So to show you where we stayed this time here’s the map. You can see here at Alantara Sanur we are much further inland and on the other side of the bigass highway which is not a fun process to cross. Price wise it was comparable to smaller places closer to the beach which surprised me….but no resort features so I see the trade off.
We are about a 10 min grab ($3) or shuttle (free from hotel) ride from the centre. The biggest issue here has been that while the villa is beautiful there is very little that’s walkable nearby. Most warungs are either closed now or just food carts and I prefer refrigeration. It’s also a good 20 min walk to the beach.
We did grab ($2.5) to Naughty Nuri’s to give it a go for the first time. Food was great! Prices are what you expect for a tourist focused place.
On day 2 we walked up to one of the only open nearby places called men’s shed. Pretty much what you expect from the name lol…old Aussie white dude runs it, lots of western food and white dudes inside. Beer was well priced and good music though!
Day 3 we did some pool lazing (still love the private pool) then caught the hotel shuttle into the beach area and had dinner and drinks on the beach at the Tree Bar. Definitely more my vibe.
We move to a much more central (and expensive!) location for the rest of this trip now but I don’t think I would stay here again. The distance from the centre and the highway didn’t work for us even with the private pool and villa. It was a good test of preferences and priorities!
Peak period on Wadjemup (Rottnest island) is Dec – Feb so we initially had no chance at accomodation…but by going on a Thursday night, the day after school started I snagged a unit for 1 night at Geordie Bay.
We caught the 8am Rottnest express ferry from Northport (the best departure point if you have a car) and also added our own bikes on for $20 each. I wore a scopolamine patch and had no nausea at all
The trip is 30 mins direct but took a bit longer for us as we went via the B sheds for another pick up. It all works very smoothly with BYO bike and they load/unload it for you. As my bike is an ebike the battery mist be removable and carried as hand luggage…and the bike mist weigh under 22kgs.
When we arrived we started off on our 26km ride around the entire island. We saw some beautiful beaches.
We also saw one of the NZ fur seals waving at everyone in the water! After a brief lunch break we rode back to the settlement and collected our unit keys. We stayed at Geordie Bay with a beautiful ocean view.
For dinner we walked 1.5kms from Geordie Bay to Pinky’s. The food was very underwhelming (especially for the bonkers pricing) but there were lots of quokkas around…even baby ones.
We walked back and watched the sunset from our balcony with some cheese and snacks from the IGA near our unit.
Checkout is 9am on the island so we were up fairly early. We returned the keys then rode up to the Oliver Hill Gunnery.
We declined the paid tour and instead decided to go back down the hill for a swim at The Basin. Just as we were about to get in the chopper started hovering over and the shark siren went off…apparently there was a 3.5m Tiger shark just offshore. After awhile we were allowed in again. I stayed close to sure because it got very deep, very fast. It was quite rough in the water…I do miss the calm ocean bays in Thailand.
We saw soooo many cute quokkas! It was Joey season as well…babies!
Having not been to Rottnest for a long time (25+ years) I think staying overnight was worth it. No rush back to the ferry and it meant we were there for dusk when lots of quokkas come out to play. One night would definitely be sufficient if you make sure your days are longer on either side.
Following our draculas evening adventures we started day 3 with a sleep in. Then icecream for breakfast. We walked down the main stretch of Surfers and saw some very interesting characters.
From there we headed to the Gold Coast institution of Ripleys believe it or not – we chose to do the mirror maze and the museum. The mirror maze was trippy! And I struggled haha.
The museum was super interesting and a lot bigger than it was when I came here 20 years ago. B had never been before and found it interesting. The newer art section was cool!
We walked back along the beach and then had an afternoon rest. 6 weeks of travel is catching up with me and I’m starting to feel very run down with a sore throat. The sunset on the beach as we walked 5 mins back into Surfers Paradise central area to have laksa at Yum Cha Noodle Haus was beautiful.
