Well the excitment begun 6 months earlier with my mum booking our flights and accomodaton. We were booked into Ramayana Hotel and our flights with Gauruda. We being 6 of us Mum, Sister, Me and 3 children aged 12, 6 and 1. The countdown begins.....
The alarm goes off very early on the 14th March - Bali is finally here... Our flight is 9.00am from Perth so we need to be at the airport about 6.30am, bags packed and car is full of excited parents and children !!! Passport, tickets, money checked ten times over!!! This is the childrens first time to Bali so the excitement seemed greater than usual. Mum sister and myself have been many times before.
Arrive Perth airport and check in with no problems. Up stairs for breakfast and a bit of duty free shopping. Before we knew it we were going through imagration and security which was a bit of an eye opener for my 12 year old daughter. Boared the plane and take off was soon after. Departed basically on time and flight was good. My sister and her baby ( 1yold ) had a bit of a rough time - the cabin crew were not very helpfull and she was given a child meal instead of a baby meal and they couldnt swap it or offer anything else. But we were excited and nothing was going to dampen our spirits.
Well landing was on time and so so excited to get off the plane and just smell Bali. You cant beat the feeling of walking through Bali airport with there Balinese music playing and that familiar Bali smell. mmmmmm just love it. Through customs etc... very quickly and picking up luggage. Before we new it we were greeted by the familiar Ramayana staff and off to the hotel.
The looks on the kids faces from the ariport to the hotel was unforgettable My daughter Danielle (12) was in ore of the traffic, people sleeping on the shop floors and just bali in general.....
Arrive at Ramayana and receive nice cold lemon welcome drinks and after a bit of paper work we were given our keys and up to the rooms we go. WE got 2 rooms with an interconnecting door. 1 room had a great big king bed in for Mum (nanna) Danielle(12) and Troy (6) nothing like sleeping between 2 kids !! Glad it was her and not me!!! The other room had 2 single beds and the cot. Me, Kylie (sister) And Baby tate( 1) We have stayed at Ramayana many times as we love the location and the staff. You are 5 mins from Mataharis and 5 min to the beach surrounded by great restaurants and the kuta markets across the road. The hotel rooms are quite spacious with mini bar, tv, a/c, little lounge and desk, large wardrobe, in room safe, ensuite with bath and hairdryer. Rooms are cleaned daily with 2 bottles of water supplied daily. Cleanliness of the hotel is great. The only thing that lets this place down a bit is the pool area. It has 2 pool areas clean and nice to swim in but very basic compared with other hotels. Breakfast is great with everything- eggs, bacon, nasi goreng, cereal, different breads, fruits , juices, alot of japanese kind of food, sweet cakes etc... Lovely new restaurant.
The kids settled in well and our first walk down the street was a bit daunting for the 2 older kids as they were being touched and ushered into shops etc... Quite funny really as my two nephews have blonde hair and are quite a favourite with the balinese. My sister is very protective of her baby so the looks Kylie gave them when they touched her baby was funny... oh and if they had a cigarette in there hand they were told....
It only took the kids a day or so to get the hang of everything. Keep walking and to politly say No thankyou.
Restaurants we ate at were all great. I found the price of food has crept up in the last 12 months. But you still cant complain as it is cheap compared to Perth. Sendok was a fav of the kids as that restaurant had darts and the staff made them paper oragami things. Also ate at Balia Bagia, Bali bleesing, and a few others i cant remember the name of.
One day was spent at Waterbomb Park and the kids had a ball. We rented a little gazebo thing No 24 and it looks over the childrens water park pool. The gazebo was in the shade all day and ideal spot if you have young children that need supervision. The kids dragged us up all the stairs to come down the water slides and OMG i didnt relize how unfit i was. I think my 50 year old mother out does me !!!! Lazy River was my favourite ( sitting in a tube just floating around, And you dont have to climb stairs!!!)Troy (6) just loved the childrens play pool as it has a big bucket of water that fills up then tips all over you. He spent most of the day waiting for the bucket to tip !! If you ask him what was his favourite thing in Bali was he tells you - The bucket... A great day had by all.
Another day was spent at the Safari Park- when we first got there we felt a bit lost and seemed to be walking around in circles and my sister and i wondered what all the rave was about the Safari Park, But i think we got there to early and none of the animals were out yet. We took the kids on the Elephant Trek 100 000rp and was very dissapointed as it only went for a very quick 10 mins and compared to an elephant trek i did in Thialand this was very dismal. The day got better as all the animals started coming out and being able to touch them and have photos taken with them is quite an experience. All there enclosures are fantastic and i felt the anilmals were very well looked after. The tram bus thing that takes you through a safari was great and the animals were all very easy to see. The Tram is airconditioned and quite relaxing. Also has a tour guide telling you about the animals from all over the world. WE had lunch at the Lion restaurant and it was very nice. The outlook was fantastic as too was the meal and clenliness was A1. After lunch we took the kids to the swimming pool/ adventure park and it was great to have a cool down. Another water adventure park simular to the childrens play park at Waterbomb Park. Also a little further up is a ride amusement park which everyone had a great time. Another great day and well worth a visit.
We all had a great time in Bali and cant wait to go again. We did plenty of shopping - Macro still my favourite for stocking up on all toothpaste, shampoo soap etc.... Went to carefore, Centro, Matahari, Galaria, And Ramayana they all slightly different and all worth a look. Kuta markets did well out of us - we got our summer dresses Billabong ripoffs, Guess hand bags etc.. Matahari still the best for better quality kids clothes. and the surf shops also got a fair swag of our money !! Also dvds took up a huge part of our suitcases !!
We packed all the essentials - Gastrlyte, maxalon, antibitics, eye and ear drops, painstop etc.. you name it i had it, and pleased to say we didnt need any of it. My sister and i took Travalan and we used Aquium on the kids hands all the time.
Anyway gotta start saving for the next trip as im having withdrawals already.
Hope its not to long and drawn out
Regards Mel