Left Perth on the Jetstar 7.30am flight - left on time and was a good flight. 2 adults and one 5 year old.
Bali airport was fine - 20 minutes to get through voa and immigration as no other flights seemed to have arrived.
First stay was Ubud so to break up the drive we went via Sanur and had lunch on the beach in front of the Sindhu Hotel.
Got a driver from there to Ubud - got stuck in a traffic jam on Monkey Forrest Road and took us about 30 minutes to go the last 800 metres - would have got out and walked but our little one was napping.
Stayed at the Lumbung Sari on Monkey Forrest right next door to the Komaneka for 3 nights. Had a lovely deluxe room at the back of the property overlooking the pool area. Was coolish in Ubud but had a couple of swims with our little fella in the pool. The hotel only has about 16 rooms so it is nice and quiet with a nice atmosphere. Great staff always smiling and helpful.
Simple but nice little breakfast at this hotel - good Bali kopi.
We ate at a few good places whilst in Ubud:
Lemonade - mixed menu but we had Mexican that was fresh and tasty.
Casa Luna - an old favourite with great food and superb jamu drinks (health tonics).
Alchemy (in Penestan) - amazing range of raw vegan foods and drinks. Well worth a visit as part of a body cleanse.
Batan Waru - still one of the best priced restaurants in Ubud for the quality of food here. Their Indonesian dishes are very authentic and superb in my opinion. The Batan Waru Breezer is still one of the best tropical drinks in Bali (no booze).
Bridges - we went here for our wedding anniversary and had an amazing night - great table on the lower level overlooking the ravine, brilliant service and very high quality food. Was a gorgeous night as the sun set and the bats started coming out of the trees and a lighting storm started in the back ground - amazing !
We checked out of Lumbung Sari and headed to Kuta - we stopped at the Bird and Reptile Park for a few hours on the way down and then to a great fruit market in Denpasar to stock up on salak, mangosteens and baby-bananas - our favourites !
Stayed the next 6 nights at the Hard Rock - so chosen for our little fella who enjoyed the kids club and pool activities so much on our last stay. Managed to arrange an upgrade to a suite for a few extra bucks per night which was a bargain !
This trip was for pure relaxation so once at the Hard Rock we did not get out and about too much except to eat and to a little shopping. We had one full day out when we hired one of the open top VW's to take us out to Uluwatu for a drive. We stopped at the Mother Temple and at Uluwatu surf break for some lunch and to watch the ocean. We then headed back and got dropped at Waterbom where we stayed till 5pm. The news slides were great and the lines were pretty short - was bitterly disappointed that the new slides came at the expense of the old slides - keeping the old ones would have been great to spread the crowds out but alas they were getting old and were in the way of the new slides.
We did a little shopping for our little fella for shoes and t-shirts at Discover Mall but then discovered that Matahari at Kuta Square is actually better for choice and prices all in the one place. We had never really looked around Mataharis for years so were pleasantly surprised at the range and quality of stuff here. We are taking an empty suitcase next year to stock up on kids clothes and even adult shoes and clothes.
We had a couple of good meals in Kuta:
Yulia's Kitchen - good indo food here and cheap.
Blue Fin Japanese - had a huge feast of Japanese treats here
TJ's - decent Mexican food with some great cocktails.
Stadium Bar - went here one arvo/evening for the Wallabies and Rabbitohs games and had their fabulous crispy and bbq chicken wings - i love these things !!! Me and the little fella destroyed three serves and could have had more.
Gabah Restaurant - nice spot here with tables by the pool - food was very decent with very large serves. Bit slow on service because of some big groups but food was worth the wait. Good Indonesian menu.
Un's - my wife met up with a friend here (after first trying Made's Warung where they were treated extremely badly by two of the staff - so got up and left). They said the food was superb and is as good as always.
Room Service - on our last day we stayed by the pool in a cabana all day and had a few mohitos and let our little fella get every last bit of swimming and sliding in until they closed the slides around 6pm. We got room service that night and were amazed that the Singapore noodles and mie goreng where actually some of the best noodles we have ever had !!! Really surprised - well done Hard Rock !!!
We had the 8.30am flight back to Perth next morning and were up and out by 6.30am and at the airport by 6.55am - no line at check-in and through customs in about 25 minutes. Had a quick Black Canyon coffee (very good - now I see why people rave about it) and straight onto the plane which left right on time and got to Perth 10 minutes early.
All in all a brilliant trip that once again lived up to the best thing about Bali for us, in that - you can have any holiday you want there. This time we wanted family time, fun for our little fella and lots of relaxation. I was as loose as a goose after the first week of massages and foot reflexologies.
Ubud was lovely for a few days to walk around the rice paddies and the Hard Rock is great for being centrally located, and given how bad the Kuta traffic is getting, it allows you to walk nearly everywhere we want to go.
Have booked for next July school holidays already.
Happy to answer any questions anyone may have.