Day 4
Movie World today! The website says the gates open at 9:30am but as we learnt on Saturday that’s a bit of a fib and it’s actually 10am. We also had a lot of trouble working out how to get there and back. Movie world is a 30min drive out of surfers but it’s a multi train / bus trip on public transport. The con-X-tion shuttles are the same price as an Uber and you’re locked into specific times. So we decided to Uber which was $40 there and $53 return.
Sadly, movie world was a bit of a disappointment. Nearly all the adults rides were closed with only the hyper coaster, super man roller coaster and batman jet drop thing operating. We went on both rollercoasters.
We also waited all day for the Wild West ride to open (it’s opening soon everyone, we promise x 57 times) but no luck. We got in at 10am and honestly we could have left at midday easily….like I said – disappointing. If I had known it would be so bad I would have also done dreamworld on the same day.
Dinner was at Montezuma’s Mexican around the corner from the hotel which was average. The $10 margaritas were good though.
Home time tomorrow! I am so ready for my own bed after almost 6 weeks of travelling. And to see my fur babies.
We enjoyed our last two days here by doing very little. One thing I have found hard in An Bang is because the heat and humidity are so high – and the UV index is 9/10 most days – we don’t venture out during the day too much. This is standard weather for July. In Thailand and Indonesia, I would lay on a beach chair all day but here…it really is just too hot. Apparently this is what it’s like all year round aside from the typhoon/rainy season. We are thinking we might try in March where allegedly it’s cooler? Still just as humid though. I love the food but the heat and intensity of the sun is just….a lot. Even for an Aussie! I firmly cemented this today by dozing off on a pool lounge for half an hour and not realising the shade moved. I made it 22 days with no sunburn and now I am a toasty-red, peeling lobster.
The beach is very rough here as well and not something I would feel confident swimming in most of the time. Still beautiful though.
We finished our holiday with a few visits to our favourite local place as well as some amazing seafood at A Bang Beach Village last night.
Things I have learnt on my first Vietnam trip:
Vietnamese people freaking love karaoke. I had no idea! I never expected to be on a relaxing Mekong delta boat ride while listening to karaoke from a nearby three story karaoke lounge
The tonal change for thank you and shut up is very minor. Same for pho and hooker. Eek…we avoided both words lol
I didn’t research food at all and have eaten so many delicious things! I didn’t know every single town/area has its own “regional specialties” and have loved trying them all as we moved around. I think my favourite food was the Mi Quang noodles we had in Da Nang at the Michelin Recommended place….and my daily Bahn Mi from the very local Lucky Restaurant in An Bang where I got to pat the cute baby and see grandma every day
there are dogs EVERYWHERE here. Most are pets although there are a few strays…everyone pats all the dogs and most of the restaurant owners feed the strays so they are a bit chonky. We also saw so many dogs on scooters including a german shepherd and a golden retriever both being exercised by the owner on a scooter 😂
My SIL warned us we had to be a rock in the stream of traffic and let it flow around us. This worked well in Saigon but as we went further up we discovered there were less and less “rules”. I actually preferred Saigon traffic even if I did make a high pitched panicked sound every time we crossed the road
B says I have to add the coffee is delicious. And that egg coffee sounds weird but is a tasty snack
I am definitely not cut out for this level of humidity and heat. Phew. The day we climbed the damn pagoda (700 stairs) in 40C heat at 90% humidity was definitely my undoing.
Today was a designated rest day which meant lunch at a local family owned restaurant called Lucky’s. Great food and prices about 3 mins walk from our hotel! The Bahn Mi was about $1.20 AUD and the pineapple smoothie was $2 AUD.
After lunch we read some books and then floated around in the hotel pool during happy hour. Happy hours in Vietnam are amazing – they range anywhere from 1 – 7 hours haha.
Dinner was at another local place call Passion Restaurant, this time we had mains of Bahn Xeo and Chicken Rice. Plus two cocktails and two beers which came to a grand total of…$18 AUD.
