Hi just returned on Monday arriving 6:50 in Sydney and brain dead from being awake for so long. Had to get through and over to domestic airport for flight to Maroochydore. Have you tried to negotiate those cab queues with 2 bags and 3 surfboards, what a sight we must have looked trying to turn the tight corners with those trolleys, got pretty good at it by the end. Anyway to Bali. This was our(Hubby and myself) 2nd trip, last time in 2006. Arrived on the 31 August and 3 glorious weeks ahead of us. Stayed for 2 nights at Bali Mandira, just to settle in before off to Nusa Lembongan for 7 nights. The Mandira was nice,but didn't like the room much. It was in one of the bungalows, but it felt a bit claustrophobic, didn't have a window to outside. The outdoor shower was lovely. Breakfast was pretty good. Didn't do much for the 1 day we were there, walked a bit and had a surf, great to be back and getting our heads around the atmosphere.Had dinner at Drops and you have to try their Mushroom Cappucinno soup YUM.
Off to Nusa Lembongan the next day over on the Fun Ship to Coconuts.
Luckily we got one of the villas near the bottom of the hill,certainly are some stairs in that place. The view is amazing and the room was comfortable and clean and plenty of space. Only downside I found was the water wasn't very hot in the shower. It was so relaxing there which is what we were wanting. Had some good surfs at Playgrounds, it was small so not too crowded and hubby surfed at Shipwrecks and Lacerations and had fun. Ate at Linda's a couple of times, the Reef and at Coconuts. While we were there the local people were having a big religious ceremony, with praying going on all day for 1 day. We walked up to the temple after it was over and then on to Dream Beach and to the Hanging Bridge over to Nusa Ceningan. Got a lift back in an old truck with most of the floor rusted out. When asked how much for lift the guy said five T, I was trying to work out what he meant,5 thousand? Didn't sound like enough. Anyway when we got to the other side I handed him 5 thousand and he looked at me saying 5 T, 5 T, it suddenly dawned on me he meant fifty. Met some lovely people on the island. Nicky was great, he took hubby out to Shipwrecks and Lacerations a couple of times and we did the trip around the island and snorkelling at the mangroves and the wall on Nusa Penida. There was a little bay before Crystal Bay which was fantastic, so many fish and corals, I thought it was better than Crystal Bay and only 1 other boat. The 7 nights was up and we were back to Bali on the Scoot boat to Sanur.
Next instalment off to Lombok.