We were a group of 3 families 6 Adults and 8 children aged from 19yo to 12 yo. Flew AA from Perth left on time and arrived on time at 5pm. Met at airport by Hidden Garden villas welcome team. They did our VOAs and walked us through customs as a group. Walked to our 3 vans waiting to take us to the villas. They gave us lais at the airport and upon arrival at the villas a chilled fruit juice as a welcome drink, then helped us get the bags into our villas. Each family had their own villa. We had Villa 1 and the others had 2 and 3. There are 8 villas in all each is separate with 3 bedrooms, living area and kitchen and a pool some have 2 bathrooms others have 3. We had number 1 and it was very nice with 3 bedrooms and aa bathroom upstairs living, kitchen and second bathroom downstairs, large pool and plenty of outside space with sunlounges.
The villas are located in Gang Abdi just opposite the Melasti Hotel on Padma Utara. The Gang has a few Warungs and some small stores selling food and drink too.
After sorting ourselves out we headed down the gang to Yogis Paradise bar and grill. We had no reservation but they fitted all 14 of us in and we had a nice meal. Yogi claims his Bintang is the coldest in Bali and I have no reason to doubt it. The Glasses are kept in a freezer and the bottles are near freezing, once poured into the glass they form a Bintang slushie so they are cold. All sorts of food served I had a Nasi Goreng, wife had a spicy fish dish she said was wonderful.
Friday wife and I woke and went for our early morning walk on the beach. I love the early mornings everything is peaceful and a smile and a selamat pagi always had hotel security at a number of hotels let me take shortcuts to the beach. Being friendly and knowing the odd phrase in Indonesian I find opens doors. We came back and the villa staff had made breakfast. They had a range of 8 dishes for breakfast and on any given day we could choose up to 2 for them to prepare. Wife and I had Nasi Goreng, kids had eggs on toast. I had either the nasi or mei goreng most mornings and found it usually saw me through to mid afternoon so skipped lunch on some days. Kids had pancakes and eggs I had scrambled eggs one day and an omelette another , but found the local food more filling.
After breakfast we went off to Carla's spa on padma utara just opposite Mugshots and Sammys . 50k for a full hour massage and 100k for a mani, pedi and 30 min massage. I had a massage the wife and my 2 girls had manis pedis massages and nail painting done. One of the other dad's in our group had a massage almost every day at Carla's he loved it.
Used the Circle K in same bit across the road from Carlas to change money, they are legit and rate ranged from 9300 to 9450 during our stay. I went to the Sinar Indah grocery store and bought 2 indosat sims for our mobiles 15K per sim and I put on 100K credit on each, after 10 days with daily calls to Australia (used the 01016 prefix) and to each other and other members of the group we each had 70K left on the sims so will give them to friends when they go over soon. Very cheap. Then walked to Jalan Padma and bought 107 DVDs I am a fan of lots of quirky Tv shows so loaded up with the latest episodes whilst kids got lots of movies. 700k for the lot so can't complain for 70c each and all so far have worked. Back to villa for swim and lie around then a walk to Champlung Bar on the Beach for cocktails and a sunset and then to Seaside for dinner. As it was Good Friday we booked seaside for the seafood, I did this before we left home by email they replied promptly and had the table ready for us and we had a great meal.
Saturday went for a walk, then breakfast and a swim in the pool. At 12 noon went to the Y bar with another dad and my wife to watch the Dockers. This bar is a top place for sport watching, had a few binnies. Came back and had a swim again. The same dad's wife and my wife decided to head to Potato Head for cocktails, the other wife was feeling up to it. Me and other dad agreed to look after children. All went a bit pear shaped wives had a great time at PH and then had a meal in Eat St and headed home. Me and other dad had kids at my villa watching DVDs and ordering Maccas delivery, meanwhile me and other dad watched Ramones and Sex Pistols music DVDs and an episode of Game of Thrones in his villa whilst downing a large part of our duty free bourbon. 8:30pm kids maccas arrives for their dinner and we head to Yogis for a quick dinner mei goreng and Beef Rendang, due to too much bourbon and bintang we lose track of time and wives get home before us. It becomes a bit of a Homer D'oh moment. Made worse when other dad spent the night near his pool throwing up. I was forgiven after a few days penance (...)
Sunday I woke hungover so skipped the walk, had breakfast and spent the day lazing by the pool and playing war games on my PC (invading Russia was very therapeutic). I had booked Walis for some Babi Guling with the other 2 dads, so we headed to a beach bar just opposite the Niksoma for a couple of Biinies and a sunset, other dad stuck to coke but dad who wasn't with me previous night had a binnie or 2. Then Babi Guling at Walis and some more binnies for 2 of us. Wali is a great guy and cooks great food we really enjoyed the Babi Guling.
Monday did the walk, had breakfast, had a swim and then headed to Melasti market and Ketuts for some clothes. Wife and daughters bought lots. Youngest bought 10 bintang singlets t 15K each, but they are small ones. They bought dresses and a bag and other bits and pieces all for 500K no haggling needed and we each got a cold water, Ketut is a treasure. Kids bought watched, I paid more than I usually do but was in a generous mood. We then went to Matahari Square and I bought a batik shirt and then that evening had a nice meal at Blue Ocean.
