Family Adventures in Benoa and Legian, Bali

I decided to change things up this time for our family holiday in Bali. Four days in peaceful Benoa and four days in lively Legian.

It was extremely late by the time we arrived due to a delayed departure. The lobby was large and spacious with enormous high ceilings. Checking in took a while but we were finally given our keys and taken to our rooms. We were assigned interconnecting rooms for Elena, Damian and the kids, and an upgrade for myself and Anthony. There are two parts to the Novotel and the block we were staying in was across the road and away from the beach. I was disappointed to start but after the first night was feeling quite happy with this arrangement. It seemed less busy and the adult and kids pools were just below us.

Novotel Swimming Pool, Benoa, Bali — View from our balcony

I had a great night’s sleep, but Anthony said it was too noisy for him. When I stepped onto the balcony I realised that we were very near the road.

The road doesn’t look too busy in this shot, but the bikes are a big problem!

Breakfast was served in the beach block across the road. This is manned by two attendants who try their hardest to stop the traffic. The bikes especially just drove around them and the cars mostly ignored them!

The above photos show some of the artwork on display around the Novotel.

A buffet was on offer serving up all kinds of traditional food plus fresh fruit. There was an egg station plus waffles, pancakes and donuts for the kids. Something for everyone.

Over the next four days, we swam in the ocean, played in the pools and relaxed. We found some fabulous restaurants for dinner but stayed at the hotel for lunch.

One day we took a tour on a glass bottomed boat to Turtle Island. The kids loved the boat. Out at sea was exceptionally busy with all kinds of activities. I thought I had seen most water sports, but all of a sudden we saw a flying lilo with someone holding on for dear life.

The sea here is tidal so the optimum time for swimming was around 1 pm. Anthony and I swam every day, but the kids preferred the pools. There is a forest of seaweed, undulating beneath the sea and I wasn’t keen on swimming over this. The feeling of feathery tendrils sweeping your legs was most disconcerting.

Waiting patiently for the tide to come in

Some more of the sculptures around the hotel

One of the things we enjoy about Bali is the food, always tasty and full of flavour. Unlike the others I prefer something not too spicy, whereas they all have a dish of sambal on the side.

Some of the dishes we ate. The top dish is called Rijsttafel, a Dutch word that translates to Rice Table. It consists of many (forty is not an unusual number) side dishes served in small portions, accompanied by rice prepared in several different ways. Popular side dishes include egg rolls, sambals, satay, fish, fruit, vegetables, pickles, and nuts. Source: Wikipedia. One of Anthony and Elena’s favourites.

Family dinners were not complete without Ipads and earphones. This meant we could all have a leisurely dinner. Although you couldn’t ask for better behaved munchkins.

Spot Rosie!

Last day in Benoa, ready to hit the road for Legian

See you in Legian!

~ Highlights of Hotel Indigo, Seminyak, Bali ~

We are once again in Bali for a short break and this time staying at Hotel Indigo. This hotel is perched almost on the beach with a very small road to cross. Mostly used by motorbikes so not too difficult to cross. It’s a surfers’ beach and not one where you can have a leisurely swim. Seminyak for us is more about relaxation and drinking and eating!

Our room is called a “comfort room” and is indeed extremely comfortable. There is a balcony with small forest outside. We don’t have a great view, but it’s still pleasant to sit outside when there is a breeze blowing.

The staff are super pleasant and eager to please, nothing is too much trouble. There are plenty of sunbeds at this time of year, it’s just out of season. Two fabulous restaurants and a small cafe. We’ve had breakfast, lunch and dinner here and no complaints from us.

We have eaten in a variety of places, upmarket and downmarket! On the beach and overlooking the beach.

La Plancha, a Spanish tapas cafe. This place looks about ready to fall down, adds to the atmosphere!

The Plantation, Double Six Hotel. A 1920’s style restaurant with enormous windows overlooking the ocean. This was luxury at it’s finest. A special treat was in store as there was a beautiful soprano singer to entertain us.

Dinner at the hotel restaurant – Makase

**Rijsttafel – A Dutch word translating to Rice Table. An elaborate Indonesian meal sometimes consisting of up to 40 small dishes.**

Seminyak is famous for the glorious sunsets, the beach bars make the most of this time and offer beanbags to relax on to watch.

We sat here for ages enjoying the beach life and our drinks, but time was passing and we needed to get ready for dinner!

And that’s a wrap!

