful with the wheelchair and assisted us to cross roads and make sure we were safe by stopping cars. Most drivers were happy to wait patiently and assist while we loaded chair and crutches and pusher for son in to cars.
Husband and I are heading back in September on our own for 7 days so I will need to make up for the missed shopping on this trip. Only 2 pairs of shoes is a pretty dismal effort for 9 days in Bali!!! Husband happy though.
It was our first time at Febris and we will definitely stay there again. It is very good value for money and while the Mandira has lovely grounds and breakfast and all our meals were great I think that the larger family rooms at Febris is a better option particularly for less than half the price per night. The spa on site is an added bonus.