Friday Favourites

Here is my weekly wrap up of all of my favourite things that I've come across lately.......

Pink hotels are where it's at on Instagram and I'm loving them. So pretty + stylish!

The Calile Hotel

Hotel Ravesis

I'm in the middle of repotting plants and moving them around so I'm on the lookout for some new planters. I love this green one I came across at Jumbled Online

My new favourite cocktail from Hugos in Manly - LYCHEE MEE

Ketel One Vodka & Lychee Liqueur, shaken with Lychee & Lemon Juice 

and a dash of Angostura Bitters

Loving the colour + prints on the new Kip + Co bedding range.....

and also this cute enamel ware. I love a matching teapot + mug set!

My cane + rattan love is never ending and I would love to have space for this planter.

Such a great feature for a blank wall and to showcase your indoor plants.

I'm looking forward to trying out this Rose Quartz Beauty Sculptor from Kora Organics.

The perfect tool to improve skin tone + circulation and depuff your face.

We're thinking about upgrading our queen size bed to a king size. We're just working out if we have the space. I'm loving this cane bedhead from Naturally Cane Furniture.

Hope you've had a fab week! Enjoy the long weekend x

Top 2 photos via @jasminedowling on Instagram

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!

Gold Coast trip - School Holidays

We popped up to the Gold Coast for a few days last week to visit some family and take in a few theme parks.  It was the perfect weather and a lovely little break. We arrived Tuesday morning and headed straight to Movie World from the airport. We had a wonderful day there as there was something for everyone. Tiny rides for the little ones and the rollercoasters and scarier rides for Finn & Simon. Jasper also went on his first rollercoaster and loved it. It was also great to have the characters walking around and snap a pic with them. Batman was a hit!

After a huge day we checked into our hotel, the QT and had a delicious buffet dinner at Bazaar. One of the best I've seen. Love a buffet with kids, no waiting!

We loved the hotel. So cool but kids were made to feel welcome. We saw heaps of families there. The room was really spacious. We had a King Suite and Noah was in a portacot in our room while Finn and Jasper shared the sofabed. It worked perfectly for us.

The bathroom was huge and the bath was lovely and deep with a fab view of the ocean. We would definitely stay here again as it was a great location too.

The next morning we headed off to Sea World. Another day of rides. I went on my first rollercoaster in years. I screamed all the way but it wasn't too bad!

The highlight of the day was meeting and touching Friday the Sea Lion. It was a really hot day so we spent a couple of hours in the water park here. Perfect! 
Our last day was spent with a few hours at Wet n Wild before we had to catch the plane home. This was a bit more relaxing then the other days as we could just splash around and our favourite part was Calypso River. You grab an inflatable tube and float around the river. We could all enjoy this together.

We all had such a great time. Have you been to the Gold Coast lately? Are you planning a trip?
all photos my own

A stylish getaway.

I love looking at hotels. You can get so much inspiration from their interiors and styling.

There is nothing better than walking into a hotel to start your holiday and being in love with your surroundings.

 Unfortunately not all places match their websites and pictures. I hate being disappointed!

One place that looks uber glamourous and chic is the Oyster Bay Hotel in South Africa.

all images via Everything Fabulous

I'm obsessing over hotels in Bali at the moment as we will be taking the boys there for our family holiday next year. We are thinking about a villa at the Kartika Hotel in Kuta. Friends stayed there recently and loved it but I still need to do more research on what will be best for us. All part of the fun!

all images via Kartika Plaza Hotel website

So have you stayed anywhere that you just loved and it really exceeded your expectations?

I'd love to know :)

Well it's Friday again so I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.