The Star: September 21, 2017

38 Thursday September 21 2017
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
The Star
Travel
Gated paradise has much to offer
•From page 37
With 393 rooms colourfully
designed in traditional Balinese
style, across five buildings, accommodation
spans three categories
– club, deluxe and suites,
fresh from a major makeover. Balinese
motifs of gold, wood, stone
and soft red paintwork celebrate
the sense of place.
Suites boast acres of space with
a separate living area and supersized
bathtubs. All accommodations
feature a lounge area and
furnished terrace or balcony with
day bed. The air-con is great if
the weather gets steamy, you’ve
got free wifi, a complimentary
mini-bar, cable TV and a beautifully
appointed bathroom with
rain shower.
Like Nusa Dua itself, Club Med
is a sprawling and manicured
place, far removed from the
hustle and chaos of Bali’s choked
streets.
The lawns and gardens are
impeccably maintained, bursting
with tropical foliage, from the
blaze of bougainvillea and birds of
paradise to the fragrant radiance
of the ginger plants.
My runaway Club Med highlight
was the aptly-named Zen
pool. This multi-tiered hideaway
is an adults-only, quiet-zoned
watery sanctuary.
SANCTUARY: Club Med Bali has many quiet-zoned areas.
A triumphant celebration of
luxury tropical tranquillity, the
tinkling water feature feeding into
the sky-blue pool, wrapped in
hanging day beds, was my kind
of perfect. Order up a drink and
soak up the serenity.
Club Med Bali lays its on thick
with activity offerings. Families
swoon over the smorgasbord of
Kids’ Club activities, which are
tailored to all junior guests, from
babies to 17-year-olds. There’s
kayak lessons, Balinese cooking
classes, craft sessions, treasure
hunts, pool games … all bases are
covered.
For kids and adults alike, the
on-site Trapeze School is an
incredible spectacle, bringing
your inner-circus fantasies to life.
But the full-tilt entertainment
extravagance climaxes every night
around 9pm with Showtime.
The main pool and stage roll
out a nightly production ranging
from a Balinese cultural show
and water ballet to an exuberant
Wizard of Oz performance.
Spilling out on to sun-kissed
Nusa Dua Beach, with loungers
and day beds at your disposal, I
loved watching the local fisherman
haul in a fresh catch, at
twilight, from a surging water
channel that intersects with the
deep ocean.
It’s also a dreamy spot to catch
a sunrise, join a day-break yoga
session or marvel over the locals’
PLUSH: Accommodation at Club Med Bali.
ginormous kites.
Fringing the beach, a gorgeous
public boardwalk shadows Nusa
Dua’s coastline, weaving past all
of the area’s resort hotels and
ending up at the fantastic
shopping precinct, The Bali
Collection.
As much as Nusa Dua is a gated
community of holiday resorts,
if you want to immerse yourself
in the region’s riches, Club Med
offers a wide platter of excursions
you can book.
But with everything laid on,
many guests, particularly families,
seemed more than content to fly
and flop for a week, during my
visit to this ravishing Bali resort.
www.clubmed.co.nz
FAST FACTS
•I travelled from
Christchurch to Bali, via
Brisbane, with Virgin
Australia. Enjoy specially
curated menus, wireless
entertainment, spacious
seating and sparkling
service. Resident chef, Luke
Mangan, oversees topnotch
in-flight meal options,
across all classes. If you
crave extra legroom along
with priority boarding and
preferred overhead locker
space, Economy X is just
the ticket. Grab a great deal
and seat to suit at www.
virginaustralia.com
ARA Bachelor
of Midwifery
New midwife, Becky Bangma, is
excited about her career, but as
a mother of three young children,
she knows it’s important to
balance her new job with family
time.
Midwives have the privilege of helping
women bring their babies into the world,
however working to nature’s timetable also
means being on call 24/7.
So Becky and her colleague, a fellow
Bachelor of Midwifery at Ara Institute of
Canterbury graduate, have teamed up to
cover each other as necessary and take
alternate weekends off.
The arrangement works. Becky has
supported over 15 women through births
this year as part of the community-based
practice where she works. She sees women
from as early as from pre-conception
through to six weeks after the birth. It’s
hugely rewarding, she says.
“It’s not a job for people who simply like
babies because the main part of midwifery
is supporting women; babies are just a small
part of it.
“I love seeing families being created. With
first babies, there is a transformation of a
woman into a mum. They can go from being
quite shy to blossoming and becoming more
confident.”
A former beauty therapist of some seven
years, Becky looked for a new direction
after her third child. “I always enjoyed
working with women, however I really only
considered midwifery when I had my own
children and I supported my sister in law
with her first birth.”
She wondered if she was “too old” to return
to study. “My own midwife encouraged me
to go for it,” she says.
To prepare for the Bachelor of Midwifery,
Becky enrolled in the Certificate in Pre
Health also at Ara. Studying was challenging
with three young children, she says, but she
had the support of her tutors, husband and
family to achieve her goal and start her new
career.