Flew out of Brisbane Wednesday last week with virgin. The wife wasn't all that well so was very thankful that we had a spare seat next to us so she could lay down and sleep off the headache not a good way to start the holiday.
Landed in Bali the first trip for us with the new terminal so was a little surprised that we had to be bused from the plane all good but. Quickly through immigration with everyone else with no visa to pay even though we had 60 day visas already for this trip. Bags collected grabbed a driver for 150k probably could have got cheaper but was happy with that. Stayed the night at the Bali garden first time for us. Got a free upgrade so they told us. The room was lovely and quite new so must be a new wing. Did some quick shopping, changed some money, grabbed a new sim and bought a couple of singlets. Had a nice meal at some restaurant not far from the Hotel some bamboo place don't recall the name. We normally stay at Legian. Back to the Hotel for an early night.
After breaky in the morning we headed back to the airport bound for Praya on Lombok. All very smooth flying with Garuda. Collected our bags and went in search of our driver who had been arranged via the Villas on Gili Meno. Well after searching for ten mins and no driver to be seen I wondered if he was late. Naturally got smashed by lots of drivers. Tried to call the villas couldn't get through even the airport help desk had no luck I assumed the phones were down. Eventually did a deal on a car and a boat for 600k which Was cheaper than we had arranged. Eventually I got a call from the email I sent via the website of the Villa apologising that they got the date wrong. Anyway all good. Arrived at Telek Nara something like that jumped on the speedboat and roared over to Meno. Only a small boat maybe 18 feet with a 250 on the back bloody hell did it go. Arrived at the villas all safe.
Basically spent 7 nights at Villa Nautilus and can honestly say it was amazing. Gili Meno was all I had expected it to be. Had been saying we would go there for over 20 yrs but when ever we got to Bali on previous trips it just never happened. So relaxing I did about 6 dives with Blue Marlin which was excellent. Breaky by the water each morning was lovely and included. Lots of snorkelling, eating, drinking and riding the push bikes around was awesome. Spent a couple of hours one arvo looking at other accomodation out of interest and personally think Nautilus is great value with everything you could need highly recommend it. Compared to Karma reef and Mallias they were not even close. Would go back in a flash although would also be keen on trying Air next time with a few days again on Meno.
Heres our list of discoveries for the week.
Things we have learned on Gili Meno
1. Island time means it will happen eventually.
2 . If you order beef curry you get fish.
3. You give way to horses and other animals.
4. Cats won't move for you on the paths.
5. Roosters and chickens have no boundaries
6. $100,000 can buy you a nice cocktail or a new bungalow with air con and breakfast for the night. Basically about $10 Aust.
7. A fresh water shower is a privilege.
8. We have a new meaning to the word chilled.
9. Sleeping on the job is normal and encouraged as is playing on your phone.
10. Big fish means anything over 8 inches lol.
11. 10 mins to start a boat engine is acceptable don't worry.
12. If they bail out water from the boat prior to getting on its fine if it was going to sink it would have already.
13. All else fails remember rule number 1
Arrived back in Bali last night staying at the Puri Raja seems to be building going on still so ear plugs may get a workout see what happens.
Cheers for now