Overnight stay at The Patra Resort, Tuban, Bali

I didn’t feel like sitting in traffic for nearly two hours on the morning of our departure from Bali, so instead booked to stay in a hotel near the airport the day before. We left Ubud around midday and arrived at 2 pm to The Patra. We were pleasantly surprised by this resort as we were taken by buggy to our upstairs villa. Once again we were given a free upgrade, although I didn’t hold my breath after what happened before!

Not at all disappointed! A possible new place to stay for future trips to Bali.

After offloading our cases I wanted to just get to the pool for a swim and a read, Anthony headed off for a walk along the promenade. This hotel is just a five minute drive to the airport but away from the busy streets of Kuta itself.

The Pool and Gardens

The resort is huge with numerous two floor villas in blocks surrounding the gardens. Going back and forth to the pool and restaurant we did get lost numerous times.

The Beach and Promenade

**Statue of Varuna, the God of Sky, Water and Ocean**

This statue sits somewhat incongruously on the edge of the ocean, just rising out of the sea.

We enjoyed our one night stay here and the next day we headed off to pastures new…

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A Night at the Hilton Garden Inn, Albany, WA

Continuing our three day break in the South West, we drove down to Albany with a stop in Coalmine Bay and Broke for lunch. I should point out that this isn’t a grammatical error, there is a place called Broke!

This beach looks perfect for a summer swim.

The drive from Pemberton to Albany is almost three hours, by the time we had stopped a couple of times, we finally arrived in Albany at 4.30 pm.

We normally stay in an apartment in Albany, but I noticed when I looked on Booking.Com that there was a new Hilton, so thought we would check this out. It’s in a great location, overlooking the harbour. I didn’t book a sea view but guess what we ended up with a fantastic view over the harbour. We had a beautiful luxurious room with lovely toiletries from Crabtree and Evelyn, no expense spared there.
The reception, bar and restaurant are all located in the same space downstairs, making it all very intimate.

After checking in and unloading our bags it was still light out so we went to have a look at the latest silo mural, which we could actually see from our room.

The above mural was painted by New York artists Yok and Sheryo. It features the Ruby Red Seadragon, and is only the third species of its kind ever recorded. It was discovered on the Albany shores 150 years ago. I’ve been fortunate to see quite a few of these silo art murals around Australia, but hope to see them all one day.

We had a quick drink at the Royal George Hotel before heading back for dinner at The Garrison.

For dinner that night I had booked The Garrison, which as you might guess is situated on top of the hill where the old garrison used to be. It’s a wonderful restaurant with great service and food. I find many places we go now are short staffed due to Covid, some places manage superbly with only two or three serving but others don’t seem to have coped as well. The wait staff seemed to move swiftly between table to table and we had no waiting time at all between courses. A definite 10/10 from me, I must remember to write a review.

After a great night’s sleep and an invigorating shower using the deluxe toiletries we headed down for a buffet breakfast.
The rain had set in by now so we chose to head off to our final stop, Margaret River. I realised after I looked at the map that I had planned our trip backwards, which meant much more driving! From here to Margaret River it was a four hour drive.

I spotted this cute elephant down an alley as we were walking around yesterday.

**On the side of a vets as we drove out of Albany**

The endless drive through rain and sun

A cheeky add for PPAC

🏝 Perfect Paradise at Pelangi Beach Resort, Langkawi, Malaysia 🏝

After checking out of the Tanjung Rhu at lunchtime we took a 30 minute ride to our next destination, Pelangi Beach Resort. We first stayed here 30 years ago so it would be interesting to see how it had changed. When we arrived we found the main lobby was under renovation and everyone was checking in at The Grand Ballroom. As we were early for our check in someone came to take our booking details and soon disappeared. It was like Grand Central Station there and it was hard to identify our check in lady, they were all wearing long grey robes with head coverings and masks. We were told to come back in 2 hours, so we set off to explore and have lunch. It did seem like there was some organisation to the chaos though.

We were given a map and saw how enormous the resort was. We followed the track down to the sea front to have lunch there. There were buggies driving past us every five minutes or so if you didn’t fancy walking.

I did have a few plans of things to see and do but after walking around and seeing the pools and the beach, they were put on the back burner.

There were two pools, one was more set up for children and the other had a swim up pool bar. Surprisingly neither were ever that busy. There were always plenty of sun loungers to be had by the pool and the beach.

