👩‍🦰 Bali Bali Bali! Such a beautiful spot, but as an Aussie (particularly one living on the West Coast) we often take it for granted because of how close it is and how cheap it is. Add to that the fact that it’s always full of Western Australians…

Both Aaron and I had been to Bali before, but we decided to head off for Aaron’s birthday and check out some new spots that neither of us had visited before. We stayed at the swanky Courtyard Marriott in Seminyak, in a room with a balcony overlooking the beautiful pool area. Honourable mention goes to the most extensive breakfast buffet I’ve ever seen.

As soon as we’d dropped our luggage, we made a beeline for the pool and grabbed ourselves a bevvy. It was here that I made a very foolish mistake. While Aaron was drinking a Bintang I said he should try and drink 100 Bintangs during the trip, and threw out the name 100 Bingtangs of Bali in jest. Needless to say he did not require convincing…

It became very popular on Aaron’s socials for the 7 days that we spent here, with his pisshead mates all encouraging him to keep at it. Surely enough he got there - begrudgingly - in the end. Number 100 was downed at the airport just before take-off in the nick of time… By the end of it he was so sick of Bintang, but it became fun for both of us trying to come up with cool spots to take the photo and funny ways to caption them.

The next day we headed to La Plancha, an Insta-worthy location for sure! This bar on the beach has colourful beanbags underneath equally colourful umbrellas and is a perfect spot for a meal and drinks while watching the sunset. It gets very busy but the vibe there is great, even if you aren’t keen to hop in the water.

That night we visited Frankenstein’s Laboratory, a themed cabaret show and restaurant/bar. They had special FX makeup artists there giving people gaping wounds, scars and bloody injuries, which was a really nice addition. Remember how I said Bali is always full of WA people? Well, we actually ran into someone I knew through work! Not bad eats there either and a really fun atmosphere.

We had a cruisy day after yesterday’s jam-packed one. In the evening we watched the sunset go down at Rock Bar (in the gorgeous AYANA Resort, definitely a location on the list for a future visit) which was spectacular. Yes it’s pricey, but it’s worth a visit just for those views.

We couldn’t leave Bali without doing some shopping. We got our hands on some awesome 69SLAM swimwear for a boat trip planned the day after, then in the evening we hit up Taco Beach Grill for some seriously delicious eats. On our walk to the restaurant we decided to incorporate some funky statues we found into Aaron's #100BintangsOfBali challenge and had so many laughs while imitating the statues. Wwe weren’t the only ones laughing, people walking by were in on it too .

The boat trip the next day took us to Nusa Lembongan Island (Aaron said “It’s the Lembongani of islands 🚘”) …ew Aaron, no! Anyway, we spent the day swanning about in our matching swimwear and drinking Bintangs under a bridge over the pool (well, only one of us did that). It’s a beautiful island, however if you’re looking for an activity-packed day, this isn’t the place for you - there’s really not much to actually ‘do’ there. When we arrived back at the mainland we hit up Bubba Gumps for dinner and ate until we were fit to burst. The food is average but it’s a bit of a rite of passage, I guess.

The next day was Aaron’s birthday day, yay! We made our way to the stunning Karma Kendara Resort which has its own private beach, absolutely beautiful. For Aaron’s birthday, I booked this most amazing fancy dinner experience at a resort. We set off (1.5 hours drive each way) only to get there and find out that I had booked the wrong date - our dinner date wasn’t until tomorrow night. I was so embarrassed/sad I wanted to cry because I’d messed up Aaron’s birthday night, but he was such a trooper about it, and I like to think that the dinner itself was worth it the next night.

We checked out The Plantation Grill in Seminyak instead and it was great. It’s one of the most decadent dining experiences in Bali. Seated at a gorgeous leather booth, the food and the service was phenomenal.

Finally the next night we headed back to the Kamandalu Resort for Aaron’s (now belated) birthday surprise. It was probably the most romantic place I've ever seen. The whole resort was a fairytale and I’d love to stay there sometime, but the dinner itself was on a private deck, with a 6 course meal that included beautiful live music. We released doves with our names on it, but much like its namesake the Aaron dove saw something shiny and flew away too early because he was distracted! It was honestly magical and worth every cent.

Bali is the kind of place that people either seem to love or hate. I'll admit that the poverty can be a bit confronting - on my first visit the taxi we were in stopped at a set of lights in the early hours of the morning and a boy that couldn't have been older than 6 knocked on the window, begging for money. People will constantly come up to you in the streets begging, the streets are dirty, the houses are run down, and the water from the tap will make you sick.

All of that aside, the Balinese are some of the friendliest, funniest and most welcoming people that you'll meet. Travel outside of the tourist traps and you'll find natural landscapes that will take your breath away (and hopefully run into less Australians haha!). If a trip to Bali isn't on your bucket list, it should be.