Limewood
Established Member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2006
- Posts
- 4,461
Sitting at our home bar last month sipping wine Mrs Lime remarked what a hectic year its been, none more than the past few months moving back to Cairns from Gold Coast to assist our daughter and grand kids, buying another house and launching into a renovation just after our arrival in early Dec., my birthday was coming up plus 4 days after its 35 years to the day that we met and ditto 30 years into a great marriage, where could we escape to - I’m over birthday parties)
Having not been to Bali in three decades we said why not, its close by, next day we booked JQ an airline we normally stay away from, but being just a 4.5 hour direct flight CNS to DPS we could stand it - even on an old A320 as the new 787’s not doing this route as yet, we booked exit seats (no J on this route) in row 13 as row 12 doesn’t recline so no seat in the face.
We checked in after half an hour in the queue, together with the long line of 90% bogans, seemed thongs, tattoos, bolts in the face was the norm, a happy well behaved lot they were.. With no airline lounge available (even the Qantas domestic would be near closed if we went there), found a bar had few drinks and boarded the flight at 8.45pm half an hour late, we looked at our seats and there was plenty of room, then we sat down, seat squab just about gone felt like sitting on a hard shell, plane was totally full. The food arrived not long after takeoff, pork dish and a vegetarian meals, it was so bad would not feed it to a duck, half a mouthful was enough.
Arriving in DPS we were amazed at how the airport had grown, we went through immigration quickly out to our awaiting resort driver, he loaded the SUV and off we went. Not much traffic around after midnight and majority were scooters, arriving at our Amadea Resort in Seminyak local time 2am we booked in easily to our poolside room and crashed.
Next day we had an excellent (included) Aussie breakfast - in the open to the street restaurant while watching the hoards of scooters, taxi’s and SUV’s going up and down the narrow main road filled with hundreds of shops, bars & eateries, many call it the Double Bay of Bali!. We had a gander in a few shops as the heat intensified, we thought Cairns was hot and humid well think again, here we are in the warmest months of the year and and the humidity was stifling, so back to the pool bar for a feed and few coldies.
March the 1st being my 75th birthday, on advice from our many Qantas friends who had been to Bali many times we booked into the Untimo restaurant for dinner, on arrival we sat at the bar (we have a habit of doing that) before going inside, looking through the huge glass windows behind us into the spotless kitchen we stuck up conversation with a couple from Noosa, they go to Bali 3 to 4 times a year and advised if you want international cuisine of the best quality at one third the cost of OZ your in the right place, over the next 5 days we found this was spot on. The Ultimo was sensational mouthwatering food, excellent service and no blaring music. Another place was a stand out the Ginger Moon restaurant but really there are so many to choose from. At the resort, eateries and our day trip out we met many who all were having a great time like us, do a lot or do nothing!.
Another friend gave us the name of a driver with a new SUV he had been using him for years, while there are hundreds of them everywhere touting for customers, we took his advice, Robi was great, spoke excellent english, had a good sense of humour and sure knew his way around plus all the shortcuts in town, We told him what we wanted to see (no monkeys thanks) he added a few more sites to ours and off we went departing at 9am up into the mountains. The scenery was breathtaking.we visited a wood carving centre, a temple (built BC), a massive waterfall, rice fields, lake and volcano and had nice lunch there in the restaurant built on a cliff, and visited Ubud on the way back arrived back at 5.30pm. Cost for the whole day a mere AUD$50, he also later in the week took us to the airport.
We had seen a Komodo Dragon wood carving at a friends house it was purchased n Bali a few years ago and we wanted one, carved in 3 weeks out of a solid piece of Suar wood, those we had seen sell already were between AUD$300 and $700, lucky Robie spotted a shop on the outskirts on Ubud, we went in, must have been 20K or more carvings in the place - and yes there it was a Komodo 1.2m long and weighed in at 20kg just $100 later it was ours. As they had to stain and cargo wrap it Robi went back next day to collect it for us on his bloody scooter!. The wrapping was flimsy, we had the resort add 10m of bubble wrap so he didn’t get hurt on his voyage back to Cairns!.
