In Reply to: JBR 2nd July - 8th July posted by ocean on Saturday, 10. July 2010 at 19:52 Bali Time:
Arrived at Perth airport (family of 4) to find a line of people waiting to book in but as we had checked in via the website the day before went straight to the line for those with boarding passes and were the only ones in it. Got bags checked thru straight away then upstairs to do some duty free shopping.
Plane was delayed slightly but still arrived in Bali on time at about 8.30am. No problems with queues and thru to our driver in less than 30 minutes.
He took us and dropped our bags at the Hard Rock then we went to Carrefour. Not what we expected, just like a Big W but on a bigger scale. Couldnt find a coffee anywhere at first then found a waffle place that had coffee that was a cup of boiling water,a sachet of Nescafe, two sachets of whitener and some sugar! Never mind we were in Bali and that is what mattered.
Our driver then took us to Discovery and straight to Starbucks! Looked around till it was time to check in then straight to the pool at Hard Rock.
For dinner that night we got a taxi to Garlic Lane and walked down to Billy's. Great place, great food, drinks and prices.
We had interconnecting rooms at the Hard Rock that were in need of some TLC but we chose it for the location and the pool more than anything as we had two teenage children with us and wanted to be somewhere central. Breakfast and the pool area was fantastic.
Next day we went and found Ketuts and got lots of shopping done there, we only had 6 days and didn't want to spend a lot of time shopping.
That night went to the Treehouse for dinner. First time there and really enjoyed it.
Next day got picked up and off to Nusa Dua for water-sports. I think we probably paid too much as found better deals on the street in the days to follow but we enjoyed the morning and did jet skiing, the fly-fish, para-sailing and the highlight of the day was the underwater walk. Absolutely amazing and would do it again in an instant. I did it with my teenage daughter and we were just totally in awe of the whole experience. We got photos and short movies on a dvd to bring home and you can see us grinning from ear to ear the whole time. We were under the water for 25 minutes and would happily have stayed under much longer.
Next we set of to Sanur as we wanted to check out Sanur Beach Villas for our trip at Easter. OMG we had such a hard time finding them but we got to see lots of Sanur while looking. I thought I had forgotten Ron's mobile number but then realized I could check my emails on my phone and managed to find it. Don't know how much that will cost but was worth it. Turns out we were literally about 100 metres passed his place but without talking to him I don't think we would have found it. Wanted to then go and meet up with him for a drink but with two grizzly kids who couldn't see the funny side of being lost for so long we thought it would be best to skip the drink.
Bubba Gumps for dinner that night. A bit expensive but we had skipped lunch and were starving and it was fun. Took photos out the front on the bench and tried to explain the movie to our son who has never seen it before.
Next morning we were picked up at 9:00 to go to the Safari and Marine Park. Thanks to Trayden for suggesting we stayed there. It was so worth it. We booked two rooms thru wotif and would highly recommend it to anyone. Walked thru the park first to get our bearings then did the safari ride thru the animals that was included in the cost. Fed the elephants and watched them have a bath. Had lunch in the food hall. Was worried that food would be expensive but was very reasonably priced.
After checking out our rooms we went for a swim then got changed and went to the restaurant for dinner. While we were waiting to go on the night safari they brought in the baby tiger and we all got to have a pat and lots of photos.
Did the night safari and fed the zebras from the bus. They were very friendly. The lions however seemed to be not very interested in the chicken we had to feed them. I think they were already full of chicken as we were the last safari of the night.
Dinner in the restaurant was really lovely and we could still see the lions outside. Slept really well that night then off to breakfast at 7:00 as we didn't want to miss the animals. They came at about 8:00 and after seeing them we went back into the park. It was almost like we were the only ones there and the animals were a lot more active.
Had booked the elephant back safari the day before and wandered thru the animals on the back of the elephant. Amazing! Had a cuddle of the orangutans (2 of them) and lots of photos. Back to the pool area for our complimentary 15 min foot massage then a quick dip before it was time to leave.
Back to Kuta then had dinner with friends at Pantai.
Next day we finished our last minute shopping, spent time at the pool and generally relaxed. We booked a pool hut for our last day and spent the day relaxing reading drinking eating and swimming.
Off to TJ's for Mexican for our last night. First time there and really impressed.
The whole time we had been there the traffic was almost at a standstill and it was much quicker to walk if you could so we allowed extra time to get to the airport as we didn't want to be late.
Turns out that morning there was no traffic and we got thru the whole airport thing with nearly 4 hours to spare so we went to the Prada Lounge. They let four of us in for 300 000rp and was worth every penny. Kids were happy to use the internet, we had food and drinks before boarding the plane and sat and read newspapers and books until it was time to board. Great way to end the holiday.
Looking forward to our next trip in November just a quick trip for the weekend. Cant wait.