Breakfast was served both in the air conditioned Grand Ballroom or outside on a small patio. Both had full buffet service with two egg stations. We tended to linger a fair while over breakfast as it was so relaxing.

Then it was off to find a sun lounger on the beach. It was such a treat to be able to pick and choose where we would like to sit, as there were so many empty spots. We did swim in the sea a few times until we saw a jelly fish sign and did not want to end up at a doctors or in hospital again! So after that we just enjoyed the view and swam in the pool.

The accommodation is comprised of two storey “Kampung” style architecture complete with a deck or balcony. They either have a garden, pool or sea view. We had a garden view with a two minute walk to the pool. There was a small sitting area and enormous bathroom and kingsize bed.

Just opposite our block was a children’s farm and when we walked to breakfast in the morning we could hear turkeys gobbling, geese honking and ducks quacking. There was even a goat. All the grounds were beautifully manicured with blossoming flowers, trimmed hedges and large palm trees giving off plenty of shade. Lizards and squirrels were running around everywhere you looked.

Such a friendly chap, the goat was quite friendly too

The two ornamental lakes in the middle of the resort.

In the evenings we walked into the main drag of Pentai Cenang. Here there were many restaurants, bars and shops. Duty free is very good here also. Our first night we found an Italian/Mexican/Indian combined, a great idea after Covid to save on expenses. Life seemed to be well on the way back to normal and the places on either side of the road were buzzing with life.

One night we ventured further down into Pentai Cenang to a place called The Cliff. An overhanging bar where you could look down on the beach and enjoy a fabulous sunset.

As Malaysia have daylight saving there was still so much activity on the beach at 7.30 pm.

We could enjoy sunset cocktails at the beachside bar at Pelangi Beach Resort also.

We had such a fabulous four days at Pelangi Beach Resort, relaxing and unwinding. Hopefully we won’t be waiting 30 years to return again.

**A bird’s eye view of Pelangi Beach Resort**

Selamet Tinggal, Langkawi

Four Glorious Days in Penang – Day one

Flying from Kuala Lumpur to Penang on Malaysian Airlines took just one hour. Our flight was at 2 pm and we arrived in plenty of time for a change! We printed our own boarding passes and luggage tags and while I attached the tags I asked Anthony to hold the boarding passes along with the peeled off labels. When all was done I asked him for the passes back but he had just promptly walked over to the security desk and handed everything over to be thrown away. Back he went to retrieve them. Just one job was all I said.

For the next four days we were going to be exploring Penang and staying at The Prestige Hotel. Close to all the heritage buildings and many restaurants to indulge in delicious food.

A luxuriously large room with great amenities with robes and slippers! No view to speak of though, oh well can’t have everything. I love the way the toiletries are displayed.

**The Swimming Pool on the 4th floor rooftop – luckily not segregated!**

**Malayan Railway Building from the pool**

After checking in and leaving our bags we had a quick wander around the neighbourhood. As I mentioned before it was a long holiday weekend here and this was in evidence as many places were closed and the streets were empty.

Penang is rich in history and culture and is such a wonderful place to wander around. It is a Unesco Heritage Listed Site. On 11 August 1786, Captain Francis Light of the British East India Company landed in Penang and renamed it Prince of Wales Island in honour of heir to the British throne. Source: Wikipedia. Francis Light is now credited as the founder of Penang.
Many of the buildings are beyond repair now but there are a few that are still resplendent and have been restored and maintained. It seems on looking around that there are buildings under renovation now, even a few with steel girders propping them up.

The buildings below are ones we passed on our walk to dinner.

**Beautifully restored French colonial building**

We decided on a French restaurant that night, I’m not one for spicy foods but I knew tomorrow that it would be Anthony’s turn. The restaurant we chose was called Two Frenchies. Their website states – “Two very good friends who happened to be French . . . and knew nothing about running a restaurant , decided one lazy afternoon that they were going to bring their culture of food to Penang”.

It was all delicious and the service was excellent. The wife of one of the chef’s kept popping by to see if we were enjoying everything.

A fantastic end to our first day in Penang

The Best of Bath, England

Arriving at the “Hampton by Hilton” around 5pm, we searched vainly for a parking spot just to unload the luggage. I knew there wasn’t a carpark but I thought at least there would be a bay to unload, alas no! So after checking in, leaving the car in an unauthorised spot, we were told where the nearest carpark was. Not too far but far enough in the rain. Of course it was one of those carparks that you have to download an app, one which wasn’t available to us with our Google Play registered in Australia! Also these machines didn’t take credit cards, so poor dear husband came trundling back to the hotel looking for coins. Even the hotel reception didn’t have any. So off to the shop across the road he went to find some coins. I tell you what a palaver. As nice as this hotel was, some serious errors have been made in regards to the parking.

