Hi Everyone!

The intentions are always good - the time seems to run away! Although we had no broken bones in Bali this year, I returned to Perth and ended up spending a few unexpected weeks in hospital and have only been out for a few weeks! Am now back at work but am feeling so tired that I really havent had the time to write our Just Back Report!! Excuses excuses!
I will try to email you personally in the next few days (promises promises!) but the run down of what we did was as follows!

Firstly when we arrived at the Bali Hai we had a huge suprise of my parents showing up! They thought to suprise us - which they did - how they kept it a secret I will never know. They have been up North since Xmas so it was great to spend time with them. They stayed for a week which was a great help to us with the kids as well!!

I really did do a few days of full on shopping to start with. Girls clothes galore - enough to last them for years to come. School stuff, casual stuff and more formal stuff. Mataharis had HUGE sales on shoes for the girls so we bought home a suitcase full!

We did the Waterbom Park thing. I questioned if we would be able to stay there long enough to get value from it, with the kids being 6 i figured they may get bored easily..but was I wrong! We spent the day here, hiring out a cabana to keep our stuff in and to return to when we needed a break! It was a great day out. We crossed the road after to try the crispy creme donuts..We dont have one in Perth and I have been hearing great things! We bought a dozen getting a dozen free only to get back to hotel and discovered Mum and Dad had the same idea...we then had 4 dozen dougnuts to eat!! Needless to say the local kids on the beach had a sweet filled afternoon!

We visited Bali Zoo and the Bali Bird Park. I know its a little controversial for some, but we LOVED the zoo. The surrounds were beautiful and the gardens lush. We didnt see mistreated or malnourished animals. I guess though that I am not a vet, so there may be things happening that I wasnt aware of, but on the surface all looked fine. The orangutan was hilarious - throwing food back at us. The girls had a great time. I believe the guy from a local zoo here in WA is over there in Bali now trying to save the zoo...

We did the glass bottom baot trip, fed the fish and watched all the water sports - too chicken to do any myself! Had a bad experience a few years ago in Bali when i fell off the banana boat in a part of the ocean that felt like a trip mid way back to Australia!! Once getting back on to the boat - minus a bather top..well thats another story!!!

We went to Turtle Island. Again a controversial place to visit. Again people are horrified at the thought of Turtles being caged etc. My opinion is my own, but we did have a great time. If you do go I suggest as you reach turtle island go to the Turtle place on the far right of the island. Bigger areas for the turtles where although they are still caged, they are in the ocean, not a make shift pond. I was concerned how the girls would view the turtles living arrangements..They were fine. I guess and it is just MY opinion, but although I may not agree with how some things were (both Turtle Island and Bali Zoo) it wa similar for us way back...Perth zoo started as Bali Zoo did with animals in small cages etc, but with time and money we made the changes. It would be interesting to see if similar things change in Bali.....

We also did the Elephant Safari. This was the one at Taro. We have donr this before, and as expected we had a brilliant time! With the travelling and stuff it easily took a day to do this. We dawdled a bit and stopped in villages along the way. looked at shops and spoke to locals! We had a great day.

The girls had their hair braided - no easy feat with 3 women braiding each - it still took just over 2 hours!! The girls hair is so long, so we waited till the last day and then got it done!

The girls were great on the trip, but from Perth it is only a little over 3 hours. We bought them some little hand held yahtzee computer games and this entertained them on the plane and in Bali! We also took our pool noodles over with us - this was the best idea yet. They had a ball in the pool, and by the end of it we were having to lend them to everyone!

We ate at some new places and revisited some old!
Tamin Sari in Poppies 2 remains a HUGE favourite, We also tried Kori - but unlike most others - i wasnt that impressed!
SA Cafe down by the Bali Hai was fantastic - so cheap and NEVER a bad meal.
TreeHouse in Poppies 2 was great as usual.
We did burgers at Hard Rock - but nothing out of the ordinary, although I do enjoy their salads...
We went to Sana on Melasti Street - they advertise the cleanest toilets!! Clean toilets= clean kitchen?!!! The food was great and yes the toilets were the best I have seen! This is run by an Aussie couple.
Pantai on the beach was great. So close to the Bali Hai - we ate here a bit. The sunset is gorgeous.
Cafe Dulang by Kuta Square was good, as was Mades Warung.
We ate over the roan and Green garden. The food here was great and the drinks icy cold! Plus we didnt have far to walk/stagger home!

Most of the places we ate, the staff were fantastic with the kids. Playing with them, talking to them, giving them special treats!

We visited Carefourr shopping centre - AMAZING! The range of goods and food stuff was huge! Well worth the trip. Too late we discovered Bintang Supermarket. I think I was the last person on Earth to discover this!! The range of supermarket stuff was great. Brands we know and love in Australia, vegiemite, nutella, kraft etc. May not mean much to adults, but with kids sometimes all they want is stuff that is familiar to them - great to know it exists!

Thats all I can remeber at the moment. Please email me if you want to know more or have questions!!

I hope you have THE BEST time..our plans are for Xmas this year - but with no Bali Hai I will need to find alternative accommodation!



Amanda x

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Amanda

Amanda WTTG,

Great reading.

Will help us greatly on our trip tomorrow to do what our TB will want to do.

they are only one year younger than your TG.

Wish us a safe trip.

Larry WTTB