Day 15
We were supposed to attend a local cooking school on Day 15 but my little swollen feeties weren’t up for the challenge. Instead, we had a leg massage which really helped with the fluid in my ankles. Then we visited Phuong’s Beach Cafe for lunch where we enjoyed lemongrass chicken and a local dish Cau Lau. Phuongs is to the far left of An Bang Beach and comes highly recommended by expats in the area. You can also use the beach chairs as long as you buy something but the humidity and UV index is way too hot for us, even in the shade.
After lunch it was nap time before happy hour and pool swimming at the hotel. We then watched a beautiful sunset on the beach along with half of Vietnam 😂
Dinner was at purple lantern which was a little bit too touristy for us…yummy seafood though.
Day 16
Breakfast today was at Lucky’s where B finally got to try his pancakes. He’s been hanging out for these for a few days!
I had a few hours work to do in relation to grant applications so I knocked that off while B watched tv eps. We also changed rooms at Aira Boutique today as the noise levels have been….a lot…at night. I’ve been making a fuss (who…me?) about it each day. It’s not getting any better though which is interesting. They really wanted me to remove my 1 star review….
Then it was happy hour and pool time again! We drank lots of mojitos with belgiums, NZs and aussies before dinner at Nya Hung nearby.
Tomorrow we are off to Da Nang for two nights to avoid a giant beach rave taking place on An Bang Beach which will be a nice change of pace.
We headed of for the drive to Hoi An (on the central coast of Vietnam) at around 8:30am. The drive included stops on the top of cloudy Hai Van pass and Lang Co white-sand beach.
We arrived in Hoi An Ancient Town around lunchtime and Mr Hung took us on a short walk to visit a 400 year old Japanese Bridge, a 300 year old Chinese temple and a 200 year old Vietnamese former merchants’ house. We also had lunch at a popular local eatery Bahn Mi Phuong which was delicious but also full of westerners.
After the walk we drove the 4kms to A Bang Beach and our hotel Aira Boutique. This is our base for the final 10 nights of our stay in Vietnam and from here we will explore Hoi An, Da Nang, Marble Mountains, Son Tra, some local homestay activities…and have some “do nothing” days of beachside relaxation too! We went to the beach at 3pm and it was empty but by 5pm it was flooded with locals. It was absolute madness!
Woohoo we are off to Vietnam for a few weeks in June/July. Our itinerary is roughly:
We are going south to north, then backtracking to a little more central for the last week so we can enjoy some beach time relaxation.
We looked into intrepid again which is who we travelled with throughout Europe. We opted not to go with them for a few reasons but one of the main ones was with my back issues as bad as they are, a group tour wish other people limits my options around resting or rescheduling things. Instead we have paid a little more and we are going with a bespoke tour company. They create an itinerary with us, book all accomodation, provide drivers and guides but as we are on our own there is lots of flexibility. It also meant I got to choose nicer hotels for the same price intrepid charge.
Finally, we are going to one bag this trip. Yep. 24 days with one bag under 7kg each and I have to take a laptop within that range. Eeeeek. I’ve been researching a lot around clothing types as it’s going to be hot, humid and in the south extremely wet. I love cotton but it just would not dry the last time we were in SE Asia.
Current staple items are:
For shirts, it’s Merino wool and tencil blends around the 125 weight. These are quite common in Australia and it means you get all those nice merino benefits but have extra strength and softness from tencil. These are so lightweight they do dry very fast despite being wool. Brands who sell this weight are icebreaker, paire and sometimes merino country.
Shoes have been quite the adventure. In the end I’m taking keen Rose sandals which have good arch support, can be worn swimming, good airflow and have a toe cover/guard. I’m taking these instead of sneakers. I’ll also take a slip on, very flat pair of thongs or slides
Pants/skirts wise, I tried merino and it didn’t work for me. Linen and cotton take forever to dry and merino dresses tend to be heavier weight so water is an issue there as well, I’ve settled on tech fabrics for bottom half clothing. I am currently wearing my title 9 slaycation capris all the time and they do an amazing job of comfort, quick dry and sun protection. I also purchased my first ever ripskirt along with an Eddie Bauer lilac travel tank dress. All can be mixed and matched with my tops!
