Sea, Salt, Sun - Bali 2018

A couple of weeks ago Simon and I were lucky enough to escape the winter cold and enjoy the sun and heat in Bali. We left the kids at home with the grandparents and really got to relax and recharge.

As it was just Simon and I on holiday we chose somewhere different than from where we had stayed previously in Bali with the kids. We wanted to stay in a resort that had everything we needed so we didn't have to leave! We came across the Ayana Resort + Spa and it ticked all the boxes.

The grounds of the resort were beautiful, there were plenty of places to just chill without the crowds and we loved spending sunset at the bar overlooking the ocean with a couple of cocktails each night.

I've popped up some photos from our trip below.........

I was obsessed with the bougainvillea! It was so pretty cascading down the walls.

Kubu Beach is Ayana's private beach and bar. When the tide is high and the swell is up you can't swim here as it gets a little wild but you can still lay on the beach under an umbrella and relax. 

There is a shuttle bus that drives you around the resort to wherever you need to go.

Below is the Ocean Beach Pool which is only for adults and has the best cabanas to while away the day.  Plus the view is amazing!

Simon and I took a couple of trips to the Day Spa where we discovered the Aquatonic pool.

It's a pool with various underwater jets that give you a full body massage under a rain of warm and gentle seawater. We chose the 60-minute experience and loved it! You move throughout the pool under different jets that are targeted towards different body parts. It really eases any aches and pains and leaves you floating on air. We couldn't get enough of it!

If you're staying at Ayana you must experience Rock Bar at sunset at least once. It is open to the public but all hotel guests have preference when being seated.

You take the inclinator down the cliff to the bar, enjoying the view over the ocean. It was lovely to watch the sun set over a drink and some tapas. 

We had an amazing dinner one night at DAVA. The staff thought we were on our 2nd honeymoon as we had come to Bali without the kids. They arranged a little cake and  card for us. Too sweet!

It was just the break we needed and we came home feeling rested and ready to jump back into reality.

Have you got a holiday coming up? I'd love to hear your plans! x

Our Bali Trip - 2015 - Part 2

So yesterday I shared lots of photos and a few of our favourite things from our recent Bali holiday.

You can read it here

Today I'm sharing the reasons behind our choices. 

Why Bali, why a resort over a private villa or hotel, where to go, what to do etc.

But first a few more photos.....

Why Bali?

We chose Bali for a few reasons. We wanted to go in the middle of Australia's winter/school holidays so somewhere warm was our number 1 priority. Bali was our choice as the flight time was a reasonable 6 hours, it was sunny and warm with a low chance of rain. It has the option of lots to see and do or total relaxation plus the surfing is good! A must for our family ;) 

Why a resort over a private villa?

For us we knew that our overall goal was to relax. Since we were in Bali for 10 days we wanted the option of a large resort that had the space and a large variety of activities, pools and restaurants to keep us entertained if we opted to just hang out at the resort.Our boys swam in the pool for hours at a time so it was nice to be able to mix it up with a new pool and surroundings within the resort. 

Also with our accommodation/meal package, a lot of our meals and drinks were complimentary so it was great value to eat and drink within the resorts bars and restaurants. 

The kids club was a big deciding factor too as we loved the idea of having a break for a couple of hours through the day or a nanny at night if we wanted a dinner alone.

I think if we were in a private villa we would have had to think a little bit more about meals out, where to go, what to do and we were just not in that mindset this time but we're not ruling it out in the future.

Plus Simon and I are pretty fussy with our accommodation and we just like the feel of how a big hotel runs. That seamless service. (we met working in a 5 star hotel) I loved the combination of beautiful grounds and excellent service. It was really a winner for us.

What type of room did we have?

We chose a  Club suite as it had lots of space for the 5 of us.  There was a bedroom, living + dining area and kitchen. Noah slept on a bed in our room and the boys had beds set up in the living area. There was still heaps of space to move around. We had a balcony looking over the Club pool towards the beach.

The Club suites came with extra complimentary benefits around the resort. These included free breakfast in any restaurant (including room service) every day, free afternoon tea and canapés at 2 locations within the resort each day, free cocktails every afternoon from 4.30pm - 7.30pm, all day unlimited gelato for the kids, unlimited water and soft drinks for us all and exclusive use of the adults only Club pool. The value added by these benefits more than made the suite worth while.

I found the Intercontinental Jimbaran Bay website a little vague and confusing on details so we emailed them directly with our questions and went from there. They were so helpful.

What to pack for your stay?

I packed our usual beach gear (swimmers, board shorts, rash vests, hats, sunscreen, goggles, sunglasses, swimming bubble for Noah, my beach bag to throw everything in) Simon took his own surfboards but you can hire them if you like.  I had my DSLR camera, and iPhone with a Life proof case in case I wanted to take water shots, Simon had his Gopro, books ( I got through a couple! I had more free time that I thought I'd have), iPads, chargers, adaptors, kids books and a couple of toys ( Noah had a few trains and some action figures) sleep toy for Noah. 

The dress code was very casual throughout the day but it was nice to have a couple of  dresses to change into at night when going out for dinner. I took a hair straightener but didn't use it.