We were staying in Bath just for the night to catch up with a very dear friend, one who we hadn’t seen in 12 years. We had a wonderful evening at The Ivy with so much to chat about. The Ivy restaurants are an upmarket chain across the UK and are all beautifully decorated.

After a fantastic night’s sleep in the most comfortable bed we have ever slept in we were ready for a day’s sightseeing.

Some of the books I read last year featured Bath, mostly Georgian romances! Bath was the place to visit for the summer season. As we wandered around Bath I could imagine all the assemblies, tea parties and dinners that took place in the grand old homes that we saw.

I couldn’t say that Bath is a pretty place as most of the buildings are in need of a good wash and then perhaps the beauty of the architecture would show through.

The imposing gothic Bath Abbey, founded in the 7th Century and rebuilt in the 12th and 16th Centuries.

After walking around the town itself we strolled down to the Pulteney Bridge built in 1774. It is a beautiful stone bridge with shops on either side and is a Grade l listed building. The River Avon was in full flow after two major storms and plenty of rain.

Next up on my list of places to see were The Circus and The Royal Crescent, where I imagine all those Georgian heroines were seen swanning about in their frilly gowns and bonnets awaiting their various beaus. If you wanted to see a certain lady you had to leave a calling card at the desired residence, there was no swiping to the left in those days. If a lady was seen stepping out with a man unchaperoned that would be her blacklisted as being loose and immoral. You had one chance and you had better not waste it.

This still looks impressive to this day, imagine how it looked hundreds of years ago with fancy horse and carts and not cars, how much more genteel. A row of 30 houses and one of the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the UK today.

No 1 Royal Crescent is now a museum, sadly closed the day we were there. From the photos I have seen it would have been nice to see inside.

It was now time to head back to car and continue our journey home to Essex. We saw so much in our four days away, it’s surprising how much you can pack into a few hours here and there! We definitely clocked up thousands of steps which I suppose went someway to reducing the calories from all the good food and wine we had consumed.

Caves House, Yallingup, WA For An Overnight Stay

After saying goodbye in Pemberton to our friends Cheryl and Vaughan we drove onto Yallingup for our overnight stay at Caves House. Although we had previously had dinner here we had never stayed. Spending the night is always something I have wanted to do. The inside of Caves House is wonderfully well kept and has some fabulous artwork on the walls. Not only that but there are lovely art deco ornaments decorating tables and fireplaces. The ceilings are adorned with many kinds of light fittings all unusual in their own way.

Reception and Lobby Area

The Wyadup Room

A cosy lounge to relax, mixing the old and new. Where you can sit and enjoy a cocktail or nightcap in front of the roaring fire.

Indijup Room

A casual dining room for larger parties with an open fire, with art deco ornaments on top of the fireplace. A beautiful stained glass parrot light decorates the ceiling.

The Nigligi Room

A wonderful black and white tiled dining room with a 1950’s feel complete with photos of Marilyn Monroe on the walls. Open for breakfast and lunch.

The Yallingup Room

A beautiful dining room decorated with white cane chairs and modern summer themed art on the walls. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

We had dinner at the hotel and had to eat in the lobby area as the Yallingup Room was fully booked. Food is ordered at the counter at the front where there is a casual/sports bar. It is pub food with a variation, as in Curry/Pasta/Fish of the day or otherwise steaks, pizzas and burgers.

Breakfast used to be a buffet but with the outbreak of Covid 19 it is just off the menu.

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Accommodation

We stayed in a Heritage Double room complete with small sitting room and an amazing bathroom. The bed even had a dual fitted electric blanket, great for me who likes a warm bed and hubby who likes it cold!

Coming down for breakfast after a very good night’s sleep

Before setting off back to Perth we had a walk down to Yallingup Beach through the gardens of Caves House.

Changing into his walking shoes sitting in the “boot” of his car

Caves House is a great place to hold a wedding or any kind of reception because of the large rooms for entertaining. Also if you have a special birthday or anniversary. I enjoyed my stay there, it has a friendly and relaxed atmosphere and is within walking distance to a beautiful beach. All in all a five star stay.