First of all: please excuse my bad english but I am not Australian but Austrian so english is not my mother language.
My husband and I went to Bali this July for 3 weeks.
We stayed at the Padma Hotel in a garden deluxe chalet. Room was very nice, newly renovated with a very nice bathroom with large walk in shower. The only negative thing about the hotel were the lounge hogs. When we arrived at the pool the first morning after breakfast all the sun lounges were already reserved with towels. Not very many people in sight. So what we did was going to the beach and rent 2 Sun lounges with umbrella for the next three weeks. This was a very good decicion because the situation at the pool was the same every morning.
Meals:
Queen's Indian Restaurant on Jalan Legian: extraordinary good indian food. Very recommendable.
Gateway of India in Jalan Abimanyu: also very nice indian food, restaurant a bit shabby, toilets to forget!
Aromas cafe: maybe my choice was a bit unlucky - I had some vegetable curry which was plain awful. My husband had a nasi goreng which was ok. The restaurant is very nice, clean toilets.
Zanzibar: very much ok, I specially liked the spaghetti vongole.
Shopping:
Biasa in Jalan Legian: we bought some very nice cotton shirts and trousers. Good quality.
Paul Ropp opposite Biasa in Jalan Legian: very colourful fashion, not one piece is like the other. Quite expensive but very special.
Io &Co: very light cotton outfits, nice designs also for wearing at home.
Other things we did:
Submarine Dive with Odyssee Submarine: nice experience - when do you have the possibility to go in a real (small) submarine? We were picked up at the hotel, after a drive of about 1 1/2 hours we arrived in Padang Bai. After a welcome drink we entered the submarine which is for about 40 people. The dive lasts about 45 minutes and you get to see many colourful fishes. After this you get lunch at a nearby restaurant and then we were driven home again.
Dolphin Watching at Lovina: we stayed at Lovina over night because for the dolphin watching you have to be there before sunrise. It was really beautiful to go out in the boat in the early morning and see the sun rise over the sea. We did see a lot of dolphins jumping and playing. Only negative thing is that there are so many boats out there so it gets real crowded. But anyway I prefer this to swimming with dolphins at the melka hotel because I think dolphins should not be kept in a swimming pool.
Neka Museum in Ubud: Here you can see what the quality of Balinese painting is. We had a friend with us who is a painter by herself and knows very much of Balinese history and also about Hinduism. So she could explain everything to us which was very interesting. I can highly recommend visiting this museum because it gives you an impression, what is real art in balinese painting and what is only "tourist thrash".
Bali Street Dogs Foundation: When we returned from our trip to Lovina we stopped at a Warung at Munggu Street and saw a very tiny puppy with real bad skin decease. So I called the Bali Street Dogs about this and was positively surprised when they called me back 2 days later telling me they had found the dog and already given him his first treatment. They even turned up at the hotel showing me a photo to make sure it was the right dog. Of course I made a donation because I think they do very important work for the dogs of Bali.
I really wanted to do this JBR because I read in your forum for some time now and this has provided so much useful information. So I wanted to try to give something back.
If you have some questions please feel free to ask. If I can, I will be pleased to answer.
Best regards from Vienna, Austria
Gaby