Island hopping...

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It always surprises me about how much I can do in a couple of weeks here. I've decided work is really an inconvenience to me and all my activities, perhaps I shouldn't do it anymore in a permanent basis? Hilka and I arrived in Gili Trawagen after possibly the most traumatic 30min boat journey of my life. The water was really choppy and at one point the water was coming in the very basic wooden boat. I just kept thinking its Ok I have my 2 mile swimming badge so worse case scenario I could swim it or do my mushroom float. Fortunately, I wasn't having as bad a time as the young Indonesian couple opposite me who took it in turns to throw up throughout the journey. God knows what they had eaten as it was bright pink?! I felt like such a Mum as I gave them some wet wipes to help clean themselves up. Once we got our place to stay priority one was to find some junk to eat and we really craved pizza and nachos as we had definitely earnt them after our trek.


Whilst on the island I really wanted to do my Open Water Scuba Diving qualification which means I could dive to 18m anywhere in the world. After booking the course ready for the following morning, I felt it was only right to have a pedicure and massage. I really did need it as I was walking side ways up steps from the trekking. Oh and a stop at the doctors - £30 and a good clean out to remove half the mountain from my ankle cuts plus a side order of oral and cream based antibiotics I was good to go. Perhaps should have just done that straight away?! (You'll be pleased to know thats the end of the ankle updates as they are all fixed now. Thank goodness!!)

I started the PADI course on Monday and after a lot of theory we finally got onto the good stuff on Wednesday - my first dive in the ocean. I had to complete two 12m dives and two 18m dives which had various drills to undertake such as changing breathing apparatus with your buddy in case you run out of oxygen etc. I was blown away by what I saw under the water, It was like I had arrived in Finding Nemo/someone had gone crazy underwater with a neon paint. The colours of some fish and coral were the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Several times I felt myself just disappear into a completely different mindset. I stopped thinking and just really felt the moment and sheer beauty of what was in front of me. Everytime I got out the water I was on a complete high from what I had been privileged enough to see. In a weird way I felt quite emotional that some people will never get to experience what I just had. My highlight was the turtle I saw which my instructor thought was over 100 years old. We swam really close to him as he wasn't fazed by us at all. Incredible.

The island we are on is really small but very beautiful with some amazing scenery. Hilka and I would get up and walk around the island each morning which took just over an hour. I ran around it as well but nearly threw up as I left too late (7am) and it was already about 30c. The island had some really good places to eat including a night market which was full of local food stands. You would pick your stand which included things such as satay chicken, bbq fish, nasi campur, soups and for desert some yummy pancake style treats. You would just get your food then head to the big benches where everyone just talked to each other/planned the night ahead. Was a really chilled out way to eat and cheaper than restaurants.

My time on Gili was really relaxing and the diving was definitely the highlight. The lowlight was the power cuts! The temperature at night was not fun if you didn't have a fan at the very least. On one of the nights I wanted to cry (drama queen!) as I was so tired, so hot and so grumpy. I had a shower then went for a walk to get the breeze from the sea. That good nights sleep I had been looking for was still not happening!? By the end of our time on Gili T I had realised that Hillka and I were very similar in our personalities and sense of humour which was awesome as we were planning to stick together for at least another week. I think the selling point for her was when I sang really bad ballads to her, sometimes with little dance routines if she was lucky!

Whilst having one of our walks we tried to figure out what to do next and we decided to head back over to the mainland and visit the south of Lombok in Kuta. I had read about the beaches and some good surf spots there. The journey through Lombok was interesting and again the landscape was different with lots of greenery and typically Indonesian local villages. It started to rain as we drove and I saw a man waiting by the road with this huge banana leaf over his head. He looked really peaceful and very chilled out considering the weather was horrendous. I also noticed how many mosques there were, apparently Lombok has over 1000. They varied in their grandeur with some looking like a shed to the newest one being built which was more like a palace. (Saudi funded) One of the things I really like about Indonesia is that everyone follows their religion but so far I have never felt it pushed on me. You can walk along in your summer clothes without any worries about offending people as most people here wear shorts and tshirts.

We stayed at a homestay which had a DVD player and TV in our room. Was pure luxury to just sit and watch a film that night - so Hangover 3 was the pick of the night. I realised it was first bit of TV I'd had in over 2 months. In the morning I was chief driver and we left at 6.30am on our scooter to go explore the beaches and we were eating our breakfast by 7.30am on a beautiful beach called Selong Blanik with only Hillka and I on it. That was pretty much the theme of the day, ride a bit, find a beach, chill a bit. I've attached some pictures of the beaches we found. We did the same the next day but went in the opposite direction to surf a break called Gerupuk which had a number of breaks depending on what level you were. I went to a very easy beach break with some nice longboard waves. Best bit was you could only get to the break by boat so very minimal paddling. Caught a few waves and even got an apology from a local who dropped in on me, guessing he assumed I would waste the wave. Ha that will show him!! The south of Lombok is stunning, much less developed and touristy compared to Bali which was nice. Although I don't think it will stay that way for long as there are lots of signs advertising land for sale. It's a shame but enviable I guess.

Wednesday was day 1 of a boat trip to Flores which included the Kommodo island and several places along the way. When we got the boat Im pretty sure Hillka and I were thinking the same thing: We're getting on a boat which can only be described as a wooden shed with a deck?! Was definitely going to be cosy. The sailing was pretty calm until the first night where we approached the open sea. Myself and 2 others decided to sleep on the actual deck, a few minutes into this stupid idea I was starting to feel pretty damp and sick. But I had started so I was going to finish. I estimate I woke up about 20 times but as soon as we had eaten breakfast it was time for some snorkelling off Satonda island. Was really bizarre as the water would go from being as hot as bath water to cold water within seconds of each other. But this change in temperature did make for some really great snorkelling. I got so excited by it, 2 hours had passed and my back was not happy with me as it had turned a lovely shade of red!

We arrived on Komodo island in sweltering temperatures to visit the ancient reptiles that still wander around in the national park. Well these things are like lizards on steroids! Ugly and huge. The bacteria they have in their mouths will kill whatever it bites within a week. We saw a deer that had suffered this fate and you could see it was already in trouble. We also visited Rinca Island and did a trek around the national park. Was so hot and by the end I was pleased to be able to jump in the sea when we stopped at the red beach. (Not before we had seen a huge manta ray as we were sailing.) Like its name sake the beach had flecks of red in the white sand which made it look very different to the beaches we had previously seen. The final evening of sailing was my favourite as we saw lots of dolphins swimming by just as the sun was setting. Whilst we were docked for dinner there was a bright lightening storm on the horizon. As well as the flashes in the distances we could see the stars shining as brightly as they had been every night. An amazing end to a really great trip for so many reasons.

I will finish there and write about my final 2 weeks in Indonesia when I am waiting the million hours on Friday between my flights from Bali to Sydney. I've been a bit pants with updating my blog over the last few weeks as the Internet hasn't been that great/available.

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