arrived from adelaide via virgin on 29 april. virgin emailed and put our flight forward four hours. had to wait for luggage as we went straight through customs etc. no hassles. stayed at pesona beach inn in poppies 1. made the manager was not available when we asked for him so i didn't get to meet him but his communications via email before we left oz were very prompt. no security staff or safety dep. boxes available. locked wardrobes offered except the keys are either lost or locks don't work. staff are expected to do everything. when adequate breakfast of toast, 1 egg, fruit and coffee is over they clean the rooms (my friend found staff asleep in the room next door one morning), do the gardens which are small but well kept, clean the pool, etc etc. lots of fruit rats around the hotel which freaked me out. there was an incident one night when three german girls and two boys invited the local mushroom sellers to party firstly in their room and then at the pool (just outside our door). we asked them to move on and keep it down but were abused. staff were powerless and simply could not cope. they started to settle down to a low roar at 5 am. next evening in the lobby a screaming match occurred between some guests and said german girls. thank goodness they got some cups from reception and went to the beach for the night. yay. only heard them for ten minutes when they got home at six am. they were moved to the other side of the hotel and left a day or two later. two girls complained that staff had stolen money from their bags when cleaning the room. police were called and staff in question asked to follow them back to the station. they returned to work about five hours later and when i asked was told that it's all good. girls were still there two or three days later but i didn't get to speak to them. the pool is nice. there's a supermarket just outside the hotel and of course plenty of great places to eat around that area. short walk to kuta square through dog sh*t lane and a nice walk to the beach. most guests were local and traffic hideous due in part to the local school holidays and public holidays. the monstrosity that is the new hotel complex on the corner of poppies 1 and jalan pantai is not finished yet. i would hate to come down the steps into poppies 1 and not be paying attention as you would step directly into poppies 1 and get cleaned up by a passing bike/car/truck/bus. the trucks are doing untold damage to the already poor condition of poppies 1. one of the drains was damaged one day and they stuck a big pole in it to warn traffic. i don't think poppies 1 or gang ronta could get any worse. they dug up gang ronta in front of the kuta townhouses to put in a huge pit (sewerage) and blocked off most of the road. black canyon (new hotel in poppies 1) is nearly ready as staff were there setting things up. the money changer across the road from black canyon in poppies 1 is really good. rate was mostly 9000 but we got 9350 one day. beach is great and weather was lovely. not too hot with nice breezes. did the usual shopping, ketut's fixed price shop was great. very cheap. diva laundry was good. went to galleria, centro and kuta square of course. we had some jewellery repairs done by a friend of our tailor and were thrilled at the outcome. price was incredible. renovations happening all over the place and road works are worse than in adelaide and that's saying something. wakeful but uneventful flight home and only complaint is that i'm not still in bali and it's bloody freezing here. looking forward to next year.