Tuesday Early breakfast and off to Waterbom as a group we grabbed a gazebo and ran amok on the rides. Was a great day out for kids and adults alike. We were there until around 3pm. One dad and his son who is 15 did every ride in the park including the climax and splash down, I wasn't that brave. We got home and wife and I walked to Champlung for a cocktail and sunset and then walked back gathered the girls and went to Yogis for dinner. Bintang was still very cold and food was good wife and daughters had fish again but in different styles and I had a beef curry.
Wednesday had my morning walk, swim, breakfast, swim then we went back to Carlas for massages and the girls updated their manis and pedis. After this we headed up to Seminyak and walked along Jalan Lakmana from wher it starts to the Seminyak markets wife and daughters bought clothes. We then grabbed a taxi to Potato Head for a late lunch. This is an awesome place, yes I know it costs more but the building and overall ambience is terrific, yes there are poseurs but I am enough of my own man that this doesn't threaten me and I enjoy myself regardless of others. I had a Cuban master cocktail, it nearly blew my head off I ordered extra pineapple juice to dilute, yes it was 100K but it was well made and the alcohol content was generous to say the least. For lunch I had the club sandwich, it was massive so big I missed dinner that night. In Gang Abdi is Warung Bule it is directly across the lane from our villa (almost). Me and the other 2 dads began having afternoonies there from around 5pm as the binnies were 15K each with complimentary peanuts, cold and they usually had some sport on the TV. Good way to set up the evening.
Thursday all 3 families grabbed the Quicksilver to Nusa Penida we walked the village saw a cock fight that was bloodless as it is staged for tourists which was interested, wife loved the rooster psychology. Did the glass bottomed boat, snorkelling and banana boat ride. The lunch was a buffet and the food was superb. Boat left around 9:30am and got back to Benoa around 4pm. Once back me and the dads had our happy hour at the Warung and then me and the family went to Lanai for dinner.
Friday Walk, Swim Breakfast then a taxi to Kuta and a walk down Poppies 2 and then up Poppies 1 with lots of shopping, I got 3 watches for 100K and wife and kids bought dresses and bags and lots of other things. It was during this walk I realised that Bali seemed a bit quieter than usual with not as many people walking around, it may have been the heat but it was quiet on the streets. We had lunch at Poppies restaurant. Came back by taxi had a swim in the pool went over to Warung Bule for a few binnies and then with the family went to the Hitana restaurant which is part of the Niksoma for dinner. Top place and well priced for what you get. I usually eat local food but went for the steak at 89000, very nice steak and wife and kids loved the deserts.
Saturday Went for my walk, had a swim, had breakfast wife and daughters went to Carlas for final mani, pedi and massage I had some me time watching a DVD on the TV. We walked down the gang to Diamond Warung for lunch. It is just near Padma Utara and is very cheap wife had mie goreng vegetarian for 10k I had a huge nasi goreng with 2 satays and an egg for 25K, kids had burgers for 25K a piece, bintang was 15K a small and soft drinks around 8K. Food was very nice and staff friendly it was a good find. I went back to the villa and watched the AFL game Richmond v Melbourne, once this finished wife and I went to the Ybar to watch Dockers v Brisbane. After the game we went to Tommys leather in Jalan Padma to pick up a bag my wife had ordered. She asked they copy a bag of hers , they did this well and for 650K she had a new leather handbag that was probably better than the original. We wlked back to the Gang and I had drinks at Warung Bule with the dad's. It was our last night so I brought out the matching blue and white glow in the dark Hawaiian shirts for the other 2. I reckon the 3 of us looked pretty hot (...). We had booked Mozzarella by the Sea as our last dinner as a group so the 14 of us headed there after sunset and had a great meal with 2 for 1 cocktails and a Beatles tribute band playing, it was a top night. We then all went home and other dad from previous Saturday shenanigans and I persuaded wives to let us go out on the town, 3rd dad said he wasn't up to it. We headed down to Garlic lane Legends bar was very quiet but we had a couple of binnies there. As we were leaving it we realised the drag show was about to commence at the bali Beach Shack so we went to that, it is a top show. We really enjoyed it and it is family friendly it was a shame my wife and kids missed it I know they would have loved it too. Walked back to the villas and was accosted by a young woman on a motorbike who stopped the bike and started hugging me, I smiled told her no and gently pushed her away she left smiling. Not sure if she was a street walker or after my wallet but in the end I got out of it OK.
Sunday last day. Walk, Swim, Breakfast, Swim then we packed up and had a quick lunch at Diamond this time I had Chicken Mie Goreng for 15K. 1pm the Hidden Garden crew drove us to the airport. Flew AA back plane left on time and landed 25 min early. Had a meal on plane food is pretty good and price was reasonable. Picked up my duty free of alcohol and toblerone and then through customs pick up the bags and off to the taxi. My elder daughter bought a guitar and AA let her carry on as handluggage and no trouble with customs here.
Was a really good trip one family went to Ubud and Kintimani but we had already done this and another went white water rafting but we gave that a miss both enjoyed these outings. One shopped at Carrefour and raved about it so it was good. Our villa was a good size comfortable with a great pool and the staff were always helpful and smiling and kept the place spotless. Recommend.