Christmas 2024 is going to be a little different.

We usually have a family lunch with the whole family in attendance. Due to growing family size and various commitments its getting harder to arrange one big event. Mum is in an aged care home. Dad is recovering from stomach surgery. So, it’s more feasible to split the group into smaller festivities.

We decided to have a Family holiday in Bali over Christmas and New Year 2024.

My three sons, Mitchell, Anthony, Aidan and his wife Ena joined Jane and I, Bettina and Bianca. The girls’ boyfriends Aonghas (pronounced like Angus) and Aaron also joined making a party of ten.

We all arrived on Christmas Eve and stayed for various lengths. Jane and I (and Bettina and Aonghas) stayed 8 nights, leaving on New Year’s Day. Mitchell was there for five nights, Bianca and Aaron six, while Aidan, Ena and Anthony stayed nine.

We booked Villa Naga Maya in Legian for eight nights. The villa consisted of three buildings surrounding a decent sized pool. The Villa complex had a total of five bedrooms which meant Anthony and Mitchell shared a room. The villa manager added a bed to their bedroom.

Aidan, Ena. Mitchell and Anthony had an early flight and arrived around 8am. The villa management was kind enough to let them check-in as soon as they got there. This was such a useful bonus. No hotels would dream of letting guests check-in that early.

The Villa was quite nice, although a little old showing signs of aging. The pool was big enough for the boys to flex their muscles. The rooms were spacious and clean. They were serviced everyday. The WiFi was quite fast, but struggled to reach the top floors. The shower in Jane and my room was ok, but the others complained the water pressure was not good enough for a good shower. The location was ideal. The best thing about the Villa was the manager Ita. She was attentive and bent over backwards to help us. Allowing early check-in and late check out was very handy.

Jane, Bettina, Aonghas and I arrived about 8.30pm and Bianca and Aaron a couple of hours later. Once we were all there, we went out for the customary Nasi Goreng and Bintang. Sugar Ray’s Bar and Restaurant was the closest so we went there. We had been to Sugar Rays in 2019, to celebrate my sister’s birthday.

Most of the group were tired from the early flight so we retired straight after. Also the next day was Christmas Day!

We woke late and eventually assembled in one of the villas for secret santa gifting. The rules this year was to buy your secret santa an “outfit”. What type of outfit was left to your imagination. As you can see below, some people’s imagination were working overtime. All agreed that Anthony as the “Second Helping” was the winner.

Most of the following days were taken up by Breakfast, Swimming, Napping, Lunch, Drinking, Dinner, Sleeping.

There were some noticeable highlights:

Karaoke:

The girls wanted a Karaoke night and found a place in Kuta: Zero4. As we were yet to have dinner we looked around for a restaurant. Next door was Nasi Tempong Indra. It was huge and packed. We went inside and were shown to a table. We quickly noticed there were no other foreign patrons. This place was for locals, and furthermore was Halal. There were a few frowns when Aidan walked in with an open Bintang. Bettina, Aonghas and Jane decided not to eat there, announcing that we’re all going to contract Bali Belly! A prediction that proved correct, although its unlikely this was the source of the BB. The food was very cheap and quite tasty. It was served with a killer chili sauce that none of us could handle. Looking around, the locals were lapping it up like it was ketchup.

We finished up and went next door to exercise the vocal chords. Everyone took a turn brutalising classic pop songs. It was all good fun with memorable performances:

• Aonghas and Anthony: Waka Waka (This Time for Africa): Shakira
• Aonghas and Aaron: Hips Don’t Lie: Shakira
• Bianca and Bettina: We Are The World

After an hour Mitchell and I couldn’t stand it any longer and headed for home. Mitchell picked up a Martabak Manis from a little stall across the road. The others stayed another hour, but took videos of there performances so Mitchell and I got enjoy it later.

Bali Belly paid a visit:

In my 20 plus visits to Bali I’ve never had the dreaded Bali Belly. Most of our group suffered. I got it on the fourth day. After a night at a Greek Restaurant, Santorini (Seminyak) I felt a little sick. I vomited twice on the walk back to the Villa. I proceeded to poo and spew the whole night. I must point out that Santorini were in no way to blame for the Bali Belly. We couldn’t pin-point the root cause. It seems most likely that the heavy rain in Bali was a factor. As I said we all contracted it, but at different times. For all of us it only lasted 1-2 days and we “worked around” it. Mitchell organised a white water rafting tour, but has to cancel due to insufficient healthy participants.

Four laps:

Aaron was a late addition to the touring party and didn’t make it on the the group chat member list. We joked that he has to “pay the admission fee” which we hastily decided that it was to complete four laps of the pool – underwater. It seemed like an impossible feat, but we continues to goad him into it. Aaron is a fit and competitive guy and took up the challenge – and completed it! Welcome to the chat Aaron.

Boxing Day:

For me Boxing Day is always “Cricket Day”. The traditional MCG test match always starts in 26 December. Starting at 7.30am Bali time, we were up early to Sugar Rays for breakfast. Nineteen year old Sam Konstas was making his debut for Australia which added extra interest. And what a debut! The young man came out all guns blazing targeting world’s current number one bower, Jasprit Bumrah. Konstas hit the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground for a very well made 70 runs. The debut will go down as one of the most exciting in history. The afternoon session as spent in another sports bar Winx. Jane loved the Nasi Goreng there. I wont bore you with too much more cricket, but Australia went on to win the match, going 2-1 up in the series.

New Years Eve:

New year’s Eve is also Jane’s Birthday. She had booked Chez Gado Gado for dinner. It was a nice 15 min walk from our Villa. The plan was to eat there and walk back down the beach watching the fireworks until the midnight countdown. Shortly after we sat down the heavens opened up and it poured. We were hoping the rain wouldn’t put dampener on the celebrations. The staff at Chez Gado Gado was very efficient. We finished at about 9pm, and the rain stopped as well. We made our way back down the beach until we found a free space. Anthony was keen to try the fireworks he’d bought earlier in the day. As fireworks are illegal to own in Australia, this was new and exciting for all of us. After watching some other “experts” on the beach got all the training we needed and it was time to fly. Anthony bought three small and one big roman candle. Each fired eight rockets. It was quite spectacular!

We got back level with our villa as it was still only 10pm. We decided to go back to the Villa for a swim, but come back to the beach for the countdown to midnight.

At 11.30 Anthony Jane and I trekked back to the beach. The other’s were too tired. I’m glad we went. The fireworks were massive! They filled the sky constant – loud – bright. I’d never seen so many explosions in my life. The video below does not do it justice.

Happy New Year everyone!