Bali Festival held their inaugral event on the Western Foreshore in Mandurah from the 2nd to the 6th of April. Stretched over 5 days, it sounded like it was going to be a huge event! Unfortunately, they took artistic licence with the name and it was not as advertised…there didn’t appear to be anything remotely Bali-themed there, it was just a couple of food trucks, stalls and a makeshift bar and stage area, far too much space for the area that it occupied. It looked very empty.

Without getting into the nitty gritty of all the post-event dramas surrounding refunds and claims of false advertising, we actually had a lot of fun. We hired some kayaks from Kayaks 4 U and - after the very chatty man behind the counter finally let us go haha - we went for a paddle around the canals with the two mates that we went with. We even saw a Mama dolphin and her baby, and took a quick dip after we made it back to shore, a great way to kill an hour.

We didn’t actually spend all that much time in the designated Bali Fest area. We grabbed a quick drink and some (pretty average) food from the food trucks then headed back out to King Carnival, a permanent fixture with carnival rides, mini golf and more. We laughed our butts off flying around on the Tilt A Whirl as the gravity kept forcing Aaron into me, squishing me against the side of the railing, and the faces of terrified kids on the ride were priceless! We took a spin on the Ferris wheel, which has such a pretty view over the water.

Probably the only ‘Bali’ thing about the whole event was the excessive amounts of Bintang that the boys consumed! I stuck to unicorn slushy deliciousness and regretted the sugar overload immediately haha!

When we saw that they were issuing refunds we discussed whether we should ask for one, as the event definitively was not as advertised…But knowing that they were donating to charity and the fact that we still had a great time - even though the fun was mostly unrelated to the Bali Fest itself - meant that I was more than happy to just leave it be. Yes it was disappointing and I can see why people were mad about it, but I also think people need to learn how to make their own fun! We still had a really enjoyable day and I’m glad that the festival took us down there for a bit of kayaking and carnival fun.