I’ve been traveling to Bali for 40 years. This is how it’s changed for better and worse

November 19, 2025

Writer Peter Wilmoth has been heading to Bali for over 40 years. In that time, he’s seen Seminyak go from outpost to overtouristed, and watched the last rice paddies in towns disappear.

It’s a warm May evening in 1985 and I’m reading a book outside my losmen (a traditional guesthouse), shared with my friend Matt, no pool, USD$3 per night in Kuta, southern Bali. Clinging to the wall behind me is a gecko in full song. The air is redolent with frangipani, incense from the canang sari palm-leaf baskets placed on the ground as offerings to the gods, my Gudang Garam clove cigarette, and the industrial-strength mosquito repellent covering most of my body.

Read the entire article at adventure.com

RACV Royal Auto

September 2019

Six unforgettable reasons to visit Indonesia’s Spice Islands

There are some places whose very names evoke intrigue, the mythology of history and wonder about their place in the world today. The Spice Islands is one. Its name redolent of the lucrative nutmeg, mace and other spices that once grew exclusively there, this group of islands dotted around the Banda Sea in far-east Indonesia remain as remote, inaccessible and untouched by the modern world as they were in the 1770s when the English and Dutch fought decades-long battles to control that trade.

Read the entire article at www.racv.com.au

RACV Royal Auto

March 2019

Hipster Hong Kong

It was while rifling through 1960s miniature black-and-white photos of Hong Kong families in an “ironic”, kitsch vintage store in the Sham Shui Po district of downtown Kowloon – having just enjoyed a coffee in a “maker space” gallery and bookshop – that I realised I was in hipster heaven, and that Hong Kong seems set to have its unlikely international hipster moment.

Read the entire article at www.racv.com.au

Domain

February 2019

Travel: Luxury at the Mulia in Bali, best enjoyed with a belle or beau

I’m neither one half of a honeymoon couple or a parent with a young family – The Mulia’s main demographics – but being alone among this level of luxury is a wonderful, slightly surreal and possibly awkward experience.

Read the entire article at www.domain.com.au

Good Food

December 2018

The Continental the latest in the grand redevelopment of the Mornington Peninsula

It’s the eve of the summer holiday crush in Sorrento and I am stepping gingerly through the innards of the Continental Hotel. Which is something many of the generation who came of age in the 1980s might have done previously when “The Conti” was a raucous bar and nightclub.

Read the entire article at www.goodfood.com.au

Good Food

September 2018

Espy revival: Meet the team restoring St Kilda’s iconic Esplanade Hotel

In hard hats and high-vis vests and amid the banging, scraping and sanding of a major renovation, Andy Mullins and Doug Maskiell are standing in what was once Alfred Felton’s bedroom at St Kilda’s Esplanade Hotel.

Read the entire article at www.goodfood.com.au

The Weekly Review

February 2017

Getaway: Berkeley River in the remote east Kimberley

Waking up in your villa, having an outdoor shower in the early-morning sun and then wandering out to the deck with a capsule coffee to see the shimmering blue Timor Sea is a spectacular way to start a day.

Finally, after years of hearing about its splendour, I’ve made it to the Kimberley. And I’ve found a magnificent way to do it. Berkeley River Lodge, a luxury resort and my home for four days, sits at the junction of the Timor Sea and the Berkeley River, in the remote east Kimberley.

Read the entire article at www.theweeklyreview.com.au

The Weekly Review

November 2016

The great Boxster escape to Mornington Peninsula

It was a bit like the Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon movie The Trip: two old friends driving (in our case in a new Porsche 718 Boxster) from winery to restaurant, riffing about life, food and wine – three topics with a lot of range.

Read the entire article at www.theweeklyreview.com.au

The Weekly Review

August 2016

Experience tropical cool on a getaway to Bali

It was in Bali while sitting by the pool with a vodka tonic and a lime (50 cents for a good-sized bag of limes) that I read Melbourne was so cold that day you might as well be sitting in your fridge. It was a great line and a sobering reminder of why we had come to Bali for a two-week escape.

Read the entire article at www.theweeklyreview.com.au

The Weekly Review

July 2016

Meet the Melbourne chefs leading Bali’s culinary revolution

It’s Saturday night in Seminyak and the tribes of visitors to Bali are facing the biggest decision of the day: which of the many brilliant restaurants to eat in.