Bathers/underweae: taking monte and Lou two piece bikini set with me alongside the ripskirt and a sun cover up. For undies it’s exofficio briefs as they dry fast with a few pairs of the airism men’s boxers for sleep time. I have two merino bras now that I really like and they will be coming along. One is the baa bra from merino country and the other is the new icebreaker racerback crop which is the first merino bra that brand has made with medium support vs low.
This is our second year visiting Hamelin Bay over the new year period! Once we got the first booking in a 6 sleeper ocean cabin we have been able to adjust it for the year following and are hoping to adjust again for next year…. now that we are one of the in crowd with a repeated booking! The first year we got 2 nights mid January through the public ballot, this year we got 6 nights early January and next year I’m hoping to stay over new years.
We drove down on Day 1 via Ranger Redz Zoo in Pinjarra. I had bought the kiddos animal experiences for Christmas as they were moving house so didn’t need yet more crap to stockpile and we had booked the “treetastic tour” with sugar gliders, squirrel gliders and possums! The zoo were also very nice and let us sneak a 5th person in so B didn’t have to miss out like he usually does for stuff with the kids haha. The experiences was AWESOME and although the zoo is small it’s worth a visit. Note there is no food on site but the Pinjarra Bakery is only a 2 min drive away.
We arrived in Hamelin bay around 4pm and then proceeded to go on a scavenger hunt left by friends who had stayed in the same cabin 2 weeks before! The kids enjoyed finding the clues although did brute force the cypher…finding things is more exciting than solving them apparently.
We then visited the famous sting rays, watched a movie and had an early night after a long day.
Day 2 started with a sleep in and then a trip to Cosy Corner beach. The wind and climb down are a bit nuts here…poor me trying to climb back up an insanely steep sand dune! The beach scenery is spectacular though.
It was very windy with rough conditions not suitable for the kids to swim so we did some exploring and then headed back to the car. Last year we had lunch at Hamelin Bay Winery and it was very quiet so we thought to do the same this year…to discover they were completely booked out! We stopped for a drink instead and made a note to book next year before having lunch at the Karridale Tavern instead. Wifi was enjoyed by all.
The afternoon saw us head back to no wifi/phone reception at the cabin and attempt the first use of our cool cabana on the windy beach. Overall opinion: It lives up to the hype. Hamelin Bay is a very windy area and the cabana coped well and did not fly away….although it is definitely not a one person set up in wind. It also packed away easily.
Dinner was sausages and kebabs on the BBQ (with wine for adults) and some Cards Against Humanity family edition as well as taco, cat, goat, cheese, pizza. Both were winners but the youngest in our group was definitely a fan of all the butt references in CAH haha.
This Thailand trip was 9 days all up and I only took a 7kg nag plus personal item. My bag is a rolling suitcase (carry on size) as I struggle with backpacks due to spinal issues. I have just ordered a similar sized bag with wheels and backpack straps…the goal is to wheel it 95% of the time but have a back up plan as well for next time. Below are some comments on what I took and how it went…feel free to learn from my mistakes!
Original 1.8kg case for this trip:
New one with laptop sleeve, wheels and handle and backpack straps for the few occasions wheels may not be my friend. This one weights a tiny bit more than the suitcase (2kg) but is actually slightly larger if you consider litre capacity a useful metric.
Things I will definitely change next time:
Must sort out the pants / skirt situation. Need something quick dry but still nice! People keep saying cotton and linen as it is cooler but…monsoonal rain is an issue as nothing will dry
About to do a test run on a 125gsm merino / tencil blend top from icebreaker and also looking further into what combos of Airism singlets and an over shirt I can do. Cotton tops were good because I could wash them locally however the sweat and water retention was real
A bra is an issue. I need one…but they get so sweaty!