The JQ flight departed about an hour late so we had few more drinks and an airport feed before going down yes down to the gate wait seats, many seats empty but many of the good bogans
preferred the floor!. After another carry on bag search we finally boarded the bus to the plane, on exit it was like a stampede to the aircraft stairs, it was like - stuff you oldies we want to get on first, not nice. Through the cabin door we were greeted by an old friend not seen in years who was the flight manager!. Our exit seats on other side of row 13 this time were the same, like sitting on a hard rock. To this day I do not know why I ordered a good Aussie pie, one bite and spat it out bloody disgusting piece of ….. JQ you've lost us. Of course we declared the dragon, the officials checked it over and away we went.
Thinking Bali was an Aussie trouble spot before we arrived did not happen, we throughly enjoyed the experience, the Amadea resort was super except for the hard bed), the service and facilities exceptional, great quiet location handy to it all. Are we going back to Bali you betcha. The standout was Robi and if you need his e then pm me.
Having not been to Bali in three decades we said why not, its close by, next day we booked JQ an airline we normally stay away from, but being just a 4.5 hour direct flight CNS to DPS we could stand it - even on an old A320 as the new 787’s not doing this route as yet, we booked exit seats (no J on this route) in row 13 as row 12 doesn’t recline so no seat in the face.
We checked in after half an hour in the queue, together with the long line of 90% bogans, seemed thongs, tattoos, bolts in the face was the norm, a happy well behaved lot they were.. With no airline lounge available (even the Qantas domestic would be near closed if we went there), found a bar had few drinks and boarded the flight at 8.45pm half an hour late, we looked at our seats and there was plenty of room, then we sat down, seat squab just about gone felt like sitting on a hard shell, plane was totally full. The food arrived not long after takeoff, pork dish and a vegetarian meals, it was so bad would not feed it to a duck, half a mouthful was enough.
Arriving in DPS we were amazed at how the airport had grown, we went through immigration quickly out to our awaiting resort driver, he loaded the SUV and off we went. Not much traffic around after midnight and majority were scooters, arriving at our Amadea Resort in Seminyak local time 2am we booked in easily to our poolside room and crashed.
March the 1st being my 75th birthday, on advice from our many Qantas friends who had been to Bali many times we booked into the Untimo restaurant for dinner, on arrival we sat at the bar (we have a habit of doing that) before going inside, looking through the huge glass windows behind us into the spotless kitchen we stuck up conversation with a couple from Noosa, they go to Bali 3 to 4 times a year and advised if you want international cuisine of the best quality at one third the cost of OZ your in the right place, over the next 5 days we found this was spot on. The Ultimo was sensational mouthwatering food, excellent service and no blaring music. Another place was a stand out the Ginger Moon restaurant but really there are so many to choose from. At the resort, eateries and our day trip out we met many who all were having a great time like us, do a lot or do nothing!.
We had seen a Komodo Dragon wood carving at a friends house it was purchased n Bali a few years ago and we wanted one, carved in 3 weeks out of a solid piece of Suar wood, those we had seen sell already were between AUD$300 and $700, lucky Robie spotted a shop on the outskirts on Ubud, we went in, must have been 20K or more carvings in the place - and yes there it was a Komodo 1.2m long and weighed in at 20kg just $100 later it was ours. As they had to stain and cargo wrap it Robi went back next day to collect it for us on his bloody scooter!. The wrapping was flimsy, we had the resort add 10m of bubble wrap so he didn’t get hurt on his voyage back to Cairns!.
The JQ flight departed about an hour late so we had few more drinks and an airport feed before going down yes down to the gate wait seats, many seats empty but many of the good bogans
preferred the floor!. After another carry on bag search we finally boarded the bus to the plane, on exit it was like a stampede to the aircraft stairs, it was like - stuff you oldies we want to get on first, not nice. Through the cabin door we were greeted by an old friend not seen in years who was the flight manager!. Our exit seats on other side of row 13 this time were the same, like sitting on a hard rock. To this day I do not know why I ordered a good Aussie pie, one bite and spat it out bloody disgusting piece of ….. JQ you've lost us. Of course we declared the dragon, the officials checked it over and away we went.Thinking Bali was an Aussie trouble spot before we arrived did not happen, we throughly enjoyed the experience, the Amadea resort was super except for the hard bed), the service and facilities exceptional, great quiet location handy to it all. Are we going back to Bali you betcha. The standout was Robi and if you need his e then pm me.
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