Arrived back Thursday after 8 days in Bali. Flew with Jetstar Brisbane - Darwin, Darwin - Bali.
Checked in at Brisbane only to discover that I was booked on a different flight to my daughter! With the change over to the new flight names they had made an error and booked me on the next days flight, sorted out and thought we were ok....then they said that they didn't have 2 seats together, we had prepaid for the exit row seats! Eventually they were able to seat us together, my daughter has only been to Bali once before when she was 14 and didn't want to travel alone. Had to run to the gate as all this took some time and they were already boarding! Not a great start! Got on the plane only to find that our seats were already taken, ended up that the seats we had booked to start with were available and we got them! Got away on time in the end. We had been given our boarding passes in Brisbane for both legs of the journey and as we had no checked in baggage we were able to leave the airport for a couple of hours. I am lucky to have a cousin in Darwin who picks us up and takes us back to her house then returns us to the airport 1 hour before departure.
Darwin to Bali was late in leaving as a passenger had not boarded and they had to remove the bags, made up most of the time and got to Bali only 10 mins late after leaving 40 mins late.
Visa on arrival no sweat, my daughter queued in the immigration line while I did the visa.
No baggage to collect and were out of the airport in 25 mins from landing.
Walked down to the departures area and got in a taxi that had just dropped passengers off. 75,000 to Sanur, better than 95,000 at the booth!
Stayed at Puri Dalem, beautiful hotel for the price we paid. Booked on the Qantas web site and got it for a steal! Generous size rooms, fridge and mini bar, air con, TV everything you could want! Only gripe was the mosquito's in the bathroom. Eventually got given a can of spray to keep in the room. We burnt coils continually, that helped too.
The hotel is a little way off from the main street, if you like to walk on the beach it is only a 200mt walk, but quite a busy intersection to cross. However they do have a free shuttle that takes you and picks you up from their sister hotel Besakih. We used that many times!
Day 1 (Wednesday) was spent travelling, a bit of a waste of a day really but at least we weren't leaving till 10.45 so we got the whole last day there too!
Second night in Sanur (Thursday) we went to see Anne Sinclair, had prearranged while still in Aus. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone! I saw awhile back a JBR that someone had been to her and it sounded really good, I decided to ask the question a few days before we left if anyone else had gone and maybe I should have listened to what they had to say! My daughter felt it was worthwhile but certainly not for me! I switched off very early into the reading as she said things that I didn't want to hear......... but she also told me things that have already happened to me but she said that they hadn't!?!?!? I was a little confused!
We did most of our shopping on day 3,(Friday) went to Lottemart on Bypass Road. I always stock up here, only problem was when we got back to the hotel we weighed our shopping and had just about used our baggage allowance!
That night we went out to Ayana Resort to the Rock Bar.......wow what a place! We got a driver to take us from the Hotel. We left Sanur at 4.15pm, 1st mistake! It was a very long ride! Took us almost an hour to get there! By the time we made it to the queue it was very long! As we were waiting they announced that the bar was full and they could not let any more people down there, how disappointing ☹ We waited for almost 2 hours before we could get down to the bar, missed the sunset as we were behind the wall. By the time we did get there it was dark, had a drink and a snack then left. It was a beautiful place and would be very romantic for couples - I went with my daughter! A bit of advice though, arrive early, no later than 4pm. Adhere to their dress code, we saw people being turned away for incorrect attire. Be prepared for a wait, and to spend some money.....it is very expensive!
Day 4 (Saturday) did a little more shopping, booked to go on the Bali Hai Cruise, and then relaxed by the pool at the hotel. Later in the day we went for a walk along the beach.
We had made a rule that everyday we had to have a pamper and at least one cocktail! So far so good we were on track!
Day 5 (Sunday) off on the Bali Hai cruise, always a good day out! Sara my daughter wanted to go Scuba Diving but due to her cold she decided that it wasn't a good idea, so went Parasailing instead! On the way back on the boat the band asked me if I wanted to sing, being a karaoke singer I agreed and had a blast! The staff kept telling me to carry on, wow I felt famous!
Used a lot of Bemo's for transport, got the number of an older chap who was quite happy for us to call him when we needed to be picked up or taken anywhere. Got him to drive us to Kuta on Sunday evening. That was an interesting ride for 40,000rp. He dropped us off at Discovery plaza, we went in for a look around then headed up to Kuta Square. Stopped off at Sakura on the way to stock up on a few DVD's. Off to Mataharis to get handbags and prints on canvas. Unfortunately the computer wasn't working! Argh! They said they had an outlet in Hardy's Sanur....phew! I already had some prints done at Christmas time but they were rolled up too soon and the ink bled through to the other prints. Wanted to get them re done. Called into Bagus Watches......love that shop!
Then off to Rama Garden in Legian to see Danan and Andre, met them at Christmas they play there Sunday to Thursday a brilliant duo. Got there to find they weren't there! They had sport on instead......I was gutted!
Went off to Billy's bar for tea and a drink then taxi back to Sanur.
More to come............