Teva sandals are the bomb. They are a definite win! My tropicfeel sunset sneakers were a great idea – quick dry, water flows through, excellent grip, super light but the lack of ankle support means they are unstable. Apparently croc literiders have all of the above plus proper foot support.
CARRY ON SUITCASE 1 x loose cotton pants (black) – way too hot, turned out I’m an idiot and these were not cotton but 100% cheap polyester…I won’t make that mistake again! 2 x linen blend skorts (floral) – excellent to wear, comfortable and looked nice but heavy and hard to dry after caught in rain 1 x midi skirt (colourful) – for fancy dinner. I wouldn’t bring this again, the place we were going to had a strict dress code though
**I need comfy pants to wear that are also easy to dry but don’t swish! Argh. Trialling two things in the coming weeks – travel skorts and title nine capris
3 x cotton tank top with built in bra – would not dry, no good in rain or when sweating like mad 1 x crop top (polyester) – too hot, insane sweat 1 x long flowy singlet (white) – matched pretty skirt, would not bring unless fancy dinner
** the shirt situation is an issue. Currently leaning towards merino / tencil crops with a white over shirt (Eddie Bauer departure shirt L) to control modesty and sun exposure. Also doubles as a sun cover up
3 x Airism travel undies- quick dry was amazing. Yes they get sweaty but then you wash them in the sink and 3hrs later they are dry 2 x pj merino undies – would not dry, this was a fail in a humid climate. I can’t sleep in normal undies and need something with a longer leg cut. Hubby pointed out they make men’s boxer briefs in airism fabric at Uniqlo – duh! These are great and I have been comfortably wearing them at home for a few weeks now 1 x pj merino singlet – excellent purchase, wore to bed 10 days with minimal smell 1 x cotton pj 3/4 pants with pockets – if I can get proper pj shorts/long enough undies I won’t need these next time. 2 x sneaker sockettes – once wet these were useless. Need to reconsider sneaker options
1 x bikini set – 2 sets of bathers was good as ladies stuff tends not to be quick dry 1 x one piece bathers 1 x swim shirt /dress cover up – used at beach a few times and around resort but being cotton, this also took ages to dry. Will think carefully about this next time but I do love that it can convert to a dress and has huge pockets
1 x teva hurricane 2 travel sandals – excellent
Paclite cross body bag – excellent purchase, light but as it is cross body I felt secure with it Cheap Sunnies Packed toiletries (non liquid): hairbrush, hair ties/scrunchies, laundry bag, Medications travel container International adaptor Travel Hair straightener (weighs 200g)
MINI BACKPACK PERSONAL ITEM
charger pack including multi head cable, iPad connector for tv
Plane clothes: merino loose lounging pants , bra, merino tshirt, tropic feel sunset sneakers, 1x thicker socks, merino light jumper – i swear by all of this 100% merino stuff on planes! Doesn’t smell, is comfortable and adjusts from hot plane walk to freezing cold plane air easily.
We are going to try and do 7kgs carry on for 4 weeks mid next year in a similar hot, wet, humid climate. This was be interesting trial so was a good first run.
On day 7 we visited L’Arome by the Sea which is Michelin recommended fine dining location in Kathu (10 min taxi ride from Patong). It’s not a cheap experience but we have dined in places similar to this in other countries too, so we were prepared for sticker shock.
We had the nine course degustation with paired wines. The French food with a Phuket twist was amazing with only a few other couples in the restaurant. Definitely a romantic / couples vibe.
The view was also pretty next level.
Our last few days were spent visiting lots of food places in the markets, laying down at the beach or laying on our day bed next to the pool. We also visited Bangla Road for some people watching in the pouring rain one night which is always good fun.
I also got a photo with this super smiley beach attraction haha.
See you again soon (I hope! ) Thailand. Next stop….Vietnam somewhere in the middle of the year. I’m going to do a separate post about my one bag attempt for this trip as well.
Mel's Travel Blog 