We did the washing once but I came back with lots of washing to do! 

The boys seemed to drop food on their clothes at every meal!

I also packed a few snacks for the boys to eat through the day as I have a fussy eater and it was nice for them to have something familiar to snack on.

I didn't bother packing towels as I knew they would be supplied and pool toys were available at the resort to play with. 

How to survive the plane ride with kids.
Simple really, for us it's iPads, headphones and lots of food!
Also a window seat for Noah was very exciting and kept him enthralled during take off and landing.
Finn and Jasper are old enough to keep themselves entertained which is great. I even got to watch a couple of episodes of House of Cards on my laptop which is a first. I always keep a large scarf in my bag for a pillow/blanket for Noah. Plus baby wipes and a change of clothes. Just in case.
Also tissues as we all get the sniffles on the plane.

I had planned to do a lot more than we did but it turned out we just needed to relax rather than sightsee but if you want a list of things to see and do try out these tips

@thebalibible on Instagram

Miss Kyree Loves - Travel Tips & Tricks - Bali

Sweet Style - My Bali Story
Our latest Bali Adventure
Beautiful Bali

Eat Read Love - Best Restaurants in Bali, Mama San Bali
Rice Paddies & Rose Picnic

Styling You - 13 tips for travelling to Bali if you are a newbie


 A few other places are you can check out on Instagram are-

Finn's Beach Club - @finnsbeachclub
Motel Mexicola - @motelmexicola
Potato Head Beach Club - @pttheadbali
Revolver Espresso - @revolverespresso
W Retreat & Spa Bali - @wbaliseminyak

I'd love to hear about any of your Bali favourites and tips as I'm sure we'll be going back!

Our Bali Trip - 2015 (Part 1)

We've just come home after an amazing 10 days in Bali and I thought I would share some photos of my trip on here. We stayed at the Intercontinental Jimbaran Bay which we have stayed at before. 

(you can see pics from that trip here) 

Originally I thought we would use the resort as our base and explore the surrounding regions on day trips, but once we were ensconced in the beautiful surroundings of the resort it was very hard to get the motivation to leave it. Plus the Bali traffic is a killer!

Our days were spent swimming, lounging around and relaxing, some surfing, a day trip to Ubud, the boys visiting the kids club and reading. It was perfect for us and it felt great to decompress after a stressful start to the year. ( our renovations, my operation, kids stuff)

The grounds of the resort are huge so you feel like you can always find a space that is not overly crowded plus they are so beautiful and tropical and immaculately kept. Sun loungers are dotted around everywhere and staff are always on hand to offer fresh towels or a drink.

There are 3 main pools plus lots of other little pools around so it was nice to have the variety and change location every few days. The club pool is Adults Only, so this was a lovely retreat whilst the boys were at kids club. The resort is beachfront so it was great to have the option of a surf (small waves only) or splash around in the salt water or a walk along the beach. 

Noah and Jasper loved Planet Trekkers (kids club), Finn found it a bit young and roamed around the resort with a few new friends instead. They had so many fun activities to do like fishing, kite making, cookie decorating, computer games, puzzles etc and it was a great place to go in the middle of the day for a couple of hours when they had had enough swimming for a while. 

Noah at 3 was under their minimum age (4) so he had to have a nanny with him at all times while he was there. All the ladies were lovely and well trained and the whole set up felt very professional and secure. It was nice to have the same faces there through the week as they knew the boys and their habits. It was nice for Simon and I to have that break through the day as well and feel like we were on holidays too!

We hired a driver one day and drove up to Ubud stopping at the Bali Zoo for an elephant ride and the Monkey Forest along the way. The traffic turned it into a longer trip than it should have been so Noah was asleep for most of it! I would have loved to see more temples, rice fields, shops and restaurants in Ubud and Seminyak but it was not to be on this trip. Even though I had my list of must sees.

Note - the Monkey Forest is not for the faint hearted, those monkeys are scary!

Finn and Simon enjoyed feeding them and taking photos of them, Jasper and I were freaked out by their aggressiveness and Noah slept through it all!

There was also a trip to Uluwatu for some waves. Our trip coincided with what was dubbed the "swell of the century" so Simon had a couple of half days away surfing at Padang Padang and Bingin.

We mainly ate at the resort and there were 5 restaurants to choose from.

A variety of Western and Balinese food with a Japanese and Italian restaurant thrown in too.

And cocktails, lots of cocktails! My favourite was the lemon sorbet daiquiri. 

 Nothing screams holiday more than a photo of a cocktail at sunset ;)

The sandy floored Sunset Grill was our favourite spot for a cocktail and to watch the sun set over the ocean. We also loved the buffet breakfasts (one of the best I've seen) and we had high tea a couple of times too. Most days lunch was by the pool, either a salad or a nasi goreng.

Some of our favourite things were the soccer fields and playground for working off that excess energy when you had had enough swimming and for me the day spa. Sigh.

Wow, that was a lot of photos!

I'll have part 2 tomorrow with a few more photos, more details on why we chose Bali, our room choice and other travel tips that came in handy for us.

Do you have any holidays coming up?

Have you been to Bali?