At Movida Bali, Frank Camorra’s newest version of his growing Spanish restaurant empire, diners are settling into their tiger prawns cooked in cider and Lombok soft-shell crab while George Benson’s Give Me the Night plays on the turntable.

Read the entire article at www.theweeklyreview.com.au

The Weekly Review

July 2016

Road trip: Escape to Mt Buller for the weekend

The road trip is half the fun.

That’s what the girls said anyway as we loaded up our car for the weekend, a sleek new Infiniti QX70, and hit the Hume Highway heading to Mt Buller for the opening weekend.

The girls programmed the Bluetooth for some tunes and settled in for the excitement of heading back to Melbourne’s favourite mountain.

Read the entire article at www.theweeklyreview.com.au

The Weekly Review

June 2016

Enjoy the ultimate spa retreat country getaway in Hepburn Springs

It might have been on my second pinot while gazing from my balcony over the little township of Hepburn Springs on an autumnal Friday evening that I realised fully why so many people from Melbourne have moved here. It is a stunning part of Victoria, and just an hour-and-a-half’s drive away.

Read the entire article at www.theweeklyreview.com.au

The Weekly Review

February 2016

Mornington Peninsula: Road trip to relaxation

There is something deeply appropriate about hitting the highway in a stylish new Mercedes GLC 250d and heading for one of Victoria’s most stylish wineries, Crittenden Estate at Dromana, which was also our digs for the night.

Read the entire article at www.theweeklyreview.com.au

The Weekly Review

October 2014

Getaway: Orpheus Island

Orpheus Island – even the name conjures the exotic and luxurious. And it is, but it’s much more. The product is just like it says on the box – white beaches (a dramatic tide reveals quite a bit of the seabed each day), clear blue water, palm trees and a very large dose of serenity.

Read the entire article at www.theweeklyreview.com.au

Traveller

September 2014

Falls Creek Victoria: How to Do a Ski Trip with Teenage Kids

I found a way to sit with my teenage son and (almost) teenage daughter and talk to them for 11 hours about a wide range of topics with no hand-held device involved. I know, you’re thinking - how did I do that? Here’s how: pack a car with warm clothes, hop into it at 4.20am and drive towards Falls Creek.

Read the entire article at www.traveller.com.au

The Sun-Herald Traveller

August 2013

Bali’s New Wave Chefs

What are the odds? You go to Bali to discover how Australians are transforming the island with their fine food, energetic hospitality and hip bars, and you’re match-fit for the big nosh-up when you’re felled by the band of pain across the top of the stomach known to generations of Australians as Bali belly.

Read the entire article at www.smh.com.au

Australian Gourmet Traveller

June 2011

Wanaka Wonderland

Luxury digs, an open fire, a glass of organic pinot noir, lamb rack with artichoke purée… the après-ski action in New Zealand’s Wanaka is just as exciting as the skiing.

Read the entire article at www.gourmettraveller.com.au

The Weekly Review

December 1 – 7, 2010

Heaven Sent

As you float in Trisara’s 45-metre pool on the edge of the sea, or have your second latte while watching the small waves crash on the white sands or retire to your private villa and read a book while ordering lunch, it strikes you: Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Gos was right. Heaven really is a place on Earth.

Read the entire article at www.theweeklyreview.com.au

The Weekly Review

September 22 – 28, 2010

Bali’s Posh Nosh

When I first went to Bali in 1983, most meals were had in small warungs for a few dollars. No budgets were blown, but minds weren’t either. There were few fine-dining experiences. Twenty-five years later, eating on the island is one of the great joys. The fine dining on Bali is now an attraction for people who want a relaxing holiday with great food.

Read the entire article at www.theweeklyreview.com.au

The Weekly Review

September 15 – 21, 2010

First Resort

Like most Melburnians at the end of August, a slightly pallid Peter Wilmoth needed to thaw out. So, taking pity on him, The Weekly Review ordered him to fly to Hamilton Island to do some good old-fashioned reporting. Oh, and lying in the sun.

Read the entire article at www.theweeklyreview.com.au

Australian Gourmet Traveller

2012 Australian Restaurant Guide